Sprint/Palm/Windows ... it's all about the phones

After this last week of vacation with zero Sprint coverage and 2 years of spotty coverage at my house, I think it is time to switch providers. I've been with Sprint for over 5 years, probably past 6 years, but I'm sick of bad coverage at my house (Calls are often routed directly to voicemail when I'm at home) and a pathetic choice of phones. My girlfriend has T-Mobile and they look like they have the best plans, especially if you want data connectivity.

I've carried around a Treo for 4+ years now and never regretted it. If you need to track appointements, todos, contacts, and have a great phone, the Palm Treos beat anything else I've ever touched. I recently tried out the new Treo 700wx and have to admit that my exit summary was that I would not want to buy the device. I'd pick the Paml OS version every time. I don't care that Windows Mobile has better email connectivity and can view my Excel and Word documents. The usability of the device was so bad compared to my old Treo 600 that I was actually looking forward to returning to my old device. Windows Mobile has a long way to go before I recommend it to anyone who isn't a gadget freak or likely to really benefit from it's improved Windows interop.

Now I just need to figure out what phone to get. The Samsung sliders are near the top of my list (that is what my girlfriend recently upgraded to and it is sweeet!) but since I'm going to have to break my contract with Sprint, I'm looking for something inexpensive (with a contract). It should have decent j2me support, and ideally be useable as a data modem. I like the Nokia 68xx series, but no-one is carrying the current versions of that form-factor (and the older 6800 is showing it's age)...