I don't know. Palm's been out of the game for so long, especially in the area of innovation that I just don't think they can make it happen. The last device I was impressed with that had the Palm OS on it was the Visor Edge and that had a monochrome screen and was created by Handspring, not even Palm. Yes, those were the same guys who made palms the first time, but they left so they could innovate or something.

Anyway, my point, It has been since I was in high school since Palm was innovative. I doubt they've found their way back.

I've had my eyes on the blackberry storm. My contract will be up with AT&T next month and I'm debating whether I should renew it and get me the storm.

Josiah: It certainly looks innovative…

David: I'd be hesitant on the BlackBerry Storm. Most people seem disappointed with it. Virtually everything I've read says it doesn't work as well as the iPhone 3G which is priced identically.

I think I'd either do the iPhone 3G or go over to T-Mobile and get a G1. (Verizon is worse than AT&T in my experience, incidentally.)

We had Verizon at one time. We really didn't care for them and when our contract was up, we decided to go with AT&T. I have to admit, we have been treated really well at AT&T, They even let me switch out a new phone they sent me because the volume on that model would not go high enough for me to hear it, so I was able to go to an AT&T store and sample phones to find the one I could hear and make the swap. Then sometime in October, my phone started acting weird and AT&T agreed to give me an early upgrade.

What do you think about the Blackberry curve?

I admittedly am trying to steer clear of the iPhone, because I hear the price of the phone was dropped, but the prices of services were raised, so the way I see it, an iPhone 3G owner would pay more for the phone in the long run because the monthly bill would go up.

David, the BlackBerry Curve seems better than the Storm to me, simply because the UI is still rather oriented towards that sort of input over touch screen usage. But, keep in mind that the Curve is a 2G device, so with my current findings on the AT&T network, I'd steer clear from it. Look at the device most equivalent to the Storm in AT&T's BlackBerry line, the Bold.

But, I wouldn't steer clear of the iPhone. Honestly, I have a hard time imaging using anything else, part of the reason I haven't already dashed from AT&T after my recent problems. The price did go up with the iPhone 3G, but it went up to put it in line with the BlackBerry plan, not over it. This had more to due with a change in selling methodology than anything else. The original iPhone was not subsidized (one payed full price for it), but users got a cheaper plan out the deal. The new one is subsidized and thus priced like a BlackBerry. E.g. unsubsidized, I'd guess the Bold and the iPhone 3G cost about the same, much as they do with a 2 year contract.

The big difference between the iPhone and the BlackBerry is that the BlackBerry doesn't have a desktop class web browser or as powerful of graphics hardware. Web browser wise, the iPhone can render almost anything WebKit (i.e. Safari, Google Chrome, KHTML) can render, which is nearly anything. The BlackBerry's web browser is known to be decidedly less capable.

If you want an iPhone class web browsing experience out of the box, you need to look at some of the Symbian S60 devices Nokia has, perhaps, or maybe the Android-based G1 over at T-Mobile.

Hardware wise, the BlackBerry and the iPhone seem similar, but what I've heard seem to indicate that the iPhone is significantly better at 3D, etc. I'm not sure if the BlackBerry lacks the GPU or if it is something else. But, the iPhone has been said to have graphics hardware somewhere between the Nintendo DS and the PSP. I don't do much to use that, but I do really enjoy my full version of Google Earth — not Maps — that is on my iPhone and tied to my accelerometer for control.

Another thing to consider: in as much as AT&T supports it with their network, Apple is being unusually good at keeping the phone up-to-date. Except for features that require more hardware, my original iPhone has been updated (for free) to support everything the latest one will do.

Thanks Tim. I'll certainly keep this in mind next month when I make the choice whether to re-new my contract with AT&T or not.

Glad to be of service. Give me a holler if you have any other questions, I'm happy to provide what I can.

I wish the Palm Pre was coming to American GSM networks soon. It really does look like an amazing little device.