Updated: The Perfect Phone, Except . . .

A touchscreen keyboard? Gah.

This last trip, along with some ongoing audio issues, made me realize that it is time to give up on the Treo. I need, desperately, a phone that meets my needs. Outlook calendar/task/memo syncing, email, good audio quality, a generally open platform, and the ability to roam just about anywhere. The new Apple iPhone just might have been that phone, if it hadn’t been designed for people who apparently have no need to quickly compose email or SMSs . . .

Sigh.

Update: The saturation coverage of the iPhone is sort of appalling (seriously, my local TV station covered it, and not as part of a regular tech feature . . .). I just have to add my take on the matter, in light of some additional information that has come out. David Pogue thinks that typing is “difficult”, and the folks at Treocentral tells me that Apple (for the time being) is keeping the platform closed. So who is going to buy this thing? Bad typing, and bound to consumer-oriented email? The Treo, for all of its failings, was an excellent competitor to Blackberry, and its open platform allowed for third-party apps that smoothed the way for Treo partisans such as myself at Blackberry-bound firms. Maybe they’ll get it right, but I think I’ll sit back and let others struggle with the iPhone for another development cycle or two.

That still leaves me looking for a phone in the interim. As noted, I’m unhappy with my Treo 650. My primary issue is the the audio quality. I shudder at the thought of the sum I’ve spent on microphones and bluetooth headsets, trying to wrangle acceptable sound out of this device. And yes, I’ve switched through at least a few 650s, thinking it might just be the unit I had. Yet I’ve never been able to get audio that is even half as good as I get out of my travel phone – an old unlocked Motorola v66i. Without exception, every time I’ve made a call on this phone – be it from Ireland, India, or Shanghai – the person on the other end remarks at how much clearer I sound than I usually do. That’s right, a call running halfway round the world from a cheap $100 phone is consistently clearer than a $600 phone that’s supposed to represent the state of the art.

The solution, I suppose, is to give up on the idea of a unified device. But doing that, after having lived with a phone where I can functionally email, sms, use google maps, etc., wouldn’t be easy. And I don’t understand why it’s a choice I’m facing. I’ll pay more. I’ll accept a heavier phone. Just give me a phone that works as a phone.