Help with new phone choice -- Alltel service provider

[reeljustice]

Because of my geographical location Alltel has proven to be the only reliable celluar service for many years -- rural SE Georgia.

I've been using a BB7250 for a year or so and it is beginning to flake out.

Alltel phone choices are locate here.

I'm afraid I haven't kept up with the smartphone and PDA development.

At first glance it appears my choices are:
BB 7250
BB 7130e
UTSarcom PPC6700
Palm Treo 650 smartphone

but, then again, one of the other smartphones may be a better choice.

These are my primary needs:
(1) Good, consistent celluar service. I pretty much make my living with my phone when on the road. I am about to add an amplifier/antenna to my vehicle for those low coverage/dropped call areas.
(2) Live email and SMS is absolutely critical
(3) Clear, color, high resolution screen is a must as my eyes aren't nearly as good as they were 10 years ago
(4) It would be nice to be able to view/edit/create (where applicable) Word, Excel and PDF documents.
(5) GPS/Navigation would be a nice feature, both for the roads and private pilot aviation. I know Palm OS has some good aviation/flight planning software out there. I don't know if any of the units accept WeatherAnywhere which I believe uses the XM radion signals
(6) A camera feature would be nice as it can be of use in my business at times as well as a good "personal" feature for family and friends

I've been reading reviews and various forums for hours now. I'm not much better off than when I started reading.

Could some of you with experience make some recommendations given the above criteria needs?

I appreciate your assistance in advance.

Sincerely,

Joel

[nKrypteD1]

Originally Posted by reeljustice

Because of my geographical location Alltel has proven to be the only reliable celluar service for many years -- rural SE Georgia.

I've been using a BB7250 for a year or so and it is beginning to flake out.

Alltel phone choices are locate here.

I'm afraid I haven't kept up with the smartphone and PDA development.

At first glance it appears my choices are:
BB 7250
BB 7130e
UTSarcom PPC6700
Palm Treo 650 smartphone

but, then again, one of the other smartphones may be a better choice.

These are my primary needs:
(1) Good, consistent celluar service. I pretty much make my living with my phone when on the road. I am about to add an amplifier/antenna to my vehicle for those low coverage/dropped call areas.
(2) Live email and SMS is absolutely critical
(3) Clear, color, high resolution screen is a must as my eyes aren't nearly as good as they were 10 years ago
(4) It would be nice to be able to view/edit/create (where applicable) Word, Excel and PDF documents.
(5) GPS/Navigation would be a nice feature, both for the roads and private pilot aviation. I know Palm OS has some good aviation/flight planning software out there. I don't know if any of the units accept WeatherAnywhere which I believe uses the XM radion signals
(6) A camera feature would be nice as it can be of use in my business at times as well as a good "personal" feature for family and friends

I've been reading reviews and various forums for hours now. I'm not much better off than when I started reading.

Could some of you with experience make some recommendations given the above criteria needs?

I appreciate your assistance in advance.

Sincerely,

Joel

All of the phones you just listed would be a good match, in regards to the Excel, PDF, and Word documents you'll need Windows Mobile, which limits you to the PPC6700. I have the GSM equivalent (HTC Wizard) to the PPC6700 (known as the HTC Apache) and can assure you that you would not be dissappointed in this PDA. It's substantially larger than what you have though and in my opinion has a higher learning curve. Software is readily available for it to cover any basic need, GPS could be handled with a Bluetooth GPS receiver. I'm not sure what other questions to really address for you there, if you want go ahead and ask direct questions and I will do my best to answer them. I'm also making the assumption that you're around Hazelhurts or Waycross due to your alltel statement. I know there's a big blank spot north of waycross all the way to Dublin in regars to GSM coverage which used to drive me nuts.

[gubak]

My personal oppinion is UTSarcom PPC6700

[MOTOhooligan]

I agree, the UTStarcom PPC6700 is a really great smartphone. That's the one I would go with were I in your shoes.

[strunke]

Alltel just came out with the new Blackberry 8703e too, check it out. Comes with a built in GPS nav......

http://www.alltel.com/phones/blackberry/8703.html

[MOTOhooligan]

Also, Alltel should have the Motorola Q before the end of the year, if you're interested in that.