I am a Windows user! No, not your …. If you want the Mercedes-Bend of cell phones with Windows 6.0, and the BEST cell phone on the marrket, buy the HTC Advanatage X7501. I have one, and it is the BEST! It will fit in your back pocket (NOT YOUR FRONT POCKET), and you can use a Bluetooth headpiece if you are a hibitual talker. For the record: I do not carry around a cell phone, and I consider VOICE IS DEAD!

Roy A. Day ( royaday at hotmail.com)

iPhones are mainly for those into music and surfing the net. Personally, I would go with a Blackberry for email/business purposes. Blackberrys are specifically designed for people who rely on their email while they are on the go. It also has numerous free and relatively small priced add on applications for almost anything you would need. The iPhone is (in my opinion) just a glorified iPod with a phone.

Hey Matt H — the other Matt here.

Rumors about full-on Exchange support for the iPhone are still out there, although I don’t see anything concrete enough to pin my hopes on. It’s a great device, but I’d also wait until they release a follow on version. Perhaps by then there will be a solution for Exchange support. From the sounds of it, waiting may not be an option.

You already have a lot of experience with WinMo to draw from, so you obviously can draw your own conclusion on that platform. I think WinMo 6.0 is very nice, so it’s just a matter of figuring out which WinMo-powered handset your carrier offers (if you’re willing to port your number to another carrier, your options open up even more). Given that you use hosted Exchange, you have the added benefit of Exchange ActiveSync to have over-the-air sync to your mailbox.

I’m a bit of a BlackBerry bigot, if only because I find them to be more stable than other devices. I’ve been using a BB 8700c for two years, and it’s been a great device. I’m using it via USB sync with Outlook, and it’s been very reliable with data exchange. Eventually, I’d like to get up on hosted Exchange myself, but I just can’t justify the cost yet. I just ordered a BlackBerry 8310 (Curve) from AT&T to replace my 8700c. It’s got a 2mp camera and on-board GPS, which I’m looking forward to. As you know, most hosted Exchange providers will charge an additional fee to setup BES to your BlackBerry, so you have to consider that as well. Generally speaking, they don’t charge fees for Exchange Activesync to a WinMo device.

Let us know which route you end up going!

Matt W

iPhones are great. I have one in fact, however, as you stated, there are downfalls, and bugs just like everything else. Overall though, I’m glad I got it.

All: Thanks, I think I may need to give WM 6 devices another look. But will tinker with an iPhone in the same day, just to keep things balanced. Thus far, going Blackberry is looking good to me.

Matt (the other one, heh): Actually, MS Exchange is painfully affordable with DSL Exchange. Just create a domain name  whatever.com) and be ready to call into support as setup is a little funky. Short of that, I will never sync any other way again on a Windows device - it is awesome, with an unlimited data plan.

Their MS Exchange has a three month trial at a whopping $5 per month with it being something like $12 after that. BB is another few bucks on top of that I think, but it is soooooooo worth it. Again, setup is a little clunky, but everything is smooth as butter after that.

Matt, keep me posted on that phone. If you are liking it, I may just go that way.

Matt, I did look up pricing on DSL Extreme for Exchange hosting, and it is quite affordable as far as hosted Exchange providers go. I’ll definitely consider it. I, of all people, certainly know the advantages — seeing as how I’ve been sort of a pied piper of Hosted Exchange for many of my business clients.

Update: I just got my BlackBerry Curve 8310 from AT&T yesterday. I actually ordered it from Mileage Plus Wireless, as I’ll get 5000 United Mileage Plus miles from the order. There was also a $75 rebate (sadly, in the form of a rebate “card”", but I am nothing if not a rebate pimp.

Switching from my BB 8700c to the 8310 was laughably easy. The BB Desktop Manager that I already had loaded on my PC has a “Switch Device” wizard specifically for this scenario. Started the wizard, plugged in my old BB, it backed up data and settings… then I plugged in the new one, it uploaded data and settings. From there, it was a matter of swapping out the SIM card. The Switch Device Wizard was great. It copied over all the obscure settings I’d setup on the old BB, plus PIM data (saving a lengthy synch to Outlook. The only other thing I had to do was login to my AT&T BlackBerry Internet Service portal and update the device it was linked to.

By far, this was the easiest SmartPhone swap ever for me. In the future, if I go the hosted Exchange route, it will be even easier with OTA synching.

By the way, the 8310 is dreamy. It’s very sleek and the 2MP camera works really well. I haven’t done much the the multimedia capabilities, but it looks very capable in that department. The really fun part is pulling up Google Maps, and having it display a little flashing blue dot of my approximate location. It was only a couple blocks off, which isn’t bad. I haven’t played with the TeleNAV application yet, but I will soon.

Keep us posted on your quest.

Happy Holidays everybody!!!

iPhone is definitely worth of your try. Revolutionary gadget.

The best choice besides an Iphone is a Blackberry. Blackberry push email is amazing and there’s truly nothing like it.