Our company has worked with HTC quite a bit over the last few years, and one thing I would suggest is that you keep an eye out for the latest ROM's for the device.

Usually HTC are pressured into getting the product out - and the first ROM's released are usually not that good. The Diamond had the potential to blow many products away, but the first release was shocking and full of bugs. Now the newer ROM's are out - they are working as they should - but the damage was done at retail when they saw the first products.

If you got the product SIMM free, then register with HTC (you'll get the ROM's sooner here), if not, use the support pages of the operator.

Other than that - the XDA forums are a good place to look for the HTC ones and home brew versions.

Oh - and there's obviously an OS update on the way from MS...

http://www.xenocode.com/browsers/

I love me my Blackberry Keyboard :)

I'd say use something like "> current year + 5 -> last century" instead.

http://prism.mozilla.com/

You mean they will turn into Notes clients? :)

However, I got a HTC/WM6 phone last year, and was actually surprised by how good it was. I've had 2 hard resets in 18 months. And whilst I've seen people on the iPhone/Android jumping through hoops to share their phone's internet connection, whilst it just works on my WM phone. And to see that 02 are threatening additional charges against people who share their iPhone connection really puts me off using 02 as a provider.

I'd say there's something wrong with your phone (or maybe it's just there's something right with my phone).

I like that I can program visual applications in Tcl on a WM phone. Although I think I'm going to get an android phone next as it is programmable in Lua.

Try to upgrade your phone OS to Windows mobile 6.1. I had the same problems with mobile 6 version and i upgraded the same in my htc touch last week and there is lot of difference in performance.

This blog post resembles somewhat what I think of the iPhone:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001280.html

Slightly offtopic:

I recently had to develop an app in Windows Mobile, and I was surprised at how little the OS had changed since I last used Windows CE... in 1998. It's so far behind the iPhone OS that it's not even funny (and to add injury, we were told not to use HTC devices because they were too slow). It was like going from Windows 7 / Leopard to Windows 3.11 (with a pretty start screen). And people buy it!!

If for some reason you don't want to go with the iPhone (which is probably the best option right now), go for something with Android or the Palm Pre (and avoid the Storm).

My poor blackberry is feeling neglected me thinks.

Based on your earlier list of smartphone needs, I suggest the iPhone. I have both an iPhone for home and a Blackberry (though not the Bold) for work and the iPhone is much more useful. The only thing that's better on the Blackberry is its Domino and Sametime integration. The iPhone's non-Domino email and calendar support is excellent (I'm assuming you don't use Domino as your primary email platform, but if you do Traveler gets good reviews from people I trust). Whatever you do, don't get the Storm - it could have been the best of both worlds, but instead it borders on being unusable.

I've run a Palm Treo750 with Windows Mobile 6 since it came out. I do email, internet, music, calendar, games, and a few other things. I've had to reboot very few times. I know that running certain software - some games, once an alternate browser - caused me to have to reboot. Once I removed those it was fine. I use it with the phone contract's internet access, not WiFi or tethered, if that makes a difference.

I know with my previous Palm device (non phone, non Windows), the WiFi card I bought for it made it crash a lot. So if you're using WiFi, there might be a driver issue.

I have to say, I've experienced the same problems as you. The shop didn't want to give me a loan of the Snap, I bought it and within 72 hours I was back in there telling them about crashes and other issues. At the end I swapped it for an iPhone and haven't looked back since. It works, is fun to use, has loads of applications and does what it says it does. Don't hold on to a product that you dislike and doesn't work and don't wait too long, the seller has to agree to exchange or refund within a certain time period.

A vote for Android. I was a Windows Mobile user for years, then decided to switch to iPhone last fall, but waited a month to try the Android first.

There is no going back. Three killer features for me are:

1) iTunes remote that allows me to control a PC from anywhere on the WIFI network. I love it and so do my guests. I just pass my phone around at parties. It's like a jukebox in your hand. (iPhone has this built in)

2) aNetshare turns the phone into a WIFI access point with internet access. Very useful for me on the boat or anywhere away from my regular internet connection. (cannot use on T-Mobile's ROM, but that is an easy fix)

3) RDP client for those emergencies while away from the PC.

I am guessing you can do any of that with a jail-broken iPhone which has admittedly more polished apps available.

I think the Pre, which just came out, is a great first start, but it needs more around it. No SDK as of yet...whereas Android seems to be a positioned pretty well in those regards. Just needs a bit better hardware.

The BlackBerry I have is dull but functional and very reliable. And the iPod does everything else.

I'll have a very good look at the Pre when it comes but the chances are I stick with what I've got because of the long contracts.

If you decide to stick with Windows Mobile: Keep watching forums like ppcgeeks and XDA-Developers... they are constantly pushing out ROMS and customizations for these phones.

-John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R33Lc8cOXRs