I was asked this morning if I would buy another Treo if I had the chance to pick a smart phone today. Here's most of what I said:

I love my Treo 650. The phone has to be charged nightly, but it never runs out of power. My 650 has more scars from being dropped than a 90-year-old narwhale, but it has never given me a lick of trouble. I also like the fact that I can (and do) add applications that make the phone much more useful like Butler and CorePlayer. Also, there are some cheap accessories, like wired ear phones that work for music and phone calls, and plenty of expensive add-ons, which I bought and almost never use, like the external folding keyboard.

Even after being envious of Andrew Garcia's iPhone, I would still buy a Treo again. For one thing, until Apple opens up the case to allow battery replacement, I will not buy one of its products. I would have had to throw away my perfectly useful Treo 18 months ago if I couldn't have replaced the battery. For another, you can't add apps to the iPhone. Granted, it comes with most of the stuff that you would want. However, it doesn't have remote lock/wipe (which I now have with Butler). After my brush with panic a couple weeks ago, that's important to me.

And I never wonder if someone is going to snatch my unhip finned Treo.

The biggest drawbacks to the Treo are questions about Palm's support for future innovation, which seems almost nonexistent. Data plans from my service provider seem skewed toward making the iPhone more attractive for data use.

I'm not always thrilled about using the Treo keyboard. The key press is a little stiff. It is far better than the virtual keyboard on the iPhone, which I, with fairly nimble fingers, find almost impossible to use.

Other smart phones to consider: a BlackBerry, which apparently has great voice along with unparalleled messaging support.