Hello, all.

My third-hand Palm PDA/cellphone finally died, and I want to replace it. Hopefully you might have some insights regarding useful features of your mobile phone.

Here's how I used my phone and my general attitude and values regarding it. I suppose I'll use a new phone in a similar way but thought I may be unaware of uses and "equipped" applications since I haven't kept up with recent technology.

- used in the USA
- use 300-500 minutes/month
- use the contact/address list
- rarely use text messaging capability but understand this can be very useful, especially when voice transmission is not available
- like to have it with me on frequent bicycle rides that put me 50-100 miles from home
- use it daily for business and home purposes
- never sync'ed up my Palm PDA/phone with email because I'm not sure I want to be in constant email contact nor to pay for that service (although I'm open to it)
- can see the value of Internet access with it for traffic updates, mapping but get along fine without it currently (and for some reason am ambivalent about GPS tracking capabilities unless I control it; yeah, I know, I may be illogical about this)
- I'm generally frugal about such things but can treat the phone and monthly fee as a business expense.

I've searched the archives and found some good info, especially regarding Tracfones, James Kim, Twitter and wilderness use/non-use of phones. My typical use scenario is 95% in populated urban environments with decent coverage by major carriers.

Thanks for any tips you can share.