As part of a migration to an "information anywhere" system, I've been checking out handheld mobile devices. For now, it looks like the best plan may be to wait and see.

The Treo 700W looks cool and runs on Verizon Wireless's "Broadband Access" (EVDO) network. This new network allows you to get near-DSL-equivalent speeds. The Treo has a nice keyboard and display and is a good size also. However, it is the first union of Windows and Palm, and I tend to be reluctant to buy any hardware, software or operating system (much less merger of two) as soon as it is released.

I would slightly prefer to use a Blackberry because I think Blackberries are just cooler (notwithstanding the threat of a Blackberry network shutdown due to patent dispute). There is an EVDO-compatible Blackberry model, the 7130e. However, this model features an odd keyboard that is a compromise between a phone keypad and regular keyboard. The result is that two letters share most keys.

I can deal with multiple letters per key for txt messages on my cell phone because those tend to be short. However, if I were to use this for business correspondence, this would have the potential to be very annoying.

Then there's the Blackberry 7250, which has a full size keyboard but runs on the slower Verizon Wireless "National Access" network. The full QWERTY keyboard is a big plus. I'm not convinced the slower speed would make that much of a difference. I'm not often in situations where I would need to surf Web sites from a mobile device, and the speed for email is fine. On the other hand, it seems silly to invest in old technology.

I think the plan is to wait a bit for other guinea pigs to test the Treo 700W and then probably get that. The only problem is that I have jury duty starting on the 23rd and I was hoping to have something by then. We'll see. I thought technology was supposed to make things simpler?