Yes, I know, I already have an awesome phone.  But it's been 6 months! :-P

I've had the Nokia 6820 since around April of this year. I'm not unhappy with it, in fact, I really dig the flip-out thumb keyboard.  Problem is, it's not on Smartphone or Windows Mobile, and frankly that kind of erks me.  Mainly because I don't feel like learning enough J2ME to program the thing to anything other than what's built in, but also, the screen is kind of small, and I have to press about 5 buttons to actually check my email.. granted, I've got text alerts set up to ding me everytime my mobile mailbox gets a new message, but that means 4 other clicks to delete the SMS, then either suck down the header via pop (can't use IMAP as the built in mail client on the 6820 doesn't support IMAP over SSL), or actually log into OWA to get the whole message. 

So I've been having the dilemma.. Smartphone or PocketPC (Mobile 2003)??  While I like the larger screen and real estate of the Smartphone compared to the still fairly small footprint, I think I will really miss the thumb board.  I'm really impressed with the XDA III (a.k.a. PDA2k or Siemens SX66).  There's a photo of the XDA IIs (not the same!) that's AWESOME.. it comes in black - no word as to if Cingular is going to carry this version in the states, although I'm sure I can find one on eBay for a hefty price tag.  Speaking of which, Cingular is selling the SX66 (their version of the XDAIII) for $549.99, but the black suckers are going for close to a grand on eBay.. egads.  That's definitely a bit rich, even for a techno-geek like myself.  Oh, and I didn't mention, the IIs doesn't have WiFi built in, so that's another item to tack on to the cost!

Speaking of alternate colored versions of phones, I'm really digging the Audiovox SMT 5600.  TMobile is supposed to be carrying it here in the states, and there have been a few appearances on Cingular's website of the phone.  They're going in the $250-$350 range on ebay, which is not toooo shabby, although most of them are locked, so that's another $40 to get it unlocked.  Given my previous Smartphone debacle, I'm kind of hestitant about it though.  The big drawback I see is not having the thumbboard for email - although since the SMT does have Bluetooth, I could get a super small bluetooth keyboard to carry along.. I had the stowaway for my first gen iPAQ back in the day, and was pretty pleased with it.. although it would be much more cumbersome to use than the thumbboard on my 6820 or the sliding pop-out keyboard on the XDA IIs/III models. 

I guess time (and my mood) will tell.. it is Christmas, so who knows what Old Geek Nick will bring me ;-)