I like my Verizon Treo 600, but more so because I like wireless email more than anything else. I know it works in SB, SF-BA, and Richmond, Virginia, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and all the racetrack towns I've visited. The hands-free set is pretty damned loud, too, but if you use the phone itself to talk, you have to learn this special alignment trick, otherwise your cheekbone may accidentally hang up the phone via the touchscreen. It's kind of big and heavy, though.

The alarm function is kind of annoying: you have to set an appointment for the time you want to wake up.

--Andre

I was in the same situation 2 months ago. I wanted a bluetooth flip-phone that wasn't Motorola (because the Motorola phone I had previously would not allow you to search through your phonebook beyond the first character of their name. Lame!).

Did some searching and I found the Sony Ericsson z520a. It's small, light and loud. Works great in the Bay Area. Can't say for the other places on your list. It also takes photos and videos. I don't use those functionalities often but I was surprised at how handy they came in.

z520a: http://tinyurl.com/9pymb

I have Cingular because almost everyone I talked to said it beats Tmobile for reception.

Also, check out www.letstalk.com. I bought my phone through them and they will generally have better deals than through the carrier's website.

I still think Verizon has the best coverage since it uses CDMA instead of GSM. They usually have kind of old school phones, although that is getting better, and they do all have the ability to make phone calls. My motorola phone has good reception and sound quality, but the interface is obnoxiously bad in many little ways. I think you should try get one so you can write entertaining blog posts about how stupid their interface designers are.

Personally, I'm a fan of my Motorola Razr and Cingular. I'm not a great fan of their interface (mostly phone book and missed/received calls functionality), but the phone is pretty small and I've had good luck with reception. For an extra $7 a month, Cingular will let you make you nights and weekends talk time start at 7pm on weeknights which is nice if you are wanting to call anyone in a different US timezone from CA.

Oh god let me know if you’re successful in your quest.

I have a Treo 650. Let me tell you what I don't like about it:

- The battery does not last a very long time
- It is big and heavy, and I only use the phone and email functionality.
- The keyboard was designed by someone solving the challenge of fitting all of the keys onto the small space, and not by someone trying to make a keyboard you can easily type on
- It has no typing intelligence and shifting/symbols are a pain
- It has a hesitation on the soft pad that causes you (me) to frequently hang up after I place a call because I don't think it recognized my click
- Supposedly you can change a lot of the defaults to make the thing work better, but whoever picked the out of the box defaults hates me with a passion.

What I like:
- It integrates with Outlook without having an entire IT squad help you out
- Bluetooth works well

Yup, that's it.

You want my phone. I dropped it on concrete yesterday and it still works. It is just like your old phone only the display is color and it works better in SB.
http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/3120

VIRGIN MOBILE. audiovox 8610.
yeah.
dropped it numerous times -- still works.
no long distance charges. works pretty much everywhere except school.(i think they built it specifically so cell phones wouldnt work inside
>:| )
two years, no problems.
and virgin mobile is really customer friendly.
ummm so yeah.
email me sometime.
sugapyehunybun333@cox.net
did you get my thank you note?
later!
<3,
Angela