I recently purchased a new cell phone to replace a 1.5-year-old Sanyo 6400 with a cracked screen and full phonebook. Since I decided to stay with Sprint my range of phones was limited, but browsing Cnet’s cell phone reviews I came across the Samsung i500, a semi-obscure smart phone that contains a PalmOS powered organizer and a Sprint phone. I was sold when they gave it an “excellent” rating of 8.5 out of 10 and called it “one of the most civil marriages of a phone and a PDA that we’ve seen to date.” Although the phone originally retailed for $600, I was able to find a refurbished model on eBay for $150. It came today, and aside from a few quirks (the charging cable plug seems flimsy), I’ve been very impressed. Although Palm can seem late-90s-retro, I know there’s tons of software and it’s a very stable system. The gorgeous color screen and intuitive design are also selling me on the package. I even found a programmer who has designed some custom Palm applications for the phone. Although it’s not quite a Sidekick, the browser works with Gmail and all the other sites I’ve tried, and you can use the phone as a modem with a laptop. Now, how long before I experiment with phone blogging …