Smartphone recommendations

[Guest W3bbo]

I've had my aging 1st generation SPV for a while now, but it's beginning to show its age: sometimes it fails to recognise my SIM, the power-button can be a little quirky, and now it's stopp synchronising with Activesync, totally.

So I'm looking for a nice new cellphone, preferably running Windows Mobile 5, and with one of those new high-res QVGA screens, to go with my VGA PDA :)

I don't really care if it's a clamshell, candybar, or slider, just so long as it complements my PDA rather than replacing it completely, and has a cradle/docking station (this is essential).

Question: So many WM5 phones I've seen around don't use cradles/docking stations anymore, what's the advantage in this? It's a lot easier to ditch the phone in the cradle after a hard days work (if ever :D ) than it is to fiddle two cables in at the same time: plus all my other hardware is dockable: my PDA has a cradle, my TabletPC has a swivel-dock, my iPod has a dock, and my current smartphone has a cradle.

Other than screen resolution and a dock, and of course, working in the UK, are there any other criteria I ought to be aware of? So long as the phone can run CellDoom without trouble, I have no complaints.

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Something else to think about it do you want another contract and what network are you thinking of using?

Also the important bit, what buget are you looking at?

As for cradles that's more a thing of the past as it keeps costs down. Some third party hardware manufacturers make cradles for devices though.