Fring Thing
I've just bought a new phone which runs windows mobile, the Sony Ericsson X1 Xperia. Although the phone was locked, downloading a registry editor allowed me to unlock the features I needed. Most of the keys are undocumented, which is frustrating but there is some documentation for carriers online that provides clues as well as registry hack sites.
I've loaded on funambol, which allows me to sync my contacts, tasks and calendar to Thunderbird (my email client). I've also install fring, which allows me to make and receive calls using Skype and Voip (Asterisk) on my mobile handset either via Vodafones data network or any active Wifi Access point I can connect to.
Hardware wise, the phone has a slide out keyboard which is much more convenient and easier to use than the touch screen. The phone supports imap so it is great for reading email and keeping it in sync, something a blackberry cannot do without the purchase of a separate BES server.
On the negative side, the phone is a little slow especially if more than one application is running and the battery life (when wifi is on) is rather short - on a new battery I'm almost getting through a work day.
Ultimately, I'd rather have a G1 running android for the open source os and the ability to customise but unfortunately it is only available on TMobile and apparently they do not allow skype/voip (http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39267682,00.htm)
The other thing that doesn't work on the X1 is Vodafone Find and Go, which is caused by Vodafone live not working on the handset. Vodafone has told me there is no expected date of resolution and I should just keep trying, but frankly, after two weeks I'm bored.
