Literally Anywhere

One of the greatest strengths one possesses when using a smartphone of some type is being able to use it literally anywhere. After four years of having a Treo 650, I finally, gloriously upgraded to a Treo 755p. Timely, I think, as well seeing as that Sprint just released a ROM update to the Treo 755p. Upon purchasing the 755p, I looked forward to a more stable Palm. That wish partly came true. My old Treo 650 used to hang terribly when I exited from the Chicago subway system. It would take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to unfreeze and regain a signal and that's if it didn't reset and loose whatever data I had been working on. Worse case scenario, it would dump ALL my preference settings leaving me to scream in disgust (using inside voices) and have to reenter all my registrations settings. I resorted to turning off my Treo 650 whenever I went into the subway, it's not like I could get a signal underground anyway.
Well, new phone! Problem's gone right? Well, yes and no. One amazing new feature I found was being able to get a signal underground. I was amazed! I could hold conversations and get a data connection. What the hey! I went to the Sprint Store to ask about this. They looked at me like I was crazy. Some Sprint phones can get a signal underground. That answer wasn't good enough for me, so I paid closer attention to the way my 755p behaved. Turns out I can get a signal but the Sprint moniker would not show which lead me to believe I was riding US Cellular's system. US Cellular is the only cell phone provider to my knowledge anyway that has the rights to CTA's communcations lines underground. Sweet! Whether this is an EV-DO benefit or collaboration between Sprint and US Cellular OR my phone just happened to slip between the cellular cracks I don't know but wait I spoke to soon! The 755p still had the same problem with regaining a signal upon exiting the subway. It would hang indefinitely. God forbid I try to listen to music using pTunes at the same time. Talk about reset hell! Sigh. I resorted to turning off the Treo just before I exited the tunnel. The exitement I had for my brand new Treo 755p quickly waned. I was in no better position than before, only slightly, seeing as that I can get a signal underground which comes in handy when the trains get delayed and we sit there for a spell.
Flash forward to this month with Sprint's new 1.07 update. I was a little wary and sat on the update for a week or so. It wasn't until last week when I experienced a really bad looping reset that I decided to bite the bullet and try out the new update. A little apprehensive I spent a day updating to the new ROM and reinstalling my software and databases. Now I know Palm was more than slightly vague when describing just what exactly this new 1.07 update included but so far I am geeked out with the little touches. I can now assign alphabet letter shortcuts from the keyboard in the favorites menu to applications just as on the Centro. The messaging app now has incoming and outgoing arrows indicating whether the last text was sent or received. But my favorite, most noticeable improvement has to be the memory management. Regaining a signal from the subway to aboveground is now seemless without freezing AND I can listen to pTunes at the same time. Lo and Behold! At least in the city of Chicago I can now use my Treo 755p literally anywhere.