I'm not expert on phone calling plans, but my advice is to get a Nokia 8890 and Voicestream GSM service. The 8890 operates on North American GSM, European GSM, and analog frequencies. Weighs 4 ounces, gets a 5 day battery life, IRDA for laptop cellular communications, voice dialing, and is quite the miracle of modern technology. Voicestream's GSM coverage is good and getting better every day.
Don't even think about Nextel, the Motorola i1000plus my old work gave me had a horrid interface and it only operated on the iDEN network. No analog backup for those times when you're stuck at an airport in Hairball, Montana.
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I'm not expert on phone calling plans, but my advice is to get a Nokia 8890 and Voicestream GSM service. The 8890 operates on North American GSM, European GSM, and analog frequencies. Weighs 4 ounces, gets a 5 day battery life, IRDA for laptop cellular communications, voice dialing, and is quite the miracle of modern technology. Voicestream's GSM coverage is good and getting better every day. Don't even think about Nextel, the Motorola i1000plus my old work gave me had a horrid interface and it only operated on the iDEN network. No analog backup for those times when you're stuck at an airport in Hairball, Montana.
IBM is bringing out the Ultrastar 73LZX series next month, Ultra160/LVD 73.2gb in a 3.5"x1" form factor.