My smartphone affair: Cheating on Verizon and Blackberry for a taste of Sprint and Pre

I'm going through a bit of a smartphone mid-life crisis - so I've quietly started a smartphone affair with Sprint and the Palm Pre.

You see, I've been using a Blackberry on Verizon Wireless for some time now and, in all honesty, I'm a bit burned out. Don't get me wrong. The Blackberry is still an effective device at bringing together my work and personal e-mail, calendar, contacts and some useful apps, too. And I've had no problems with the Verizon service in my home, around the neighborhood and in my travels.

But, lately, I've been wondering if the grass is greener on the other side of the smartphone fence. I already know I love the iPhone but am not willing to become an AT&T customer. Windows Mobile just reminds me of Windows - and regular readers know that I'm no fan of Windows - so I don't even bother looking at any of those devices.

A couple of months back, I spent 30 days playing with the free Android phone that was given to attendees at Google's developer's conference, along with 30 days of T-Mobile service. I liked the phone and the Android user interface and even was OK with T-Mobile's service. But the pricing for T-Mobile seemed kind of high - plus I was still locked into my Verizon account.

But now, with less than 60 days left on my Verizon account, I've started lurking around mall kiosks and other places where more seductive smartphones can entice me into picking them up and taking them home. Over the weekend, I ducked into a Sprint store to look around. Next thing you know, I was walking out with a Pre.

Over the next 28 days or so, I'll put the device - and the Sprint service - through some usage tests (and seeing how I use Google Voice, I don't have to worry about the phone number issue.) and decide whether or not to keep it. At the end of the 30 days, I'll post again with my decision of whether to keep it or return it.

You see, folks, I'm practicing what I've been preaching for some time now. I am taking advantage of the 30-day, no obligation return policy that the carriers have in place. If I decide in that time that I don't like the device or the service, I simply return it for a full refund (even though I'm still on the hook for one month's worth of service.) At the same time, I'm resisting the lure of a flashy phone by putting equal weight behind the quality of service by the carrier. That was my issue with the iPhone when I gave it a 30-day test run earlier this year - iPhone was great; AT&T sucked.

When the Pre came out last month, I ducked into a Sprint store to take a look. Of course, they were sold out - but I did learn a lot about pricing and found that I could probably save $120 or more on my monthly family plan bill by switching to Sprint.

Saving money is great but I'm more turned on by consistently reliable service. Truth be told: the iPhone, Pre and Android devices may be pretty to look at but if the service sucks, there's no use switching.

Wouldn't you agree?