In February of 2009, I noticed my poor (under-used in retrospect) Treo 650 was starting to bite the dust: the screen had dead spots. So it was time to check out new phones. I ended up comparing 4 items on AT&T's website (not wanting to change providers): the iPhone (ugh), the BlackBerry (half-ugh), the LG Incite and the Fuze (aka HTC Touch Pro).

I am NOT an Apple fan. I don't care for their proprietary-ness and their you-will-use-our-services-or-be-damned attitude, so I wasn't inclined towards the iPhone. And stories of people's 'addictions' to their CrackBerries made me 'eh' on the BlackBerry. Of the other two, I knew nothing. But just doing the comparisons on the four, I ended up choosing the Fuze. I like having an (micro)SD card slot and I liked the keyboard. So I plunked down $$$ and sold my next 2 years to AT&T.

Once it arrived, I activated it and started playing. It did not take me long to find that there was all kinds of 'bloatware' that I really didn't want, didn't need, and couldn't delete that was taking up valuable ROM space! Grrr... So off to Google for a search.

One of the first places I found was truly heaven: Mobility Digest's Complete List of Tips & Tricks for the AT&T Fuze and HTC Touch Pro forum thread. Wow! I started really reading about all these neat things this little wonder in my pocket could do!
From there, I discovered Fuze Mobility, with a great deal of device-specific blog entries from really knowledgeable folks. Then it was off to XDA-developers Raphael forum. Holey carps! It took a lot of time to go through a tithe of the information here! I discovered that if I really, truly wanted to get rid of that pre-loaded crap I'd need to "flash a ROM." After reading the instructions for a MONTH, I finally took the plunge.
It wasn't hard at all, and I've become a victim of "Ooo! New shiney ROM!" syndrome. I took a shine to the Energy series and have stuck with that one. I have great fun finding new apps (some useful, some just for fun - Magic 8 Ball in my pocket!), and have corresponded with some really great people. I've even actually contributed answers to a few questions :).

So here are some other links. And I'm even trying my hand at Windows Mobile 6.5 widgets! (Okay, so far just apps to launch web pages, but hey? You've got to start somewhere!)

MobileMatt's Fuzeberry - Skins, themes and widgets

To use widgets, you MUST be running WinMo 6.5, and then you need to download and install the enable widgets cab (you'll need to right-click and "Save As...").
Here are my widgets (you'll need to right-click and "Save As..."):
Simple web-page launchers:

• Karen About Genealogy. If you do genealogical research, check out my mother's blog. She's a certified genealogist, a member of the Southern Genealogical Society, and becoming quite a well-received lecturer.
• Golden Kite (store). If you do large cross-stitch or fine art cross-stitch, I highly recommend Golden Kite! They use all crossed stitches (no backstitching or fractional stitches!) and blend their colors so nicely that your finished piece will be a really good replica of the original, and will be an heirloom piece to treasure!
• Matthew Ebel dot net. If you like piano rock, I highly recommend Matthew Ebel! He's a great performer and a great guy. And he makes his own beer!
• Matthew Ebel dot net. And if you like what you hear from matthewebel.net, follow him on Twitter!
• Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. RAmen!