Sony Ericsson T608 phones available from Sprint!

I posted most of the following over at Prius-2G, but thought others might find it useful:

T608s are available directly from Sprint.

I recently got a message from someone posted on this
group about selling T608s and that there was a limited run of only 10,000.

So, I went to my local Sprint store in Columbia, MD. They looked it up in
their database and said that I had to go online to order one from the
SprintPCS.com site. I did that and they were not available there, but
there was a toll-free number to call, which I did.

They didn't seem to have any shortage of phones for sale.
But maybe you have to have an existing Sprint account.
The number I called was: 888-253-1315.

I spoke with Jackie in telesales. She quoted me a price of
$199 plus $5 shipping plus $10 tax, for a total of about $215.
This is much cheaper than those selling on ebay, some of
which have been posted for over $300.

As I wasn't sure that I wanted to buy the phone the first
time I called, she told me to call her back on 877-778-7040
and ask for her, which I did. The phone arrived two days
later, though she said to expect it in a week.

I am an existing Sprint customer. There are no discounts or
rebates on this phone, but it works very well with the
service. It took me a few times to get it conncected, but it
automatically connects now every time I get into the car
with it on.

Phone book transferred fine; it only transfers the first
number associated with a name, so set up the phone book
on your phone first with only one number - the one you
want to appear in the car, then transfer the book (called
business cards in the phone) and then go back to the
phone and add additional numbers under each name.
At least this is the way I did it.

I really like this phone, even though it is not a flip phone, which I would
have preferred. It has voice dialing built in, so you don't need to pay
extra to Sprint to subscribe to voice dialing for those times you are away
from your car making calls. It also has a speakerphone function that you
can activate in the middle of a call. If you get a PocketPC or Palm device
with Bluetooth, you should also be able to exchange phonebooks with
your phone. I haven't tried that yet, as I don't have a Bluetooth enabled
handheld.

I also went to

http://www.cellphoneshop.net/cellphoneshop/

and ordered some extra batteries for $12 and a couple of
charger cords for the car ($6) and an adapter that allows the car
charger cord to be plugged into a wall outlet ($6).
I got a couple of these, too. I keep the combo in my travel bag.
That way I don't have to take my original cord on trips; just the one and the AC adapter.
They came in about a week from Hong Kong, and work well.

Hope this isn't too much information!

Paul