A friend is looking to sell his Dopod 838 (not the Pro), and buy a second-hand Treo 680. He shared with me an interesting insight.

According to him, the Palm OS does a better job of handling his thousands of contacts (around 4,000!). Before switching to the Dopod, a windows Mobile PDA phone, his TX did a great job. Despite the numerous entries, the PDA proved responsive when browsing through them.

Things are apparently different in Windows Mobile. Perhaps it's the way the OS handles contact info. Whatever the reason, looking through the contacts involved frequent slowdowns, resulting in a frustrating user experience. It felt like the OS couldn't handle the sheer number of contacts. And having quick and easy access to friends, family, and acquaintances is important to my friend, a social person who makes a living as a salesperson.

Maybe that's not the case with other Windows Mobile 5 products. Regardless, the problem was bad enough that my friend decided to sell his Dopod at a loss (to get rid of the gadget quickly), and return to familiarity of the Palm OS.

What are your experiences with the address books of Windows Mobile 5 and Palm OS devices?