According to the press materials, Palm hadn't intended to announce a timeframe for the
3G GSM version of the
Pre this week, but Ed Colligan can pretty much do and say whatever he pleases -- it's one of the perks of wearing the CEO hat -- and he's apparently mentioned in an interview with IDG that it'll roll out in the first half of 2009. That puts the model right in line with the launch window for the CDMA-based Sprint version, giving the carrier virtually zero exclusivity on the global stage -- so if 1337 h4x0rz can figure out how to unlock the thing (and if we were betting folk, we'd wager they can), this all means EDGE-only Pres could end up on AT&T and T-Mobile USA lickety-split. Even if that means losing the European 3G guts, you know you'd buy it. Come on now, don't lie to yourself.
posted Jan 9th 2009 2:00PM
I would not buy one. I kind of need 3G for any type of reception whatsoever where I live. Also I'm sick of these companies excluding bands. Please include all bands. Please. Palm is an American company why diss Americans by excluding American bands? I don't care how much Sprint paid you have some damn integrity.
The radios installed on phones are just a question of cost. Europe and Asia don't use GSM 850MHz so why would they include it and unnecessarily inflate the price? That would be like adding PAL support to all TV's sold in America. Makes no sense.
Makes sense if your a European who travels to the U.S. But I guess there aren't any Europeans who travel to the U.S. so maybe you're right...
Hey, you live in the U.S. and want the Pre? Stop whining and sign up for Sprint service. It's that easy.
yay! europe doesn't get screwed this time. ok...well...not as much anyway.
btw, is there a video anywhere of palm's keynote? and yes, of course i already read engadget's liveblog.
I'm confused, are they saying is if you unlock a gsm version i can only use edge??:S:S
explain
oh and Here you go Friend.
KeyNote Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6l0birqeig&feature=related
click related videos to see the other parts
@dalus87
It's because the Europe-version of the phone would only support European bands of 3G. So, while you could technically use the 3G radio in the phone, you will never get a signal in America.
hmm interesting...
i'm not in the states, i'm in Jamaica,
So my options for a carrier narrows down to Claro and "LIME" if they ever get their 3g service up
So it means 3G in South America out of the box?
Yaya!
@ From my Cube
stop being so loyal to verizon, you don't owe them anything nor have they ever done anything for you. as for the phone never letting you down: in europe your not on verizon...your on something else. and your lucky your employer pays the bill.
if you can't figure out what verizon locked on your phone...your not a power user. your definition of a power user would be half the women i know (biiiigggg talkers/texters)
I can't believe serious power users, who are the market for this phone, would want to have anything to do with T-Mobile. I can see wanting to use it on Verizon, but T-Mobile? Really? And many people - yours truly included - are avoiding the iPhone because it's chained to AT&T, which is the only carrier in my memory to require regional outage updates on Engadget. I just don't know how many people are really going to go all out to import a GSM device like that just to put it on a more expensive, less effective network.
You're disregarding travelers who actually need a worldphone.
Um...power users that don't have $150 a month on a cell phone bill for a decent amount of minutes, data, and text messages. I've spent *half" the cost using the iPhone (EDGE) on T-mobile than I would be paying with at&t for the same service (1000 minute/unlimited data/text)
i wanna import but i'm not in the states, and even though there's a cdma carrier where i'm from,
i kinda like having a sim card,
ive had my number for 5 years with 5 different phones, its sentimental :'(
There are power users on Verizon? They are the king of locking down phones and disabling features. If I was a power user on Verizon then I'd be really disappointed.
I like T-Mobile because they offer absolutely no additional services beyond voice and data coverage. They don't load some crappy music store or video streaming service onto their phones, they just give you the phones as the manufacturers intended them.
@chefgon_ign
By these terms I would consider myself a "power user" on VZW, my BB8830 WE doesnt seem to have any features locked out...FYI: 2000 mins usage a month, email and data with the global roaming plan, close to 500+ of those minutes are used in europe or asia....thankfully my employer pays the phone bill but the phone has never let me down and nor has VZW service
Power users want the quality and global usage of a GSM phone. Power users want a provider who isn't out to constantly screw them. Power users want a provider with a full deployment testing process so they don't flub huge launches. I don't know why you wouldn't want T-Mobile, unless you live in a backwater.
I bought my unlocked Centro in Hong Kong and it works fine on T-Mobile. I would buy a GSM Pre in a heartbeat overseas as I don't really care about 3G compatibility due to battery drain but wifi and a better camera would be nice not to mention the potential of the new O/S which looks great. Oh, and did I mention the screen?
That beret was totally unnecessary.
I thought it was kind of cute.
it was hilarious lol
Actually, kudos to engadget for one of the more hilarious graphics EVAARRRRRR. so friggin funny.
A stripey shirt and string of onions would have covered the screen up.
Nice touch, but what would a truly "European" Palm Pre look like? We'll need a beret, a sombrero, lederhosen, etc. etc...
Or just slap the EU flag on it and be done :P
I don't know but it would be awesome.
I'm still wondering what happened to that picture of the battery compartment on this phone. It disappeared yesterday.
I wish Palm all the best, but this thing doesn't look very good (from what i can see) compare that to Iphone.
Unless you've watched the UI in motion on some of the videos, they just looking at it is limiting.
This thing is like an iPhone on steroids.
Cool. I'll pre-order as soon as they launch. Although that could depend on network providers.
I thought u had sprint,. A dieing signal,.dee dee deee!
And of course, no mention of Canada. WTF, why are we always the tech ghetto of the world? I was frankly SHOCKED that we got the iPhone 3G at the same time as the rest of the world... Still no sign of an Android phone hitting the market up here either.
Cos you're nothing more than a hat to us.
Or, a beret.
Agreed. I think it is irresponsible for Palm to think that "if they don't have Sprint, it must be Europe." Canada wants this phone too. With an operating system called WebOS, then why would you want to use with with a slow web? (unlocked europe version used here).
Joe that's only quebec
Either way, whenever it comes to us we will overpay for it since Rogers basically has a monopoly.
I kinda need a new phone and I do not care about the 3G since the campus has wifi.
You intend to live on campus your whole life?
It is what it is. Carriers matter, whether we like it or not. While I applauded Palm's move to lauch the Treo sans-carrier in the US I still haven't seen or heard of a single in-the-wild report.
AT&T should get it soon enough, or, possible, their own WebOS phone that will be exclusive to them.
Ugh. As a USA/Asia person, I'll be the first to whine: even the Storm has GSM roaming, as do plenty of Verizons (Saga, z6c etc...). This is hardly a satisfactory situation, if indeed the US version is CDMA only and the Euro version will likely be 900/1900/2100. That means for us its either USA only and get a crapphone in Asia for more money or go without 3G in the States. This is what makes the Fuze so tempting: it supports all 4 3G bands. Hopefully the Pre will get a quadband 3G modem too, though its unlikely given that the Fuze seems to be exception rather than the rule.
As a US (company) EU (citizen) Asia (resident) I completely agree!! This device seems to have the potential to be a winner, so Palm, if you want to capture the business and power users, keep the extra radio/frequency and make it a real worldphone, otherwise I would have to buy another brand and even cheap handset that easily handles the different continents (like they did already 5 years ago). Actually, when US colleagues come over to China, HongKong, Japan, it is pittyfull how they struggle to be able to use their cellphones.
ok please whe will Sprint have it. I have been holding out for a while. illeven upgrade to the everything plan. Just dont make it more then $300.. Damn you Sprint i know you set a high price i just know it.
this phone is jamie hyneman approved
Nah, that's just a myth.
Busted!
http://ui29.gamespot.com/156/mythwalrus_2.jpg
favorite picture ever
I really really like this phone. Gotta wait for some real-world reviews before i buy it though!
Yeah.. the phone looks nice. I can't buy anything from them after that Claus crap though.
I wish Verizon could get this and/or the iPhone. Who uses Sprint/T-Mobile anymore? Verizon had a chance with the Storm, but that only lasted 3 days before I returned it. Blackberry - please see videos of Pre and learn how to make your Storm not lag.
>Who uses Sprint/T-Mobile anymore?
Millions of people who don't appreciate being nickeled and dimed for features that should've been enabled by default.
I just cant help thinking that these cellphone manufacturers are just screwing themselves over constantly. I can understand a first generation device going onto a single provider. After all you can then use that as an excuse to make them help with your R&D costs, and when you are done with a first rev device your division is quite in the red with the need for a cash infusion ASAP. However I cant see why you would do it beyond that.
The extra revenue from reaching ~20% to now 50%+ must be more then most cellphone providers would ever be willing to pay. I can understand a year or so ago when only a few 3G cell radios supported the T-Mobile bands, but now quad band 3G radios are available for only a small premium and becoming common.
We are even starting to see 3G devices that support both GSM and CDMA based networks, with that suddenly you can address 100% of the north American market and almost the entirety of the world market (minus a few that don't operate on the "traditional" 4 bands).
I like what I see. Was there any mention on whether it can sync categories with OS X?
Oh, and regarding "exclusive deals" — they can go and shove them, all of them.
Will this phone support Exchange? I'm tried of waiting for Windows Mobile to get better...
All good points. However, an important questions is:
Will it blend?
2007 called...they want you to come back to see if you blend...
I see what you did when she said that it would blend.
Given that all high end phones such as this one always come out locked to a specific carrier. I'm happy with their choice of Sprint. Sprint's plans are by far the best in the business when it comes to getting all you can out of this phone at the best price. I just want confirmation that I don't have to upgrade to one of the Everything plans to use it like the Instinct.
The challenge that Palm faces is that this is not so revolutionary that it will spark the same adoption rate as the iPhone did. The Pre is not to the current smartphone market what the iPhone was to the smartphone (or general handheld) market in the summer of '07.
I think this looks really nice, but I am not sure that this device sold/supported through a single US carrier will keep Palm afloat.
Time will tell.
That's because the iPhone isn't a smart phone, its a feature phone. Its missing to many ability's to be a smart phone.
So does this mean that when Verizon buys Sprint the Pre will work on the US's largest network?
To be frank, I wouldn't WANT to run a device like this purely on EDGE. It's designed for the internet, constantly integrating. Can EDGE keep up?
If it's cracked, we'd buy one?
NO WAY!
2009 is the year that handset providers will release either multiple Android, LiMo, WinMo, or Symbian (the new stuff) phones. By the time the l33t folks jailbreak a Pre, those other phones will be out. RIM is a darkhorse too in this whole mix.
Anyway, one should look for a phone that supports AWS and Linux. That's enough room for you to grow (in the US, SE Asia *and* EU) before 4G comes into play--that's at least 2 years away.
RIM is a darkhorse? They just released the storm.
I had
Handspring Deluxe + Ericsson Worldphone (on Voicestream)
Merged to
Treo 600 (on T-Mobile, they bought Voicestream)
Upgraded to
Treo 680 (on AT&T, T-Mobile would not subsidize purchase and AT&T would)
all with Palm OS
I'd love me some Palm Pre as soon as those "l337 haxxors" break the lock. But most of those services that Sprint offers would not come with it - this is how they are gouging now. Sure you can unlock the hardware, but it is the services that have the real value.