Pre deets continue to trickle out; Office 2007 support in the mix
By Nilay Patel 
posted May 5th 2009 6:38PM
posted May 5th 2009 6:38PM
[Via PalmInfoCenter]
posted May 5th 2009 6:38PM
HP Pre 3
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In about 6months after the release I believe.
And unfortunately there are quite a few people here in the US who have no desire to use either of the two GSM providers we have to choose from so CDMA isn't such a bad idea for us. Considering Palm is a US company, they likely chose the US carrier who gave them the best deal. Sprint is in need of a flagship phone so they likely cut the best offer. For those of us U.S. residents who don't like paying more for less, this is a good thing. For the rest of the world, there will be a GSM version soon enough. It's not like there aren't all kinds of non-US GSM phones that we never even see here.
I never understand this. To me, CDMA produces clearer sound, less background noise and NO SPEAKER NOISE when my phone rings (in the car, home, wherever).
It's funny you say this, I have been saying the same thing in reverse for the iPhone. I work for a CDMA carrier (though, admittedly, we also have a GSM overlay) and I personally turned up our EVDO network last year. With the only 3G wireless in the state being CDMA, I've been waiting for something to be comparable to the iPhone for quite a while.
It has always bothered me that CDMA has the last pick of good phones. It makes sense though since GSM was adopted world-wide. GSM seems so open by comparison to CDMA - but not the iPhone. They locked the thing down and, even though I was excited about the product, I couldn't justify purchasing one - 1.) I'd either have to buy AT&T service or crack it for my 2G GSM network and hope the next update doesn't break me - 2.) Apple and AT&T would have to go to you know where and get frostbite before I would give them money for a product and service that they have manipulated into being exclusive when there is no other reason besides blatant greed to make it so. Consumers in support of a free/open market that purchased an iPhone should be ashamed of themselves.
Sprint's 6 month exclusivity is relatively reasonable, or at least consistent with other phone releases. They don't have service at my home, but it doesn't look like that is going to be a problem when the Pre comes out as I should be able to pick one up and program it myself for my own network.
@benjin
If Sprint is just lacking coverage in your house (but has coverage in most other parts of your area) you could look into the AIRWAVE. Its essentially a little mini sprint tower that you plug into your broadband modem to get full Sprint signal in your house.
I have tried to put my name on waiting lists at 2 Sprint Stores and Best Buy but, no one will let me. I even offered to pay for it up front to secure the sale but, still nothing.
Does anyone think it will hard to get one the day it does come out?
There will probably be an official pre-order campaign closer to release.
Shouldn't be too hard, I'm still going in the morning, but I'm not waiting outside the store. I'm going to Best Buy btw.
If I see a line I'm going to be so pissed.
GSM version for europe...
NOW !
I see 8th when I go to Sprint.com/pre
Where do you see the "8th" on Sprint.com/pre?
The day number on the spinning Palm Pre on the Sprint.com/pre website has the number 8 on the calendar.
That "8" is just the icon for the Calendar application, which seems to be a live icon, always updated to show today's date. Suffice to say, I don't think this is any kind of a hint.
Active icons are a nice touch, especially so if other apps, besides the Calendar, can take advantage of it. The overwhelming majority of press shots show the same #8, but there are some notable exceptions:
Here's a "1"
- http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/01/palm-os-emulation-coming-to-the-pre-and-webos/
Palm's second "Meet Pre" video has a "4"
- http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/02/second-meet-pre-video-retains-calming-effects-shows-off-third/
NOTE: The first "Meet Pre" video doesn't have a number on the Calendar icon, so perhaps this is a more recent addition?
And here's one with an "11"
- http://www.intomobile.com/2009/01/24/palm-nixed-microsd-on-palm-pre-for-all-the-right-reasons.html
By the way, for all the people saying its vaporware, there was actually a longer time between the announcement of the original iPhone and the release. The announcement was January 9, 2007, and the release date was June 29, 2007. The Pre was announced January 8, 2009, and if it makes a release date of June 7, 2009, it will have in fact had a smaller window between announcement and release than the first iPhone.
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/09/iphone-announced/
And to add to this, what about all the photo's of the Pre being used in public by other people... On the train and in the parades? I'm very patient, I'd rather receive this phone a few months to the end of the year to have it completed instead of being rushed because some loser technophobe can't have his toys when he wants it.
Patience is a virtue; wouldn't you rather have a full moist cake with all the trimmings? Or would you rather have an uncooked cake that will not be fluffy, moist and tastey.
Do the math people.
@GroovDude, very well said, but should of finished it with. "Do the cooking by the book people". Would have went much better with the metaphor.
Yeah, but Apple gave the price during the 1/9/07 MacWorld announcement as your link notes. With the Pre we're still waiting for that detail, and we still don't know what month the Pre will be on sale.
@Groovdude
You must have loved Vista eventual release..
@BB
I heard a lot of people complaining with Vista's short comings and problems, however it was proved that most issues with Vista was because people didn't really know what they were doing.
I have vista on my Quad, XP on a laptop and OS X on a Powerbook and MacPro at work with VMware running XP... I have no problems with all of them, because I actually have a clue with what I'm doing and know not to just click next on every single window when installing an application. ^_^
@Templarian:
Ya, but I was kinda crunching on time so my creativity was on rush. But I see what you did thar ^_^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQp5l4-sfFA
I have been so turned off by the Treo that I have absolutely NO desire to look at another Treo-like keyboard again for the next two years.
They should have gone with a new aesthetic for that keyboard. Those gel looking buttons just scream 2005.
There's gonna be a WebOS device on AT&T shortly. Smaller and thinner than the Iphone with a real keyboard! Very interesting...it's called the "Eos" (possibly)
Which is still a complete rumor. There is also a rumor about this same phone that it'll be released on Sprint as well. Palm has a history of favoring Sprint with their phones.
The cries of "vaporware" are funny.
Doubly so because as late as January 7th, Palm's Nova OS was the very definition of vaporware. But as of January 8th ... no more.
Palm has never waivered from their frustratingly vague release date/span: First half of 2009. WE'VE been guessing all along, but that's us. The June 7th rumor seems to have some weight behind it, though. That and time is running out.
Weight behind it?
Let me spell it out for you: if they release this phone on or after June 8th nobody will care.
(SJ Keynote)
So obviously June 7th is the last day that Palm can hold a launch day before fading into obscurity. Assuming they are scrambling to product a paltry 1 million phones, they WILL wait until the very last day to release this thing. On Sprint. In the US only.
I look forward to Zune-like sales figures. A huge massive success, with a few caveats (ignore the market leader... ignore the market leader... ignore the market leader..)
Hey mike this is the same thing people said about the Pre being introduced at CES a day before Mac World...now how many people actually remember what happened at that Mac World? No more DRM is the only thing most anyone can remember. Which one is talked about more. No I'm not talking about on the boards of Roughly Drafted or Apple Insider, I mean by the average person. How many people do you see talking about iWork 09?
Remember when the G1 was supposed to be overshadowed by the October keynote?
The fact is, Apple really doesn't have much going on with this next version of the iPhone, and unless they pull something short of miraculous that wasn't mentioned before it's probably not going to get all the worshiping it got when it was first released. And going from their track record on previous keynotes from the past year or so it's probably not going to be the spiritual awakening you think it's going to be.
@insky
err, no. they didn't talk about a new iPhone or even new iPhone software at Macworld (that was in March). So it's warped logic to assume that because the Pre got more press than the iPhone in your January scenario (where nothing new about the iPhone was demoed) that Palm can overcome Apple's marketing blitz should they release new hardware in the WWDC keynote.
The sad thing is, I want some decent competition to the iPhone and the Pre looks great; I hope they don't screw it up by releasing the day before WWDC - and I do think that would be a monumental error on their part. Even the most devoted Pre fans should be able to see that, from a business POV, such a move wouldn't be a great idea. Lower Pre adoption will lower the pressure on competitors such as Apple to innovate further, and that hurts everyone.
Mike was right, to an extent, re: fading into obscurity. Sorry.
@cbw87
Macworld 2009 was January 5th - 9th, so the Pre at CES vs. Macworld comment was, itself, valid.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macworld_Conference_%26_Expo#2009
@mike
I said the June 7th rumor is what had weight behind it. The Pre, webOS and Palm has LOTS of people behind it.
And what Keynote, presumably from Steve Jobs, are you referring to? He didn't speak at Macworld and took his leave of absence on January 14th. As far as I know, we haven't heard from him directly since.
The first half of 2009 ends on June 30th, no sooner. Palm has never said any different. There's nothing magical about June 7th, so what are you talking about?
Ah, now I see Mike's logic, twisted as it is. June 8th will be Steve Job's coming-back-out party at Apple's WWDC. I didn't care enough to know that and still don't, except that I'm glad he's healthier.
Launching the Pre by June 7th is an artificial goal. Good, yes, but hardly the make-or-break that you claim it to be. If they need the time, they had better well take the time. If Palm releases the Pre undercooked they, themselves, are overcooked.
And I have some news for you as far as sales go: the Pre doesn't have to "out-anything" the iPhone in order to be a success. I would actually be shocked if the Pre out did the iPhone in any way ... at launch, at least.
I readily admit that the iPhone was a genuine paradigm shift in mobile hardware and software design, but Apple's been complacent and Palm is in the perfect place to capitalize on that. They have nothing left to lose.
@ Colonel whatever
You missed my point, better luck next time.
You Idrones need to chill the hell out.
There just phones. Get a life.
If you'd like to discuss the Pre or are looking for some updates, check out http://prediscussion.com.
The more i see and read about the pre the lest interested i am .
That's just personal opinion. I have Spring with Touch Pro, and it works just fine! I have better coverage with faster internet Access then my friends iPhone 3g phone. It all depends on the area honestly.
So stop being a fanboi...
I'll get it day one. Whether it is may 17th or june 7th. Not because of the hype or anything really, other than the videos of it in action. I need a phone that has 1.) tethering 2.) a capacitive touch screen 3.) speed both with one app and while multi-tasking.(multi tasking is a must, and whomever says otherwise must think that cut and paste weren't that important until recently.)
So what does this mean exactly, that if you have the Pre charging/transferring data via USB it won't accept any calls?
that's kind of a drag.
hopefully an OS update can fix this.
@Silas Miller
Sorry, tethering seems to not be an option. It was leaked by Sprint at one point, but then pulled.
Palm Pre no longer features data tethering on Sprint website
- http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/palm-pre-no-longer-features-data-tethering-on-sprint-website/
More recent information specifically mentions that tethering will not be an option.
"REMEMBER: The Pre phone will not have a Phone as Modem plan option."
Some Palm Pre Questions
- http://insidesprintnow.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/sprint-palm-pre-release-date-soon/
I would love to be wrong, but signs point to no.
"All calls are routed to voicemail when the Pre is in USB Mode. Slight downer, I know – but how often are you really gonna have the Pre in USB Mode? And even then, not more than a couple minutes @ a time."
I have my Touch in "USB Mode" for about 8 hours a day. This is a HUGE downer.
I wish you could set phones to forward calls in USB mode.
Funny story...
I was on the phone with a gal from sprint in regards to my account -- she was overseas if you know what I mean. Anyway I told her I didn't want to upgrade until the Pre came out and she said that it won't be out till mid to late june and cost the same as the Touch Pro. I think she slipped cuz it was as if she read it off her notes...curious.
@Groovdude
What exactly is Fernando a "fanboi" of?
He evidently thinks the Pre is gonna bomb, so that makes him a "fanboi" of what, exactly?
Apple?
Hello
I remember when I bought APPL stock for 7.30 a share, and got a lecture from my father about wasting money in dead companies. I'm hoping this does well, http://www.3gp-converter.net so much so that I even put down some cash for PALM as well.