Palm Pre: more of everything you ever wanted to know
By Paul Miller 
posted May 25th 2009 5:21PM
posted May 25th 2009 5:21PM
Read - Palm Pre: everything you ever wanted to know
Read - Everything else at our giant Palm Pre hub
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Don't have to, all we have to do is look at post from yesterday and most question answered.
Sorry, meant to say that you've been covering this all weekended.
Just trying to milk all the hits they can before the pre becomes boring again
Oh, is this the overhyped Palm Pre that everyone's been talking about and ready to put a dent in iPhone sales? I had heard that a total four units will be available in Manhattan on June 6th. That should make quite a statement of the power of Palm and the mighty Pre. One thing for certain, with that number of Pres being available on launch it's sufficient to say I'll never see one being used in Manhattan. Not that it matters since Manhattan is the home of iPhone Central and iPhones are king.
I think this fact tells me far more than I want to know about the Pre. They'll be pretty much non-existent in the northeastern part of the U.S.
Oh, what's this? A new phone from Palm?
Calm down there Grimey!
Wow, you're kidding. It doesn't even look like a Centro.
That's because it's not.
What is the advertised battery life according to palm and Sprint?
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=palm+pre+battery+life
:/
Claimed talk time is 5 hours. Sadly, that is entirely irrelevant on a large screen EVDO smartphone. The handset has a small battery at 1150 mAh. Those talk times are based on screen off, no use of GPS, no use of wifi, no use of data connection, no use of anything but the 1x CDMA for voice. No matter how efficient the chipset, it still has to drive a sizable screen for all its activities, handle data connections, processor power from use of the GUI, programs, bluetooth, etc. And those hardware and feature elements chips are power hungry.
It is probably battery life will not be a strong point with that small capacity battery, especially for people who don't pony up for the $70 handsfree charger and a car charger.
@B3astofthe3ast
I believe he was asking a question,
not wondering what google is.
@B3astofthe3ast
Google has an article on top from arstechnica that claims battery life will probably suck...
@Pascal
Do you have a link for that info?
I find it strange that palm has said nothing about battery life.
Just so you fail, I'm going to vote you up...wait, it might be reverse psychology! hmm...I'll just hit the the [!]
That phone looks really nice. I kind of want a change of tone from my iPhone, but I can't this. This phone is a Sprint exclusive, and I hate Sprint, no offense. If this phone comes to T-mobile, I may get this phone.
"I hate Sprint, no offense"
Have you used Sprint?
I have been with them for 3 years now (formerly a Verizon customer). I've had a couple of customer service annoyances, but overall I have had a great experience.
In the D.C. area, I always have a strong signal and 3G internet is fast on my HTC touch diamond.
Also, in those circumstances where I had a bad experience (a billing error and a troublesome phone exchange), I wrote a letter to their main office and promptly received replies, along with credit toward my bill to make up for the mistakes.
My wife has used Sprint, and she's personally attested to horrible customer service. Not simply for one instance of how somebody might interact, but for how she has. She CALLED them, and on issues of billing... they've been awful. Like, having a plan that has a certain amount of text messages included, and being charged much sooner, or issues with minutes, etc. Personally, I was with Sprint when Nextel switched over. Nextel's website was always a pain in the ass, often telling me that I didn't have permission to view my own billing statement, before changing its mind after clicking around in frustration. Their consumer report ratings are in the TOILET. I'm sorry, they simply ARE, and they introduced their "Simply Everything" plan simply to stem their precipitous rate of attrition. This has all been reported on before, so... anyone providing a "positive" note on Sprint should be saying "lately they've been better" or "I know they've got a poor reputation on customer service, but..." Trying to start with, "Have you even used them", is woefully the wrong foot to launch from. Personally, I've never used T-Mobile, but their customer service reputation proceeds them by leaps and bounds.
Ive had Sprint ( and Nextel for work ) and I didnt like them either. Plus coverage is extremely spotty in the area I live in.
I would have to say the best most advanced carrier is ATT, but theyre also expensive. I currently use US Cellular and despite their drawbacks, they have been the best carrier Ive been with yet. Great coverage in my area. Great reps. Theyve always replaced my handsets, no questions asked. Never had a billing problem with them either.
Plus they dont have data roaming so I can use my Windows Mobile data plan anywhere in the US, even if Im not on their network, and I dont get charged for roaming fees.
Oh yeah, and theyve got free incoming minutes too. Since I rarely make outgoing calls on my cell phone, this is a godsend.
I guess it's casual to say "I hate Sprint, Sprint sucks", mainly from people who have never had Sprint. If you follow the herd, you will end up on the grill.
I couldn´t agree less, Sprint really sucks. Over here I got 0 coverage which results in continious roaming together with massive bills and when I call the helpdesk they don´t even want to speak Dutch to me.. I mean do I ask to much to speak the local language to someone from the Netherlands?
@dano
I agree. US Cellular is the best network I've had so far. used to be on cellular one before it became at&t. Free incoming everything (text/phone calls/pictures) is great. and they recently added free battery replacement for your phone--swap your dead one for a fresh battery for free.
@JZ: I'm from the Netherlands and as far as I know Sprint doesn't operate here or in any of the bordering countries (I may be wrong here). So, I don't see why they should speak Dutch at customer support (which I assume is not in the Netherlands either).
:|
Gimme an unlocked GSM version, then let's talk!
To be honest, the phone is a bit redundant without 3G, especially with all that hot internet capabilities, email and push notifications. A GSM only version is very much a wasted opportunity to fully exploit the phone's all benefits.
No 3G wtf?
homeboy is confused.
it HAS 3G. 3G is not only GSM
@Homeboy
GSM != no 3G
he was saying that a GSM version would be like that because it would not have 3G. We all know the Pre is 3G.
...it WOULD have 3G though
I think what he (Homeboy) is trying to say is... An unlocked GSM Euro Version will not have 3G access in the US, which is true. The unlocked GSM Pre will only have Edge access and will not be able to access a lot of features.
Are the Pre-lovers soon satisfied until the launch? There coudn't possibly be anything more to know before the hands-on??
Just found out I'm getting mine this Thursday (28th). I have a trainning class for it, and every attendee gets a free one, with free service.
um...doubtful
pictures or it doesnt happen
Umm who cares?
Me and lots of other people?
ive seen conflicting answers to this question, so ill ask again. can the pre (or any webOS phone) sideload programs, or will all apps need to be downloaded through the app store? one of my pet peeves about my iphone is having to get everything through itunes (thus forcing me the jailbreak), so im hoping webOS will allow sideloading right off the bat.
you can load them wherever you want
*from wherever
I.e. they can be downloaded on your PC and downloaded
@Phoenix
can you provide a source? the folks over at gizmodo stated that apps would exclusive to the app store, a la the iphone. then again, they are gizmodo after all
every story on it I've ever read is my source.
@Phoenix
Huh?
From the stories i've read,
you cannon get apps from your computer whatsoever.
period.
A quick google search...
http://www.precentral.net/palm-ceo-ed-colligan-talks-pre-investors
"Not only will Palm have an app store at launch, they're not locking down the device so you can only install apps from their app store. You'll be able to "side load" apps directly over USB or over the air from any provider. Good news!"
from what software...?
USB drag and drop? I'd assume that the same files that WOULD be downloaded from the app store would get transferred by USB and then would install the same way.
yeah like every other palm phone does...
Palm Pre, what the hell is this?
I am 12 years old and what is this.
@B3astofthe3ast
Good one. Lol. I did once myself but yeah report him.
Has there been any mention about voicemail? I've had visual voicemail on the Instinct for a year now, and I gotta be honest, I'd gonna have a hard time going back to the old way.
no visual voicemail. at least not initially. sorry.
I want to see the iPhone v. Pre dont by engadget :)
The Pre is MOSTLY hype with little actual substance to back it up. After launch it will simply be another forgotten smart phone for a select small group of business users that want an alternative to a blackberry or a winmo device. It will not, and I don't think Palm is even trying to compete with the iPhone. The Palm's app store will never compete with Apple's app store, even considering 98% of the stuff offered is utter crap and finding the gems can be a little daunting. Palm or anyone else for that matter will anytime soon come up with a media service to really outdo iTunes. Even though I do not purchase music or movies from iTunes, I still love to use it to keep all of my media organized and could not imagine using any other program to do so. So if I cant sync the device with iTunes, I don't want it. Alot of other people feel the same way to. One of the big selling points of the Pre is the physical keyboard. Believe it or not, the physical keyboard on a mobile device is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Many other phone manufactures are doing away with physical keyboards in order to cut down on cost and shrink the form factor of the device. My wife has a LG without a physical keyboard and she can text on it faster than she could with her old Blackberry. You get used to it if you just take the time. And no I am not an Apple Fanboy, as my iPhone and Nano are the only Apple products I have ever purchased. And I do realize all of the faults of the current iPhone and can't wait to see what Cupertino offers up next week. All Im sayin is the Pre waayy overhyped and will be as quickly forgotten as the Storm. Feel free to down-rank me now.
No.
No reason to down rank you,
you speak the truth my friend.
But no one will believe you until the pre has failed, which will be soon.
Much like all before it g1/storm/n97 etc.
So just because you can't sync it with your precious lame-tunes is over hyped? Riiight...... App store smchap-store, most people who have Iphones, 80% of them are jailbroken.
As for the physical keyboards, they definitely are not a thing of the past. In fact, I believe no phone has mastered the touch keyboard yet.
For someone who doesn't think the Pre is contesting the Iphone you feel pretty strongly.
i don't understand why people like itunes so much. i think wmp does a much better job of organizing music.
"And no I am not an Apple Fanboy, as my iPhone and Nano are the only Apple products I have ever purchased. "
You are just one in a series of pathetic Apple users that cant fathom the idea that people actually may "Think Different" and use something that didn't come from the company with the fruit logo.
You clowns have repeated the same tired ass diatribes on almost every Pre thread. Hell you do it on almost every smartphone-related story.
WE GET IT!
You dont want people to buy products from a non-Apple source. For reasons of wanting to protect your product investment to just being whacked out nutcase fanatics to a corporation, you have made complete asses out yourselves trying desperately to condemn a product that you have never used a single day, and trying REALLY hard to make people hate it.
WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
Obviously you must not think too highly of that Apple phone if you feel the need to attack the Pre every flipping chance you get.
If that damn phone of yours is so great, then it will be blanking obvious.
Besides, it isnt your money being used to buy one, so dont worry about what these people want.
@yaounit
WMP organizes music?
Last time i used it (3 days ago)
it still did a horrible job.
And dont get me started on the dumb UI and unusable controls.
@ShirkPower
Well I've got options to browse my library by artist, album, songs, genre, and year in wmp. ability to sort by title, length, artist, really anything you can think of. i also get the album art of all the cds i have in whatever category i've selected. i really see no problem with it. i own a zune so i use the zune software and that does the job brilliantly. of course, i'm pretty meticulous about tagging my files correctly so i guess my library'd be easy to browse in any music program.
@yaounit
You just said work for word what itunes does,
only better.
The sheer terror of iPhone cultists is apparent in every panicked post declaring the Pre DOA. They are such puny losers - who try to compensate for their self-loathing by pointing to their "Jesus phone" as if it was a magical totem that transfers cool to them - that the idea that people may find something other than Cupertino Kool-Aid to be the flavor they prefer drives them mad. They believe that being part of a herd makes them special. They're wrong.
@ShirkPower
and how does it do it "better?"
I am gonna laugh my a$$ off next week if I actually drive by a Sprint or BBY store and actually see people camping out for one of these things. Even if they do, it will only be for one day. People were lining up every day for the first MONTH to get a hold of a 3G iPhone last year.
Ok, are you done now?
Did you fulfill your quota for "I'm an Apple troll, and I need to take a childish swipe at people because they want to buy a non-Apple device" club for today?
Do your required post troll chimp dance and call it a night.
@Look_Around_You
We betting money here?
Because im putting up my paycheck to say that the "troll" is right.
No need for fanboyism to see that the pre is not gonna sell like the iphone.
Who is the troll here?
@ShirkPower
I bet your mom, dad and handicap wifey. But I think besides your iphone none of the above communicates with you. I bet.
Some kind people are merely trying to educate the non-Apple users so they don't make a grievous mistake by purchasing a Palm Pre. Just consider it an act of charity to help the ignorant, OK. Now beat it with your own Palm, Pre-tard.
I not only dislike the Pre because it is overhyped but the Sprint service SU@KS big time. I have friends that have nextels for work and the complain all the time about the lousy service. ATT might not be all that great either, I do get dropped calls occasionally, but my 3G service with ATT works were I live, and I live up in the boonies of N GA up in the mountains almost 2 hrs from Atlanta. Ive checked and Sprint does not offer service up here.
Nextel (presumably iDEN) service quality is surely totally irrelevant to a device running on the Sprint PCS CDMA/EV-DO network?
Also lets see a month from now if anyone even cares enough to jailbreak a Pre. Probably not.
That's because its not a piece of crap like the iPhone was which was why they had to jailbreak it in the first place... Idiot.
Haha so jailbreaking your device is 'care' now? That justification/contradiction was the lamest excuse I've seen to defend that.
A month from now people won't be jailbreaking Pres because THEY WON'T HAVE TO. Unless I am mistaken, the Pre won't be locked down to only Palm-approved software like the iPhone is to only Apple-approved software. Hey look, another reason the Pre 1ups the iPhone: no need to jailbreak.
The only question i want to ask is - WHEN will the Pre be available to the REST of the world, unlocked?
So this device is running Windows Mobile, right?
WebOS supposedly sits on top of Windows Mobile CE. WebOS is basically just a user interface to put colorful icons on top of WinMo. Underneath is a creaky, old OS just waiting to crash whenever possible. That's why very few people have every had a chance to test review a Pre. The demo people had to be trained in using only certain functions in a certain order. If you try to use certain features out of order, the OS just freezes in a rainbow of colors and then crashes horribly to a black screen and a three minute reboot is required.
actually, you couldn't be more wrong. web OS has nothing to do with windows mobile. Like Access Linux Platform, the software is a successor to the older Palm OS and was developed by Palm, not Microsoft, and its kernel is Linux. And as someone who has briefly used a Pre (i work for Sprint, I know they aren't the greatest carrier, but hey it pays the bills), I want told anything regarding using features in a certain order, and I had no issues while I was using it.
Uh, isnt that type of thing frowned upon in the Apple world?
Just in the last Pre thread some Apple fans wanted Apple to bring lawsuits against Palm for supposedly "stealing" stuff from the iPhone, and now you hope they take cues from the Pre for the iPhone?
I am not sayin not to buy the device or that it is a piece of cr@p, I am simply stating that I believe it will not ultimately sell any better than other smart phone other than the iPhone. Is any one else saying that this device is not overhyped? Does anyone else really think this argument will even exist 2 months from now? Is the Pre really going to sell 1/4 of the amount of the iPhone, hmmm?
yes.
If you can't even take the time to proof-read your own comment for clarity, why should we care about your wild predictions? No one knows how well the Pre will sell! Are you afraid of it?
I don't know why people put so much in sales... I mean, obviously it has to sell well enough to make money, but beyond that?
Palm has said their long-term goal to be viable is to get 1% of the smartphone market... THAT is the bar they've set, not "killing the iPhone", which is impossible.
Well the icrap was over hype proof, no one I know has or need one and before you broke tails say something about income, i own 2 ps3 for the f@#K of it. And you want to make lame examples other phone not outsellin the craphone, here's another lame one: Sony makes more money than apple.
Even Sprint is telling their employees not to sell the Pre to the "wrong" customer!!! This launch is nothing but a big scheme to get people into Sprint stores and have no stock of Pre's but convince the customer that they are the "wrong" customer for a Pre but hey this Treo will be great for you!!!!
we get it, you're a stupid troll with nothing better to do than write a bunch of shit. Go away you stupid shit.
What do you mean, no stock? They have plenty of Pres in stock. Four Pres for sale in Manhattan should be more than enough to satisfy the unruly hordes of pissed-off urbanites. I have a feeling the manager of that Sprint store won't show up on June 6th.
I'll bet Apple is worried sick over the Pre putting a dent in iPhone sales.
A major part of phone sales is making sure customers get the right phone for their needs. If the Pre won't suit their needs, which can often only be determined by asking thorough open-ended questions, it's the responsibility of the salesperson to recommend something else. This reduces the number of returns (as well as the negative perception of the phone and company as fewer people will be upset when they get the wrong phone) as well as increases the amount of stock available to the people for which this is the right phone.
Just because some Apple fans get angry at that kind of thing doesn't mean that everybody who owns an iPhone is like that. In fact, I think that most people would agree that borrowing ideas is important as it allows ideas to evolve and improve rather than one company having the monopoly and it just staying the same.
Everything I see about this phone I like but the hardware is what concerns me. It's a beautiful design, I wouldn't expect anything less from these guys but I've owned a slider before and it didn't hold up very well to the constant use. What do you guys think?
I used to own a slider a couple of years ago and the sliding mechanism started to catch about 6 months in. Sliders these days seem to be pretty solidly made though. I've friends with G1s and touch pros and they haven't had any problems with the hardware.
Who wants to be told they made a bad choice when they bought a phone or any device? I have never seen such collective behaviour when someone challenges the decision of an Apple user - it's one for all and all for one.
Serious its good to have some banter and chat but some people take it as personal insults.
as a long time windows mobile user, I can say the palm's software does look really nice, its functionality is pretty good. I think Palm shot themselve's in the foot for locking it down to only sprint in the US.
I see ninja636z and others saying his iphone is the best thing since sliced bread, but lets take a look and see how solid their arguments are:
1) featurewise........pre
2) eye candy, ........pre
3) hardware eye candy........ split
4) legacy support.....the pre wins.......well, the iphone doesn't have any legacy nothing to compare here so its really not a win, but the pre hold's this down.
5) games, the iphone wins....I say this because really hasn't been much said about the pre and games.
6) apps, the pre hasn't been released yet, but the platform is really easy to program for so this is still up in the air for now.
7) multitasking.........pre
8) screen size.........iphone
9) out of the box config ..........the pre hasn't been released yet so this is up in the air, but I'm leaning towards the pre based on what they have shown for it.
10) camera..........pre, because it can shoot video
based on this, I would say the pre is winning so far.
ninja636z was saying the pre will never sell as much as the iphone, this i can't say one way or the other because it really hasn't been released yet and we don't know how the general public will take it, plus, the iphone had a lot of media cover, on tv, cnn networks and so on, I haven't seen anything about the pre on tv yet. granted the iphone looks nice, the annimations look good....but thats as far as it goes. only the average and less than average person will use and love the iphone, the power user would feel crippled using it.
ninja636z obviously you're a less than average person, so please keep out of the conversation next time when power users are talking.
This country is full of "average" and less than average people. So if the Pre is only going to sell to Power Users it will sell far less indeed. I also like the comment about the slider not holding up over time. I can see dust and grime building up on the sliding mechanism and the gears wearing down over time, so it does not slide smoothly any more, or worst case scenario it locks up and wont slide out at all anymore. Why is it no other smart phone uses a slider? Also if you wonder what I do for a living, I am a Network Structural Engineer for a Cryogenics Research Corporation. So I would think that would qualify me to be a power user. I am also typing this from a custom netbook running Ubuntu. Thanks.
..No other smartphone uses a slider? Have you even heard of the Touch Pro? Or the G1? Or... I mean, I could go on for awhile, (VERY common WinMo form factor) but that comment is so mind-numbingly dumb...
"Why is it no other smart phone uses a slider?"
Holy fucking shit. How can anyone be this fucking stupid?
@ ninja636z: I think it is good for them not wanting to sell the phone to everyone that comes and say "give me one, give me one", this allows them to know their customers a little bit more. it seems they're not on the "sell as much as possible" mentality.......acutally if I remember correctly wasn't this the same thing apple did with the iphone on initial release?
Can engadget just do a friken review of the phone already? We all know you guys have one.
@ninja636z: don't make me laugh because that really doesn't qualify you as a power user. its not where you work, its what you do with your phone. since I had to explain that to you, it makes me really wonder if you were lying about where you work and such. I think I'm going to go along with the rest and say you're a troll now.