Palm Pre User Guide: the highlights, so far
By Laura June 
posted May 28th 2009 8:31AM
posted May 28th 2009 8:31AM
When word that Sprint Gurus had gotten hold of the Palm Pre User Guide came across our desks yesterday, we couldn't wait to get our eyes all over it... and then we saw that it was almost as long as Infinite Jest. Okay, we kid, it's not as bad as all that -- just 344 pages of heretofore unseen glorious tidbits. So here's what we've culled thus far: first, the Pre's main musical squeeze, Amazon MP3, will queue your music downloads when on the 3G network for later download when the device is on a WiFi network -- which is sure to cause annoyance and dismay the whole world over (and by "world" we mean the Pre's world, which is US only). There is however, plenty of good news: the Pre will, in fact have IMAP IDLE (AKA Push) Gmail capabilities, meaning that you'll get your spam nearly the moment it hits Gmail's servers. Finally, the previously spied Reminder field in the Pre's Contacts has been found out, and it's a really awesome feature allowing you to make a note and attach it to a particular contact, so that the next time you are in contact with that person, the reminder will pop up and... remind you. For anyone suffering mild memory loss (like us) little touches like this are sure to make the Pre a more attractive proposition. Hit the read link for the full manual, and let us know what you find. Warning: the user's manual is a PDF, and has an insanely huge Sprint Gurus watermark across every blasted page.[Via Pre Central, My Pre]
Yet again, effort at snark and being funnee, seemingly less effort to provide good information. With the music-downloading matter you mentioned, can this be turned off so the d/l is done over the 3G network?
From the User Guide, page 19: "Transfer of data from Palm Desktop software on the Mac is not supported at this time."
How can this be? It's a PALM product! I'd really like not to have to manually transfer every one of my contacts and recurring calendar items. And Memos.
I have a Treo, which I sync with a Mac using Palm Desktop. They MUST be working on accommodating this, right?
Mark Space is one of the initial vendors supporting the Pre. Meaning The Missing Sync will most probably handle this in a much more elegant way than Palm ever could. For instance, right now, the Contact Sync on the Pre syncs with EVERY SINGLE CONTACT either on Facebook, or Google, or whatever. Their reasoning is that with Universal Search, finding a contact is easy, even if you have thousands in your address book.
The Missing Sync allows you to CHOOSE which Address Books you want to sync with the phone. I think this will be a much more elegant solution.
CharlesJR
Here we go again, IMAP IDLE is NOT limited to Gmail as this article seems to hint at. IDLE is availalbe from a multitude of email services, free and paid, not just gmail so trying to say that having IDLE support is somehow providing special support for gmail is ridiculous.
Agreed. I changed it. :)
my exchange 2003 server has imap idle :)
The lack of 3G music download is a big turn off. I buy all my music through Amazon and was really looking forward to being able to download tracks on the go as the mood hits me. I wonder if this is a Sprint imposed restriction. If so, it is a shame they are gimping the device that could be their only savior.
Any word on when MetroPCS is getting the Pre? :-)
i ma actually considering doing this since sprint is forcing people into new plans and metroPCS activate any CDMA device.
so
buy a sprint pre $199
- one month of service $69.99
- cancellation 200
= a palm pre for $469
then activate with metroPCS
Contacts have a reminder and a notes field they are seperate.
Reminder: He owes me 20 bucks.
Notes: He like a specific beer. Door Combo is x-x-x when walking dog.
Tons of information (with manuals) on the Pre at http://wwwebos.com
No mention of tethering (no big surprise) and it doesn't seem to have visual voicemail. Maybe that will be an app added later on??
Hey Ryan....look here http://www.precentral.net/palm-pre-fact-sheets-user-guides-leak-out
If you look at the "Features Software" section you'll see a line that says "Phone As Modem capable via Bluetooth (only special pricing can add P.A.M. attachable). Most likely it means you can tether with this (via Bluetooth) if you have a pricier Simply Everything plan (or something else equally pricey).
As for visual voicemail...it's been said it will not be there at the outset....but it may show up later.
As for the as soon as the spam hits the gmail servers comment. I have been using gmail for over a year and can say I have not had one single random piece of spam come in.
How much more hyped up can this phone get? lol I hope it lives up to the expectations
No mention of VPN PPTP, IPSEC anywhere. I guess this means the Pre does not do VPN out of the box.