Palm Pre trouble roundup
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Jun 7th 2009 8:52PM
posted Jun 7th 2009 8:52PM
- T minus 2 hours: lines reach critical mass across the country; odds are you'll find some of us in those lines. Camaraderie amongst line-waiters is at a high, but it's a guarded emotion -- the scene'll turn ugly the second inventory runs out.
- T minus 30 minutes: for morning lines (particularly those where folks have waited overnight), store managers come out and offer coffee and pastries. Anything less is uncivilized -- don't hesitate to complain.
- T minus 0 minutes: the gizmo goes on sale.
- T plus 1 hour: the first teardowns and cost estimates hit the web.
- T plus 4 hours: mass (or at least loud) complaints of manufacturing defects, bugs, and shortcomings start cropping up.
- A good number of early adopters are reporting "splotchy," distorted, or discolored displays (we've seen reports of dead pixels, too, though we'd actually be more weirded out if there weren't). See examples here, here, and here.
- We've also heard reports of unexpected system shutdowns (like those reported in the LAPTOP piece above) that require a battery pull to resolve. We're hearing that you can also patch this up by holding down the power button and toggling the ringer switch three times, but your mileage may vary. If we had to guess, this'll be fixed up with a firmware update at some point, which really drives home the value of OTA capability.
- Text fields in the web browser don't seem to support symbols that aren't on the keyboard (that is, symbols you need to hold down "Sym" to access). We've independently verified this one, and it's nasty -- it'll be particularly bad once the phone launches internationally, so we'd also expect this to be patched sooner rather than later.
[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]
I'm sure there's enough pre in stock as replacements.
Yes, Engadget will have to cover THAT story, too.
Say...do you know if the Pre knows when you're going to be late for an appointment and emails ahead to the other attendees?
iPhone 3GS FTW!
How can you say this when it's not even out yet?
Oh yeah, because you're a DUMBASS!
gtfo
haha so true,
But i think overall its Palm FTL,
trying to make super profits with a cheap ass phone.
he may be downrated
Yeah that compass will be SWEET!!!!! And SO useful!!!
i think you mean "iPhone 3GS *RUMORS* FTW!
In a related story, unicorns are better than horses.
FTW where no one except the US cares about the iPhone. LOL.
Everyone over-hypes. It's probably a small amount of people making a lot of noise.
... Or people who don't want the Pre to succeed and are making stuff up.
It's the post pre prevalent problems! Say that 5 times fast!
These are reports from people in Precentral and EverythingPre forums, who have been waiting for 6 months for this phone. That picture is actually forgiving, the blurring can be a lot worse.
As for my Pre, it's behaving well. One time it told me that I have too many cards open when I've had 1 or no cards open, and the only fix was to restart, but I'm not too concerned with the software. More with the hardware, everytime I do the back gesture I feel the top layer of the phone move. It's annoying, the Pre may not feel cheap in some ways, like simply holding the device in your hand, but sometimes you are made all too clear that it's a slider phone by the Pre wiggling when shut.
Excellent points Matt. I have to agree with you. So many iPhone fanboys out there, there is bound to be some BS floating around bashing the pre. I saw a youtube video of that dumbass iJustine chick who said the pre sucks when she didn't even use one. She didn't even know what a "palm pro" (she meant treo pro) was. Lots of idiots out there pretending to be tech experts but fail miserably.
I doubt anyone would make this stuff up. Most, if not all, new devices have these kind of issues. Like Chris said, it'd be weird if they didn't. Very nice, but weird.
WHEN YOU TAKE ON APPLE.... THINGS GO BADLY FOR YOU
Actually these things are very real. On my pre (which I'm using to make this comment) there is a dead pixel and those heat spots on the bottom. Think it is beacause the processor is uber hot and its right under it. ( I am probably wrong). Also when charging its pretty darn warm
This is justice for using Apple as your R&D department Palm.
Create your own ideas already...
I know you want the Pre to succeed and all, but don't be silly. Your post just makes you sound like a paranoid fanboy. None of this stuff is made up, most of the complaints originated from a dedicated blog called precentral.net, and I think its fair to say that most of them are probably Pre fans, well at least they were until these defects started to show up.
Not really. It's day one with extremely limited availability and we're already seeing some pretty big problems. Did you read the thread at all? The buyer stated that both of his phones have it to some extent and that a few of the other ones in the store had it too. In addition some of his fellow forum users posted similar stories. And also these complaints are coming from Pre/Sprint fans as I don't think any Pre haters are going to line up on launch day and buy a Pre just so that they can find a defect.
I also have to bring up Engadget's review where they stated that the device physically "broke". This raises some serious doubts for me regarding the quality of the product. Thankfully I like to wait at least a week before I buy a product so that if there are issues such as these, it will at least have a chance to be brought to light before I commit to purchase.
Also I played with a Pre for a minute at a Sprint store today. I noticed it was running rather hot but that could be chalked up to the Touchstone wireless charging base it was attached to. While there was a lot of eye candy it was not quite as intuitive as the iPhone. There was a slight learning curve and a few lags but nothing serious. I'll have to see what Apple offers before I make a decision as to my next phone but one thing for sure is that I'm getting rid of my Xperia X1 lol
..how hard are swiping for the back gesture...i did notice that it did wiggle put i had to sweep very hard... id hate to be your cat if you pet as hard as you swipe...
@matt
i never heard of these problems with the iPhone, at least not literally overnight.
pre might have taken many ex apple employees
BUT
they couldn't get stevie now could they.......
You iPhone morons seem to have a short memory. When the iPhone came out and had all the hoopla of this new 'wonderphone', the whole network crashed for a day or two and no one could activate their accounts. Problems happen on release days; even for Apple products.
oh. my. god. ------^
Is it really true that a Pre set a house on fire after it overheated while the user was making a phone call? Maybe Palm should offer a fire insurance policy with every Pre sold.
There have been local reports that hospitals are seeing victims of third degree burns to their hands after using a Palm Pre for longer than ten minutes. Apparently the Pre's plastic case starts to melt after running more than two programs at a time. Had something to due with background processing overworking the TI OMAP 3430 processor to the point of combustion.
A class action suit will likely follow and Palm will file for Chapter 11. Pre burn victims swear they will get iPhones which are trouble-free.
can anyone tell me why K. KID got low ranked?
1) the girl that he's talking about is a iphone fangirl, which is true...and lets be honest, there are A LOT of iphone fanbots that are talking bad about the pre, when they haven't even used one themselves (even some ON this page)
2) he said she didn't know what a palm pro was, which after watching the video is true (unless she was playing the 'i'm a dumb hot blonde w/ brown roots growing out' role...which she did quite well)
3) she never actually touched a working model the entire day, poke the dummy phone once or twice and said the keyboard sucks.
maybe i'm crazy, but everything he said about the girl, and about iphone fanbots is true. and to be honestly, the majority of iphone users seriously dont give 2 shits about the pre, cuz they just like their phone, and thats all they care about...but there are a lot of iphone lovers who feel for some reason that their phone is somehow cheapened by the release of pre...and feel for some dumb reason motivated to take swipes at it. w/e
Probably iPhone (L)users who don't even HAVE Pres!
@ShogunMaster - There's a big difference between the NETWORK (AT&T) not being able to keep up with demand and potentially defective DEVICES.
I have the phone and its great. No problems whatsoever.
Honestly, if there are thousands of a device being produced its not unreasonable for a few to have minor defects. I bought mine at 8AM Saturday and have had no issue at all whatsoever thus far. I love the phone, I love the OS, and last time i checked no ones Pre has spontaneously combusted in anyones pants YET. SO RELAX.
Those "splotches" just look like uneven throw from the row of LEDs at the bottom of the screen that provides the backlight... If that's the case, tons of devices have that.
Hahaha
A bunch of fat having no real life nerds yelling at each other for the right to call their piece of plastic with wires "the best phone".
Pathetic
@alienicecooler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A
Good. They deserve it. They bought a crappy phone and signed up for crappy service from Sprint.
Should have gotten an iPhone.
If it lacks an Apple logo, it's nothing special.
I wouldn't worry too much about minor SW problems, those'll get fixed. HW problems are the ones to keep an eye on.
Thats just a risk of being an early adopter. Everyone knows you dont buy a brand new product until you are sure the kinks are out. Pre 2 ftw!
iphone had the same problem with the screen
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=526266
i love the pre, i love sprint, i dont want any other phone but that spotting and blotching is the real deal. I'm on my second phone and it is like the heat from the battery causes the screen to distort, I don't want the phone to fail but its pretty crazy that we all shelled out 300+ for a phone that has an obviously flawed screen....and my battery is not warm..no, that thing is scalding hot. I have to use bluetooth and headphones on phone calls.
hi
so much for Quality Assurance
*So much for quality assurance.
@ GRAMMAR POLICE:
*Grammar and Punctuation Police
Sometimes you need to go that extra mile for the good of the community.
Comment from a person that actually owns a pre and had used an iphone3g before (I don't own it but my sister has one and I have used it many times. I also own and HTC touch pro and a blackberry...
My verdict:
Phone has some issues my suggestion is to get over it. Its the nature of the game. I mean of course there is a fine line between what's acceptable and what is not and so far nothing has presented it self that is unacceptable...so all the people yelling fail pls put a cork in it.
I'm sure the engadget review was enough for most so I will not attempt to turn this into some sort of mini review.
Observed issues:
-when phone charges and you try and use it at the same time the back get super hot..I dnt have any knowledge of how these components interact but all I know is that it gets hot as $hit. Don't know if that's something an update can fix but whatever.
-next cloud synergy is pretty slick but in some cases its to over powering. As in it does not let you opt out under certain cases. For example when you add a gmail account to the phone it automatically includes all contatcs listed in that account. Some might not want that especially if you don't have any real contacts in gmail and just names with emails because then ull just have a bunch of emails thrown into your address book. But you can opt out and make the contacts application ignore a particular account. BUT when you sign into a ghat account while signed in it will but all ur buddies into your contact list while signed into an account (I dnt know if its the same with aim but I'm sure it is). This can be very annoying if you have ALOT of buddies. Not the end of the world but there needs to be a way to shut that off.
-palm needs to include away to text from call history screen. When ur in the call history screen there are no other options expect to just click on a name or number to place a call. This is kinda ridiculous..I shld not have to go to the contacts menu or messaging app if I'm already looking @ a number in my call log.
-no virtual key board pls palm we need one there are really times you just need to text "wats up" "call me" "love you too" "that was great"...lol and so forth and slidding out the keyboard is just to much effort for those kinda things (I'm sure either palm or someone else will eventually release one).
- weird but like in the engadget comment box the scroll bar doesn't work..(in the comment box) so as you type and the text fills the space and goes to the next line you have no way of scrolling back up to the top of your text since there is no dpad to move the cursor up. So far its only been an issue here. Well to be honest I realized it while typing this. I was trying to go back up to look at what I wrote and I realized I couldn't. Odd.
-no shortcut key to move quickly through long list. For example if you have 100 emails to get to the 100th email you must scroll to it...kinda silly but I'm sure it will be addressed sooner or later.
-keyboard is small. If your a man or woman with big hands and fingers good luck! I have big hands and palm must be on drugs if they think anyone with large hands will be able to type alot on this without their hands hurting..mine hurt a bit just from this message. Pls pls pls pls PLEAAAASE palm if ur reading this I need a good virtual keyboard for those quick messages.
-i saved the best for last.
I hate accesing the keyboard...not a deal breaker but I was NOT amused by it. Infact within the first hr of playing with the phone I was very upset lol..there was just no fluent way to open the damn thing. Now its ok because I figured out the perfect motion so I'm ok now.
Overall I'm very happy with the phone thus far.....
iphone killer? umm def not...well I retract..I think someone needs to define the term iPhone killer. That's something I have never seen anyone really define.. When I think of iPhone killer I think of a device that will just utterly put the iPhone to shame..in my opinion the pre doesn't do that. It trumps the iPhone (as we knw it today not factoring what they have cooking) in "certain" areas but its not an iPhone killer and I doubt there ever be such a thing. Unless someone steps up and does what iPhone did to the game with its first release. The palm pre to me offers a GREAT user experience for us in the CDMA world. If I had both an iPhone and a pre on the same network I'd go for the palm pre...not because its an "iPhone killer" but more so because it has a few tricks up its sleeve that in my opinion give it a slighter advantage over the iPhone...but that's just me though. I will not waste my energy to argue that the pre is an iPhone killer because by my definition its not.
For any of you that have personal issues and get sensless hard ons over slight typo errors/ minor grammatical errors please go stick it in something else...I'd really appreciate it. I have already explained that there is an issue with scrolling up and dwn in the comment box and I am posting this from my pre which I fully have not adjusted to the small keyboard so please spare me the drama.
"and I am posting this from my pre"
That's not going to hold up in court. The easy way out of proper grammar in a long post...
@GRAMMAR POLICE:
(hint: It wasn't a sentence, so technically he wasn't violating any rules of grammar.)
So you're telling me gadgets have issues upon first release?
Wait a second, this implies the iPhone wasn't perfect.
Remember when the iPhone came out, you rabid Apple fanboys, it was plagued with problems too.
But that could be solved by software...
What software made it 3G?
Also willing to bet that about half the palms I see won't have cracked screens (like the iphone)
its already 3g...?
It did and still does.
But people like ShirkPower will lie to you and say otherwise.
It's truly amazing how some people can buy into a marketing campaign so thoroughly.
Apple wants people to forget their screw ups (who doesn't want that) and ShirkPower has. As far as ShirkPower is concerned Apple never launched a 2G only device and said the battery technology wasn't there for 3G yet.
"But that could be solved by software... " and it was, wasn't it. You got your background apps and copy and paste a week after iPhoneV1 launch.. at least that's how it goes down in ShirkPower's history book.
@ShirkPower @ Jun 7th 2009 9:02PM
But that could be solved by software...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
What software fixes cracked plastic?
What software fixed stuck pixels? Yeah those were present in the 'new' 3G model..
and how fast we forget the original 'iphone' err itunes phone from motorolas partnership with apple--that went well.
Ok everyone here is saying the iPhone had terrible problems as well, why don't you tell us what they were?
Stuck pixels?? That's a potential downside to ANY LCD screen. Expect to see it on many of the Pre's (BTW Can OLED screens get stuck pixels? I've started wondering that as their popularity grows)
Cracked plastic? That's called the after effects of abusing your phone. Those were extremely isolated incidences, not a widespread problem (again, because if you didn't trash your phone (or at least got a case) it never happened)
The worst thing was the network having problems with new activations. Some iPhone owners had to wait for their phone to work on the network but that lasted for maybe a few DAYS. Considering they introduced a brand new method for activating phones, doing it yourself, and they sold over 140,000 unites just the first weekend, that's pretty damn good. On top of all of that, it had NOTHING to do with Apple or the iPhone, it was 100% a network issue, and a very short-lived one at that.
All launches have issues. Anyone who holds Palm anymore accountable for them then any other company is fooling themselves.
The real test is how Palm will handle and resolve them.
Are the Sprint employees trained to offer tech support on these issues? Anyone having to call tech support yet, if so how is that going? I am just curious to see how Palm is handling real world issues that occur when you release a new product.
Lets call this the:
Palm Pre Regret.
Cheap products = Bad products.
File this with Vista and the Blackberry Storm.
new products = not perfect, just like when the iphone came out. idiot.
You're really jumping the gun. The Pre has a backlight leak and it's over, but the servers can crash and launch iPhones can't activate for a day or two and no one cares.
I love the gadget world.
Gotta love how your avatar is Obama.
Stop trolling man,
i never, NEVER said the iphone was perfect.
Where did i say that?
Quote me.
I believe i was commenting on the pre's cheap parts when you brought up the iphone
http://seekingalpha.com/article/138876-three-strikes-from-apple-and-palm-may-be-out?source=yahoo
I like how you back pedal. One second you're already declaring the Pre is a failure like Vista and the so buggy you can't even use it like the Storm, and the next you are all about logic.
Apple users = Obama supporters
bahhhhhh
ShirkPower @ Jun 7th 2009 9:04PM
"the iphone was perfect."
Quoted.
Blackberry storm supporters= Mcsame supporters?
Nah, no way the storm would hurt our country that badly.
I think most peoples problem with you is that youre predictable. always pro iphone, againts iphone competition. And no I havnt read all your posts ever so you might not fill this mould consistently. but whenever I see one of your comments I just think "Here we go...."
It's McCain... Wouldn't want you to feel like an idiot any more than you absolutely have to.
File this with Vista and the Blackberry Storm."
Along with Apple TV, Macs, and OSX, and all of the rest of Apple's "failures", using your "logic".
ShirkPower:
"i never, NEVER said the iphone was perfect.
Where did i say that?
Quote me."
OK, I will, from http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/28/apple-iphone-3-0-rumor-roundup/comments/19070152/
May 28th 2009 7:07AM
Apple naled it, its fits right into your hand and looks so sleek.
Cmon guys, stop hating and give Apple some props for perfecting the dam thing
Lol doughnuts made you look stupid.
just like a polititian
Notice how he's not replying any more now that's he's been called out? If he's not getting paid by Apple he's got a very sad life.. But if he is, he deserves a promotion!
...but I don't think he is.
It's people like you that need to stay away from commenting systems.
I'm typing this on my iPod touch 2G, and I'm utterly disgusted at your ignorance. If you want to defend Apple, get some valid arguments! For fuck sakes, I bet you don't even own a Mac! Stupid Obama supporters, they're all blind!
im talking about a similar product which also had issues yet its not called a cheap phone from dumbasses LIKE you.
Just a little FYI about Shirk. He had been trolling Gizmodo for a several months ago until recently. It took like 15 banned accounts for him to get the picture and piss off. Let's hope we can do the same with him here.
Vista is cheap? K...
Why would you even bother posting a link to an article of a proclaimed apple fanboy?
@patriotsn1
Well, I have a MacBook an iPhone and numerous iPods, and I think Obama is a douche bag. For the record McCain is also a douche bag.
The reality is that most products like this have some sort of issues on launch. IMO the lack of certain features (copy & paste, 3G etc..) are NOT issues. This is known before you buy the device, so if it's a deal killer, don't buy.
There is also a big difference between the AT&T network failing under load and software issues, and physical hardware issues like these appear to be. The reality is that some iPhones had physical defects on launch too. We will know very quickly if the Pre has a higher or lower percentage of device defects.
ShitPower: Who are you trying to fool? We all know you're a desperate Apple/iPhone fanboy. You'd be the first in line to be Jobs' bitch.
Why do you have several ipods? isn't one good enough?
Could you please change your avatar to something Palin related ShrinkPower? You're such a tool.
im sorry, palin... a tool? she was a great governor before mccain brought her aboard. if you want to make him change his avatar to someone that is a tool, how about choosing joe biden. hes a money-grubbing, elitist lunatic who thinks he can do whatever he pleases.
One of those posts about the screen distortion is about my phone (see the laptop mag blog). Crazy thing is that after I installed the patch, the distortion slowly disappeared (it is still kind of there). Before I applied the patch, the phone ran SO hot. Now its great! I'm fairly sure it was a heat related issue.
Other than that, I love this phone!
what is this patch you speak of? has palm already released a fix?
1.0.2 Release June 3rd?
http://kb.palm.com/wps/portal/kb/na/pre/p100eww/sprint/solutions/article/50607_en.html
Woha! Is this for real? Not even out for 48 hours and there's already a software update?
That's impressive. Doubly so as it seems to address most of the software-fixable issues.
definitely have experienced slowness with my device and some freezing. I have two palm pres and the other device works great. I think im going to go swap mine once the new batch comes in.
isn't early adoption a bitch?
I just noticed my IPHONE is working just fine, unlike the Pre, which is a complete failure.
dammnnnnn right...my iPhone has had NO problems
Your iPhone is about 100 times older than the pre
Well the iphone is built with quality,
no offense to sprint fans.
The screen is glass, unlike the cheap plastic used for the smaller pre screen.
"I just noticed my IPHONE is working just fine, unlike the Pre, which is a complete failure"
I just visited an iPhone help messageboard, and it seems like many iPhone users are having issues.
That just proves the iPhone is junk and a failure, right?
ahhh, I see how Spencer used sarcasim there...
pretty clever! :)
LOL! I see Look_Around_You is on his personal anti Apple crusade again.
Dragonfly, I'd say Look_Around_You has a perfectly valid point. Regardless of his bias, the Pre has iFanboys hiding behind their keyboards. Have you ever seen this many people talking about an iPhone on ANY other smartphone-related article?
As far as I'm concerned, all this "well I guess the Pre is a failure" and "my iPhone doesn't have these issues!!!" just show how insecure the commenters really are. It's quite sad if you ask me. Different strokes for different folks people; people can have different preferences for phones and all be happy with their choices.
Don't forget about there being no scroll position indicators in the WWW browser... how the heck am I supposed to know where I am on engadget.com?
Guys it's a new product...there's NEVER been a phone that has launched without a single problem in the history of phones.
Not even the iPhone.
So really lets get real here folks. While the Pre may fail in terms of sales when compared to the iPhone (next gen version) it still is a worthy competitor and people should remember that no phone is perfect.