It's been nearly a month since the
launch of Palm's newest handset, the
Pre. Since then, we here at
Engadget have heard some vague and hard to substantiate claims of hardware failures -- cracked screens, a little broken plastic here and there -- but nothing on a large scale, so far as we can tell. We thought it was about time to turn it over to you the readers (the ones lucky enough to have a Pre, anyway), to tell us how the phone is holding up physically. Is it tough as nails or is it falling apart? Poll is after the break.
How's your Palm Pre holding up?| Mine's looking good, no problems! | 8077 (12.6%) |
|---|
| I've had one minor issue... | 1735 (2.7%) |
|---|
| I've had more than one minor issue, but I'm keeping it. | 1211 (1.9%) |
|---|
| Major problems! I'm taking it back (or already have). | 3759 (5.9%) |
|---|
| Pre? I don't have one of those. | 49124 (76.9%) |
|---|
posted July 3rd 2009 5:04PM
So are we to then assume that HOs like Apple 3GS? Why are HOs always lying about stuff like this? I for one do not care what a HO thinks!
I kinda wonder how many iphone fanboys said they had major problems with their Pre they never had, you have to assume that someone lied about the pre they don't have (maybe 20-30% of the people polled), just a theory i had. maybe it's a stupid theory i don't know. As for me i am waiting for a couple months to see about the Mytouch 3g, and to compare it with the pre, and any other non- iphone(I hate AT&T's nickel, AND DIMING!!!!).
You were right, your theory is very stupid.
I purchased a Pre a few days ago. I gave it a chance and am glad I did. No problems here so far. I am a little worried about how the Pre will hold up, but no more so than my other cell phones when I got them.
Poll means nothing results are bit ridic but anyway!
I'm on my first Pre, waiting on my 2nd due to burn ghosting on the screen....other than that I'm good minus a couple things with the os.
I would loooove a full screen treo w/ a keyboard but meh.
Slide is getting loose (after 3 days) and today my x c and v buttons stopped working (until I rebooted the phone). I'd like to think it will last a full year but I'm not holding my breath.
It is funny how every palm pre post erik is here saying useless none sense. Does anyone actually take what he says serious? Engadget should have a pole. Btw my pre works great. Switched from 3G and couldn't be happier. 3Gs I was so excited for till they announced it and was let down. Iphone OS really bores me and I need the brwoser for everyday use and safari crashes too much and cookies/cached pages don't work right. For example with the pre if I choose (remember me) on a forum I stay logged in forever until I manually sign out. Even if I have my phone off for a day I stay remembered. Saves time not javing to log into diff websites.
It appears that you typed that comment on that wonderful PREcum keyboard. Seriously Danny, the PRE sucks and stats don't lie. Professional bloggers have spoken and they are luke warm with respect to the PRE. One thing I can't stand is CHEAP quality. I give Palm another 2 years before they're history.
Doesn't the Pre have spellcheck?
Haven't had any issues with mine.
Just wait. Have you cut any cheese with it yet?
The only cheese cutting I do is with my ass.
Not that they had any to begin with, but Giz lost all review cred when they said the edge of the Pre is "irresponsibly sharp". And you hardly need a sharp edge to cut brie or gouda.
Hes a pre fanboy, just move on.
Skittles are good.
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre/182595-buglist-pre.html
It's hard to separate the phone from the software at this point. I
thought about putting this in the software section, but I guess it
could be hardware related, too. And many people will miss it if it is
in the software section. So here goes:
Do you have any bugs on your Pre that you can reproduce? Post them,
and I'll edit this post and make a list.
1. Light leakage at the bottom of the screen.
2. Dead pixels.
3. When entering data into a form field on a web page, they symbol
key doesn't work (clicking on a symbol does nothing). See bug #70
below.
4. When entering data into a form field on a web page, the
cut-and-paste Edit menu items don't work. (However, the cut-and-paste
shortcuts do work.)
5. When web browsing in wide screen mode, if you click on a picture
or link that opens up into another card, the new card opens the other
way. You have to turn the screen back upright, and then back to wide
view for it to flip. Seems like if you are already browsing in wide,
new cards would open the same way.
6. Whenever I open or close the slider, the screen fades out and
turns black but you can tell it was still lit. It would be like that
for a second or two and then turn off. You then had to use the power
button to turn it back on. Others are having the same issue (see
these links):
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pr...e-culprit.html
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pr...hes-phone.html
7. When entering data into a form field in landscape mode, left-right
cursor movement and text selection is done by swiping up and down (on
the horizontal screen) rather than left and right. In other words,
these controls are stuck in what makes sense for portrait mode.
(Cursor movement may be the only data entry that makes sense in
landscape mode.)
8. When choosing a ringer or alarm sound, and you click on the play
button of the built-in sounds, then click on the button in the
bottom-left to use an mp3, and click on the play button of the mp3,
the built-in sound does not stop and continues to play.
9. Will not allow an IP address to be used when setting up an EAS
email account. If the value in the server field does not have a .com
or all numbers you can not save the account settings. This also seems
to be a bug when setting up an imap account.
10. While in another app a notification comes in of an SMS. I tap the
notification to read the sms and the Messaging app is moved to the
last card. This may happen with other apps like Email but I've only
tested with sms. I think cards should stay in the order the user has
them arranged.
ETC......
I loved the pre when I had it but the crappy battery and terrible coverage in my area forced me to switch to AT&T and I'm MADD I didn't switch sooner the 3gs is legit.
The iPhone with the 3.0 firmware update also sucks up juice too, but it is SO much better than the PRE.
haven't burned your hand yet? or have it shut down because you tried using a premium feature like GPS outside? hehe 3GS = Fail. All the people claiming problems with the pre are apple fanatics that haven't even touched one. Plus Sprint just gives you a replacement unlike ATT/Apple that make you pay another $500 if you do something crazy like drop your phone and shatter the screen.
@ Jonyah:
1 person gets a bad battery (if the claim is even legitimate in the first place) and now all of a sudden there's a heating issue? I have yet to experience this "issue" with my original iPhone or my 3GS. Furthermore, every corporation should be expected to exchange something for free due to accidental damage? Pay an extra $30 for a case or risk replacing the device yourself, unsubsidized. There's nothing unreasonable about this policy.
Though I love my iPhone, there are plenty of ways Apple could improve it, and some things are just downright annoying. Perpetuating the nonsense you're bringing up doesn't advance the discussion at all.
I updated/sync with iTunes...then the earpiece stopped working, but could use the speaker phone on a phone call, but when i went to play music over the speaker NO music!!
Brought it back to the St. Pete, FL Sprint Store and they just replaced it with a new one in the BOX!!! woot woot, now I have two chargers!!!
I still love it!
the 2 at the sprint store in nashua I broke in minutes.
my friend at work got one and it was dead in hours.
Don't own a Pre, though I might consider the GSM edition especially if Rogers gets one (For NAM 3G). I don't mean to comment on the iPhone section of this.
The iphone has done very little "new" in the mobile world. How many of its functions can you already get on a mobile? Especially some it didn't get until its 3rd generation OS.
"The iphone has done very little "new" in the mobile world."
Thats why seemingly every new device has taken both hardware and software design considerations from it, with all types of iClones spawned. Also, this has been explained so many times it is not even funny... Apple (mostly) does not create entirely new concepts. They take existing concepts and implement them far better than anyone else. The iPhone cannot simply be reduced to a big feature list. Every feature is well thought out to the point of obsession.
Before the iPhone, there were "touchscreen" smartphones, like Winmo devices, but they were built with small resistive displays and interfaces meant to be used with stylus pens. They had no hardware graphics acceleration, and were buggy, slow, and unstable.
The iPhone has since made a huge impact on the entire concept of what a "touch" Smartphone is supposed to be.
mine has done great, as good as it was the first day. at least these don't glow from the heat of the iphone 3gs.
This comment makes even less sense than your first one. One overheating iPhone (if the claim is even legitimate) doesn't mean that there's a problem with any significant portion sold. I never had a problem with heat on my original iPhone, and I haven't had any with my 3GS either.
Glad you're happy with your Pre, but attacking the iPhone with nonsense like this makes you just as bad as the members of the Apple community who attack every non-Apple product just because it doesn't have an Apple logo.
I'd assume most people that say they have problems are jealous iPhone users :) Mine works great!
What a joke Palm. This site is full of tech people and 77% dont own your Pre. I am a Palm fan, but Sprints mandatory upgrade to their $79 or $100 plans is forcing me to hold off. I am probably going to get an HTC Touch Pro 2 when it comes out. Realllll goooood marketing Palm/Sprint!
I'd say if 27% of Engadget readers had a Pre, that would be pretty damn successful. But I'm not fooling myself into thinking that's the case. As others have pointed out, releasing only in a single country on a secondary carrier limits the market quite a bit.
Personally, I'm waiting for it to come to AT&T.
Oops, I mean *23%.
Before we go Pre-a-bashing, keep in mind that this is a first-gen item. No device is "perfect" upon release. Neither iPhone nor any device invented yet has been trouble-free out of the box.
I was intrigued to read the comments but, of course, it has descended into fanboi wars.
I was very interested in how happy Pre owners are. I'll try to pick through the riff-raff.
I chose the 3GS over the Pre but it was a close call.
My two cents...
I'm probably going to take my back and get an iPhone, but I'm just not sure yet. I really love the webOS, but I think it does need some polishing and some time to mature. I think it has a lot of potential, and I would like to see Palm license it out to others who wish to install it on their phones.
What I like:
It's pretty, the screen looks nice, the fonts, colors, everything. It has a nice professional look to it, not cartoonish or anything. I love the multitasking. Just the other day, I was in the middle of a text message, calendar open to schedule something, internet open searching something, and a news app open, and pandora. I was switching between them all doing different things at once. I love the notifications, the other day I was reading an e-mail, and two text messages came through without interrupting what I was trying to read. It's not very archaic in the way it functions, it's very easy to use.
What I dislike:
The big issues first that are making me want to return it. My phone shuts off, almost everyday. Sometimes right after I close the slider, other times for no apparent reason. I may check to see if I a message, never open up the slider, and set it down or put in my pocket, next time I check, it's off. Sometimes, I don't know how long it's been off, and this is my only phone. I need it on in case my work tries to call me. Some days I have no shut downs, others I have up to four. I would say at least two a day. I already had two today.
The touch screen is a little quirky. When I place my finger on it and begin to slide my finger up or down, my finger will move a bit before the screen responds. The iPhones I've played with seem to have an instant response. Also, it activated things that I never touch. For instance, I have a text message open, I reply, and I set the phone down never coming close to touching the lower right part of the screen, and it thinks I touched the attachment icon. Sometimes I set it down, and the menu will just pop up.
I don't like I can't change the notification sound, and the change the sounds for different notifications. One for texts, one for voice mails, and so on. I also wish you can control the volume of each type of sound separately. I don't like that the attention sound and system sound volumes are one. It makes the dialer really loud to have the attention tone turned up, or you can turn down the dialer sound, and not be able to hear the attention tone. Also, the alarm clock sucks, and it should also have it's own volume and not be tied in to the ringer volume. At night, I want to turn my ringer down or off, but have the alarm on full.
It also needs some kind of a light or sound, to tell me I have a voice mail or a text when the back light is off. Unless you manually check often, you won't know you missed it.
I know some of these things can be hashed out over time, but I'm ready for a phone that works right now. Not one that shuts off each day, and I don't want to have to take it back until I get the one that works, I shouldn't have to do that. I know there will always be some bad eggs, but it looks like there are quite a few. My friend has these exact same problems with his.
I think the iPhone is neat, and a little more refined, but it's had the time to do it. I wish it could multitask, because I will really miss that. I really don't want AT&T and it's pricing plan.
I had a Pre, but the battery life is awful, and had to return it. There is no battery optimization mode or anything. If they made a flawless OS, why can't they make a flawless battery mode. I don't see how the phone can meet it's 12 day standby time.
My #@%$ screen broke from normal usage...using the one hand motion to expose the keyborad with thumb caused the screen to crack...Ive had the phone less then 30days and sprint said I have to file a insurance claim and pay the $100 deductable. Im pissed off and not only that... to file a claim now you have to fill out a affidavit and send a copy of your drivers lic. Mind you my phone is inopperable and this whole process will take over a week with the holiday. I swear this has not been worth it at all...Palm pre is some bullshit!
I had a soft silicone case around my Palm Treo 750 when it fell off my car roof on a 45mph corner. The Treo bounced along the median of the road for quite a way. I turned the car around, found the Treo, picked it up and made a call. I suspect the iPhone would be a bag of bits and pieces at that point. Losing the SD card was about it. Still using it daily. The only advantage I see to the Pre is wifi. It would be in two major pieces after a tumble like that.
So nearly 50% of Pres sold have been returned.
Man! Glad I don't have any Palm or Sprint stock.
I have like scratches on my screen and back but thats all my fault since I dropped it.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9135130
Edward Snyder, an analyst at Charter Equity Research, said it's hard to use the complaints in online forums as a basis for calculating the actual rate at which customers are returning Pres. He estimated that the return rate is in the high single digits, below the normal 10% to 15% rate for all smartphones.
I've had mine since June 9th and other than three isolated and unrepeated software glitch incidents, I haven't had any problems with it. No dead pixels; no slider issues; no scratches or cracking. I had the thing slip out of my shirt pocket and clunk 3 feet onto a hardwood floor, but it didn't break. (Whew!) I see people complaining about getting theirs scratched in the context of "I keep mine in my pocket with my keys and a Leatherman" and I wonder how they managed to drive to the Sprint store without killing anyone since they have the IQ of a turnip. Anyone who says that multi-tasking isn't important has either never done it - even on a computer - or just blindly accepts what Lord Jobs tells them and if He says they don't need it, they don't need it. Uh-huh.
It's not flawless - they should've made the case out of a matte material that is oleophobic because it retains fingerprints like a greasy layer (ick) and perhaps put a rubberized rim so it doesn't feel like it could slip out of the hand. (My g/f is afraid she'll drop it.) The Synergy contact system is kinda cool, but the problem isn't the overload of Facebook friends, but the zillions of people who wrote you once on Gmail cluttering up your list. More apps are needed and some buffing of the OS and existing PIM stuff would be nice, but for a 1.0 effort, it's quite good.
As for the iTrolls acting true to form; their terror and panic amuses me. They don't have something as basic as MMS and AT&T is raping them on the services fees and they think that because they have 20K iFart and Pedobear apps, they're more highly evolved. Raff.
I'm definitely interested in the Pre once it moves GSM. I currently have a 5800 Xpress music (3G Iphone before that)
I want to hear some more about this phone from the people who have it. I think many of us who don't take contract subsidies (IE buy our phones outright) are watching the Pre carefully. Palm has a good thing going I think, but since it's currently locked to a CDMA carrier (not an option for me, since my corporate travel takes me to many different GSM only locales). So would definitely like to hear more from the owners out there, and less from the Iphone "look how rich and cool I am, I can afford a 199 dollar phone" crowd (The vast minority of Iphone owners, most are just regular people who like the phone), or the Apple haters, as I think it keeps people who would normally contribute, stay away because they don't want to deal with the bullshit.
Either way, I definitely like the physical keyboard, because you don't have to give up screen real estate to type. It's not perfect, but nothing is. Palm seems to want success bad, they act as if their jobs depend on it... oh wait.....
I think that drive will force them to be more in tune with user feedback. Remember, innovation is the product of necessity .
Lot's of IResponses here...complete nonsense. Apple nerds need to troll another article.
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre/182595-buglist-pre.html
It's hard to separate the phone from the software at this point. I thought about putting this in the software section, but I guess it could be hardware related, too. And many people will miss it if it is in the software section. So here goes:
Do you have any bugs on your Pre that you can reproduce? Post them, and I'll edit this post and make a list.
1. Light leakage at the bottom of the screen.
2. Dead pixels.
3. When entering data into a form field on a web page, they symbol key doesn't work (clicking on a symbol does nothing). See bug #70 below.
4. When entering data into a form field on a web page, the cut-and-paste Edit menu items don't work. (However, the cut-and-paste shortcuts do work.)
5. When web browsing in wide screen mode, if you click on a picture or link that opens up into another card, the new card opens the other way. You have to turn the screen back upright, and then back to wide view for it to flip. Seems like if you are already browsing in wide, new cards would open the same way.
6. Whenever I open or close the slider, the screen fades out and turns black but you can tell it was still lit. It would be like that for a second or two and then turn off. You then had to use the power button to turn it back on. Others are having the same issue (see these links):
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pr...e-culprit.html
http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pr...hes-phone.html
7. When entering data into a form field in landscape mode, left-right cursor movement and text selection is done by swiping up and down (on the horizontal screen) rather than left and right. In other words, these controls are stuck in what makes sense for portrait mode. (Cursor movement may be the only data entry that makes sense in landscape mode.)
8. When choosing a ringer or alarm sound, and you click on the play button of the built-in sounds, then click on the button in the bottom-left to use an mp3, and click on the play button of the mp3, the built-in sound does not stop and continues to play.
9. Will not allow an IP address to be used when setting up an EAS email account. If the value in the server field does not have a .com or all numbers you can not save the account settings. This also seems to be a bug when setting up an imap account.
10. While in another app a notification comes in of an SMS. I tap the notification to read the sms and the Messaging app is moved to the last card. This may happen with other apps like Email but I've only tested with sms. I think cards should stay in the order the user has them arranged.
ETC......
Ed Snyder is consistently wrong... if you want to make $ money from his comments, do the EXACT OPPOSITE...
can you back that statement up?
I wonder what percentage of those voting to say they had problems with their Pre actually ever owned the handset. The constant sad iPhone fanboys hijacking every Pre thread suggests that they'd be the sort of sad losers to try and skew the poll.
I wish I was taking this poll honestly, but honestly, I don't have the Pre. Its not offered on the SERO plan (or whatever they call it now-a-days.) Apparently getting criminally cheap phone service excludes you from getting the dopest (yes, I said dopest) phone since the iPhone. But my good friend got one day of...an now he is on his eighth. Yes, I said eighth, like 8th. Between a battery cover that falls off, dead pixels and a half illuminated keyboard, he's not been able to keep a phone longer than a few days before having to take it back. But, I'd still take on in a flash if I could.
Mine is holding up great. Two weeks after I bought it I dropped it in the toilet (OOPS!) and freaked out. The screen went wouldn't respond at all. I was sure I had ruined it, but after taking apart, drying it as best I could, and letting it dry (opened and battery removed) for 48 hours the screen was a bit crazy (Email kept opening on it's own, Phone would open and dial voice mail) and showed water marks. We plugged it in to charge and found the heat helped dry it out. 72 hours later my phone was totally back to normal and NO damage! I was sooo thankful.
My biggest complaint is that I am lucky if my battery make it through my 8 hour work day without charging. Usually I get about 6.5-7 hours. Very disappointing!