Has your Palm Pre learned to do the twist?
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jul 23rd 2009 11:48AM
posted Jul 23rd 2009 11:48AM
No, that's not a Blurrycam shot of a rumored Palm Pre follow-up with a rotating screen. It's actually one of the more extreme cases of the Palm Pre "twisting" right out of its shell, which, as far as we can tell, still seems to be a fairly rare occurrence. This particular Pre belongs to one Royer, who was apparently able to get it replaced without too much hassle, but other folks are also reporting some slight screen wobble, and even a few cracks appearing here and there. Somewhat interestingly, Royer says that the Sprint repair center he went to said they're not allowed to try to fix the Palm Pre, and are instead instructed to simply exchange it for a new one. So, has your Palm Pre learned any new moves it shouldn't have? Let us know in comments.
[Via Engadget Chinese]
[Via Engadget Chinese]
Mine is working great. No problems at all. Kind of freaky though to see that.
ditto never had the screen wobble, nor did the wife and we replaced hers due to theft.
Zero problems here... this is a *VERY* rare occurrence.
Hey isn't this story old? PreThinking reported it weeks ago.
Palm built it to do that. That's so you could still use the keyboard while typing in widescreen mode. Palm FTW. Within six months all Pres will just self-destruct and that will be the end of that.
In theory, the more moving parts you have on a device, the more likely it is to fail, especially when trying to save on costs.
Mine has a little more wiggle to it than I'd like, it feels like a loose tooth. I'm brining it back to Best Buy tonight.
Also, that slick looking USB car charger is AWFUL. I've read of others having the same issue where it doesnt even charge enough to break even with use. Thats lame, Palm.
No problems here...knock on wood
Hmm, I've been jonesing for one of these for a while now, and am pretty much set to get one. This freaks me out a little, but not enough to not buy one.
Question: I'm getting it at Best Buy (the way I can save the most money). Should I get their protection plan, or just stay on Sprint's insurance, or what?
@Chris Are, sprint insurance should cover the phone for basically everything, not sure what Best Buy would offer.
Chris. I just bought mine last week. The BB insurance plan is $10 IIRC compared to Sprint's $7. The rep told me that it covers about the same as Sprint's except they have no deductible compared to Sprint's $50 fee. They will also provide you with a temporary phone so you can still use a phone while yours is getting repaired/replaced. Also, Sprint's plan covers you if your phone is lost or stolen, where BB's insurance does not. I'm pretty sure those are the only differences he mentioned.
Same here. Mine's been working great since launch day. Just waiting for flash and a new crop of apps to add some bells and whistles to an already solid platform.
Alright, thanks guys. I think I'll stick w/ Sprint's insurance. They replaced my Centro straight up. Though apparently a battery is considered to be an "accessory" which I think is really dumb.
Looks like a feature to me! They should work on making the next model rotate 90 degrees when extended.
Mine is fine..had it over a month now.
the pre seems like a cool phone. i played with one at my local sprint store the day that it dropped (could never get it simply cuz its honestly too small, especially the keys, for my hands). the OS seems great, but i did notice the build quality of the one i played with seemed to be a lil sub par. kinda has me worried hearing about all these stories.
Come on let's twist again, Like we did last summer
Reminds me of when someone told me they got their Touch Pro screen to tilt, but only once.
bahaha this is pretty crazy but nope mines still sturdy
Even when the keyboard isn't slid out?
Slid up my Pre felt solid as a rock. When the keyboard was away it was wiggly and flimsy. For example the top half of the screen, when touching, would give in and wiggle. Doing the back gesture would have the top layer of the phone go with my thumb a bit. Just wiggly all over.
nice it look cool
Ouch!
That wouldn't be that bad if the Pre had a real feature like that added. Just saying, Would make emulators easier.
(although it would make flipping it open weird)
This is actually an OTA upgrade in response to the negative coverage for gaming. The phone now slides in either direction revealing game controls at the other end and a spin with release/lock mechanism. Perfect. Way to go Palm.
Mine has a little bit of play, but no mare than any other slider phone I've ever had.
That's not good...
"the Sprint repair center he went to said they're not allowed to try to fix the Palm Pre, and are instead instructed to simply exchange it for a new one"
Good! Now why can't they do this with all of the phones? The idiot behind the counter hard resetting my phone a hundred times clearly doesn't know what he's doing
Probably because the do not want Sprint employees opening them up and breaking them further.
Apple did the same thing with the first gen iPhones. I had mine replaced 3x within the within the first year without any hassle. The first swap they basically begged me to take it. I assume Apple wanted them to diagnose issues internally and fix issues with updates.
Could the current, newer design be free of this issue? Maybe the manufacturing process has been refined a bit after the initial launch.
I usually buy the high end tech phones. But, they have always replaced with a new phone for me.
Except one time there wasn't one in stock so i had to use this old phone till one came in.
It was the biggest pile of shit i have ever seen.
ahh it was this phone!
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=736
It was embarrassing!
That phone is embarrasing to own. FYL man!
The reason is that Palm will be sending them back to the OEM to be repaired or replaced at no cost to them.
A lot of these problems are clear manufacturing defects as opposed to design defects. Therefore, the company which builds the devices for Palm is hit with the liability.
Mines got a little screen wobble, but nothing too severe. It can be helped a lot too by tightening the hex screws in the rear battery plate. PRE 4 LYFE!!!
My Pre is does appear that he wants to do the twist, but needs more time to practice. He seems to twist the most while doing the slide.
nice try
My Pre is actually pretty good with the slider and overall build, but I had to change out the battery. My brother's Pre did not fair so well. It has a crack along the entire screen, but he is not sure if he cracked it or the kids... They are replacing his. I have noticed there are a lot of issues with build, so I am watching my 30 day return policy just in case.
Other than that I like the Pre a lot.
Mine wiggles a little bit from side-to-side but no rotation! That plus a single stuck pixel up in the far left corner so far so good.
I really hope Palm does well enough with the pre later this year with the GSM version to start making more devices. I actually thought the EOS/Pixie concept was exactly what I want, a small, capable phone, for business that is slim and easy to type on. Blackberry would work if the OS was a bit better and the devices a bit thinner.
i love my pre but i have had a problem lately where my headphone jack doesnt register the headphones coming out and the phone often thinks i have headphones in. meaning i have to blow into the jack like an NES. otherwise tho, no twisting cracking etc since launch
The headphone issue is easily resolved... just pull out the headphones while the unit is turned ON. ... Should be an easy fix in the future...
thanks for the tip but trust me ive tried that. ive tried everything. sometimes it happens in the middle of a call. im going to get a replacement soon. but really, it only affects me when i want to make a voice call. and who does that in 2009 anyway?
It's a known bug, I don't think the phone matters. Software issue.
The same thing happens to me!!
Somtimes for days at a time.
I have also noticed that the proximity sensor is turned off when this happens.
You have to put it on speaker, that works.
I had this same issue. Take a cotton swab and try to clean out the headphone jack. There is probably some dirt on the sensor in jack port. I did that to mine and haven't had any problems since.
Still a palm pre.
GARBAGE
Mine is fine.
an awful lot of those pre stories seem to start with "this is my third pre and..."
So far NONE of the comments have started like that. Observation FAIL.
Do you have an iPhone?
"So far NONE of the comments have started like that. Observation FAIL."
Stories related in the media and in places like this. What's with the childish "observation FAIL", are you 12? Just reply like you are in a room full of adults.
"Do you have an iPhone?"
Used one once for about five minute (however I might get one when my contract is up next month) - I use windows mobile devices for work related reasons.
"Just reply like you are in a room full of adults."
That would be suitable if the Engadget comment section was in fact a room full of adults.
If you think this is the case, you must be new here.
"Just reply like you are in a room full of trolls"
-fixed
My pre is developing space between the two parts of the phone (keyboard and back) when closed. I can see through the crack to the other side of the phone, just barely. I have not damaged it in any way whatsoever and I slide out the keyboard almost too carefully. Should I be worried about this? Will sprint do anything, or palm, considering I got it sealed and brand new from ebay (though I won't tell them that of course)?
I must say I came to this post expecting a flame war. Well played, Engadget commenters, well played.
Yeah because if it were an iPhone issue every PRE user would flame up
Waiting to see if the "Twisting Palm" issue hits all the news outlets like the "iPhone Discoloration From Heat" story.
*waiting, waiting, waiting...*
Nope.
P.S. Mark - since you are one who typically helps *incite* flame wars, we fully expected that you fully expected to find one.
Just pictured someone sitting in their office clicking on it reading a few comments then saying "flame up", lighting on fire then typing a bunch of random off topic stuff.
There isn't a flame war because everyone and their mother doesn't have a Pre, unlike the iPhone. Give it a year or two and people will be hating on the Pre. Especially after a few "Pre is better than iPhone!!!" articles printed by the NY Times or something.
@Quix: Odd, I don't remember commonly attacking people for their choice of gadget... Maybe you're just a little biased since I generally disagree with you? Hmmm?
My first thought was that this was an undocumented feature.
Palm should really think about making it one.
Just give Paul some time to get to this story.
I'm sure now, though, that Pre owners are now testing the wobblefactor of their phones which would probably exacerbate the situation...
I already compulsively wiggle mine. It has less than a mm give, but it annoys me. It's like a loose tooth. Or Fox News. I don't want to, but oh god, I just have to poke at it.
Apple has long understood that moving parts are a bad idea, if you can avoid them. Some people are just not careful with things (and why should they be?).
Yeah so Apple went and created some plastic which auto-scratches and takes fingerprints as you're looking at it. And those parts get their place even in the smallest iPod shuffle.
No seriously, Apple MUST learn from their iPod 3G/4G mistakes. I know so many people who had died hard disks in their iPods.
I'm a happy iPhone user but there isn't a perfect phone or company in the world, some do one thing better and the others do it bad. As for build quality Apple does a great job in their notebooks and their iPods/iPhones but that doesn't mean they need less care.
It's not even about being careful. I treated my Pre with extreme care, and so did plenty of other people that had this conversation in Pre forums, but the Pre still weakens and becomes loose and wiggly. This is an extreme case, usually when sliding your finger on the screen or doing the back gesture you can feel it wiggle and you're very aware that it's a slider with two layers.
Just a little wiggle, but no other problems.
Same here, but no issues with the wife's.
My first one had a pretty bad twist, but it wasn't anywhere close to that. My new one has a little wobble but nothing too serious.
This story is weeks old from Prethinking? why are you posting it now? My Pre is really good there is no play in it at all
Looking at that picture it looks just a little to photo shopped
Not just a river in Africa.
Mine is still working great - there is a little wiggle but nothing to be concerned about. It still feels solid and has great performance....now let's get to work on that App store, getting me some Flash support, a virtual keyboard for landscape entry, and landscape abilities for all apps not just web and hacked email (RocknRollHax)
by the by stereo bluetooth works great on this baby and my plantronics 855 autoconnects with ease
this is easily the best phone I have ever owned
C'mon Engadget you're better than this.
This kinda thing happens not just to a "fairly rare" few but a very, VERY rare few.... but when reputable blogs like you post this it snowballs to the point of scaring away a would-be buyer from a great phone (courtesy of iPhone junkies via Twitter).
I've owned my Palm Pre since launch with ZERO problems. Zip. Nada. Zilch.
"VERY rare" - You mean like white iPhones becoming discolored?
Perhaps you didn't see the "OMG, iPhones are burning up and turning pink!" hysteria.
Sensationalistic journalism sucks eyeballs.
"scaring away a would-be buyer from a great phone (courtesy of iPhone junkies via Twitter)"
Twitter slander from iPhone junkies? Why back up one crazy paranoid assertion with another one?
Let me paraphrase you: C'mon, Vara411 you're better than that.
How do you know he's better than that? Don't ever give internet people the benefit of the doubt.
Hey look the new Sidekick 2010
I bought on 6/30 and have a 6/20 build date (Pre owners can dial "##786#" to find this out) and I don't have any of the issues plaguing some of the folks who bought closer to release date. Glad I'd waited.
i really need one of these!!!
Man...no iPhone or Pre for me...iPhone cracked on me once and I returned it to ATT. Was thinking of Pre and this 'twisting'.
Will wait for Hero to come stateside or SE's Racheal.
People who think slide-out phones are a good design idea make me LOL. "Hai guiz how can we make this thicker and more prone to fail?!"
Don't have the twist or "oreo" effect and frankly was happy with the build quality of my Pre that I got on launch morning, including the screen which had no dead pixels and only had those heat spots at the bottom. But mine over the weekend developed a problem with the earpiece (dead) after using plugged in headphones. Took it to Repair Center and confirm that they said "not allowed to touch or fix" and they ordered (backorder...waiting now 4 days so annoying) a replacement no further questions asked. The problem has since resolved with more twisting of the headphones in/out but I'm sticking with exchanging it as the clarity of voice wasn't the best and I'm thinking the earpiece was flawed before all this. We'll see what the 2nd one brings.
Mine wobbles about 1/4" either way but 3 different sprint corp stores told me that it was fine. So if if they are not worried than neither am I.
i wrote about this problem almost a month ago, but my pre isn't anywhere near that extremity...
http://palmprereviews.net/palm-pre-life-expectancies/
I actually like the idea of it. I don't like the idea of it happening because of shoddy construction or natural wear-and-tear, but as an actual feature (for say, the Pre2 - or is it the Post?) I kinda like the idea. The concept reminds me of the LG VX9400, which my sister had - I enjoyed using it as a media phone but I think that with smart-phone specs it could be a killer phone.
I've got screen wobble and its only a week old
"..they're not allowed to try to fix the Palm Pre.."
Could the current, newer design be free of this issue? Maybe the manufacturing process has been refined a bit after the initial launch.
It's great to see Sprint offering replacements on the spot.
This is where the OTA sync is a godsend.
Ending is better than mending.... Sound familiar?
I'm on my 3rd one I think. The screen wobbled way too much especially compared to the first one (My first one overheated a whole lot and the screen got discolored). I got a lot of grief from the Sprint rep that I went to regarding swapping it. Not very friendly, didn't want to help or exchange it. It was quite frustrating. I finally got one that felt as solid as my first one (and my wife's and a good friend's) but now it's wobbling sometimes to where I can place the bad of my ring finger on the left hand on the bottom of the pre.
This only happens occasionally, but otherwise it's fine. Never had that problem with the first one I had, and neither has my wife or my friend. So, build issues are suspect and my experience with the Sprint store here in town wasn't very friendly, but I guess I was the greasy wheel.
I'm fine with the one I have now. It does wobble more than I would like or it probably should, but it's nothing like the other 2 they tried to give me.
Wish it were more like the first one though. I got that one on Launch day.
Maybe its because I haven't used a Pre, but I'm having a lot of trouble trying to picture this:
"now it's wobbling sometimes to where I can place the bad of my ring finger on the left hand on the bottom of the pre"
I need some Aspirin.
That's disappointing because having the screen sideways would make the thing significantly cooler and easier to use.
What it this was an intended function, but for what ever reason they nixed it partway through, adding what ever to the sliding mechanism to lock it in portrait? I'll confess I liked the idea of that giant white swivel smartphone we saw a while back.
As for build quality, I was first in line on launch day and have no concerns. Even a drop and skid across concrete caused nothing more than a small crack by the microphone.
Replaced the first one (bought on release day) due to the reset problem which got worse and worse.
The replacement actually wiggled more than the first. But I'm not worried about it. Wiggles a total of 1/16 - 1/8 inch.
Of course if it gets worse I'll do something.
At the Sprint store, they said that if the defect on the Pre is not neglect (ie, drop/water/etc), they will replace without questions for one year from date of purchase.
We got 4 PREs on June 6 (me and 3 kids). 3 of the 4 are getting replaced due to reset problem.
I think this type of thing is to be expected with a first gen device. A very small percent will roll out with defects. The iPhone had screen and case issues (heck, it still does!) in small numbers. It's when you get 2-3 years into a product life cycle and thousands of your product are breaking for no other reason than poor design (looking at you xbox360) that a company has a problem.
As long as Palm can get the kinks worked out, this should be a non-issue.
mines doing good. no problems at all.
anyways you can always look at it this way its the equivilent to iphones color changing abilities.
Except that this particular Pre problem isn't caused by a 3rd party case.
hehe, nice twist. I'm on my 3rd Pre now, waiting for my 4th to come in. Every one so far has had stuck/dead pixels and my second one did the twist, not as bad as this one but it was pretty bad. And even my 3rd one twist a little, so now the 4th one is on order. Ugh. I just want one that works.
Google "Stuck Pixel Fixer" , it's a video that will flash all colours through the phones video player with the hopeful effect of "charging" the pixels so that they come "un-stuck". has worked for my psps, laptops and my sammy 40incher lcd.
iPhone for the Win!
This comment has nothing to do with the iPhone, nor are you even replying to a comment about the iPhone. LEAVE AND NEVER COME BACK, TROLL