Video: Palm Pre jumps the border, now shipping on Bell
By Thomas Ricker 
posted August 27th 2009 4:21AM
posted August 27th 2009 4:21AM
posted August 27th 2009 4:21AM
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I hate how they photoshop the Pre's status bar to be cool and hidden like a Sony Ericsson Z750 when it's really just a black bar on the top of the screen.
Anyway, congratulations Bell customers. It's a cool phone if you can get passed some annoyances...not sure any phone is worth that 3 year leash, though.
It's not a photoshopped bar at the top. Bell throws a... 'lovely' Bell UI on all their phones.
Still web OS, just a little tweaked.
You're right about 3 year contract. Palm is bleeding every quarter and will probably run out of cash in 10 months so
who with right mind would sign up for 3 years?
I went through their online setup the other day. I had it in my cart and everything.
Ultimately I bailed because of the 3-year contract. I hate 3-year contracts.
Think about it Bell... Brand new Palm Pre lost to me sticking with my Treo 650 on Rogers cause of your greed.
3 years is just nuts. Both for the phone and the contract. Things are changing too much.
If you are a cutting edge tech kind of person, then no way will you stick with one phone for 3 years.
ONE year is too long.
That 3 year contract thing does suck but from looking at the Bell website, it isn't just limited to the Pre...all their phones are on those terrible contracts. Makes me glad I am a Sprint premier customer since that gives me yearly phone upgrades at the new user price.
Basically every phone you get on a contract in Canada is 3 years... it is a horrid system. You have to wait 2 years until you are eligible for an upgrade to sign another 3 years of your life away. I absolutely hate Canadian cell phone companies.
The contract is not for the phone... its for the plan. You can buy a new phone as often as you like, your only going to get a subsidized phone once every 12 months... that subsidy is dependant upon the revenue stream you provide. You can then tailor the plan to your new device, price stays the same or higher... no fee. Your plan price goes down they charge you a fee to change it. Everytime you qualify for a subsidy (or make a change to your plan) they extend your contract to 3 years. I have 2 years on my current contract, I buy a pre with a 3 year contract... I have extended my 2 years back to 3...
The years have no relavance unless you want to jump ship, cause now they will charge you $20 per remaining month.
@Andy
Any promo picture, even on Palm's website, that you see of the Pre makes the status bar look like it's on the device itself. In real life, you clearly see it's the screen with the top portion simply displaying black. It's a big difference.
I'm sure you'll be able to purchase the phone on a no contract/1 year/2 year pricing plan, like most phones on Bell, after the hype fades out. You'll just be paying more...bastards.
Locking you into a 3-year only option for the time being is complete balls though.
But Will is right, anyone on a plan can upgrade phones or plans at any time. They just pay out the ass if they jump shit to another carrier.
yeah, I saw that 3 year contract thing, and I must say, I will personally force the person who decided that 3 year contracts are a good idea to suck my balls for 2 hours each. 2 years is bad enough. What happened to our 1 year contracts you assholes?
FYI when using the photo app, the status bar is EXACTLY like in the video.... no photoshop!!! The photo app removes the normal black status bar and the one in the video pops down when you tap the screen and disappears when you tap again. There is no photoshopping or Bell UI, this is straight up WebOS. As for the contract, they let you upgrade your contract (aka get a new phone) before the three years are up, so if you plan on sticking with the same carrier then who cares, you won't be stuck with the pre for three years.
Memorable quote:
"Yeah that's pretty cool that this has like, the real web on it."
Dammn....you Canadians have been using the fake web all this time!
We have? CRAP!!!
BTW, did anyone notice the $199 price comes with a 3 year contract? OUCH!
These are pretty good commercials. I found myself smiling the whole time I watched them. Way better than the serene/creepy albino lady Pre commercials. I hope we don't get those in Canada.
Definitely....Palm needs to take a hint from the Bell commercials and get rid of their terrible creepy commercials.
No kidding. That was a great commercial. 1000x better then the creepy lady ones. Actually gives some teasers about why the phone is great.
That made me want to drop Verizon like a rock (and banish my fascination with the impending Omini 2) and rush down to sign up with Sprint.... even though it will cost me like $500 to get out of my current contracts and Sprint probably has crummy coverage at my house.
Or not, since I want a little more solid hardare. Still, great commercials.
The commercials may be better than Sprints, but it is a terrible representation of Canada. I don't know if they could have picked a smaller run down looking town. Next up, they are going to show us all living in igloos.
3 years! :O
WTF!? Your phone companies are mental.
It's not the phone companies that are mental - it's us Canadians that have let them get away with the 3-year contract BS.
You can't blame the companies for trying to keep clients as long as possible, but you can blame the consumer for accepting it.
5-10 years ago the contracts in Canada were only for 2 years. Then Telus bumped theirs up to 3 years. Instead of flocking to the other carriers, we kept on giving Telus our business. Obviously when the other carriers saw that they could offer a 3year contract without shooting themselves in the foot, that's exactly what they did.
Within 6 months there will be at least 3 new carriers in Canada, and hopefully this 3 year contract BS will eventually be history.
"She knows her shit, eh?"
I was waiting for the Canadianisms to come out. I wasn't dissapointed.
Ratio of Americans who think Canadians say "eh" all the the time to Canadians who actually say it all the time - 1,000,000:1.
+1 for John
actually, I think we say 'eh' more than we think we do..
at least I catch myself saying it..
"And you thought that the mirror on the back of the Pre was only for the ladies."
Hey Engadget what kind of comment is that? on an era dominated by Mac-loving-metro-sexuals you are sounding like my G-Pops.
Touche
Those words are HTML tagged for a reason.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/28/roger-mcnamee-self-parodies-his-palm-pre-superlatives-it-eats/
Those are great commercials... or are they infomercials? Anyway... I love them!
I wish something like this could have played in America... instead of the creepy girl talking about... I really don't know what she was talking about. Luckily I already knew what a Palm Pre was.
I like commercials like this that show the products... and don't try to get all philosophical on me.
Funny thing is, that Tamara Hope in the oddly creepy US commercials is from Canada.
Haha! She should do commercials for RIM !!!
Much better commercials than the 'creepy' ads running in the States. I'll be interested in seeing the reviews from the Canadian users in a couple of months to see what they think after a couple of months of use, eh?
I hope its not too too hard to reset the phone to get rid of all the bell crap. But yes, give it a month or so and I think I will be getting one of these babies. Now I have to decide if unlimited data is worth it.
A hard reset wont wipe the carrier items that are part of ROM. Removal of the Bell stuff would require a specially cooked ROM (I hope those show up at some point after the GSMs are released).
And here I am thinking that the feminization of males was just a US thing.
BTW did it seem like the interest was not there? The girls had that 'dont care' disposition to them.
I'd like to take a moment and apologize to you on behalf of all the not so macho men of the world for our existance. We are very sorry we make you feel threatened and insecure.
The words 'threatened' and 'insecure' were not in my post to begin with, Nicholas; maybe you should look up the psychological term 'projection'. And thx for the prompt confirmation.
I'll leave it at that - your pretty little white poodle is probably eagerly awaiting its evening stroll.
Great news! Now the Pre will be able to underperform internationally, and not just domestically.
I suppose it's better that Palm Pre jumps the border than jumps the shark...
They need to bring these commercials to the US and get rid of the dumb Tamara ads..these are great! Plus the Canadian chicks know their Sh*t!
Sounds like it is crippled like all of Bell handsets. It forces users to get a data plan and use their allocated bandwidth:
http://pre.bell.ca/palm-pre-features#search
"Searches web and user’s applications, contacts, and dialing information. Web search within wireless coverage area only. Requires data services at additional cost."
Any new smart phone requires a data plan. Have you not heard the woes regarding Rogers data plans for the iPhone? It was and still is hiway robbery!
What Bell needs to do is not force the customer into a 3 year contract, make it flexible, 1 or 2 years max.
Why do you require a data plan? I know lots of people on Rogers or Fido who don't have a data plan for their iPhone. They just use WiFi.
Personally, I just got the 3GS a few months ago, and got the 6GB for $30 package. Is it exhorbitant? Sure. But it's better than AT&T's iPhone data plans with their 5GB soft cap and lack of tethering. I get more data, and I can tether.
Bell hooked up only 45K new subscribers verses 110K for Telus and 140K for Rogers. They need the Pre. Problem is, people don't need Bell.
Need GSM so i can use this on Rogers Network :(
ok, the second commercial sucked. Not creepy, but definitely not engaging.
But the first one was good.
lol... "she knows her shi* eh?"
ha ha them canucks know their shi* i guess... and random guys with cool phones like to get their nails and such done
but, that's a pretty funny commercial
The nice things about these commercials- They make the phone sound attractive. Overly pale women talking about god knows what don't...
Those were pretty damn good ads. But yea, that girl at the very end of the second commercial sure had that, "I don't give a shit" look.