Tell us about your Palm Pre experience
As we all know, the Palm Pre went on sale Saturday, and while there's no question about the smartphone's popularity in terms of interest, the bigger question is whether this enthusiasm turned into actual sales over the weekend. Well, if early numbers are to believed, things look promising for Sprint and Palm.
The two companies have yet to confirm figures, but analysts have called the Pre launch a success. J.P. Morgan reports that "sales in the first two days probably exceed 50,000," meeting its expectations but falling short of the 146,000 units sold of first-generation Apple iPhones.
Sprint's Market Street store in San Francisco saw a line about 10 or 12 people deep Saturday.
(Credit: Bonnie Cha/CNET)However, an updated story by The Wall Street Journal says analysts are now putting the number of units sold in the 50,000 to 100,000 range. Not too shabby. Of course, now we have to wonder whether sales will continue to be swift and strong in light of the iPhone 3G S announcement and price drop of the current 8GB iPhone 3G.
Still, we imagine Sprint and Palm have to be pretty happy with the outcome. It's not clear how many Palm Pres were distributed nationwide for sale, but small lines were reported at Sprint stores and longer lines at Best Buys, since the electronics retailer was offering an instant $100 rebate. I did a quick drive-by of the Market Street Sprint store here in San Francisco on my way out of town and saw a line about 10 to 12 people deep around 9 a.m.
The response to the smartphone also seems largely positive. I checked my Twitter feed and Facebook throughout the weekend, and saw more praises for the smartphone than negative comments. However, it wasn't all sunshine and roses for everyone. By the end of Saturday, a number of user-reported issues started cropping up on sites like Engadget Mobile and Gizmodo, including heat-related screen distortion and random restarts.
CNET's own Jeff Bakalar, who waited two hours in line and had someone pass out on him, had his Pre for just a few hours before it started resetting every time he opened and closed the slider keyboard. Obviously, he's none too pleased with the situation and is hoping a fresh unit will fix the problem--if he can find one.
Meanwhile, CNET Labs' Joseph Kaminski had the opposite experience and is loving his Pre. He was impressed with almost every feature of the smartphone, from the hardware to the Web browsing to the speakerphone to Sprint Navigation. His only concern was the battery life.
Obviously, two very different tales, and now it's your turn, Crave readers. We'd love to hear from all you new Pre owners about your experience with the smartphone. It can be about your time waiting in line, any problems you're having with the Pre, how much you adore the smartphone, or any other thoughts you have about it. Just post your comments below.
Bonnie Cha is a senior editor for CNET, covering smartphones and GPS. When she's not testing the latest gadgets, you can find her chasing after her crazy lab or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California. E-mail Bonnie. 
I have something much better - an iPhone.
If I were to try something like that, I might say the Pre makes the Apple iPhone look like a red delicious: big, mealy, and flavorless.
Stay in your little box because it's "much better" in there for ya.
If you want an iPhone interface just get an iPhone.
And why would anyone get a Palm Pre with its 18 apps? Apps let a 'smart' phone edit Excel files, have a talking dictionary, look at MRI images, play The Sims 3 on their phone etc.
With no apps, the Pre is a 'dumb' feature phone with full internet capability.
PS: For everyone who bought a Pre, Palm hasn't even released the SDK yet to most vendors, you can wait about 1 year for them to develop the apps to get anywhere near the utility of an iPhone or Blackberry (if the developers aren?t busy making apps for iPhone, Android and Blackberry already!)
AND maybe you should ALSO remember that this is Pre 1.0---did iPhone have 30,000 app with their first iPhone-i dont think so. Reality check for you and many other readers. Stop force feeding bs to the masses and fact check yourself before writing incredibly numbing and factless statements.
Lets also say that for the record, I use and have used all OS's including--RIM, Symbian, Winmo, Palm OS, Android and now WebOS. Palm has released a product with an operating system that keeps them in the game.
Move over Apple---there is a giant market and Palm is ready to take it back with WebOS and its GROWING app catalog.
Typing on an iPhone is torture!
That being said, it's useless to compare the 1.0 Pre to the 1.0 iPhone 3G or even the 1.0 original iPhone. Do I think that after a year webOS will be equal to the iPhone's Mobile OSX, yes. But if I'm a consumer buying now, I have to compare webOS at it's current state against the iPhone OS. it doesn't matter that the 1.0 Pre is more stable than the 1.0 iPhone . Currently, the iPhone is more a more stable and mature platform in regards to hardware, software and apps available..
Personally, the potential of the Pre is what's most appealing to me. For a 1.0 OS, it's very stable and already some things better than Mobile OS (Synergy, better Calender app, IMAP IDLE...)
If the Pre came out at the same time as the iPhone 3G it would be a different story, but Palm is late to the game and needs to be very aggressive in doing the following:
1) Making sure there is enough inventory to supply both to new customers and to do replacements on the many phones with hardware issues
2) Putting out OS upgrades to make webOS more solid and to improve features (though I don't think there are too many features missing)
SERIOUSLY??? Ever heard of a Palm Pilot? Practically invented the touchscreen concept. And honestly, are you saying that because I can take my finger and move it from left to right on the screen that it is copying the iphone??? Really? I will give you credit for the acceleometer, didn't know anyone that had that before the iphone.
it definitely need ateast 2 - 3 Months I am not talking about the APP Store the OS it self need 2 - 3 Month for some major Updates hopefully Palm is ready user Forums and they should know which features are more important to Roll out ASAP .
One more thing is What happened to all the standard Palm Treo features which made the previous phones successful and made us all Palm Fans???
· Ability to mask txt messages or have phone display ?one new text message? versus displaying the actual message and sender.
· Indicator light to flash on phone when you have a missed call or text message
· Ability to forward/resend/save txt messages
· Ability to change font size of messages
· Ability to highlight and copy txt messages
· Ability to change ringtones for txt messaging .
Best Place to go and check what major Updates required for Pre .
is : http://forums.palm.com/palm/board?board.id=webossoftware
Thanks
Faisal
The other things, they should have included.
- Battery Life: Not as bad as some p/reviews had led me to believe. 6-7 hours of somewhat heavy use will bring my battery % down into the teens. I suspect people reporting less than 3-4 hours of standby must not have gotten the memo about the IM bug. If your battery depletes painfully fast, perhaps you should disable IM until this is resolved.
- Screen Distortion/Discoloration: Extremely minor issue for me. I only noticed it when viewing the screen at an extremely off-angle, which really highlights any nonuniformity in brightness or color. There is an almost imperceivable yellowing/dimming in a couple of spots toward the bottom of the screen, but not enough to make me want to RMA it or even notice it during normal use.
- Speaker: I fully appreciate the technical limitations of such a small speaker, but a little more volume would have been great. Works fine in fairly quiet settings, but can be a challenge to make out what people are saying even over the drone of my car's air conditioner. Surprisingly, others I've shown the phone have remarked at how loud and clear the speaker is. Maybe I'm going deaf?
There are of course numerous minor gripes about the minutiae of the operating system, but I have full confidence that Palm can and will resolve these with updates. If I'm wrong about that, then I'm certain 3rd party developers will gladly step up to the plate and offer alternatives for the bundled apps. Speaking of which... I sure wish they'd release the SDK- and not just Mojo, something lower level as well. All it would take is one good game to demonstrate the power of the OMAP 3430/PowerVR SGX530 processor and the Pre's user base would explode. I suggest anyone who doubts that the Pre's hardware is up to the task of gaming do some searching for demo videos of what the PowerVR can do... quite impressive for what it is.
Another thing about it is how warm it gets. I did the webOS update and it took about 25% of my battery and my phone got really warm. I will definitely be buying the newer version hopefully next year with better battery life and more memory. Also get those SDK kit in developers hands ASAP so we can start seeing some more neat tools.
Pros:
- OS seems fast and responsive... much better than Windows Mobile
- The browser is awesome. Love it.
- Seamless integration with Gmail and Exchange Server
- Decent intro apps - Pandora is great!
- WiFi, Bluetooth
- Very intuitive - easy to navigate and the notifications are slick
- Consolidated Calendars - this works so well.
Cons
- Slider is hard to open, especially with one hand
- Things get a little slow when running some apps in the "background". While streaming pandora it takes a little while to pull up e-mail.
- The phone gets pretty hot after charging on the Touchstone.
- It would be nice to have audio notifications of incoming e-mail, text messages, or im's. Maybe there is a setting but I can't find it or it is really faint.
- Imports all your gmail contacts so anyone you have ever e-mailed or who has ever e-mailed you. Not a big deal if you don't scroll through your contacts and just use the Global Search. However, it would be nice if you could just sync certain contact folders or groups.
Overall, I really like this phone and am very pleased with it. I hope Palm is successful with this phone. I think it is better than an iPhone but I've only played with an iPhone... never seriously used it.
There is a way to get audio notifications for e-mails and missed messages. If you go into the E-mail app > Preferences & Accounts, and go to each of your e-mail accounts, there should be a "Play Sound" option that you can turn on. The same for the texts and IMs, go to the Messaging app > Preferences & Accounts and turn on "Play Sounds" for new messages. Hope that helps and thanks for your comments.
-Bonnie
The phone does get pretty warm while charging, so I hope the innards can take the heat.
Just wait until Macromedia gets Flash working for the PRE. Talk about an abundance of games that will become part of the PRE app store!
I haven't bought yet but played with a unit yesterday -I didn't have any issue with opening the slider. In fact, I thought it was pretty smooth. I've heard some complaints about the plastic being "sharp" and would agree, however it's ridiculous to think anyone could get injured -unless you have hands of silk.
Here's the better way to do it: rest the device on your fingers, but then place your thumb right on the screen (near the middle, or slightly lower). Squeeze the device slightly, and push open. Works EXTREMELY easily. I guess that since this is my first touch-screen device, I had been afraid to just let my meaty digits dig in to the thing. You may also find that your little finger automatically slides down to the back bottom edge of the device, holding it securely in your hand and anchoring it so that the thumb can push against it.
Sorry for all to whom this is blindingly obvious, but I really did have problems opening it one-handed for the first couple days.
P.S. Love my pre.
About my pre experience. I went to the sprint store midday of launch and they had sold out of their 35 phone inventory within an hour of opening the store. I played with the two working models which were connected with touchstone. I was put on the waiting list and a few days later I went back in and they brought two pres out of the back (One other person in my family was getting a pre). We set them up, tranfered contacts, and was ready to go in less than 10 minutes. However I didn't go, I sat at a table and started to play with it. I lost track of time and left 30 minutes later, after completely mastering the device. I became comfortable with the gestures and hidden features in 30 minutes. When I went home, I got my ipod touch to play star defense and kept trying to use the gestures and features of my pre, on that. For the first time, I felt restricted on an apple device. Being an apple fanboy, this was weird. When I finally remembered there was no gesture area on my ipod touch, the switch between the two was easier. However, with my pre, I have been able to leave my ipod touch at home and just carry one device throughout the day, something I couldn't do with my old phone. Palm has really blew me out of the water, and this device is a great alternative to the iphone. It is geared more towards business and social connectivity, while the iphone is more for entertainment. In my opinion, the pre wins because of multitasking and the keyboard, but both are very strong devices. Honestly, if you would have told me that the pre is a new apple device and OS that apple is releasing for beta, I would have believed you because it works so fluidly and beautifully, on par with the standards of apple, in both hardware and software.
The keyboard IS small and the buttons aren't raised high enough to my comfort level, but I got used to it in a few minutes. I love the size and how it feels in the hand. I found that whatever features the phone has, it makes use of them very well and executes all its functions efficiently. I probably stood there playing with the demo unit longer than I should, but it convinced me that this was going to be my next smartphone purchase. I'm looking forward mostly to medical software being available and anticipate that it won't be too much longer until it is. Excellent work on a remarkable handset, Palm & Sprint!
The iPhone is much faster, more responsive and you can see for yourself if you browse through your contact list. Just drag up and down on each phone and you'll see the huge difference in performance. I imagine the new iPhone will be even faster.
Sadly, I am going to return my Palm Pre as it just could not live up to the hype.
I can understand complaining about something if it makes sense, it just sounds like you did not really know how to use the phone.
IPhone and Palm Pre are both fine phones. I like both, and they both have their plusses and minusses. The biggest minus that the IPhone has, though, is that it is on AT&T. Not only are their plans waaaay more expensive than Sprint's plans, but their coverage is not too good if you leave populated areas (Although AT&T is much better than T-Mobile). I travel 100% for work and my AT&T co-workers are always needing to borrow my phone when we get off of the beaten path.
I ramble.
Basically, don't bash something you weren't sure how to use. Customer loyality is great, but when you become a snob about it - you start to look unintelligent. This all reminds me of people and their loyality to car brands, theirs is the best, and every other car in the world sucks. Everyone has good things
exception for Verizon
I am surprisingly happy with the Pre, both software and the hardware, though the ergonomics of the keyboard are indeed a little awkward. The phone is understated and not so conspicuous, which I like, and it works well. The applications are responsive and they multi-task. The graphic design and user interface are clean and intuitive, (once you learn the back-swipe gesture to return to the previous screen). For example text messages are organized by user, which is really nice. They are more like conversations. Attaching photos, is also relatively clean and easy.
I was able to link the phone to several email accounts without any problem. The screen and camera work well.
There are a few things about the phone that I like to see improved. The lack of voice activated voice dialing is somewhat problematic, especially when using bluetooth in a car, since the phone directory requires you to type or scroll through lists of contacts. Probably the biggest flaw in the phone. Maybe I just haven't figured out to do it.
I am also irked by the inability to get rid of some of the Sprint pre-loaded applications like the NASCAR application. Maybe there is a big market segment of NASCAR users who want smart phones that's been under-represented. I don't know; I'm just not one of them.
Otherwise, applications seem to be coming on board, more quickly than I thought they would. I'm not looking to use my phone for science experiments, or tuning my guitar, or games... so I'm okay with just having a aps to explore. GPS works great.
I would also like there to be better integration between Ical/Entourage/Mac. I haven't fully integrated my calendar into the phone, since it will involve upgrading my operating system to 10.5. Hopefully better mac integration will be developed for us non i-phone folks. And a stopwatch. We need a stopwatch!
All in all, however, I am very happy.
One tip Palm gave me about optimizing battery life is to actually turn ON Wi-Fi when possible. The Pre is more efficient at pulling data over a Wi-Fi network rather than over a cellular network, so it puts less strain on the battery. I tried it and it definitely makes a difference. Also, if you don't need GPS all the time, turn it off until you do. I'll be doing a quick video with some battery tips soon but hopefully this helps in the meantime.
All in all - I am so glad I bought this phone!!! Give it a chance folks, give it a chance.
Anyway, after playing with the it, I found the ipod touch (and thus the iPhone) to be a fun device that is easy to use and really cool. But I found myself putting the thing down and getting my Treo whenever I needed to get something done (e.g. actually reply to emails, set up meetings with colleagues, etc.). I think if I were a high school kid looking for a cool phone, then the iPhone would be it. But, I'm the ideal candidate for the Pre: business user with a current Sprint contract that expires in June. Getting the Pre for me is a no brainer. I had planned on getting ordering one online on the 6th, only to find out Sprint wasn't taking online orders (which they announced a couple of days before). Nice job Sprint. No big deal really, I can wait a few days.
Got to the store at 6:30am with my wife, we took Pre's #5 and #6. There were at least 25 people there, and the store sold their entire inventory of 40 within the hour.
Absolutely no problems with the phone itself, but porting one of the numbers from our Verizon account occured at the same time Sprint's servers crashed. This left me without a working phone for 24 hours, and without my phone number for an additional 24. All is OK now, and Sprint has upgraded me to a non-advertised plan that is like a "fave 5" with 3 numbers. This is free for both of our lines as long as I stay with them.
Overall I'm satisfied, I love the Pre. My friend (who has an iPhone 3G) saw it today and said he wished he had waited.
and how it feels is just simply amazing how they designed the Palm Pre to comfortably in my hand and performance is super - very please overall - my only complaint is the lack of ability to change the sounds for tex/email - a soft "ding" and optional vibration is all you get with the phone by default - I guess this will be one of the future apps that will be out in the future - First phone I ever owned where I could not change the email/text message sound or the volume - bit annoyning - other then that - I am very please a Happy Sprint Customer.
although i was disappointed that Sirius was not on sprint tv for the pre...i used it on my centro all the time....so hopefully that will get sorted out, esp since it was included in the literature that came w the phone as being available...
still learning my way around the phone and getting use to it. Overall it is a great device w no problems on my end.
* Browser seems very sluggish - I'm not on a 3G network in my area, so that is part of the problem. But my previous phone, on the same network, loaded pages way faster.
* Battery could use some work - it runs down faster than I'd prefer (even with wi-fi, and GPS turned off). However, this is my first SmartPhone, so this could be an issue with phones of this nature.
* The phone was a day old, and already indicated that there was an updated OS available. It also requires a high speed connection to download the updates, which Sprint doesn't have in my area yet. So I'll have to find a wi-fi hotspot to get my update. Not cool.
* I went by the pricing that Sprint announced earlier in the year, and also on their website. Read the fine print very, very carefully. Because I had not had my previous device for 22 months, I was only eligible for the $75 upgrade and NO MAIL-IN REBATE. I've been a Sprint customer for 8 years, and paid over $500 for this phone. I could have gotten the same deal at Best Buy. Sprint Corporate is notorious for not giving a rat's rear-end about its customers though, so I'm not sure why I'm surprised. The only reason I am staying with them is for the Pre (and because I have not had service problems in 8 years).
So far, those are the worst things about this phone and its carrier. I can't believe I spent $500 for a phone, but I'm not sorry. It's worth it.
- by Incrocio June 8, 2009 4:34 PM PDT
- I was just down at the Sprint store and played around with the phone for about a halfhour or so... Just as a point of contention today is the first business day after the 'weekend' launch of Sprints hope for a future and NO PHONES AVAILABLE??? In my opinion this is a really stupid way to take advantage of the consumer and really just stick another thorn in the side of a 'Loyal sprint Customer' again... 12 years I have been with Sprint and my loyalty has run out... I am so disappointed with my 700p that I am ready to jump ship if neccasary as soon as I find a suitable replacement for my phone... Never the less, however,I think my treo os is gonna be a hard one to beat.... My biggest letdown is the fact that the pre doesnt seem to have the 'on demand' handspring program I have so become addicted to... This feature is very important to me do to the fact that I travel greatly and am constantly in a flying environment with no phone or wifi coverage at all.. With 'on demand' I can download all the current news, wx, stokpics,etc and place the phone in airplane mode and still have all that updated info at my fingertips... This program as of right now IS NOT available on the pre.... HUGE.... Plus it seems that there are no emoticons or the simplistic way text messages are arranged intuitivly as on the treo os... So--- Am I dying to get one??? NO--- I think I may revisit the treo line and rethink my wants and must haves before getting rid of my constantly crashing and rebooting 700p... OH!!! Where is the video recorder?? Now the Iphone has one... Is it too much to ask for???
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- by wmurch3 June 14, 2009 5:38 AM PDT
- I got my Pre a few days ago and love it! The interface is so smooth and rich. I especially love being able to stream Pandora in my car with turn by turn navigation going at the same time. The only downside right now is that I have to wait for some good 3rd party apps to come along but I have my iPod Touch to keep me busy with games and what not. Once some good games and apps come along - so long ipod touch.
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