Comments on: Tell us about your Palm Pre experience

Early sales of the Palm Pre look promising, but some early problems are bring reported. Crave asks its readers what their experience has been with the Pre.

[argeleri]

Went into the store and played around with the PRE. Thought the mobile device was pretty amazing. I liked the UI, multitasking ability, and the universal search. In the end I decided not to buy it for these reasons:

1) Contract length - Sprint does not offer a 1 year contract on the phone. I don't mind paying more for the phone if I could opt for a 1 year contract to help subsidize the phone cost.

2) Capacity - I wish they had a 32GB or at least 16GB version of the phone. I plan on using it as my music device too and would like to keep it all in one place.

3) Apps - I understand they need a little bit of time and I'm positive they will build a great app store. Its just too bad there aren't that many apps out for it (same reason I didn't buy an iPhone when it was released). This will probably be fixed in the future, but in the meantime I'm willing to wait.

[seehide]

I purchased the new Pre after months of anticipation and I have to say I am very happy with it. I had long coveted the iPhone but could not justify switching providers with AT&T's price point for plans along with complaints of constant dropped calls. The Pre definitely satisfies my needs for a true smart phone, the design is incredible, and haven't had any of the glitches mentioned by other posts. The echo the sentiment that the only negative thus far is the battery life. My first day playing with it definitely used up the juice very quickly but now going back to normal usage of web browsing, texting and calls it seems to be average.

[jeffstading]

To borrow MC Donald tag line, "I'm loving it" Palm is back! I can't believe it took so long for them to develop a new OS, but at least it is a great OS. The phone works. I haven't experience the first problem with it. The good news is that palm will likely design more devices that use Web OS . I am truly excited for this new product line. As for On Demand, I believe it is on the way as the already have an Express stock app that seems to be similar in style.
I feel like a Sprint apologist today but the truth is that Sprint has been getting better in Customer Service, their phone aren't robbed of the features like some carriers do, the service plans are better than anyone else's (except some of the their own older plans), Great coverage. Sprint stunk up customer service a couple years back back but they have righted that ship over the past year.
BTW, my Sprint store reps were knowledgeable, professional, my sales person was even kinda cute to boot.

[ledzep23]

The Palm Pre is a great phone, but it still feels incomplete. However, it is still miles ahead of the first iPhone. I stood in line at the Best Buy near my house (I was 12 in line), and they only had 10 phones. I called every Best Buy, Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, and Sprint Store within a 100 mile radius and they were all sold out or not available! I finally found it at a Radio Shack in Chatsworth, CA. I am so happy with my phone, but it is still missing some simple features. Thank You!

[Terino21]

The Palm Pre is great, but there are a few problems with it....I have found that you can't forward a text, the sounds for messaging, voicemail, and notifications is limited to one sound that can't be changed, if it overheats it will shut down, and the battery does not hold a charge for very long. A few quirks that need to be worked out and possibly sent in an update. Overall, I am mostly pleased, just hope Palm and Sprint and can work out the kinks and provide those of us who have bought the original Pre with these improvements.

[vegahw]

I agree the battery life drains pretty fast. I have found that if i turn gps off when i'm not using it saves battery. Just go to location services and turn off gps, turn off bluetooth if not in use, also turn off IM.

Hope it helps!

[ecb1171]

I love webOS. For a 1.0 product it's surprising how polished it is. My only real software complaints (so far) are:

1. Bluetooth connectivity -- Bluetooth connection drops (think this only happens when the battery is < 40% charged) Also, the sound quality in my car (2008 Infiinti EX35) is horrible and almost unusable. I realize the car issue is a pretty specific complaint, but I've never had another phone (iPhone3g, Storm, G1) that had any issues with sound quality.

2. Can't delete multiple emails -- Not a big deal for me, but I am surprised that such a polished OS doesn't have that functionality

There is also an issue with signal strength. I talked to a sprint customer service rep who let me know they were aware of that issue and Palm was working on an update that should be out soon. I truly hope the problem can be fixed with an upgrade and it's not a hardware issue.

Speaking of the hardware, the QC control was not good. I have yet to make it through a full day without my pre rebooting once (usually due to the slider issue people have complained about) Add to that, I've got 2 dead pixels.

I'm enamored with webOS, but the true test for me will be based on 2 things:

1) How quickly and easily Sprint replaces my Pre
2) How quickly Palm deals with the more serious OS issues (signal and bluetooth)

I'm optimistic, but I'm not getting rid of my iPhone yet !

[vegahw]

I find that it takes the same amount of effort and time to flick each e-mail away to the right then to select each e-mail to be deleted. I understand that people are used to deleting multiple e-mails at once, but don't you have to select them anyways? might as well flick away.

I was the first one in line at an authorized retailer in Dallas. Unlike the "real" Sprint stores, the authorized retailers were putting people on a list for the phone, so I did not have to worry about whether or not I'd get my hands on a Pre prior to getting there.

It was 6am when I rolled up. There was no one in sight. About 15 minutes later, the first Sprint employee arrived, followed by the second customer. The store actually opened 30 minutes early and no one else around. I was thrilled that there were no grotesque camping lines as seen at the iPhone launch.

The employees knew nothing about the phone! I was actually training the Sprint people on how to navigate through (props to all the pre forums and video footage on the internet), so my experience with a Pre specialist at launch was totally non-existent! During activation, roughly 4 people walked in behind me I was floored to hear that the staff would only give phones to people on their wait list or new Sprint customers. What happened to customer loyalty??

Now on to the OS. It is everything they said it is. Multi-tasking is stellar and using it would make any techie giddy with joy. The interface is clean organized well and takes roughly 15 minutes for technologically savvy people to get used to. At times it can appear sluggish, but only on things that require access to cyberspace. You can only copy and paste editable text, so you really won't find yourself using it that much waited for capability that much. I also hate the fact that you cannot forward text messages sent to you (at least I haven't figured out how to do it). Overall, the words that best describe webOS (and words I believed that have been used quite frequently) are "game changing."

The design of the phone itself received some unfair comments in some reviews (and by those that have never even picked one up). Let me assure you it is amazing! It truly does feel good in your palm (nyuck, nyuck, nyuck); and it is tiny, sleek, and definitely sexy! I forget it is in my pocket all the time. The phone does collect a lot of fingerprints, which annoys many, but when you purchase the touchstone, it comes with a matte backing that reduces that problem significantly; and it makes it feel way more "expensive."

The screen is second to none, though it may tie the iPhone and some RIM devices. Like every electronic device in this world, it is not without drawbacks. The speaker is good, but needs to be louder and the keyboard can be a little cramped for some, but I have no complaints whatsoever. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is battery life. It is TERRIBLE! A Sprint employee told me, "that's really what the touchstone is for." I totally disagree, but I can only hope that upgrades to the OS fix the biggest disappointment to this phone.

If you are not a Mac Groupie (those biased communists) and you have an open mind, give the Pre a shot. I was a little skeptical - especially since WWDC was 2 days after the Pre release, but Apple did not flex its creative muscle for this year (wow more apps and a video camera!).

I will plead the 5th and not say the Pre is a iPhone Killer, but I will say it is on a more reliable and faster network, it has a phenomenal OS that leaves all other manufacturers and programmers frantically rushing to keep up, and it does so many things right out of the box that other smartphones failed to do at launch. When I say game changing, I mean GAME CHANGING!

I'll close by saying this. If you pick up the phone, hold it up to your face, put it in your pocket, give the OS a multi-tasking test drive, and watch it with the touchstone in action, YOU WILL BE SOLD!!!

[bosamar]

I played with a Pre on Sunday. My first impression was that the keyboard keys were WAY too small for my fingers. My last comment is: If I gave my 74yo mother an iPhone and a Pre..... she would be able to figure out how to use the iPhone faster.... is that better.... I don't know.... but there are many tech-challenged people out there....

[gba2000]

I love my iPhone I wouldn't trade it for anything, but WHY do you people have the need to bash each other. BOTH are great phones, stop being trolls. PRE SUCK!!!! IPHONE SUCKS!!!

They only reason you people feel the need to do this is to somehow justify your purchase.

[Garlidie]

I got my Pre on Saturday. This phone have exceeded my greatest expectations. You hear a lot about multitasking, you see videos online. But until you experience it, you'll never know how any phone could come without it. Every feature works seamlessly. The keyboard was my biggest concern going in. Though the keys are small, and take some getting use to, it is very accurate and have a nice feel to them. I have sent dozens of text messages and emails, so far no typos. Though I wouldn't call this phone an iphone killer, as no phone will ever be, I'll say it is way better than the iphone. Oh battery life is a concern. Make sure you purchase an extra battery or get a car charger

[ITGuy006]

I absolutely LOVE my new Palm Pre. I've had no problems with it. The TouchStone charger is a wonderful addition to the Pre. I'm equally excited about the upcoming apps for the Pre. I hope Palm continues to have a long and prosperous future :-)

[eg6turbo]

i have been using this baby for a couple days now and hope its more stable than my old treo 650...although everything has surpassed my expectations thus far. Here is my real world review of the Pre with all technical aspects aside, this is how the Pre works for me day to day.

Pros:
Smaller than i expected which is always a good thing
Keyboard has much flatter keys then the treo 650 and getting accustomed to it was easy enough
Screen is vibrant and crystal clear
Synergy definitely simplifies day to day activities
Browser is top notch
i had almost 16 apps open with barely a hiccup
Call quality/sound is about 8/10 ( iphone i would rate a 6 for its really bad sound quality )
Camera can take some very sharp pictures! ( in the daylight )

Bad
a little more laggy then i expected with only a couple apps open
get a little warm even when not on the phone
looks like the casing and screen can easily get scratched if left on the table or in the pocket
battery last almost a day with moderate use
speakerphone is just ok

you can tell where Palm put there engineering dollars and where they thought other parts were just good enough for the masses.

My Pre rating is a overall 8.5 at a pda phone stand point
Iphone will get a -7.5
Blackberry Bold - 8.0
Treo 650 - 6.0

this is based on size, easy of use, capabilities, battery life, UI, and last but not least charm.

[wow--really]

WOW
Would you guys grow up!

[NOLABOYMCSE]

I got the PRE on Saturday I was 3rd in line. I like the phone design, and WebOS is great. Its hard not to like the Actual Hardwear, and OS but the thing that is really bad withthis phon is Battery Life. I am a Sheriffs Deputy in a very rual prat of my state and I work 12 hour shifts that cause me to be on the road about 14-15 hours a day. The PRE's battery will only last about 6 hours when I dont even use it for anything just sitting there with a blacked out sleep screen. If I use it for anything even with the screen backlight on loest setting I get about 1 hour of use out of it before the battery warning comes up.

So in summery I would say awsome phone, and OS but battery life is the worst I have ever seen.

[Mouretsu]

I got my Pre on launch day. I think it is a great phone. Coming from a Blackberry I have to say that the major disappointment is lack of customization. You can customize EVERYTHING on a BB. On the Pre I can't change tones for my email, texting, IM. I also can't make profiles for quickly changing audio/visual settings on the fly. You have two basic options: Sound on and sound off. I also don't like that I can't send invitations to calendar events. I have an exchange account for personal use and a work account. I send invitations between accounts to make sure that both are identical. I also send invitations for others to add stuff to their calendar. I bought an iPhone last year and returned in within a week because it didn't have this feature and ATT is horrible. I'll live without on the Pre but will hope for it to get changed in the future.

Having visual notifications would also be nice. Getting a GOOD e-reader is the most important thing to me as far as apps go. If they get a Kindle app like iPhone then I will not only get the app but a Kindle as well. I'd be happy with a Mobi pocket book reader too since that's what I've been using on my BB for years now. I know that there's an emulator and I've got that installed and I can use the old Palm Mobi reader app but it just doesn't look that good on the screen.

The MMS integration is great. I don't like the placement of the earphone jack. The upper row of keys could benefit from being a little bit further away from the edge of the upper slider but you can't beat a physical keyboard (another reason I left iPhone and went back to BB). No card slot is a huge mistake and I can't believe that it isn't there. Screen is great and responsive. Sound and call quality is great. <Disorganized rambling over>

All in all, it's a great phone and will only get better. Out of the gate much better than iPhone v1 and definately on par with iPhone v2 and probably 3. And there will be more apps, hopefully not the 330 iPhone apps that deal with farting.

[dylerl]

Wow, people let's calm down here a little and look at the facts. It does not matter what the iphone had or the pre has at launch the fact is the iphone has been out for two years and has been able to get over these hurdles. When the first Iphone launched no one had an app store and you had to get third party apps for other phones and hope they did not destroy your entire Windows mobile or palm treo completely, as it did for a lot of users back then as I am an IT person. If you compare the Iphone now and the palm pre which we should be doing the Iphone is way ahead of the curve. With the 3gs coming out the pre and the Iphone are going to have the same specs inside as each other, the pre is limited to 8 gb of memory where the iphone has 32 gb, the pre has 18 apps the Iphone thousands, the iphone can connect to exchange, vpns, corporate environments very easily where blackberries have issues doing this unless you have a bes server. The Iphone is stable now and the pre is not, I do understand that palm would be a lot further along if they released something 2 years ago as Apple did but they did not so comparing the original Iphone with the pre is just insane and does not make any sense, you need to look at this from a technical standpoint and what is available today and when you do that the Iphone makes sense for consumers and businesses alike unless you are a Big Company that invested in RIM and their systems then it would not make sense to abandon that platform even though I think it would make your users happier. The pre is a good restart for Palm but they have a lot of catching up to do and if you want a phone that works for you and your business then the pre is not something you want to get at this point and don't just trash something because you do not like a certain company or the people who love that company, I am an Apple head and I admit it, but it is insane to say that the pre comes anywhere close to what the Iphone 3gs will be capable of with the 3.0 software.

[gottaloverecords]

Two questions:

1) Anyone experience a lag when you turn the phone on? Mine is very sluggish to start -- the Palm logo pulses for a good 10 times (very slowly) before I make it to the main screen.

2) When the phone dims in standby, it only wakes up when I slide out the keyboard...is this right?

Thanks in advance!

[giacomobo]

I thought so, too, but not quite. You can tap the power button. The screen then, um, reappears and you swipe the lock button up and away.

[mjwelchphd]

When the phone dims, but is still visible, a touch on the screen will reactivate it, then once it is reactivated, touch the screen again to activate an element on the screen. While sliding out the keyboard activates it too, it's not the only way.

Linux servers always take an awful long time to start up, and I suppose Linux in the pre is the same. The solution is: don't turn off the phone unless you need to reboot it. When it's resting on the touchstone, it becomes a nice clock, but with the ability to answer calls!

[mezanedoc]

great phone. I like the size, interface, feel, and particularly the sliding keyboard. Looking for a great set of apps.

[martyhos]

Hi All,
Thanks Bonnie for your honest, clear and helpful reviews. Ok, well, I am a real estate agent who became very attached to the Palm OS since my Samsung smart phone back in 2001. Recently my Treo 750p started acting up. My great hope for an upgrade to it was the Pre. I stood in line and got one! It is groundbreaking in many ways---mainly its great way of integrating the keyboard which is really important to me. But I tested the phone use for a very light day of real estate--in which I clearly did not "let myself go" with using it. And still, the battery was dead at 6pm. Even a super HARD day of heavy use on the Treo got me as late as 830pm. By then, I took it as a sign from above that it was time to go home and call it a day anyway. So imagine a HEAVY day for the Pre--Yikes. I likely won't make it past lunch. So... I LOVE the Pre--but I am heartbroken to have to return it. Now what do i do??

Also, please tell me if I am missing something, but I am not able to edit an email message before I forward it? Is that right? That alone is a big dealbreaker for real estate. I was able to do this with ease on my Treo. So often we need to forward emails with important questions or attachments from, for example, my buyer client to the listing agent. In that case I need to edit out extraneous comments coming from my buyer so that the seller in not privy to that information. I am DOUBLE heartbroken!

Pre people---help me find a way to make this work before Friday. I will try to turn off the GPS. But barring that---I think it's over :(

[espauley]

hit the forward button. you assign an email address. then in very faint grey lettering in the middle of the screen you can see "sent from my palm pre" tap just above that. type a way and send.

I'm the same way with battery life. i'm lucky cuz for the next few months im sitting at a desk. With my blackberry i always carried extra batteries with me. the pre has the touchstone, but that wont help on the road. I can buy extra batteries but without a desktop or wall charger it will be difficult. my first hope is a wall charger for extra batteries. i head out on the road in a couple of months.

[espauley]

Pros
* interface is fantastic
* works well as a phone, unlike the iPhone
* reads emails in html unlike blackberry
* great camera
* texting with intergrated pictures is fantastic
* multi tasking is increadable especially if you were used to bb or iphone
* size is perfect. iphone was just to big for carring around all over the place
* for business the exchange intergration is perfect.
* facebook, outlook multi sync is a great feature

Neutral
* keyboard is small but im used to it now. top row is hard for a many with sausage fingers

Cons
* a little worried about the slider, i think it will break after a lot of use
* i once dropped my 8703e from a 737 onto to tarmack, it still works.. im afraid the pre would die,
*get insurance!
* volume is not great. i used my blackberry as an alarm clock. cant do it with pre
* no led light showing a missed call or text, you get one beep.
* no external wall charger for extra batteries yet. everyones complaint is about battery life. i used my
* blackberry on a daily basis. i always have 2 fully charged batteries with me. touchstone will help
* that, but if your on the road what do you do

[mjwelchphd]

My experience has been that the alarm clock will ring until either you reset it, or it drives you crazy. Unless you are an incredibly heavy sleeper, it ought to eventually wake you up, especially if you use a jarring ring, like Old Fashioned Telephone. Go to the Clock app on the first menu.