Comments on: Palm Pre: A Pre-tty disappointing start

After waiting months for a Palm Pre, Jeff Bakalar is disappointed with the lemon he received on Saturday morning.

[DeltaBravoHK]

Sounds as if the Pre with the random and somewhat constant "resetting" is following right along in the footsteps of its predecessor, my Palm Treo 755P. I got so aggravated with freeze-ups, random resetting, and complete memory diarreah of that POS Treo, I went to a BlacBerry Curve and now I know what it is to experience a true and dependable Smart Phone. I would wait a few years to see if Palm ever gets the Pre "right" and if the apps ever come close to being mainstream before I wouild plunk down any of my money on another Palm. If Sprint is basing their rebirth or survival on the Pre, better line up a priest to administer the last rites, cuz it aint' gonna be long.

[genovelle]

Both of my Treo 350s would do this as well.

[louboy23]

I have the perfect solution for you !! Go to this link, there is a quick fix !

http://www.precentral.net/slider-crashes-inspire-macgyver-solution

Enjoy.
Lou

[tipoo_]

Did you guys hear about the woman who drove her car into a Sprint store, trying to get the Pre before anyone else?

No punch line, true story :-0

[modelnet]

The battery is not snug in the back, you just need a new battery, or a little piece of paper, when you slide the battery moves, its not a big deal.

[genovelle]

Yeah, Rig your brand new phone to work. Not a big deal. Trust me after 5 Palms once the problem starts it only gets worse. My experience with Treos made me appreciate the non removable battery concept. When all things are perfect, not problem. But if its not put together just right it won't work. Mine did when they were new, but after a few months the contacts lose their spring and the battery connection can be lost while in your pocket or in your hand. It got progressively worse until it just wouldn't come on. Even a new battery wouldn't help. Sent it to Handspring and they replaced it. The next one followed the same path, by then they had spun of the company, out of luck. Then Iphone. I am so happy.
t

[intechrity]

Apple is not the pioneer in multi-touch, actually Asus is the original smarts behind it. Do some minor research before you post misleading information like the rest of the apple cult followers. Did you know Apple tried to copyright the multitouch so Palm couldnt use it? Hmm, I wonder why it didnt happen. They didnt create it.

[Bronight]

The problem I'm having is that my Pre runs hot all the time, and it has a standby time of about 3 hours at best, and that's with me not doing anything on the phone. I like the phone but with it being sold out everywhere I can't exchange it either. If anyone out there knows of a store that still has it in NYC, please holla at a brotha!

[Rockyjay]

Your still rocking a Mogul in 2009 without having upgraded to WM6.1? Why did CNET hire you?

[FormerPCwonk]

Gotta love a phone that can "tickle your nerd fancy." Nice.

[polarbebe]

The Pre is dead but people just don't know it yet.

Its not Pre vs. iPhone, its Pre versus Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile and iPhone. Palm before the announcement of the Pre had a share price of less than two dollars, had to get a 450 million dollar injection from Bono (from U2) to save the company. Palm is barely staying afloat, married to the weakest network in the US (Sprint).

It will take at least a year to two years before the Pre has the same utility as Blackberry, Android or the iPhone since Palm hasn?t released the SDK yet to general vendors. That is if developers have enough venture capital to invest in Pre, they already are making apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian.

Guess which mobile platform has the smallest base? And consequently receive the least amount of love from developers? A smartphone is only as smart as the apps on it, that take advantage of its full utility. Would you buy a laptop with no programs? No, no one will buy a smartphone that has no apps either.

Palm is going up against Android (Google), Blackberry (RIM), Windows mobile (Microsoft) and iPhone (Apple) for their share of apps to make full use of the Pre. 4 out of those 5 companies have very, very deep pockets. Guess which mobile company has barely any money in the tank? Palm (not Microsoft, Google, Apple or RIM).

Developers aren't going to take a gamble on the smallest installed customer base, with a mobile weak company. So, no you won't see The Sims 3, Metal Gear Solid, MLB apps, talking dictionaries, or a thousand other entertaining, useful utility apps on the Pre for at least a year if you see them at all.

Not to mention Apple has iTunes, thousands of podcasts, video podcasts, movies and TV shows formatted for the iPhone specifically straight to download.

Yes, iPhone doesn't have multitask but I think thats a small tradeoff for such a huge disadvantage in just about everything else regarding the iPhone universe. And what are you going to multitask? Those 18 apps that the Pre has?

Its everyones personal choice, IMHO I would rather go with Blackberry, Android or Apple. Palm is too late to the game (and Windows Mobile sucks). I give the Pre 2 years tops before its dead (unless some huge company buys it like Microsoft), Palm has no money, no installed Pre base yet, in a recession, developers are busy with the 5 other mobile company platforms (I forgot Nokia the largest phone maker in the world also).

[Proud_Geek]

Nice post.

I personally wonder why there are so many dang mobile platforms. And only Windows Mobile (NOT the best) can sync up with Outlook directly and natively.

As a consumer AND a software developer, it is kind of frustrating.

[stockyjoe]

I do look forward to the improvements on Android.

[genovelle]

I may know why palm only has 18 apps. Multitasking. I'm sure there are more apps submitted, but these are the ones that cause the least crashes and don't drag the system to a grind when more than one app is running. I they released them it would prove Apples point on the subject and remove their main selling point. What good is a phone if you can't us it. Many OSs have flasher displays that the Iphone and so many more features, but no-one uses them. With Apples success its not just about the feature they put in, its also about what they leave out. That is anything that will not be easy to use by normal people, or detract from the devices primary purpose.

[Mangalanga]

Just for reference the pre is very available in exclusive dealers in the Bronx. If you're not too scared to step foot in the "BIG BAD BRONX" ;-P

[cabrillo24]

Nothing wrong with shooting for second place.

[genovelle]

I didn't want to comment but I must. This is nuts. Some of you just want apple to fail so bad its stupid. Let see, they go into markets that others laugh and say they will fail, recreate the market by creating a great product that people actually like to use and they buy them in droves. Then U haters try to find every problem with it including not being able to run real apps when it came out only those based on web tech. Then Palm, who does everything half ass, I know I had 5 treos, two 270, 300, and two 350s. Everyone of them died an early death after the updates just stop working. On the 350 I could even play movies and music. It was so complicated that I had 5 songs on it and 1 video. Stupid.

My next smart phone was the Iphone. Everything just worked. you guys complained about what it didn't have, but everyone who had one loved it, if they were a previous apple customer or not. I was the Internet Manager for a Honda Dealer and my Boss was as much an apple hater as many of you. I actually was myself about 8 years ago. No matter what he tried to find a way to prove anything by anyone was better than apple. I stopped trying to help him. If he wants to suffer let him.

Then came the Verizon Blackberry Storm. It was better than the Iphone, it had the clickable screen, and he was already on Verizon. He order 2. One for his wife and himself. The came in and after two days he returned it to the store for a refund. Paid them $220 to cancel his contract early and went straight to the AT&T store for an Iphone. Two days later he couldn't stop laughing because he was so happy. When apple would turn on new features or he'd find a new app that did something he needed he would come and show me. After about a month he came to me and said, I should have listened to you a year ago.

The features everyone else had like video recording or cut and paste don't work in a mac like way, intuitively, so, until they could figure it out, they left it out. Apple is about the experience that last, the solutions for these features is done the right way. They had to learn more about cameras and include auto focus and a way to do macro and manual focus, making a far more useful camera. Being able to edit video in a useful way is also important. Cut and paste actually makes sense. Waiting allowed them to get it right and I don't have to re-learn the phone. For most phones thats not important because to get new functions you would have to buy a new phone. My 2007 Iphone will have all of the new 3G s non-hardware dependent features.

[metalguns14]

I am having the same problem! When I first got the Pre it was working fine no problems but as I started to use it more and more I noticed that if I am typing something and I receive a call, and at the same time I close the phone (meaning hide the keyboard) the phone shuts off by itself. So far after having the phone for about 4 days now it has turned off about 10 times or so. Since here in Texas it is sold out I will have to wait either for new inventory or an update to be released for the Palm Pre. (Notice, my phone has the latest updates)

[ma2185]

I have had the same issue with two brand new Pre's already and I was determined to find a solution, because the sprint store didn't know what to do. I found out how to the fix for the problem you are having, and tested it myself. The fix is a bit of a "jerry-rig" but it works great for a temporary solution until Palm addresses the issue. The problem is in the connection between the battery and the metal connector prongs in which the battery doesn't fit snug enough to create a secure connection to power (battery). So if you open up the back where the battery is housed, and wedge a small piece of folded paper between the battery and the casing on the opposite side from the connector then close it up. That should create a tight enough connection to slide it in and out as hard and fast as you want. Enjoy...

Here is a link to where I found the solution with a picture....
http://www.precentral.net/slider-crashes-inspire-macgyver-solution

[coogrrr94]

The only issue I have had with my Pre is that is turns off periodically and I have to open up the back, and remove and replace the battery.

I bought the phone Saturday, have had to this 3 times already. Once Sunday, once Tuesday and once today. A rep at a Sprint store showed me how, would like a replacement (my wife and brother in-law haven't had similar problems) but there are no phones to be had.

[dunior1]

I was so excited to get my phone, actually got 3 of them one for my wife, my son and myself. Biggest mistake in cellular history. None of these work right, horrible reception, mine has rebooted 14 times today, lost my contacts two times in two days, gets so hot can't use it, battery life is 4 phone calls at best if using bluetooth, I normally would not even post on these sites but this is the biggest POS I have ever owned, on wi sprint right now changing back to my instinct which is a whole other story but at least I can make calls with it. I am so bummed out as I have been waiting for what I felt was for ever, I sure hope they sort this phone out.

[bravo909]

yeah, my prob is the camera icon appears but the camera seems frozen, i thought it was just a fluke but it happened again,so i gotta bring it in to the tech so can try to hard reset it whatever that means,if that dont work they will give me a new one when they eventually get a new shipment, friggin sprint.

[ReserveMyTrip]

I upgraded to the Pre on the Saturday it was released and had the same problem with it resetting. It started just a few hours after I left the Radio Shack store in Baldwin NY and I was back again in the store on Monday for a replacement. So far the replacement is much better, however with the lack of text message forwarding, I'm a little disappointed.

[stacysscott26]

I was at a sprint store that had PRE's in stock. Talked them into waiving the $100 mail in rebate but in the end the would not sell me the phone because I was not in their CSA what ever that is. Why are sprint / palm spending any money advertising a product no one can get? after reading about all the tech problems I am not sure I even want one now. Still no SDK release either. As to the person who said that we need to wedge the battery and do a little research to make the PRE work. REALLY I expect my products to work right out of the box don't you? Do you buy a box of ceral and expect to have to cook it? What about order from dominos and they bring you a ball of dough some sauce and cheese? But the meat is not there yet! I am going else where I'll come back in 2 years (if palm is still around) when the PRE is ready for prime time.

[jilbcl]

The phone has been PREtty great since June 6th! No major problems to report!!!!!!!!!!