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.

[CHIMYKE]

I had an HTC Pro and i HATED it, so i got a PRE recently. I love the SPRINT network so getting an iPhone is not an option. However, i believe this phone came to market way too early. I have heard reports of the screen being "blotchy" and thought i was making it up until i read other people noticing the same issue. When using a bluetooth headset the phone still makes a dialing sound which is annoying and lowering the volume affects other sounds which i find necessary (sending mail, text, etc). You are not able to change any sounds except for the ringer, again annoying. There is no way to mass delete emails off the phone--you have to do it one at a time and then the same with emptying the trash--that is just someone not thinking. When texting, there is no way to create a new line, if you hit the return key you actually send the message instead, unlike sending an email, which there is a return key. The launcher page is rather annoying, you can only have 3 pages and if you have more than 9 apps on a page, you need to scroll down or up, annoying if you have not memorized where your apps are. There is no way to manually enter an email address unless you type in a "bogus" email and then you can customize it completely, which i only found by accident. When the phone screen turns off there is no way to know if you phone is charged without turning the screen back on, which you get a max 3 minute screen on before the phone goes dark. I also think Palm really missed the mark by not offering a quicker way to find a contact other than having to type it in, there should be a bar with the alphabet that you can touch to get to a contact.
However, compared to the other phones Sprint has to offer, the PRE is probably the best one in their line for an iPHONE-like phone. Pandora is a great feature, the music interface i think is great too. The battery life so far seems to be pretty decent, but i have only had the phone for two weeks. It has a great size and weight, but i wish the back of the phone was not a black shiny plastic, because we all know how long that is going to stay nice looking. The phone does multitask rather well, but the apps are definitely SLOW to open.
I did speak with PALM as the people at Sprint really do not know how to use the phone. Palm is aware of the problems and i hope they will fix them, but hardware issues? Am i going to have to get a new phone or will they replace it? Hmmmmm...more to come.

[kuuuuutas]

I'm having the same issue. Though I think the phone is awesome otherwise. I think it's a loose wire. I'm on the phone with retention as we speak and they are trying to locate a phone for me...

Thanks for the info, gentlemen; misery loves company. I've had my Pre for about a week. Same freezing up/shutting down issue, and trust me, it has nothing to do with mishandling or abuse. I'm a wee lass and have still managed to somehow **** my Pre off. I think her full name is Pre Menstrual, the finicky wench. Headed to Best Buy to see if they can put her on some regulating meds... wish me luck.

[PS, lol@viper396 - I work for AT&T and wouldn't DREAM of leaving Sprint for them]

[anrebma]

I'm actually on my way to bring my Pre back to Sprint in about 10 minutes. I have had nothing but problems with it since I bought it. I had no idea about what it was when I bought the phone, considering that I had just returned to the states from living in Germany. It freezes up, it doesn't respond, it shuts itself off and wont let me turn it back on for hours on end. I've had the phone for 4 months and already want a new (different) phone. I've heard of many people having a lot of problems with the Palm Pre. So I don't feel so alone.