Comments on: My top 5 wish list for the Palm Pre

CNET editor Bonnie Cha lists five things that could improve the Palm Pre and future Palm WebOS devices.

[Kupferg]

1) More IM Account options
They could have easily covered all IM bases by partnering with Meebo.

2) There is no Audible support
The only thing keeping me from ditching my ipod. Well the other thing is poor audio controls. Apple rules there, no doubt.

3) Custom system sounds
I can't find any way to change any sounds other then ring tone. Am I blind?

4) Runs way to hot when running apps
This will become a plus in the winter!

5) No photo editing options, or camera configuration
But that's what Photoshop is for.

I find it strange when people talk about how much memory the phone has, compared to the 32GB iphone. First of all, 8GB is a good amount of memory and obviously Apple thinks so if they added a model with that same amount. Do you think they added it just to say they are cheaper then the Pre? Not a chance, you'll pay the difference on the plan and Apple was terrified that Palm would devastate the 8GB market. This was a smart move on Palm's part. They went after a completely open sub-market, so Apple had no choice but to counter and by doing so only lending to the legitimate value of the Pre.

Second reason I get really confused when people make a big deal about memory is I would really like someone to demonstrate how they listen to, say, 4500 songs on a daily basis. Ok, so you carry your entire library with you and then what? You are still only using at best only 5% of it regularly. I bet that anyone who carries all their music doesn't even look at what they have 98% of the time. They have playlists with their favorite songs, leaving 3% to account for occasional boredom and roaming through the song list. Maybe some people carry the entire 10 seasons of Friends on their iphone...cause you never know when you just might have to reference episode 8 of season 7. Seriously folks, I bet there aren't enough legitimate needs out there for a company to justify bigger memory on a cell phone if it came to a requirement like that. They build it not because they know you need it, they build it because they know you will buy it. Shoot, isn't this the same country that bought rocks as pets?

[macslut]

Sorry, I disagree.

I think Apple would still have the 8GB model today even if the Pre didn't exist...and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 8GB iPhone was discontinued in about 6 months, replaced by the 16GB 3G S as the low-end. It seems like Apple didn't want to have downtime this year between the models like they did last year, so they allowed the 8GB to be the bridge, and are allowing it to be the low-end.

8GB might meet your needs, but even 16GB is way too low for me. At 32GB, I'll have enough room for a nice mix of music for me, music for the kids, videos for me, videos for the kids, etc... I'll also have plenty of room for data files. Also, with video recording, I won't have to worry so much about it filling up before syncing back to my computer. The price difference isn't that great when spread over the life of the phone...as compared to the carrier service.

$100 for 32GB versus 8GB is a pretty huge deal...and Palm simply didn't any option for more than 8GB. I can't imagine what they were thinking.

[Kupferg]

You're lucky. I can't get away with entertaining my entire family on just my phone. My kid has his PSP so I don't have to carry his vids around. Take it to it's most basic level and apply the "need vs. want" formula, which is actually kind of sad considering we are applying it to a luxury. :) Anyway, do you really need to carry your kids music and videos on your phone 24/7? Or can you sync and re-sync as needed? Sure, you never know when you'll need it. I bet if you kept a log of how often more then 8gigs of that storage is used, you would be very surprised to find that it's very rare.

As for iphone. Don't get me wrong, I love that device. But you aren't fairly comparing the two companies. You need to compare first gen vs. first gen. Palm offered in it's first gen model, what iphone didn't and really doesn't even have in it's 3rd gen. So look at it from this perspective. Palm has come out of the gate with a device that meets every need you can imagine, with various issues/problems that are far from show stoppers for the majority. They had to cut corners somewhere, yet I do agree not including microSD was a bad move. So taking it all into perspective, today everyone should be excited, the real test will be what Palm gives us with gen two.

And sorry, but the decision to release an extra model is not as lightly made as "just because". There are many business variables that go into this decision and if Apple thought this was a relevant move, they would have done it oh so much sooner then coincidentally when Palm released theirs.

We can go all day here. The ironic thing is that people are so in a hurry to flame Palm that they don't even know why they are doing it. Can you give me a single good reason for flaming Palm, other then they happen to have released the first none-me 2 device that actually gives iphone a run for it's money? If anything every single iphone fan boy should be cheering Palm on...why...because Apple will start giving you more for your money. Competition is a beautiful thing. Reviewers love it, the market loves it. Please, check how Palm and Sprint stocks are doing this week.

[lrarledge]

The Pre needs local sync via a usb connection. The synergy and "clouds" technology is cool for my personal life but it falls extremely short in the business world. My company and most others do not want my info to sync through google or facebook. Also, I work for a small company so we do not support microsoft exchange and due to our contracts we are not able to have wifi available for security reasons. As a result, I'm stuck! Come on Palm send out a software update and allow a local usb sync with outlook, palm desktop or something! If this issue is not solved the Pre will have a very short lifespan with business users.

[hamedhemmati]

you don't need WIFI for syncing. there are already applications that allow you to sync with outlook over the air. I think a couple of them actually showed up in the app store.

[across04]

I think that the pre is an outstanding value, especially with its $99 everything plan.

I have an Iphone 3g and I love it. But not being able to switch between open applications is a real bummer with the iphone, and is not solved with 3.0.

The multitasking and notification system on the pre is superior in every way.
Even the keyboard, which i think is too small, is getting better for me with further use.

Most issues I have with the pre should easily be solved with updates from Palm, or through new third part apps.

I think they have made an excellent first product.

[Sandon753]

Check out my pics of my Pre's screen defect that seems to be increasingly reported.

http://www.everythingpre.com/forum/pre-lounge/heat-related-screen-issue-20315.html

http://forums.precentral.net/showthread.php?p=1674476&posted=1#post1674476

I love the phone, but the screen issues are frustrating.

[Fil0403]

Yet another reason to go a step further and forget the iPhone and the Pre and get a BlackBerry or a Nokia N97.

[Fil0403]

My main wish for the Palm Pre is that it borrows more from serious smartphones like BlackBerry and Nokia N97 than from overhyped devices like the iPhone.

[ffejym]

How about an INDICATOR LIGHT? They've already got the little lights on the bottom that illuminate when you swipe your finger past them. Couldn't they somehow make these light up when I have a message? This way, I wouldn't have to take the phone out of standby, and waste anymore of the already precious battery life, just so I can see if I have any messages/missed calls/emails...

And, I haven't seen this mentioned, but couldn't Palm give the option to prompt before saving changes or at least an undo function (while editing a contact, I hit the back button on their phone # by mistake and didn't know which digit I had erased- no way to undo that (in BlackBerry I could just hit "discard" and it would revert back to the original)? Additionally, the new # (with a missing digit) synced to my google contacts before I had time to get to a computer and now the # is gone forever.

And, how about a spell check function for emails?

[B4RealPeople]

As a previous owner of several versions of Palm OS PDA?s and Smartphone?s, I am now the proud owner of the new Palm Pre. Although very pleased with the phone and it?s features, needless to say, the App Store is ridiculously shallow in content.

Let me get straight to the point. My old Palm OS had the capability to mark records as private and then, ?Show, Mask, or Hide? the private records. One records were marked as private and hidden, you must enter a password to even see them again. Otherwise, they never show and the curiosity to find them was all but elliminated. In the Palm OS, I could check a box next to each individual contact, appointment, memo, to do item, and document and make them ?private?. This is a critical feature for me and my new Pre and not having this feature makes me very nervous about managing my customers information without it. I hope Palm includes this feature in their upcoming updates or a third party app that can do it comes available really soon. I'm considering going back to my old Treo 755p before my store rollback option expires.

PS: I LOVE the Sprint Navigation - it ROCKS!

[kikei101]

Here's my wish list:
1. Longer battery life
2. I want to sync to my computer.
3. I want my pictures in folders, so they're not exposed when I click the picture icon. I want to save videos that are sent to me via text.
4. I want to be able to forward texts messages.
5. Ringtones specific to contacts should also work for the contact's text mesages. I should have the ability to choose another text tone instead of the default, ding dong.

[polobear1975]

No one is stating some of the more obvious things (I wish I could make the fnt bigger on this)...

YOU CANT FOWARD TEXT MESSAGES ON THIS PHONE!!!!!! Someone sent me an address in a text message and I couldn't even cut/copy/paste it to find the address...I'm considering taking it back and getting myself the same Blackberry Curve I bought my boyfriend...

You cant zoom in or out with the camera...WHAT?!??!?!? Seriously?

Sending texts to more than one person at a time is horribly time-consuming and tedius. Each contact has to be looked up and added separately instead of, maybe, checking their names off and adding them all at one time...My old Helio Drift could do all of these things seemlessly...WOW!

I really like the phone and the things that they market are true..but its the stuff they DON'T tell you that gets you...

[DaVoAxiom]

OK glad I wasn't the only one that had this problem. I've been trying to get it to do it again but haven't found the right combo. It was like something was running in the background. Here's a big one when it comes to multi-tasking. A Task Manager. It would be nice to be able to see what is running, how much memory it is using and etc... It may make the battery issue easier to figure out.

Had my Pre for 4 days now and have been very happy with it. Other then this happening had no problems. Though I really didn't need it to bring in all of my AOL friends including the bots. The phone has made me go through contacts and clean them up.

My wish list would include:
1. landscape on the map and sprint nav apps. This one surprised me.
2. Copy and past in all area of the brower, apps and photos
3. Expandable memory. I remember reading some where that Palm said it would support external drives. Maybe an adapter for flash drives or external hard drives? Opens up a lot of storage.
4. Expanding the launch bar for more than 4 items.
5. This is a toss up the ability to group or hide contact, folder to group apps or being able to change the tone for messages(I thought about pulling the sound file into my computer and uploading a sound with a different name but haven't gotten around to trying it.)

[xyz45981]

Better Tasks app - ability to show only tasks due today, etc.

But what would be REALLY cool is LOCATION BASED TASK REMINDERS. This way I could add a location to a task (store, any address) and set a radius alarm, and the phone would remind me when I'm in the area. I would use it for things like "check out xyz store when i'm in the area" or "try this place for lunch when I'm near by, etc." I think it would prove very useful. All you would need to do is specify an address and a radius.

[lgrico]

I am a long time WindowsMobile user and I am very used to controlling my appointments with Calendar and Contacts, but I am also pretty bored with WM and I really liked the Palm Pre so I gave it a shot.

Multi-tasking is simply great and the ability to move back and forth between tasks so easily is outstanding.

Since I got the phone on Saturday 6th I could not test all of its features until Monday.

I found some issues with Calendar that I decided to live with for now, such as not being able to create private appointments or re-scheduling them with cut/paste. I also did not like that I could not send a text message from the lost calls list. In any case I decided those issues were not a show stopper.

What really took me by surprise is that I was missing a of lot text messages, especially the ones I was getting in the middle of the night. I simply could not hear the default ringtone for incoming text messages. I could not believe that there is no way to change the ringtone (!!!)?let alone a light of some sort that tells me that I missed a call or a text message.

My job requires me to be on-call and customers get a hold of me with text messages. This did it--for me this is a must have function that every phone out there has?I had to return the phone.

If somebody finds out how to change the ringtone for incoming text messages please let me know how?I might get the phone back.

[Hellcat]

Whats a decent carrier to you AT&T? The only good carriers in the US are Sprint and Verizon in my opinion. AT&T and T-Mobile suck for coverage. Sprint is a good carrier weather you believe it or not. The other day my friend and I were in a parking structure and she has Verizon and I have Sprint and for some reason I had 2 bars and the call she was on was dropped. In CA Sprint is almost as good as Verizon and in the one area (at another friends house) where Sprint doesn't get good coverage I freely roamed to Verizon and I'm guessing the same would happen with Verizon to roam to Sprint. GSM is suppose to be a better technology but the GSM networks out here are REALLY bad and don't look to be getting better any time soon.

[Hellcat]

Bonnie, the plus side to your 5 wishes is that 4 of them can be added with updates and the 5th well they'll probably do in time. They wanted to sell it for a decent price so 8GB was the number. Why didn't they add a card reader...not sure, I don't know what the extra cost would have been.

[ddubois23]

I'd like to see the following:
1.) allow sorting and searching of e-mails by sender, subject, etc.
2.) in e-mail - fix the strage forwarding and replying - when I do either (and it's not consistent) sometimes the text gets scrunched if the e-mail string remains in the e-mail, and sometimes it sends an attachment e-mail and strips the string away from the email I'm forwarding/replying, leaving only the sender's name.
3.) in e-mail allow a person to change the default font away from times new roman. It's a bit odd to have your signature in arial and everything else in another font.
4.) in calendar entries make the phone numbers hot - so when you tap them it dials the number (that way for conference calls all I have to memorize is the passcode)
5.) a little more clarity on when I'm receiving e-mails. I was recently in a somewhat remote location thinking I was getting emails and for some strange reason I wasn't (despite the coverage map).

Bonnie,

On battery life, as you point out, you can carry a spare. However, that's of limited use until Palm releases a fully compatible way to charge the spare battery outside of the Pre. (Since they're saying "don't use a Centro battery," I hesitate to use a Centro spare battery charger with the Pre's battery.)

[jacobdh]

Come on people its a phone not a full blown computer... but since on the subject... lol

Here is a wishlist might be still early to ask but here are some thoughts

Some might be addressed with a third party app but also some should be standard.

1. The ability to select the address in a contact card to open Sprint Navigation
2. Visual Voicemail
3. The ability to change the sounds for notifications on an application basis (different sounds for IM, SMS, calendar), also the ability to disable them
4. The ability to be more selective with Synergy. For instance, being able to only merge contacts with Facebook that are already in your phone and not import new ones.
5. The swipe up from the gesture area should collapse back to card view AND open the launcher in a single gesture, rather than requiring two.
6. An easier method of merging contacts. For instance, select a "merge mode" then click multiple contacts and click a "merge" button at the bottom. Include the ability to perform multiple merges from this mode without having to exit and re-enter.
7. The ability to delete and mark (as unread/read) multiple e-mails at once
8. Quick and easy keyboard shortcut for "Tab"
9. Be able to change the skin/theme for the phone dialer.
10. Select multiple amounts of time to snooze an appointment reminder in Calendar (i.e. 5, 10, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.)
11. Voice command dialing via the speakerphone
12. Ability to remove any of the default apps
13. The ability for the media player to tag Podcasts separately from music so music and podcasts aren't merged in playlists.
14. Ability to copy and paste static text
15. Ability to save images from websites with a shortcut (press and hold or orange button and press)
16. Ability to open links in new cards with a shortcut
17. Ability to save attachments of supported media types from e-mail
18. The center button should light up when you have new notifications and the phone is asleep.
19. Better predictive text/autocorrect/spellcheck for text input.
20. Profile manager that allows you to set profiles based on time changing the ringtones, volumes, notifications, etc whether you're at work, home, or otherwise.
21. Universal search that searches e-mails, conversations, and app catalog.
22. The ability to select all (Gesture area + A --- maybe)
23. The ability to "mouse over" links, images, etc (Gesture area + Tap? Perhaps tap and hold?)
24. Center button turns on screen and prompts an unlock (Press button while phone is locked and be prompted for unlock)
25. Ability to forward SMS/MMS messages
26. Video recording through the camera
27. Proximity sensor turns the screen on and off rather than fading in and out.
28. Contact/Applications grouping and sorting options (Work, Friends, Social, etc)
29. Background queuing and downloading for applications.
30. Mandatory loading screen for 3rd party applications. It isn't that bad for applications with small footprints, but some take 5-10 seconds to load.
31. The ability to scrub through music.
32. The ability to view animated gifs in the browser.
33. Allowing searching for text within web pages.
34. Virtual keyboard when phone is in landscape mode
35. Picture rendering should be optimized. Currently, switching between them and having them render takes around 3.5 seconds. That's a long time to wait for a picture when you are just shuffling through them.
36. Emoticon support for text messages
37. Ability to connect to other Pres (or other devices in general) via Bluetooth to share contacts/calendar events/etc
38. The ability to manage the media player while the phone is locked
39. Alarms for the Task application
40. Ability to render Java applets in the browser.
41. The ability for the phone to notify you again if you have an unread notification. (Perhaps set it to notify you every 5 minutes, or other time period, until you unlock the phone).
42. The ability or option to split IM/SMS conversations into individually cards (one card per conversation).
43. The ability to lock/password protect applications.
44. Voice recording

Also better battery life....