Official TiPb Palm Pre Discussion

[JFSikora]

So all of the dust has settled, any new opinions on this one?

[jamesus]

I'm still excited by this phone. My girlfriend has expressed interest in getting it, so I'll be able to play with it when it comes out.

Engadget has done a good job wrapping up pretty much all information about the Pre:

Palm Pre: everything you ever wanted to know - Engadget

[bubbatex]

I am a "wait and see it live" guy, but in comparisons I have seen to the iPhone and the Storm, I think the display is going to be too small for my liking.

As for the Sprint agreement - Sprint and Palm have always had a close relationship. And now that both of them have been tanking for the past few years, they are probably playing the David vs. Goliath scenarios. I believe it was very telling when ATT did not pick up the Treo Pro and Verizon has hated them ever since the 700x fiasco. Both companies only took the Centro after Sprint proved it to be a good seller. Also, ATT has the iPhone and Verizon has probably spent a ton of time and effort (we know how slooow they are to get a phone on the network) on the Storm. Probably neither saw the Pre as a killer until proved otherwise. Or maybe Ed never called either of them to begin with (David vs Goliath again)!

[JFSikora]

Originally Posted by jamesus

I'm still excited by this phone. My girlfriend has expressed interest in getting it, so I'll be able to play with it when it comes out.

Engadget has done a good job wrapping up pretty much all information about the Pre:

Palm Pre: everything you ever wanted to know - Engadget

Oh wow, you so left out www.Treocentral.com !!! Excellent coverage!!!

And the newly added www.precentral.net

[jamesus]

Originally Posted by Bad Ash

Oh wow, you so left out www.Treocentral.com !!! Excellent coverage!!!

And the newly added www.precentral.net

D'oh! Can't believe I forgot about the sister sites!

BTW www.precentral.net looks great!

[jaimex99]

I feel very jealous of the Palm Pre. Every other phone released before it seemed like a bad imitation of the iPhone (The Samsung Instinct or the Blackberry Storm, for example). The Palm Pre is the first one that I see as a cool alternative that, in a lot of ways, does a much better job than the iPhone. They listened to the people and included lots of features that are not only necessary, but highly requested. Apple needs to step it up, but I doubt that they will. Unfortunately, the philosophy that they follow is sort of "whe know what you need. Ask all you want, but we know better". They really are pissing me off. I have never been an Apple fanboy, and with the experience I am having with the iPhone I don't believe they will win me over. This is bad for AT&T too, because if the Palm Pre turns out to be what it looks like it will be, as soon as my contract expires, I will switch companies. If Apple and AT&T want my money, they should better get to work on an iPhone HD with copy/paste, stereo bluetooth, video recording, flash, and a longer battery life, along with all the other requests that people clamor for.

[Swedd523]

I'd definitely give it a try if the unlocked price is low enough. It's a sexy device and shares a lot of the same qualities as the iPhone so why not?

[JFSikora]

Originally Posted by jaimex99

I feel very jealous of the Palm Pre. Every other phone released before it seemed like a bad imitation of the iPhone (The Samsung Instinct or the Blackberry Storm, for example). The Palm Pre is the first one that I see as a cool alternative that, in a lot of ways, does a much better job than the iPhone. They listened to the people and included lots of features that are not only necessary, but highly requested. Apple needs to step it up, but I doubt that they will. Unfortunately, the philosophy that they follow is sort of "whe know what you need. Ask all you want, but we know better". They really are pissing me off. I have never been an Apple fanboy, and with the experience I am having with the iPhone I don't believe they will win me over. This is bad for AT&T too, because if the Palm Pre turns out to be what it looks like it will be, as soon as my contract expires, I will switch companies. If Apple and AT&T want my money, they should better get to work on an iPhone HD with copy/paste, stereo bluetooth, video recording, flash, and a longer battery life, along with all the other requests that people clamor for.

While I don't think the Palm Pre is the next big thing, what you are describing is normal... it's called competition. Of course newer phones will have more features, etc... Do you expect something less? When this Palm device is finally released there will be a new iPhone around the corner that I'm sure will smash this thing. And you can expect that from RIM, HTC, etc... as well. So no I am not just a Apple fanboy. Lastly, people will not flock to Sprint of all carriers for this thing. Just is not going to happen.

[Reeves]

I don't quite understand that kind of reaction to the Pre. First off, it should be evaluated for what it offers in and of itself, and there's a lot to love there. The flow between applications is continuous and natural (something Apple just doesn't have yet....tap to home screen, launch another app, tap to home screen, go back to previous app and start over, etc.). You get every possible notification pushed to you in a non-obtrusive way (Again, Apple needs to catch up here). There's plenty of good stuff to be found with the Pre, and just like the iPhone, it'll make every other OS step its game up eventually as far as usability and multi-tasking.

But that's EVENTUALLY. Right now, Palm appears to be waaaaaay ahead in that area. Bad Ash, you and others keep talking about how Apple, RIM, and Google/HTC will have much more advanced devices launched when Pre launches (presumably in June. Maybe sooner.). But what is this based on? If such major overhauls or advanced devices were just around the corner, wouldn't some sort of word have leaked about them? After the mixed reaction to the Bold and the Storm, you don't think RIM would get advanced word of a new superdevice out sooner rather than later? Any allegations of these devices is nothing more than idle speculation at the moment. The Pre is a real, actual object that exists and will be made available to the public quite soon.

It's not a threat to the iPhone just as the iPhone isn't really a threat to Windows Mobile, per se. Each platform has unique features that competitors don't offer yet. You want a today screen with everything you could possibly need out of the box. Windows Mobile is your pick. You want a top notch media player and 3.5mm headphone jack out of the box? iPhone is your pick. You want easy workflow and great application management out of the box? Pre is your pick. But all of these platforms should be learning from each other and growing.

[JFSikora]

Originally Posted by Reeves

I don't quite understand that kind of reaction to the Pre. First off, it should be evaluated for what it offers in and of itself, and there's a lot to love there. The flow between applications is continuous and natural (something Apple just doesn't have yet....tap to home screen, launch another app, tap to home screen, go back to previous app and start over, etc.). You get every possible notification pushed to you in a non-obtrusive way (Again, Apple needs to catch up here). There's plenty of good stuff to be found with the Pre, and just like the iPhone, it'll make every other OS step its game up eventually as far as usability and multi-tasking.

But that's EVENTUALLY. Right now, Palm appears to be waaaaaay ahead in that area. Bad Ash, you and others keep talking about how Apple, RIM, and Google/HTC will have much more advanced devices launched when Pre launches (presumably in June. Maybe sooner.). But what is this based on? If such major overhauls or advanced devices were just around the corner, wouldn't some sort of word have leaked about them? After the mixed reaction to the Bold and the Storm, you don't think RIM would get advanced word of a new superdevice out sooner rather than later? Any allegations of these devices is nothing more than idle speculation at the moment. The Pre is a real, actual object that exists and will be made available to the public quite soon.

It's not a threat to the iPhone just as the iPhone isn't really a threat to Windows Mobile, per se. Each platform has unique features that competitors don't offer yet. You want a today screen with everything you could possibly need out of the box. Windows Mobile is your pick. You want a top notch media player and 3.5mm headphone jack out of the box? iPhone is your pick. You want easy workflow and great application management out of the box? Pre is your pick. But all of these platforms should be learning from each other and growing.

So you don't think that those companies will improve their devices? Because you mistaken if you think otherwise. That was my whole point. If you think Apple will just sit on their hands and not build on what they already have, I don't know what to tell you.

You are speculating that the Pre will be as good as you say, have you tested it? A Centro battery? Hmmm, fact is you won't know how good or poor the device is until you have it in your hands.

And Windows Mobile is not best out of the box... at least in my opinion. So much tweaking is needed to get those devices working the way you may want it. Sometimes a ROM flash is needed.. example the HTC Fuze. Very disappointing out of the box.

And I will throw this out there - I own a iPhone 3G, Blackberry Bold, and many WM devices, including Palm devices - most recently Treo Pro.