Is the Palm Pre the closest device to the Iphone?

[Dwaynewilliams]

I am really liking the new touchscreens that are starting to come out. I always find myself excited when I get a little bit of news about a new touchscreen. However, with all the new devices currently being released, I haven't seen anything that would take me away from my iPhone. I like the Hero. O really can't speak on it too much because I haven't had it in my hand. But it looks like it is going to be a killer device. The Touch Diamond 2 and Omnia 2 look promising as well, bit they still don't seem to be quite to the level of the iPhone just yet. So far, the only other device that I have seen that really competes with the iPhone when it comes to touchscreen devices is the Palm Pre. Is it the closest to the iPhone? By the way, I will be looking out for the Storm 2 as well.

[chobbs1]

I have held and played with the pre. Not impressed. The keyboard sucks. But the screen was ok but too small. I loaded the Same page on both. I could read the iPhone but had to zoom in on the pre.

[obee1]

The Pre is the phone that I think hits the closest, but it's still not quite there. The keyboard is hard to use; When held alongside the iPhone, it doesn't feel quite as solid; It doesn't have the apps yet; I also find the screen to be a bit too small.

On the other hand, the built in ability for backgrounding is very nice. It is also going to support flash 10.1, and when it does, that could be a game-changer. Hopefully, Apple will lighten it's stance against flash support.

If they made the screen bigger, had a larger keyboard come out to the side (landscape mode) for typing, gave it a glass screen, and beefed up the app store, it could definitely be a contender. It also needs to be on a better network. It's going to Verizon...hopefully, they won't cripple the phone, as they are wont to do.

For now, the iPhone is still THE phone to have, but it's a marathon; not a sprint. Android and Web OS keep plugging away and tweaking and the 3GS was a bit of a let down from an innovation perspective. Hopefully, these new phones nipping at the iPhone's heels will give Apple a kick in the pants to really blow us away next year.

[darksniper404]

Originally Posted by chobbs1

I have held and played with the pre. Not impressed. The keyboard sucks. But the screen was ok but too small. I loaded the Same page on both. I could read the iPhone but had to zoom in on the pre.

So if you need to zoom in on a page with small text the phones useless? Haha anyway I already have an iPod Touch so I'm getting the Pre. I can use the tether app on the pre to turn it into a wireless router and use my iPod Touch on it so I'll (almost) have the best of both worlds. I'll probably get an iPhone for Christmas if the price drops a lot since its off contract.

To the OP I'd say its pretty close but also pretty different. First the Pre has amazing multi tasking and notifications. The app store is empty since it just came out, but depending on when your planing to pick it up it should be pretty large. The iPhone and the Pre have similar media players. The iPhone has larger sizes and syncs with iTunes consistently. I'd say try the Pre for a couple of days before you decide.

[Ipheuria]

I'm probably biased but I'm not at all impressed with the Pre. I played with one awhile back at a Bell store display and it just felt so finicky and plastic. It felt like those fake cellphones you get at the dollar store, no substance at all. Then I played with one a couple of months ago, it was actually powered on and I tried to use the touch screen like the Iphone and it didn't work that easily you have to use the scroll ball thingy. I could use the touchscreen on my Iphone the second I took it out of the box because everything is done on the screen with no outside buttons, etc. So I walked away I didn't like that it wasn't instantly intuitive. However like I said I'm already biased as probably alot of Iphone users will be, so it will take a hell of alot to impress me, as opposed to a new un-biased user. However there is a co-worker of mine who just got a Pre, he didn't have an Iphone and I asked him what he thought of it. He said Meh it's OK.

[whmurray]

Originally Posted by Dwaynewilliams

I am really liking the new touchscreens that are starting to come out. I always find myself excited when I get a little bit of news about a new touchscreen. However, with all the new devices currently being released, I haven't seen anything that would take me away from my iPhone. I like the Hero. O really can't speak on it too much because I haven't had it in my hand. But it looks like it is going to be a killer device. The Touch Diamond 2 and Omnia 2 look promising as well, bit they still don't seem to be quite to the level of the iPhone just yet. So far, the only other device that I have seen that really competes with the iPhone when it comes to touchscreen devices is the Palm Pre. Is it the closest to the iPhone? By the way, I will be looking out for the Storm 2 as well.

If you like dealing with AT&T, you will love Palm.

[ghostface147]

I think the Pre is a quality phone and serves its purpose to help create competition. However the keyboard is garbage and multitasking slows down the phone a lot. I iike the screen however and text is sharp and clear. Fortunately I have good eyes, so that always helps.

[BulletTooth]

Originally Posted by Ipheuria

I'm probably biased but I'm not at all impressed with the Pre. I played with one awhile back at a Bell store display and it just felt so finicky and plastic. It felt like those fake cellphones you get at the dollar store, no substance at all. Then I played with one a couple of months ago, it was actually powered on and I tried to use the touch screen like the Iphone and it didn't work that easily you have to use the scroll ball thingy. I could use the touchscreen on my Iphone the second I took it out of the box because everything is done on the screen with no outside buttons, etc. So I walked away I didn't like that it wasn't instantly intuitive. However like I said I'm already biased as probably alot of Iphone users will be, so it will take a hell of alot to impress me, as opposed to a new un-biased user. However there is a co-worker of mine who just got a Pre, he didn't have an Iphone and I asked him what he thought of it. He said Meh it's OK.

Hummm, I call BS. If you've ever touched a Pre you would know that the "scroll ball thingy" isn't even close to a scroll ball, it's a button, and it does not help you navigate around the screen at all. Seems like you're correct when you say you're biased, maybe so much you'll make up stories. Wow!

[lionheartednyhc]

nope, the ipod touch is the closest device to the iPhone

[Pimp Lucious]

Originally Posted by BulletTooth

Hummm, I call BS. If you've ever touched a Pre you would know that the "scroll ball thingy" isn't even close to a scroll ball, it's a button, and it does not help you navigate around the screen at all. Seems like you're correct when you say you're biased, maybe so much you'll make up stories. Wow!

Yeah that was pretty pitiful.

I used my friends iPhone all the time and was insanely jealus since I had a BB Curve 8330 at the time. The one thing that did kill the experience for me was the lack of true non-limited multitasking. Once I got the Pre I didn't like using his iPhone much at all anymore as I was always trying to swipe and bounce between apps and couldn't. Also the fact that I had rock solid EVDO everywhere and he barely could get 3G anywhere in this area. Apps of course was the BIG advantage he had over my Pre, but the At&t price plan versus the Sprint and the 3G issue killed it for him and he sold the iPhone and got a Pre. Now he loves his Pre more than I ever did. We both have iPod Touches and use wifi tethering on our Pres to connect them to data so that we still have full use of iPod Touch apps that we might want to use while out and about. Its a compromise while we wait to see how Palms App Catalog pans out, but the HTC Hero is the viable solution to the shortfalls of both.