The Internet – a barren wasteland full of haterage and pain and woe betide the company who wanders into its unblinking eye of malice. After saying that the Pre was an also ran last week, other interested parties have started to come out of the woodwork to predict a fiery demise for Palm’s savior-phone.
William Hurley, for example, writes in BusinessWeek that Palm’s efforts to court developers failed early on and that the Palm’s efforts will all be for naught. Here’s the kidney jab:
For consumers, there’s likely to be disappointment with price. The Pre starts at $199, after rebates and a service plan—almost exactly what the iPhone costs through AT&T (T). If you can afford to spend $199 on a phone in this economy, would you purchase a phone that’s been in the marketplace for two years, has sold more units than the Motorola (MOT) Razr, and is supported by tens of thousands of available applications, or would you purchase an unproven phone from a company teetering on the brink of extinction, or at least irrelevance?
These are words that suggest that the Pre will soon pee blood. Sprint is a lump of a provider, Verizon is already promising the Pre in six months, and the pro-Pre hype storm is now turning. Heck, even John Gruber is still piling on and he gets off the couch for no man!
What should have Palm done? They should have made the best device they could have – both on the software and on the hardware side – and told Sprint to suck it. AT&T had little control over the iPhone and Apple orchestrated a coup. The carriers take RIM products with little complaint, knowing they can charge the world for service. Palm was in a similar position – they were beloved – but now it’s clear that the corrosive influence of a group of old folks at Sprint has taken its toll. Please, lord Jeebus, prove me wrong.
The “$199 high price” argument is a bunch of baloney and I think you guys griping about it know that. You’re getting a lot of hardware for two hundred bucks: camera, gps, mp3/video play, not to mention everything else it does. But that’s not even the point. For any of these phones you either have to pay a much higher price or sign on for a year plus contract. A couple hundred bucks is a drop in the buck compared to what you’re going to be paying for two years of iPhone service with AT&T; and you’ll save way more than that with a Pre and Sprint.
I agree, who are they kidding about Pricey? Millions of people ran out and bought the iphone for $400 in its 1st market run and guess what? The iPhone sucked to no avail but it didn’t stop the consumer from buying the overpriced peice of crap. I think Palm has dealt with all the right questions and dealt with all the common issues and the result will be a 1st run masterpiece. I don’t think Palm should sell out to Verizon or At&T. Sprint has the best and fairest priced data plans on the planet and for $199.00… I seriously think consumers would have paid more, Palm Pre? Definitly worth it.
Palm Pre fanboy much? lol The iPhone was the most revolutionary tech device of 2007, regardless of how you feel about it. Obviously people didn’t like the EDGE data, but 3G fixed that.
People went in flocks to buy it because of Apple’s rep and because there was no other phone even close to comparable to it.
Palm Pre enters the markets with significant competition… the iPhone 2.0 (with 3.0 just a week away), blackberry shit-storm, G1, etc.
Sprint may have the fairest data price plan, but it won’t make you happy when your calls drop left and right. and you can have unilimited data with calls (450 with rollover) for $70 a month on AT&T, which really isn’t bad at all.
Everyone is trashing Sprint these days but they provide by far the best reception in LA. AT&T receptions is dog crap here and the only reason I haven’t stepped up to the iPhone.
Let me guess, you’ve not use a Sprint phone or Sprint service in years. I’ve been with sprint since the late 90’s and while their service was sub par at best then, it has improved leaps and bounds to present day. I wouldn’t go to any other provider because my service is so good.
You claim there is an unlimited data plan with 450 min with AT&T? On what planet? I think you’re neglecting to add in the mandatory $30 data package require with your beloved iphone.
Bottom line, sprints service is less expensive, their internet is leaps and bounds faster, and with the rise of the palm pre, their equipment is better than the AT&T plans and phones.
You’re like the kid in school who loved grunge music because it was the “in” thing. Always wanted to be with the cool kids but they never liked you, no matter how many toys you had.
Colorado Springs has awesome Sprint service. I haven’t had a dropped call in probably about 2 years except for a cell phone dead spot all careers have. Sprint works at my place of business where no other providers get reception and I know this because customers have to walk to the front of my store to get reception.
Sprint gets a bad rap because of naysayers that have never had the service before and only read reports, or those that had it in bad service areas just as every carrier has. The Pre will be be successful… to what amount is to be seen. I for one will be getting it and keeping it because I have amazing reception and a crappy phone now. There’s no way I’ll be switching to another provider when I try and call my friends and they are always out of service range on those other providers.
Youve got to be kidding me.. Most revolutionary tech device? Seriously? Why — because it has a touchscreen? How well does it voice dial when you’re using a bluetooth headset in a car? There are quite a few basic functions that the iPhone does not do that any cell phone should do from the start. As an aside, the amount of money AT&T will make you bleed for the iPhone by the end of the contract is foolish. Sprint provides solid service here in NY, and their pricing plans provide much better value than AT&T or Verizon ever could. I’m currently paying $69.99 for 450 minutes per month and unlimited everything else — including GPS, messaging, Blackberry, Sprint TV & Radio, and Internet. After my 15% corporate discount and whatever taxes, I’m paying $71 total each month for great service.
Sprint had a poor two year run when they bought nextel when it came to “Customer Service” Sprint has never had bad service, and they’ve always been one step ahead when it comes to the technology put into their network. In fact Sprint has fewer dropped calls in the past year then any other carrier in the nation, not to mention with no roaming charges on any of their plans with my GSM Blackberry I have yet to find a place where I do not get service and I am constantly traveling and on my phone. I’m tired of this “Sprints network sucks” bulltihs dog the Customer service all you want, but network and price Sprint stacks the same of not better than AT&T and Verizon
I find it quite humorous that an AT&T user would tell me to stop crying about dropped calls on Sprint. It rarely, rarely happens.
My wife’s iPHONE, on the other hand…………………..
Yo Bobo,
Sounds like you’re the iphone fan boi here. It’s 2009 and some of us are happy to have worthy options to the craptastic offerings from Apple and with a better network.
I’ve used Sprint in many areas through Texas, New York and some parts of Canada. I’ve never had any problems with them.
i have an iphone 3g and its the most disappointing mobile device i’ve ever had. i can’t wait to try out the palm pre.
Love my Pre. It’s not crap by a longshot, and if this came out when the iPhone first showed up, it would’ve killed the iPhone immediately. As it is, it has a number of options that the new 3.0 iPhone software is JUST announcing.
Oh and I’ll be sending MMS messages from it for a few months before the iPhone users can, so la-di-da.
Plus, I like the feel of it. It’s a lot more comfortable in your hand than the iPhone. Check it out, you’ll find it to be true.
Much love..
someone said “How well does it voice dial when you’re using a bluetooth headset in a car? There are quite a few basic functions that the iPhone does not do that any cell phone should do from the start.” Well the Pre does not support voice dial either and it was released 4 years after the iphone, the Pre also does not allow you to forward a txt mesg, something EVERY other txt capable phone does…. and Palm is not saying if or when they are going to fix the hundred or so missing functions of the phone.
We had money back then…
NO APPS..Period
Here’s my take on the Pre-Iphone argument.
My wife and I want a fancy new phones, My sprint contrast ends in a few days
I called Sprint. Asked for some kinda discount for a long time costumer 10+ yrs. on a Pre.
They said no.
The costumer rep. went on and on about how in the long run the Palm Pre will be cheaper. Since the their plan would be cheaper.
He really piled on the iphone negatives, battery life, insurance, mms messaging,…blah blah blah..
Bottom line is I need 2 new phones.
Palm Pre 400 bucks.
Iphone 200 bucks.
I’m calling tomorrow from the at&t store and asking again before giving them a swift kick in the ass. Because in the long run I will have the extra 10-15 dollars extra each month the at&t plans will cost me.
but what I dont have is 400+ activation fees for 2 pre’s
on a side note, cant seem to find a proper rubber phone cover for the pre, since it slides up.
thanks for pushing a loyal costumer away sprint.
If your Sprint contract is expiring…why would you be paying $400 for the Pre?
I upgraded my old Sprint phone to a Pre and didn’t pay that much. Both phones are listed as $199 with rebates. I get a feeling like you are leaving out some info?
If you have 2 phones, then it is $50 cheaper per month on Sprint’s network than it is on AT&T’s for the same plan.
And if you really want a new phone and you really want to use that new phone’s features, you’ll need one of those types of plans. (unlimited data, messages, Sprint TV and roaming)
If you really are interested in a fancy phone, you might want to check into what the Sprint rep was talking about in regards to MMS.
I love Sprint, but am mad as HELL that I bought the new Palm Pre and it SUCKS!!!!!!! I was told that it was better than the iphone. I don’t know how good the iphone is but can tell you the Palm Pre sucks. When you have an app open, you can’t recieve calls, they go to voice mail. When you get on the web, the print is so tiny you need a maginifying glass to read it. If you turn the phone sideways, it gets a little bigger. But not much. It is hard to touch where you need to cause it is so small in comparrison to your finger. And you can’t narrow it with a stylus, because they don’t work since the touch works off heat. And the u tube sucks big time. U watch 2 secounds and it starts buffering again. And u have to have wifi on to download songs from amazon and can’t get wifi most places and when I do it still won’t download my songs. I just warn you not to waste ur money. I would love to have an iphone. But AT&T sucks too because after using them for 5 years they kicked us to the curb and told us we had to find a new carrier, because we didn’t make 50% of our calls in their area. So not my fault. They had my area when we first got them. Not my fault they sold the tower in my area or didn’t want to pay rent n e more. So I am just all around pissed that I can’t get what I want or have paid for. But buyer BEWARE, the PALM PRE IS AWEFUl!!!!!!!
Full ofCrap, first you haven’t used the phone. And if you have, you’re purposefully misleading people. Either way, you’re useless.
1. You CAN receive phone calls with apps open.
2. The print is going to be tiny on any phone with a screen smaller than your monitor. That’s why there’s this thing called ZOOM.
3. The touch works of conductivity, not heat.
4. The YouTube only buffers if you have a bad connection, which will happen with any phone anywhere with a bad connection.
5. I’ve downloaded plenty of songs on wifi, and it’s worked fine. And I don’t see how a lack of wifi hot spots in your area, is the phones fault. (I would like to see downloading over EVDO offered though.)
6. The Palm Pre is not awful and given the alternatives, AT&T – too expensive, T-Mobile – Crap, Verizon – Breaks their own phones, disabling native features. Sprint is by far the best service, best value, with the best selection of phones.
Let me guess.. this dumb article was typed on an apple computer in apples headquarters?
Another terrible post from tc/cg with no substance.
Does anyone write news anymore that’s based on actual facts?
I’ve read article after article of spewed assumptions, opinions and predictions all based on other wild-fanboi-elitist “my phone can beat up your phone” mentality.
2nd article on CG that bashes on the Pre. :)
The pre looks great no doubt about it, but It won’t even come close to touching the iPhone because of its carrier. Sprint is garbage and if the Pre were debuting Verizon then there might be something to talk about. The iPhone is to far along and the Pre is still in its infancy. To call anything at this point an “iPhone Killer” as I have seen the Pre been called in the past is blasphemy.
You don’t have a clue about Sprint guy. I’ve been with Sprint since 2000. The reception is fantastic and the network rocks. They had some horrible customer service issues that have been resolved since Dan took control.
You sound like another iPhone fanatic that is afraid of competition. Remember…not everyone wants to “goose-step” to the beat of the letter “i”.
Blasphemy? You’ve already labeled yourself as an iPhone Zealot with that statement, whose opinion on a competing product should be immediately suspect. Sprint is garbage? And AT&T is so great? I have Verizon, which has a great network. I’ve had both AT&T and Sprint in the past, and both sucked. Looking at the coverage areas, it looks like Sprint has made significant improvements, and are still planning more (also on map). Of course I’m sure all providers have the same ‘plans’. The phone looks great, and I’ll be getting one. iPhone killer? Probably not, because Pre users will be a different group of users — sophisticated.
I cant stand people that bash sprint. It’s network is as good as any…3G included. And NO ONE can beat them on price. Stop just repeating other peoples uninformed decisions. If you haven’t had sprint service in the last 3-5 years…you have no idea what you are talking about.
Sprint hasn’t had to defend their network coverage/performance in the past month…
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/t-chief-warns-network-capacity-issues-eyes-pre/2009-05-27?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FW0
Hi
Mt wife and I were att customers the last ten yrs…with i phone 1 and 2, and a rzrv3. my wifes iphone dropped calls quicker than shaq misses free throws, switched to sprint after we agd a 360 phone bill with att due to going over our minutes. 99 bucks a month is a good deal by comparison, we have a htc touch pro and a palm treo, soon to be a palm pre, ask my wife if she misses writing checks for poor service to att….nope, dont miss the iphone one iota
I believe all the HATERS of Sprint & the Palm Pre are really just pissed off that they are stuck w/their iphones! I have been w/Sprint for 2 years now & have never had a dropped call. The data plan is a much better deal than Verizon or AT&T. I have a Treo & love it! I can’t wait 2 get my new Pre!
when I read these opinions, one has to ask themselves, where is the credability in some of these statments, where do you get your facts from or are your opninions like most opinions, every one has one, lets stay with fact and 1st hand experience
I started with Sprint many years ago and only left because I wanted a new phone and they were doing the whole “mail-in rebate” thing, even tho I was a loyal customer they couldn’t give me the post rebate price.
I’ve had AT&T, Cingular, then AT&T again, Alltel, and all have paled in comparison. I’m glad I’ve gone back and can’t wait to not have to worry about my cell phone service.
Plans are great too btw. 1400 minutes, unlimited everything else, $130. It’s $150 for AT&T and you have to add an additional $30 for texts. Oh and that’s the family plans with 2 lines. So I’m getting off way cheaper.
Im with the others, this article is obviously just written by an iPhone fanboy. It takes one look to see with the palm pre your getting a better product for only $100 a month instead of the iPhones $150 a month plan.
$150 a month? Yeah, if you max out your plan. I own my own business and AT&T’s 450 anytime minutes with rollover are more than enough for me. With unlimited data and unlimited texts, I pay $90 a month. Sounds like less than $100 to me.
Anyone who is saying that any phone on the market is an iPhone killer or is far superior to the iPhone has obviously never actually used the iPhone day in and day out. You simply can’t beat it. The accuracy of the touch screen still seems to confuse other phone manufacturers, as no one has been able to match it. That’s been there since day 1 with the iPhone. Funny how your supposed “iPhone killer” is coming from Palm, the smart phone company with the fastest shrinking market share. They come out with a phone that has already been bested by the iPhone 3G S 2 YEARS after the iPhone releases. Playing catch up much? Now the 3G S has been announced, and poor Palm has to play catch up all over again.
For a family talk plan with 2 people, it’s $130 on Sprint and $180 on AT&T for the same features, same 1400 minutes, and same unlimited.
Although we may be a little crazy and unconventional…ya know…using our phones…for talking.
Oh and the 3Gs hasn’t bested, it just managed after 3 iterations and how many years to come out with some features that are similar to the Pre, hardly bested. You guys have video, but still can’t send MMS until AT&T gets it’s act together. And we can multi-task…FAIL on your end there.
As far as the whole multitasking thing goes, I really don’t see a difference as far as what the Pre does and what the 3G S does. So what if the Pre keeps the apps running? On the 3G you can close out of an app and open another one in about the same time it takes you to zoom out of your Pre app and flip to another one. And with the 3G S, all of those processes have been streamlined. I’d rather have the full power of my mobile device behind whatever it is doing than have to experience slowdown and lag because the phone keeps each app open for the sake of “multitasking”. I multitask on the iPhone now, and with the 3G S and iPhone 3.0, flipping between apps is instant. Just because the Pre calls it “multitasking” doesn’t mean flipping between apps is better or faster than on the iPhone. Hitting the home button and tapping on another icon to move between apps is pretty damn quick. On the 3G S, its even faster. Zooming out and swiping to your next open app on the Pre takes about the same amount of time. I’m failing to see where the iPhone has FAILED as far as this is concerned.
“So what if the Pre keeps the apps running? On the 3G you can close out of an app and open another one in about the same time it takes you to zoom out of your Pre app and flip to another one.”
How about you try a copy/paste from one of those apps you closed into another app?
Wait..can you even copy/paste yet?
If you don’t understand what multi-tasking is, then how can you argue for or against it????
“How about you try a copy/paste from one of those apps you closed into another app?
Wait..can you even copy/paste yet?”
Yep, actually on iPhone OS 3.0 you sure as hell can copy between apps that have been closed!
And as of June 17th, we can copy and paste! Woohoo.
And I sure do understand what multitasking is. All I’m saying is that flipping between apps on the Pre and closing out of an App and opening a new one on the iPhone takes the same amount of time. Actually, under OS 3.0, it takes less time because of OS 3.0 streamlined processing and support for multicore mobile processing, which is a feature of the 3G S!
So if I can copy, cut and paste between apps, move pictures between apps, close and open a new app in about a second, now explain to me how multitasking on the Pre is any different? Wow, you leave the app open so your RAM and processing power are eaten up and you experience lag… sounds like Palm has it down!
“So if I can copy, cut and paste between apps, move pictures between apps, close and open a new app in about a second, now explain to me how multitasking on the Pre is any different? Wow, you leave the app open so your RAM and processing power are eaten up and you experience lag… sounds like Palm has it down!”
Please, please, please…tell me you are kidding…
You are telling me Apple’s solution to keeping the iPhone fast…is to only let you open one thing at a time?
Do you only ever have 1 thing open on your computer?…and you close that down before you open anything else?
You can have all the CPU power in the world, but if you can only run one thing at a time with it, what’s the point?
And for your theory on how the Pre works here is a fact for you: I let my wife use the phone, and when she gave it back to me there were 17…yes, 17 things running, and it didn’t phase it.
“All I’m saying is that flipping between apps on the Pre and closing out of an App and opening a new one on the iPhone takes the same amount of time. Actually, under OS 3.0, it takes less time because of OS 3.0 streamlined processing and support for multicore mobile processing, which is a feature of the 3G S!”
Have you even used a Pre? And by use one, I don’t mean read a post from someone else who has a brother who has a friend who says the iPhone is faster.
Have you even used the new OS 3.0…so that you could really compare it to the Pre and state actual facts?
Man you’re dense. Of course you leave stuff open on your computer. No matter how fast your computer is, software has intro screens, template selections, selections for this, selections for that, stuff you have to go through every time you open something up. On the iPhone, hitting the home button takes you back to the homescreen, but upon touching an icon, it opens up the app right where you left it, most of the time as if it were never closed. It sounds like you’ve never actually used the iPhone. I have used the pre. The “multitasking” thing is a great gimmick. And I don’t know what 17 apps your wife had open, but i opened up 5 on the Pre and functions within all of them suffered. Not to the point where they were unusable, but still to the point where you could want to go quit a few apps in order to get things running at full speed again.
So I’ll add more to it… if you can open up 17 apps on your pre and (I don’t believe for a second that NONE of your apps experienced any kind of lag during use while the other 16 were open) and move through them, picking up right where you left off on each one, and on the iPhone, you can move through your apps by pressing the home button and then tapping on an icon picking up right where you left off (with no slowdown and no processor taxing or anything fun like that) find me a way that functionality is different! If I could move through 17 apps on an iPhone, doing tasks in and between each of them, and then pick up a Pre and use 17 similar apps with the “multitasking” feature having to zoom out and flip through them (quite similarly to pressing the home button on an iphone and tapping another icon) and do tasks in and between each of them, how is the pre any better?
All I’m saying is that just because they call it multitasking, it doesn’t make operation any faster or any smoother. If I can do everything on the iPhone just as fast (if not faster, because, say what you will about benchmarks and reviews, but the iPhone’s processor and new OS has smoked the Pre’s in terms of raw processing power in benchmarks) and just as efficiently, albeit with ALL of the processing power of the iPhone behind everything I’m doing, why in the world would I want to have 17 apps open, taxing the CPU of the Pre?
I don’t think you’re getting it.
My God, it’s like explaining to my Dad why the input on the TV doesn’t go to the input on the cable box…even thought they are the same color.
But I think I am understanding your thought process now. So no, the Pre wouldn’t be any faster for “you” the way you want to do things.
If you type with one finger on a slow computer, then you will go the same speed on a fast computer, and you won’t ever need to multi-task.
If you can’t see how true multi-tasking will benefit “you”, then it will not benefit “you”. Stick with the iPhone.
Yeah, and talking to you is like trying to teach a dog Chinese.
If it takes the same number of motions and time to go from one app to the other on both mobile devices, and you have inter-app functionality on both mobile devices, just because you leave an app “open” on one, taxing the CPU and using up RAM, and “close” an app on another doesn’t mean there is any difference if the time it takes to move between apps or copy data from one app to another is the same (or in the case of the iPhone, faster). Why leave your mail open on the iPhone when the push function allows you to get mail when it is “closed?” Why leave anything open if the iPhone if moving between apps in any fashion is the same? I’d rather utilize dedicated power on every app for optimum speed and functionality. If the speed is the same, the functionality is the same, and you can move data of any sort between any app on either device, it doesn’t matter what you call it, there is no functional difference. You’re not worth the time man.
You’re making it sound like the Pre completely bogs down if more than 2 things are open, which is entirely false….
“If it takes the same number of motions and time”…
And if a frog had wings it wouldn’t bump it’s ass when it jumped…
If your statement “was” true, then you would be right, but here is where the problem is…it’s not true.
No matter how you want to pretend the steps required to do the same things go… it’s false. No matter how you want to assume the amount of time it takes to do the things you mention (less than a second???? Ok superman!)..it’s not true.
Good luck with your fantasy phone, I’ll be here in the real world if you need anything.
Haha. . . when someone knows they’ve lost, they start distorting facts. Nowhere did I say that with 2 apps open, the phone will bog down. I said 5. You said 17, which even according to Palm, isn’t quite right. They say 15 can run at once. And to top it all off, I said with 5 it is not disabling by any means. Come on man, let’s keep out quotes straight here.
And where did I say less than a second? Please find it for me.
So using the same amount of steps to move from one app to another on both devices and (for the sake of argument) taking the same amount of time to move between apps is still wrong? It’s false no matter what? If it takes the same amount of time, and you can do all of the same things on both phones, you can multitask on both phones, whether or not one calls it multitasking and the other doesn’t.
And I’m pretty sure I’m not the one in fantasy world here homie. I’ve used sound logic to conduct my argument, stated facts, and haven’t distorted anything you’ve said. The fact that all you’ve done is deny logic out of your rabid desire for your beloved Palm to be the triumphant mobile device of the world shows nothing more than fanboy-ism.
I’m not saying either device is bad. The Pre is without a doubt the first device that can actually be considered a legitimate competitor to the iPhone. It has a great touch screen, its powerful, it’s fairly well designed (although anyone who complains about the iPhone keyboard and would rather have that joke of a keyboard on the Pre is a bit out of their mind in my opinion, considering the keys on the Pre are roughly 30% smaller than those on the iPhone.) But here’s the thing – with over 20 million iPhones in place, Palm has an uphill battle ahead of them. I’ll go as far as to say it will not disrupt iPhone sales or ever come close to taking a noticeable chunk out of Apple’s smartphone market share. The AppStore has been in place for almost a year and developers are familiar with the platform. Palm has the smallest market share of all the smartphone makers, and most people don’t care for their phones. The Pre is too little, too late. Great phone, first real competitor, but it’s going to take more than market hyping a crappy physical keyboard and supposed “multitasking” to push the Pre onto the same playing field as the iPhone as far as the general public is concerned. Good talking with you Frosty.
Why does anyone have to consider themselves as winning or losing such discussions. Some people will prefer iPhones and some will prefer Pres.
However, MA, I will say that it does sound like you ARE distorting some facts. I have never had performance degradation with only 5 apps open. You must have either had a defective Pre or it needs to be reset.
Out of curiosity (as a result of this “discussion”), I opened as many apps on my Pre as I could. When I get to 17 it told me that I had to close an app to free up memory in order to open another app. It seemed to slow down around 9 apps, but it’s hard to tell for sure. It certainly wasn’t atrocious. But I can’t see why anyone would need 17 apps open at once anyway. I say I average 3 to 5 apps at a time.
As far as speed difference with multitasking, I think it comes down to two factors. 1) Non-intrusive alerts so that you can chose to continue with what you were doing or respond to the alert (whether it’s an incoming text message, email, or some kind of reminder). What I really think is cool is that when I’m playing Connect Four against someone via the internet, I can switch to another app while it’s the other person’s turn… maybe look at an email, read an internet article, or see what movies are playing.. then when it’s my turn, I get a non-intrusive message at the bottom of the screen letting me know. I switch back to Connect Four, take my turn, then go back to whatever I was doing. I can see that feature being useful on all kinds of apps. 2) The fact that you don’t have to search for your app on the launcher screen every time you want to go back to it. Let’s say you have three apps open. When you slide your finger up to bring up the main screen, each app is there waiting on you in the form of a card. You just flick back and forward to switch between them. To me, that’s a much more focused way to concentrate on the apps you’re working with rather than searching thru all the icons of all apps, however many of the 50,000 you’ve downloaded. I can certainly understand how that could be a preference thing, but I don’t think that anyone who hasn’t worked with the Pre for at least a couple of days using many different apps, can fully appreciate the power that the multitasking with non-intrusive alerts provides.
As far as the keypad goes, I will admit that I was concerned when I saw some of the poor reviews. But I can honestly say that now that I have a Pre, I LOVE the keypad. I like it even MORE than what I had on my Treo 700p, even though it’s smaller. I think it feels better and the minor layout adjustments are much more logical and efficient. It feels extremely natural to me. I can’t say exactly why, but I can say that I’m able to type significantly faster with fewer mistakes. I know this can be personal preference too, but I’ve tried to type on an iPhone virtual keypad, and I just don’t like it. As small as the Pre keypad is, I can feel it, and that’s what really matters to me.
I have no complaints about the Pre. I think the numerous positive review it has received from such writers as the New York Time’s David Pogue are, for the most part, fair and accurate. The iPhone has a huge fanbase and that won’t change. However, I have personally witnessed numerous iPhone users make the switch to the Pre (not to mention Blackberry users). As I watied for the Spring rep to swich my Treo 700p to my daughter’s account the day after the Pre launched, I watched person after person come in and ask for the Pre, just to be told they’d have to be added to teh waiting list. I personally don’t believe there’s any way the Pre can out-sell the iPhone in the near future, but I can see Palm slowly and gradually taking away some of Apple’s market share. And if Palm can get it this good with the first shot, imagine how good it’s going to be when the improve it!!
I love my Pre and I’m very excited for the future of Palm!
Ok, this will be my last post, because you’re only trolling now.
“Haha. . . when someone knows they’ve lost, they start distorting facts. Nowhere did I say that with 2 apps open,”
OK, now you not only make assumptions and spew random iFan-boy-crap as facts, but you also fail at reading comprehension.
I said “You’re making it sound like the Pre completely bogs down if more than 2 things are open, which is entirely false….”
Nowhere did I say that you said “2 apps”. The key words here that give this away are “making it sound like”.
“I said 5. You said 17, which even according to Palm, isn’t quite right. They say 15 can run at once. And to top it all off, I said with 5 it is not disabling by any means. Come on man, let’s keep out quotes straight here.”
And again, you fail. Read back through.., I said 17 “things” not apps.
(If it’s too hard for you, search for “17 things”)
These ranged from several email message windows to text messages and apps all together.
“And where did I say less than a second? Please find it for me.”
MA – June 9th, 2009 at 4:43 pm PDT
“So if I can copy, cut and paste between apps, move pictures between apps, close and open a new app in about a second, now explain to me how multitasking on the Pre is any different?”
Oops! You caught me! You said in about a second not less than a second, my bad Superman.
“So using the same amount of steps to move from one app to another on both devices and (for the sake of argument) taking the same amount of time to move between apps is still wrong? It’s false no matter what? If it takes the same amount of time, and you can do all of the same things on both phones, you can multitask on both phones, whether or not one calls it multitasking and the other doesn’t.”
You have yet to produce any facts or provide links to where you are getting your information…
For God’s sake, the phone and OS aren’t even out yet!
“I’ve used sound logic to conduct my argument, stated facts, and haven’t distorted anything you’ve said.”
Uhhh…what facts? You’ve made statements, yes.. but again..where are you getting your info from? I’ve asked several times and the only thing I’ve seen so far is talk.
And you haven’t distorted anything I’ve said???? Are you kidding me???
I’m not even going to touch your last paragraph, you do enough damage to your image without me having to point anything out.
But hey, 87% of all statistics on the internet are made up on the spot.
And again, because I know you fail at reading.. This is my last response to any iPhone/Pre conversation, so make your last one count!
The article was written by a disgruntled developer who wanted too much too soon. Give Palm a break! This is a huge undertaking and won’t be done overnight. Getting negative about a phone you haven’t even seen yet makes no sense. Give Palm a chance – we need some more competition in this area.
I love how people bash the Pre and they have never even touched one. I am sure there will be some short comings with the Pre, there is with any device. I have owned the Iphone & Iphone 3G, The G1, The BlackBerry Storm, Both Instincts The Omnia and several other phones and they all have downfalls. As for Sprint I have been with every carrier and I have worked for a few, Sprint has great plan prices and a solid network. I have to say even customer service is getting better. I know everyone says Verizon is the bes but in my opinion the nickel and dime you to death for everything and the totally cripple any device they get. As for AT&T, when I had my Iphones I never dropped so many calls in my life and once again their plans area bit high. Every carrier and phone has its good and bad points but I think alot of people are “brain washed” by the Verizon and AT&T as well as Apple due to the fact that they flood your daily life with a never ending assault of advertisement. It seems like every other commercial on tv or the radio is an add for them.
What a garbage article… “Sprint is a lump of a provider…” Why? I keep reading this in articles from so-called reviewers like yourselves, and I never read any real reasons why. Please quit wasting our time, and PLEASE quit this biased garbage. People don’t respect fanboys. Provide real information, or leave us alone… I’m going to save this article and send it back to you in one year, and we’ll see how wrong you are.
So Pre sucks…yet the new Iphone has what? A glowing apple logo, more memory, an overdue horizontal keyboard, a 3 megapixel camera, a magnotometer and…??? This is cutting edge 2007 tech, not 2009.
Pre’s multitask system just kicked every new Apple “feature”. The new Iphone better step it up-so far this thing is looking like a Commodore 128 or Windows ME “filler” that people fall for because of gadget addiction.
*kaff* iPhone fanboi *kaff*
Why does everyone keep making all of these stupid comparisons to the iphone. You wanna compair price, features, hardware. Is it ok for people to be given a choice. Personal I think the iphone is a very nice device. Will I buy one? Never. From what I see so far I really like the pre. It seems to have everything that I’m looking for in a phone which is really all that maters to me. The price of the phone is not a real big deal to me. Honestly the purpose of have a cell phone is to be able to talk on it. So if you already have one and you feel you need to do a this big price comparison between phones. Maybe a new cell phone is not what you really need right now. Yes I know we are in a recision and all that crap but everyone in america isn’t broke. If you can aford to buy what you want than do it. All of these reviews are talking about what the consumer wants. Aren’t we the consumers? Don’t we know what we want? How about giving us a fewe more choises.
Why does everyone keep making all of these stupid comparisons to the iphone. You wanna compair price, features, hardware. Is it ok for people to be given a choice. Personal I think the iphone is a very nice device. Will I buy one? Never. From what I see so far I really like the pre. It seems to have everything that I’m looking for in a phone which is really all that maters to me. The price of the phone is not a real big deal to me. Honestly the purpose of have a cell phone is to be able to talk on it. So if you already have one and you feel you need to do a this big price comparison between phones. Maybe a new cell phone is not what you really need right now. Yes I know we are in a recession and all that crap but everyone in america isn’t broke. If you can afford to buy what you want than do it. All of these reviews are talking about what the consumer wants. Aren’t we the consumers? Don’t we know what we want? How about giving us a few more choices.
Guys, you’re playing into exactly what John wants…hits on his site. The more you comment on this fabricated piece, the better he’s positioned.
Last week’s article probably gave him the most links he’s seen in awhile…why not bash the Pre again to try to top the first time?
How many people hating on crunchgear for this blog actually plan on buying a pre? About this time last year sprint came out with the samsung instinct which compared favorably to the iphone 1.0 in many aspects, but was immediately rendered obsolete just weeks later by the iphone 3g and the 2.0 software. I think the pre will do better than the instinct against the iphone, but with a new iphone (presumably) being announced in less than a week its a little early to call anything an iphone killer. And to those defending sprint, if its not so bad why are they hemorrhaging subscribers year after year? The pre will be awesome for sprint, but i doubt many people will actually switch to sprint for it.
I think the biggest reason people keep leaving sprint is because of the lack of a killer phone. They need the pre (if only for 6 months) to show that they can have and market a large, marquee phone. I think once this happens other companies will realize that they are a legitimate company able to properly compete with verizon and at&t. Also the pre has an extra bit of potential that really hasn’t been discussed much. If the pre does well it might also show the public that sprint’s service is actually much better then people think. This might be the most important thing the pre does for sprint. Show customers that a 5 year old truth is now very dead.
Wow, write anything just to get hits for your advertisers.
Nice, unbiased journalism.
I’ve been very happy with Sprint service for years, and I see no reason to spend gobs of cash a year for the same service from Verizon or AT&T. As a result, I am looking foward to the Pre, although I hope to keep my Treo running as long as possible first!
Everyone knows John Biggs is the horribly biased, Apple fanboy at CG. Get over it.
I also have been very satisfied with Sprint service and pricing. The only problem I had was with a Samsung phone that resulted in poor reception. I have had great reception with Sanyo and Palm phones. I highly recommend switching to Sprint if you like the Pre.
The complainers of the pre are the bitter little crybabies who cannot develope for it yet because they “want their milk and they want it now!”…
Take that crying elsewhere, second rate apps are not welcome.
I tried the iPhone with AT&T and had Sprint before. Almost half of my calls were dropped from AT&T and the internet was so slow and didn’t work in some places in LA. My Sprint phone is very clear and always works wherever I am so really, AT&T sucks and Sprint is a heck load better & the Pre is too!
Of course, Sprint took me back as a Premier customer within 30 days and I’m getting my Pre June 5th at the party!
Could you make a lamer argument? What you and everyone is missing is duh, if you want a great phone with a keyboard, this is it. Blackberry meets Iphone, business meets fun. Throw in legitimate, extremely useful multitasking. This will be a huge product. Not iphone huge, but huge. Less Douchey article in the future would be nice crunchgear.
The article = completely absurd and biased. $199 is alot of money?? Ha. I am also confused by people that bash Sprint. I have been using Sprint since 1999 in SF and LA and have always been satisfied. I have absolutely no loyalty and would switch providers in a heartbeat if the service/price was better…but I don’t because Sprint has both great cell service and is cheap.
Poor ATT i-phone users trying to rationalize their shitty service and expensive douche bag phone.
That business week article is a wash. Yes Hurley led the beginning of the predevelopment camps but got off board after Palm(like Apple before) was hesitant about being officially tied to those camps. He had an Agreement with Palm to have at least an unoffical capacity at those camps till he scared them off by announcing such things on his twitter and Palm balked. Other people in the same predevelopment community have reported having a great relationship with Palm. i think he is pissed he didn’t get things his way so he could take some credit if the Pre is a hit but now wants to spend his time trashing it since he jumped off board.
HE’S DONE IT AGAIN, ALERT THE MEDIA
Someone has an agenda. Suck, demise, urinate blood, lump of a provider, etc. These types of atacks and words are the last resort of a tired, feeble mind.
Give some facts and well informed opinion. Use some intellect. You may find you will grow your readership.
I am a Sprint user in SC and I like their service. I have a bigger coverage map that t-mobile and att. On top of that I got the data package wich is awsome…….. Best bang for your buck….. I can not wait until the PRE comes out gettin mine SAT as long as there is one avaliable
http://www.von.com/news/oh-snap-palm-pre-beats-iphone-in-value.html
Palm Pre TOTALLY beats ATT & iPhone
all i can say is that do to verizon poor selection of phones and poor service in my house i will be switching from verizon to sprint to get this phone as soon as it comes out. Also sprint is promising 4G in my area this summer i cant wait
Note to self: John Biggs = idiot.
I switched from Verizon to Sprint when I purchased my Treo because I simply could NOT afford what Verizon was charging for all the features I wanted. Sprint works and I can afford it.
Is Mr. Biggs seriously saying that the Pre is expensive at $200 when they were charging over $400 for the bug laden iPhone when it first came out? Seriously?? He thinks that’s logical? I understand it’s less expensive now, but look at what you’re going to have to pay over a year with the higher monthly fees that AT&T charges.
Where do these writers come from??? Seriously!
I hope you are just fishing for comments. If not I will have to start skipping your posts because I really don’t come here to read irrelevant speculation. What’s starnge is you havn’t even reviewed the unit.
I can’t say much about Palm Pre since it has been all speculation. Regarding Sprint, let’s not bash a company based on someone heard or read few years back. I have been a Sprint customer for 5 years. While they were terrible at customer service till about 2006, they have improved by leaps and bounds which include their coverage. I won’t bash AT&T since they are pretty good in IL and I have no idea about Verizon. Regarding Palm Pre, I hope they succeed. From the days of Palm Pilot to Treo 700p, I owned every device. They need go back to their creative and quality roots to have people like me buy their products again.
last time I ever read an article on crunchgear again. horrible way to get visits to your site
Crunchgear is garbage. They’re doing this crap on purpose.
… Of course I’m joining the fray ’cause it’s fun… but after this is over? I’m NEVER coming to this site again. Pure garbage.
I wish the price on the Pre were better, frankly. The same as an iPhone…that made pass right away,
You know you have a very competitive product when you read articles like this. iphone owners and their supporters know they day has come to an end to the “i have the hottest phone available”. Berate a phone you havent touched? Belittle a carrier you havent used in past couple years? I have been with Sprint for 5 years. Prior to that Cingular/ATT. I agree with all other comments that here in Miami FL. and my travels throughout the US. I have had stellar performance for Sprint. Pre & Sprint will be a good combination for mobile power users like myself.
It amazes me how many AT&T customers in LA totally ignore the number of dropped calls they have because they have an iPhone. I’ll bet they assume it’s their friend who is on Sprint or Verizon who has dropped off the call. I don’t know how someone who is on AT&T can say that Sprint sucks if they haven’t been on the service in the last several years. I think all reviewers who have an iPhone should not be allowed to write a review on the Pre or Sprint until they have actually used them. If the iPhone and AT&T are so much better, then why are all these reviewers writing scathing reviews on a phone and service they have never used? There MUST be a reason. I have been a Sprint customer for close to 10 years and it has only gotten better and better. I think iPhone and AT&T fanboys are worried the public is going to figure out that the Sprint and Pre are better in terms of network performance, a new phone that addresses all the complaints that people have with the iPhone, and overall value. I challenge ALL iPhone users to try the Pre and Sprint for 1 year. If you aren’t satisfied with the Pre and Sprint, then you can always go back to the AT&T and whatever the latest iPhone is going to be next year. What have you got to lose?
Hear, hear! My wife’s iPhone used to drop calls CONSTANTLY when we were in Miami. Incredibly annoying.
It’s funny how these Iphone or just Apple fanboi’s in general hurl so much nonsense because they demand that their products to be the most trendy and exclusive even though in reality, everything that comes out of apple is overpriced fluff for the technologically unsaavy.
The Pre is better than the Iphone period and so what if it’s better. Competition is always good and will force Apple and Blackberry to up the ante to keep up or exceed the pace.
With regards to networks, Sprint is > ATT and will continue to better until ATT moves to 4G which will probably take forever. ATT’s 3G network is laughable and is more expensive as well. And its already been announced that Verizon and gasp, ATT will try to get the Pre in 2010.
Will the pre be palms savior? It is already since they already have a nice stable of successors in development and the future looks bright for the phone itself.
Let me also add my 2 cents about Sprint vs. other carriers- sorry, but I’m with them 9 years and I have never had a problem. Their coverage in NYC might not be as good as verizon, but they don’t charge a premium for service like Verizon does & I have had horrible times dealing with verizon in the past.
And AT&T’s network sucks – I have a AT&T Curve for work – and calls drop all the time.
Gizmodo’s test of Sprint data speeds vs. AT&T and Verizon in NYC showed Sprint to be far superior… look it up… :)
I can put in my 2 cents equally on ATT’s behalf – I’ve lived in 3 major cities in the last 10 years and have had ATT in all of them (Miami, Charlotte, and Nashville.) I’ve never had Sprint so I can’t say anything about it, but I’ve also never had an issue with ATT service. I don’t experience the dropped call thing that all the Sprint people are saying happens all the time on ATT, I have service everywhere I go (and I go all over the US), I can hear everything clearly, my data is fast, and, I get the iPhone. Seriously, why would I want an alleged “iPhone killer” when I can just have the real thing? The Pre looks like the first “real” competitor to the iPhone. The Storm was a joke, the G1 was not as huge of a joke, but still a joke, and no one has even come close. The Pre is definitely the best competitor, but it is still not the iPhone. Anyone saying the iPhone is a piece of junk or an overhyped XYZ from a company who makes overpriced and overhyped whatever has obviously never actually used one day to day. Give credit where it is due. The Pre is great, but seriously, it is not going to make a dent in iPhone sales or even come close to selling near as many units.
“I can put in my 2 cents equally on ATT’s behalf -” I’ve never had Sprint so I can’t say anything about it”
Uhh..you do see how this doesn’t work, right? You can’t put your 2 cents in “equally” if you’ve only used one of them.
The other people who made the comments about ATT had actually used/tried the service.
And this whole “iPhone Killer” crap is getting old. It’s like someone saying Ford will be the Chevy killer. There is plenty of room in the market for all kinds of phones, and people like to have options.
I actually have used Sprint. . . but I’ve never personally owned an account from them. One of my old work phones was a Nextell phone on the Sprint network. We took the phone when we came in, dropped it off when we got out. This was in Charlotte – I had more dropped calls in a day than I’ve ever had on my ATT phones in the 10 years I’ve had ATT. But of course, that was in one city. So in all reality, no one can speak equally about the services unless they’ve had both ATT and Sprint in the same city as another person they are talking with. Different cities have different dominant carriers.
Are you guys THIS starved for readers that you post such drivel? Or are you like many other writers who are merely on Apple’s payroll?
“The Pre will soon pee blood?” Get a life or a woman, man… whichever comes first!
zzzzzzzzzzzz
last time i visit this site
What a crappy article Biggs, most if not all your statements are false, you lowered your rep if any by using childish comments like suck-it, pee blood, lump.. with what motive?? Yes the iphone is a great phone, who cares keep at&t and your piephone, don’t write public statements on a phone that you’ve never even touched. If you say sprints network is horrible you’re either a liar or haven’t had sprint for years. Anyways does at&t even offer insurance for the iphone? I know they didnt before and whats the price?
Also a Sprint user here for a about 8 years. I have maybe have a single dropped call a year out here in San Antonio the past 3 or so years. Even before that it was still better than most. I love their service, just not their customer service, it’s probably the real reason why they get a bad rep. And yep, using a Sprint phone. All of my sprint phones except 1 got great reception.
Also, the iphone was expensive when it came out, and to say that it would be a better deal when i would have to pay 20$(with my discount more like 30$) a month MORE for the same service is kind of retarded. .02
@thomson Sprint’s insurance is not a positive anymore as smart phones now have a 100$ insurance fee charge.
Dude John man diffrence of opinion bro, why don’t you stop being a apple fan boy for ten men dude, and if you use a Iphone you now that AT&T has the worst 3g bands do you now how many drop calls it has, and dude you a writer can you try not to be bias. One question if I may if Verizon and AT&T are trying to get the phone don’t you think that their somwthing special about it?
AT&T is the deal breaker for me and the Iphone.
First off, I do not get AT&T service in my apartment here in Manhattan. I also know at least 3 people who complain about having to sit near the window to make and receive calls, not to mention other dropped calls. How this even exists in 2009 is beyond me considering I haven’t had a service problem with Verizon in 5 years (I even get service underground on the train sometimes).
Second I’m not paying $15/mo just for a reasonable (not unlimited) number of texts.
I’ve always found Verizon’s customer service to be damn near awful. I’ve done month trials with Sprint and they were just fine, though I wasn’t locked in to the contract so who knows if that was the norm.
Lastly, after having a Touch for months now, I’m just plain bored with the interface. I’m hoping the Pre has more to offer in terms of productivity and usefulness. I’m not impressed that the TOP downloads in the app store are nearly ALL games or things gimmicky crap.
Are you employed by the Apple Corporation or are you just their shill??????????????????????
Wow this brought out the productive posts.
@NYSomeone
FWIW — my iPhone plan is 450 minutes + unlimited data also for 69.99/mo. Do ur research
Yes and no text messaging.
Sprint is 450/unlimited data/unlimited navigation/unlimited text messages/etc
Do your research.
Don’t forget the unlimited Sprint TV and radio!
My new Pre and Sprint saved us from our screaming 1 year old on the way home thanks to a nice episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney channel.
We’re starting to see some real hands on reviews come out for the Pre from outlets such as USA Today, CNET, and New York Times writer David Pogue. Overall, they tend to be amazingly positive reviews, especially after you read an article like this. I know you can’t believe everything you read, but I think I’m going to go with the big dogs who have a bit more at stake when it comes to their reputation. Sure, they also pointed out imperfections, but then I don’t think any smart phone will ever be perfect. Overall, these reviews confirm the Pre will be what I had hoped and I can’t wait to get mine in about 2 days!!!
“Please, lord Jeebus, prove me wrong.” I have a strong feeling he’s going to get his wish.