The Sprint Palm Pre

[zio]

I've been with Sprint for a little over six years now, and don't have many complaints about their service. Yeah, every service drops calls no matter what, so that doesn't really mean much to me. Plus, I hate talking on the phone so I rarely use it to talk anyways unless it's my family or girlfriend. I have the Samsung Instinct and have had it for a little over a year, and man what a bad investment that was. This piece of shit sucks. I want it dead.

Speaking of which, I've seen how the Palm Pre was introduced in the summer and never paid much attention to it since I wanted a BlackBerry as my next phone. But looking over some of the Palm Pre's features, this thing is Sprint's version of the iPhone, and it's not too far off. Sure, it doesn't have hundreds of thousands of applications, but it has enough efficient apps that you can use on a consistent basis instead of going on a spending spree buying apps for everything and never using them. They just lowered the price to $100, with a new two-year plan which I'm definitely considering. It's my birthday on the 7th, so I can almost guarantee I should have this by then by someone who buys it for me.

This is from amazon, not my fat hand:

Seems like it eventually will get more apps and really give the iPhone at least a little competition. It also helps that some people designing this stuff for Sprint are former Apple employees. It can view and copy powerpoints, spreadsheets, sync your contacts with Facebook, email, etc. The battery is really bad, so I'll have to change it every 12 or so hours probably, but I'm doing the same thing with my Instinct and it's not that hard to get used to.

Does anyone here have Sprint? If so, what's your phone? I definitely think a Palm Pre is a great investment right now. The Instinct will soon be extinct (lol!) because I've never been more dissatisfied with a cell phone than I am with this garbage. Palm Pre FTW?


Sprint Palm Pre Webinar - Pre Demo

 

[Vitamin X]

I have a Pre and I love it, as I mentioned in the other thread. Totally kills the iPhone in performance and ability, not to mention price. It just doesn't have as many apps yet.

 

[Sabre]

Ive been looking at this for my upgrade, i can get a Iphone for £45 pm. But due to it not being released here yet ive no idea what the pricing will be.

 

[zio]

Just found out the $99 Pre with a new two-year service plan is only for new customers that they're trying to get from other carriers. Existing customers have to pay full price if they're not eligible for an upgrade. Fuck.

 

[ZGangsta]

Just found out the $99 Pre with a new two-year service plan is only for new customers that they're trying to get from other carriers. Existing customers have to pay full price if they're not eligible for an upgrade. Fuck.

Yeah I hate it when phone companies do that. I have heard of people calling customer service and complaining enough that they give you whatever special deal they're offering. Might be worth a shot.

And the Pre kicks the shit out of the iPhone.

 

[zio]

I hate being "that customer" because I feel like a little homosexual crying about shit that doesn't go my way. I really want and need that phone, though. For what I do day after day, this phone would make it 1000x easier. The Instinct I have now is horseshit.

 

[Loaded Glove]

Is the battery really that bad? I currently have a Palm Centro and I was thinking about getting the Pre. I love the battery on my Centro though, I can go more than a day without having to recharge.

 

[Vitamin X]

I had a Centro before this and it wasn't terrible, but the Pre is just so, so, so much better, especially if you use a lot of Google Apps like Gmail and Calendar. The battery life is a bit worse than the Centro's, but I find it makes a big difference whether you have wifi turned on or not. I usually keep it off unless I need to connect to the net and can make it last over a day.

 

[zio]

Now I can get the phone with a new plan on Amazon for $99, it will just take 1-2 months to get here.

 

[NoCalMike]

I have had Sprint from day one, have heard all sorts of horror stories about their customer service, but me personally have never had a single problem with them and to me their actual phone performance/signal strength has been the best around.

I currently just have the LG Rumor which is great a heavy texter like myself, which is my last stop before making the "smart phone" plunge and I have been looking into a Palm Pre. My only concern is the keyboard seems kinda scrunched compared to what I use now.

Let me know if you get it, how you like it. It seems like everyone who has one is really digging it.

 

[Mik]

Only $80 now at Walmart. The phone has not been selling up to expectations and the price is probably going to keep dropping. Be patient.

 

[Vitamin X]

I've heard that there's no word on how well the phone has sold or not, but Palm's also coming out with another webOS phone called the Pixi:

It's kind of Centro-like, and it's the "budget" phone like the Centro was to the Treo. No slide-out keyboard, no wifi, very limited in storage, but it's still got a lot of the cool features the Pre has, including the touchscreen.

And no way the phone is only $80 at Walmart. In fact Walmart's own website has it priced at $200 with contract. I think what Mik was talking about was actually this "sale"

which expired this past Monday. I wouldn't suggest buying the phone anywhere but the Sprint store. Although the Pre is coming to Verizon in January.

Also, for a really awesome Pre-focused site, check out precentral.net. I've been following it for a while now and have their articles on my RSS feed reader. They've also got a really cool homebrew app community, and setting it up on the Pre to get the apps people are making is not difficult at all.

 

[J]

Read something about Palm saying they sold 810,000 units, but that counts the ones they sold to retailers as well. Either way, not bad.

 

[Vitamin X]

It's also the #1 selling smartphone on Amazon, with an "in-stock" date of October 9th, so that probably means that it's selling really damn well, at least online. It's also only $100 with contract there.

 

[Mik]

http://gizmodo.com/5371309/is-the-palm-pre-tanking

 

[Vitamin X]

Thanks for linking to a rumor. Verizon did, however, confirm the Pre coming in January (with an updated one, no less( so that bunks one of the theories behind that article on giz.

Also, Sprint being the #3 or 4 carrier in the country probably isn't helping those numbers blow up more. AT&T already had a huge customer base when the iPhone came out (definitely the largest network) and that had to help with the initial sales quite a bit (not to mention the whole Cult of Apple thing).

 

[zio]

Bummer, I will have to terminate my current plan if I buy from Amazon with a new 2-year plan. That all but confirms I'd have to buy it directly from a Sprint store for the cheapest price. Sonofabitch.

 

[Vitamin X]

Well that Amazon deal is pretty sweet if you don't mind waiting a week or so.

 

[zio]

If I did that, it would ship within 4-6 weeks. I probably wouldn't get it until next month. Plus, a termination fee would all but confirm to get the Amazon deal would be more expensive for me than to get it from a Sprint store.

 

[NoCalMike]

So I'm looking to upgrade through Sprint in January since I can save $150 on whatever I choose to upgrade to.

I am leaning towards the Palm Pre, but have also heard good things about the Google Android.

I know a guy at work that went from the Android to the Iphone and I asked him why but he never really gave me a solid answer, and it seems he went with the Iphone just because it is known as the best phone right now.

So anyone have a good breakdown of differences/pros.cons of the Palm Pre vs. Android phones?

 

[Vitamin X]

What "Google Android"? You mean the Motorola Droid? Android 2.0 is the name of the operating system on the phone, which is made by Google, so you can understand if I'm a little confused. There are quite a few Google Android phones out there, but only the Droid and a couple others get the latest version which is a vast improvement over the first one.

In terms of phones, I think the Droid is better than the Pre. It has a really nice, slick, professional looking (and feeling) case and the screen is larger and gorgeous. It's also fully integrated with everything Google and the built-in GPS navigation on it uses Google Maps and is very, very nice. Here's a great review of the Droid that'll tell you everything you need to know. My one problem with the Droid is that it's on Verizon. I have nothing against Verizon's service or the company itself- in fact, I've heard nothing but good things about both. However, the one thing that sticks in my craw about them is the pricing on their plans, which is absolutely ridiculous. The price of the phone gets subsidized by locking you into a 2 year contract which then costs an arm and a leg monthly for that time.

Put it this way- I have the Pre and as I've mentioned up above, I'm very happy with it. I feel a little outmoded and outclassed by the Droid but I'm happy because Sprint offers me equally excellent reception, coverage, and perhaps most importantly in this age of smartphones, the best 3G/4G speeds for when I don't have a wifi signal. I pay $69.99/month (actually less because of my employer+student discount) for 450 anytime minutes, night and weekend minutes starting at 7pm, unlimited texting and unlimited data. I rarely even come close to using all of the 450 minutes since I'm usually busy between 8am-7pm anyways. Verizon charges nearly double for the exact same plan (I believe 110-120 last I checked which was recently) so that's the main reason I can't go with them.

The iPhone is really the worst of the three phones in terms of hardware (minus the new iPhone's 3GS' 32GB capacity and 3d gaming engine) and operating system, not to mention the costliest as well, especially when you take AT&T's data contracts into account. The only thing the iPhone really has is a very large library of apps, which many companies are on board with and is useful, but that can all change as soon as they start developing the same apps for webOS (that's the Pre's OS) and Android, both of which are very easy to develop for.

 

[J]

Maybe it's different per region, but we're on a family plan w/ 2 BlackBerry's and 2 Omnia's, and pay 280 a month with full data, unlimited texts, and 2100 anytime minutes.

Granted, we get a 20% discount on something through my father's job, but that 20% certainly wouldn't make up almost half the difference.

 

[NoCalMike]

Well currently I have Sprint and I pay $116 for me and my wife's phone and we have basically unlimited texts/internet/data. 750 anytime mins and unlimited nights/weekends starting at 7pm. My wife gets a 13% discount through her work. Now we just have LG Rumors right now which aren't smart phones, so I am not sure if the rates would go up if we got Pres, because I know sometimes the packages with smartphones are different but we did take a brochure that seemed to suggest $120 would get us everything we wanted including 1500 anytime minutes, and that is before the employee discount is factored in. We'll see.


Oh and Vitamin X. I did a little research, maybe the phone the Sprint clerk was showing me was an HTC Hero which runs Android 1.0 and which Gizmodo says is the best Android phone not running Android 2.0. However it still lists the Palm Pre as the best smartphone for sprint.

 

[Vitamin X]

Nope, the rates don't go up with smartphones. Ill is paying a ridiculous amount of money, but I guess it shakes out if you have four fuckin' phones. Man, no wonder I'm lettin ya take care of the hosting costs!

Anyways, Sprint still rocks as the most affordable option. 116 sounds about right for two phones, I remember paying around that much myself when my girlfriend was on my plan (I told her to get a phone and pay for it since and she's with T-Mobile now, totally hates it). The Hero is a pretty awesome phone, but it still runs the old Android version. I like the Palm Pre although someone else I know with the Pre made a pretty good observation in that it doesn't feel like the phone is built for the long haul and I'm starting to agree with that. Like I said, I've had the phone since around June or early July and while it's far from coming apart, the polish on the front button has definitely worn off and has actually scratched off partially and there's some scratches and junk all over it now that definitely make it look worn. The phone itself hasn't suffered in performance, though. I would recommend it if you're sticking with Sprint.

 

[zio]

I believe I am going to get one for Christmas. EXCITED I AM

 

[NoCalMike]

Nope, the rates don't go up with smartphones. Ill is paying a ridiculous amount of money, but I guess it shakes out if you have four fuckin' phones. Man, no wonder I'm lettin ya take care of the hosting costs!

Anyways, Sprint still rocks as the most affordable option. 116 sounds about right for two phones, I remember paying around that much myself when my girlfriend was on my plan (I told her to get a phone and pay for it since and she's with T-Mobile now, totally hates it). The Hero is a pretty awesome phone, but it still runs the old Android version. I like the Palm Pre although someone else I know with the Pre made a pretty good observation in that it doesn't feel like the phone is built for the long haul and I'm starting to agree with that. Like I said, I've had the phone since around June or early July and while it's far from coming apart, the polish on the front BUTTon has definitely worn off and has actually scratched off partially and there's some scratches and junk all over it now that definitely make it look worn. The phone itself hasn't suffered in performance, though. I would recommend it if you're sticking with Sprint.

Yeah I really have no reason to leave Sprint. Maybe if the Iphone was with a different carrier other than AT&T, but I want no part of their service and/or network. Plus the employee discount is cool.

Is the Pre going to become a flagship phone for Palm/Sprint? Like they will make newer and better Pres in the future, or do you thinK Palm will just trot out an entire new phone next?

 

[Vitamin X]

The iPhone is really not a terribly great phone; see my rant above.

The Pre is Palm's last chance at keeping their grasp on the smartphone market. They were already losing ground when RIM's Blackberry and all its iterations started becoming madly popular a few years back and then when the iPhone came out and Palm still had its archaic system on the Treos, everyone was jumping ship to Blackberry, iPhone, or even to Windows Mobile phones. Palm put all of their R&D on webOS as well as the Pre and put their company's hopes and dreams on it. Even now though, the phone hasn't sold to expectations (namely because the marketing campaign was absolutely terrible, with that creepy half-naked chick and all) so they might still end up getting sold to a bigger fish, but it's the best thing that Sprint's got and pretty much all the in-show marketing they're doing on TV has people using Pres and such. I don't doubt Palm will try to trot out a new phone in the future to at least match Apple's storage capacity on the 3GS (which has 32GB, way more than any other phone out there right now) but right now they're doing a lot of strong work with just simple OS upgrades and stuff. No new phone necessary.

 

[NoCalMike]

So I no have a Palm Pre. I am digging it. A couple of questions though.

Since text messaging appears in a conversation format, once you close the session and/or the entire tablet, are the msgs erased? Or do you still have to erase them from a different spot later? This is my first phone where it doesn't use the traditional format with a Inbox/Sent/Outbox/ format.

Also, for activating an IM account. When I go to activate it only lists Google talk and AIM as the options, yet on the help video, Yahoo msger is an option. How do I get yahoo msger to get in there as an option to activate?

 

[zio]

I forgot about this thread..... I got my Palm Pre for Christmas. Only thing I don't like is no good sports apps.

 

[J]

I'm looking at maybe swapping my Storm out for the Pre Plus which just came out on Verizon. It looks like a sick, sick phone. Twice the RAM of the Palm Pre, on top of some other changes.

Have I mentioned that I love the cell phone industry? Cuz, man.