Palm Pre

[erwos]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: jmmtn4aj
This phone really appeals to the geek side of me

When I saw the demo/specs, I was thinking "hey, it's a geeky iphone." I love it. I don't love the price speculation of $400, and the fact it's on sprint. Tho, on verizon, I'd be then tied to a $50/mo data plan i refuse to pay for, so i wouldn't be able to get the phone anywya.

The only really bad part of Sprint is the customer service, and that's improved somewhat over the past couple years. Pricing and plans, especially when it comes to data, are really quite competitive. I would really not let Sprint dissuade you...

 

[gorcorps]

Man, the Palms always have such tiny buttons.

 

[blackangst1]

Looks pretty nice although Im not sure I would like not having a keyboard in landscape mode.

 

[boomhower]

Looks good but the $400 price tag kills it for me, I'll stick with my diamond for now. I think they are going to have a hard time getting the sales they want at they price tag. I certainly seems competitive with the others flagships phone(iphone, storm, and G1) but worth double? Granted the monthly bill will likely be a little less so it may even out over the course of the contract but most people do not look at it from that side. What they need to do is take it on the chin and price it at $200, at least for new or returning customers so both Palm and Sprint can rebuild their images and get some revenue coming in even if its not what they think its worth. Then when the names are re-establed they can try a gouge double the price of the competition.

I am still hoping for a HTC HD'ish phone this summer.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: boomhower
Looks good but the $400 price tag kills it for me, I'll stick with my diamond for now.

No one's announced pricing. Some Russian guy just posted some rumors.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

It does look nice, but without handling one I'd be hard-pressed to say it looks better than the iPhone. I really prefer the iPhone form factor - thinness is more important to me than width/length. I have to believe this will be less evolved as a media player, and obviously transitioning one's media from iTunes would be a major PIA for most people who use iPhones and/or iPods. Perhaps most critically, it's hard to see how Palm would ever be able to build something like the App Store from scratch, and to me third-party apps are one of the most magical things about the iPhone.

I guess the upshot is that for a professional user who send a lot of e-mails, the Pre might be the better machine due to its physical keyboard, and I concede it's probably superior in some ways from a hardware perspective (those animations look very smooth), but I can't imagine many iPhone users jumping through hoops to switch.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Don Vito Corleone
It does look nice, but without handling one I'd be hard-pressed to say it looks better than the iPhone. I really prefer the iPhone form factor - thinness is more important to me than width/length. I have to believe this will be less evolved as a media player, and obviously transitioning one's media from iTunes would be a major PIA for most people who use iPhones and/or iPods.

The Pre plays AAC files, and now that Apple is going DRM-less, I would actually argue that this is less of a problem than it used to be. Say what you will about it, but WMP is actually not a terrible solution for synchronizing music to a player - and it _should_ live in co-existence with iTunes with very little problem, from what I recall of iTunes.

Perhaps most critically, it's hard to see how Palm would ever be able to build something like the App Store from scratch, and to me third-party apps are one of the most magical things about the iPhone.

IMHO, people tend to forget how quickly the huge number of apps for the iPhone got put together, or how fast an ecosystem for Android appeared. If I don't miss my guess, we'll see a _lot_ of iPhone apps ported to the Pre - the similar interface and architecture should make this a reasonable proposition. I would even go so far as to say that people will be writing compatibility libraries to speed up the process sooner than later.

I guess the upshot is that for a professional user who send a lot of e-mails, the Pre might be the better machine due to its physical keyboard, and I concede it's probably superior in some ways from a hardware perspective (those animations look very smooth), but I can't imagine many iPhone users jumping through hoops to switch.

I don't think the objective is to get iPhone users to switch, at least right away. Rather, it's to appeal to a class of user who thinks the iPhone is inadequate for them, for whatever reason. For me, it was the lack of a hardware keyboard.

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
This is the first real iPhone competitor I would be willing to strongly consider. Well done!

My head asploded after reading the first "hands on previews".
Tried to compute the following: iphone competitor=palm.
Error, error...error.

Hopefully it will hit VZW by year's end.

 

[shortylickens]

Just saw some videos and other previews yesterday.
It should be noted:
I hate Palms.
I hate PDA phones.
I despise the iPhone and all wannabes.

But you know what? I am pretty darn impressed by this thing.
Looks like Palm decided to go revolutionary instead of evolutionary. I was tired of watching them tweak their old OS for years on end.
This new device looks not only useful, but slick as well.

Assuming it syncs flawlessly with Outlook 2007 I will seriously consider getting it.

Also, I'm glad somebody is finally using magnetic charging. Thats something we should have seen standard with cell phones a long time ago.
I have an OLD electric toothbrush and it uses magnetic charging.

 

[Chunkee]

Anyone know if it has the voice dialing? My Centro does not..DOH!..I love my Centro, but would like to upgrade. But..must have Voice Command dialing...the Rant had voice command on anything...pretty much..would love that.

 

[TheWart]

Originally posted by: Chunkee
Anyone know if it has the voice dialing? My Centro does not..DOH!..I love my Centro, but would like to upgrade. But..must have Voice Command dialing...the Rant had voice command on anything...pretty much..would love that.

I read on Engadget that it does not, but I wouldn't count anything out until it is released.

 

[monk3yboy]

Thank god for my Advantage plan pricing on Sprint. As long as the price is around 200 consider me sold. My Touch is VERY dated... $20 bucks a month here I continue.

 

[tatteredpotato]

An interesting article on engadget about iPhone vs Palm Pre patent infringement: http://www.engadget.com/2009/0...the-in-depth-analysis/

 

[pm]

That's a great article, Obscure. The discussion on Palm's patents was very interesting - the whole article is very well written.

Thanks for posting it.