[jmodell]

Good afternoon,

I purchased a Palm Pre at launch, and decided to stick it out for the 30 days to see if it any of the problems (battery life, poor app selection, general slowness) would be fixed with early firmware updates. Today is 29 days, and I will be heading to my local Sprint store to return it...

From what I gather, I will *not* have to pay the activation fee/early termination fee - but I will have to pay $35 for a re-stocking fee (unless I can talk my way out of that?).

1) I do not have a spare CDMA phone to use while I wait for the Tour to come out on the 12th... but I would very much prefer to keep my # (I've had it for 8 years...). Would I be forced to buy a new phone to use for the next week or so, and then return that when the Tour comes out... do they have "loaners" (wishful thinking)?

2) Should I go with Verizon at this point, since I don't need to pay the early termination fee; I should be free to go with either...

(Long Island, NY / NYC, NY)

Thanks for any help.

[Misterb]

Good afternoon,

I purchased a Palm Pre at launch, and decided to stick it out for the 30 days to see if it any of the problems (battery life, poor app selection, general slowness) would be fixed with early firmware updates. Today is 29 days, and I will be heading to my local Sprint store to return it...

From what I gather, I will *not* have to pay the activation fee/early termination fee - but I will have to pay $35 for a re-stocking fee (unless I can talk my way out of that?).

1) I do not have a spare CDMA phone to use while I wait for the Tour to come out on the 12th... but I would very much prefer to keep my # (I've had it for 8 years...). Would I be forced to buy a new phone to use for the next week or so, and then return that when the Tour comes out... do they have "loaners" (wishful thinking)?

2) Should I go with Verizon at this point, since I don't need to pay the early termination fee; I should be free to go with either...

(Long Island, NY / NYC, NY)

Thanks for any help.

You're just going to pay more with Verizon, but will likely not see too much difference. I know fanboys paying more will disagree with this, but that's reality.

Try to see if you can buy an inexpensive flip phone or something like that to tide you over until you can buy the Tour. They may have one lying around at the store, or they may be able to sell you a very inexpensive one to get you by. Just don't waste any kind of upgrade pricing on it. Pay full price for it.

[jmodell]

Update:

I went to my local sprint store and as soon as I mentioned I was returning my pre they became totally useless... Which was very weird, considering I said I liked the network and was willing to stay with Sprint as long as they could do something to help me so I don't go without a phone for the next month.

Next door was a Verizon store. Needless to say, they were extremely helpful to my situation.

They gave me a Storm and all I need to do is come in when the Tour gets in and do a quick exchange and pay the difference.

I did notice the prices were quite a bit higher for their everything plan so I cut it down to the lowest minute plan since I make very few calls if I can help it. $99 for unlimited everything on Sprint and the BB plan on Verizon was $99 - 10% for my corp discount for 450 minutes / unlimited everything else.

Overall, I'll be quite happy if they hold up their end and the exchange is as simple as can be. /hope.

[Slingbox]

Update:

I went to my local sprint store and as soon as I mentioned I was returning my pre they became totally useless... Which was very weird, considering I said I liked the network and was willing to stay with Sprint as long as they could do something to help me so I don't go without a phone for the next month.

Next door was a Verizon store. Needless to say, they were extremely helpful to my situation.

They gave me a Storm and all I need to do is come in when the Tour gets in and do a quick exchange and pay the difference.

I did notice the prices were quite a bit higher for their everything plan so I cut it down to the lowest minute plan since I make very few calls if I can help it. $99 for unlimited everything on Sprint and the BB plan on Verizon was $99 - 10% for my corp discount for 450 minutes / unlimited everything else.

Overall, I'll be quite happy if they hold up their end and the exchange is as simple as can be. /hope.

Some of Sprints stores are absolutely pathetic.!
My local Sprint store now has customer survey ticket rep asks you to fill out right after their done helping you.If rep gets 2 unsatisfactory service ticket they will be looking for new job.
You should of walked back into Sprint store with new Storm thanking them for their business and called Sprint giving them Store number that tossed you.

[ChandlerAdaway]

Congrats on the switch!
You'll learn to love it if you haven't already.

I know the customer service was such a VAAASST change when I switched and it was like a breath of fresh air. I'll never look back.

[Jodiuh]

I went bowling yesterday with my bro. He's got a Storm and I have a Pre. He had full bars of EVDO the entire time. My Pre went from full EVDO to 1x to roaming while killing over 50% of my battery within an hour.

He could browse the net with full speed at anytime. I got warnings because of no connection with the network. As much as I love the Pre, its cramped keyboard gives my fingers pain. And I do miss talking to humans as all I get on Sprint are robots. :-)

If we had a 3.5" landscape slider with the build/speaker quality of a blackberry Tour running webOS on Verizon AND wifi...I'd be thrilled. Unfortunately we do not. So at this point I'm inclined to go with the OP's decision and pick up a Tour next week.

[Jodiuh]

Today is 29 days, and I will be heading to my local Sprint store to return it...

Yahharr! I just returned mine today as well. No sense in keeping a phone that doesn't work as a phone! I suppose a lot of it can be blamed on Sprint's network, but that 1100MAH battery surely doesn't help much either. I was charging the Pre 2-3x per day.

[SprintDaddy]

I went bowling yesterday with my bro. He's got a Storm and I have a Pre. He had full bars of EVDO the entire time. My Pre went from full EVDO to 1x to roaming while killing over 50% of my battery within an hour.

That is more due to the phone and not the network. The Pre has some reception issues right now and that will also kill the battery pretty quick.

[cle0950]

I also just returned my Pre earlier today. The reason is because the device just feels cheap and I haven't been able to get the EAS working and Palm is well aware of the problem. I just can't wait anymore. The device looks nice but is so buggy. I am going to be getting a Sprint Tour next Sunday but for now I purchased a Blackberry World Edition on craigslist to bridge the one week gap. I will still be able to purchase the Tour at the new customer price next Sunday. This World Edition is actually a great phone and I like using it more than the Pre. I am sure the Tour will be that much better.

Once I get the Tour I will just resell the World Edition for the same price I paid.

CLE

[Jodiuh]

Yeah, I'm also in PHX and unwilling to take the chance. As much as I'd love to give the iPhone or G1 a shot, leaving VZW freaks me out. I'll probably end up w/ a Tour on Verizon.

[radioguinea]

Good afternoon,

I purchased a Palm Pre at launch, and decided to stick it out for the 30 days to see if it any of the problems (battery life, poor app selection, general slowness) would be fixed with early firmware updates. Today is 29 days, and I will be heading to my local Sprint store to return it...

From what I gather, I will *not* have to pay the activation fee/early termination fee - but I will have to pay $35 for a re-stocking fee (unless I can talk my way out of that?).

1) I do not have a spare CDMA phone to use while I wait for the Tour to come out on the 12th... but I would very much prefer to keep my # (I've had it for 8 years...). Would I be forced to buy a new phone to use for the next week or so, and then return that when the Tour comes out... do they have "loaners" (wishful thinking)?

2) Should I go with Verizon at this point, since I don't need to pay the early termination fee; I should be free to go with either...

(Long Island, NY / NYC, NY)

Thanks for any help.

I live on Long Island, and work in NYC myself. I can tell you this. VZ has the best coverage around here IMO, followed by ATT which is a very close second. Sprint will roam on occasion in the area (now I havent tested out Sprint in a while, but it used to be like that).

Hope that helps OP!

[henrokk]

sorry for jackin the thread but since its about comparing the pre and tour I figure this would be the best place.
I really just want to know how the tour's camera will compare with the pre's camera. I was really impressed with the camera on the pre and I've been reading that the tour's camera has some pretty bad shutter lag. But maybe the superior picture quality(3.2mp > 3.0mp?) will make up for this.
Anyone have any experience using the camera on the tour and know how it compares to the pre's camera?

[venomgirl]

I say go with whoever will cater to YOU more...people say you pay for what you get...Verizon does cost more than Sprint, but I'd see who would do more for numero uno...opinions are like noses...eVeryone has one

[Lynx]

Go with Verizon, ive had both and Sprint was awful. I was having this conversation with a buddy of mine who has sprint. We were out in cleveland, and he was all "oh vzw sucks, and blah blah blah." I said what I had to and let it go. The next day we were playing in a golf out, We had 1 Verizon phone (myself), 2 Sprint phones, and 1 ATT phone. My buddy went to call his pregnant wife, and had no reception, he asked if anybody else did, and I was the only one who had reception. Not only that I was 4 bars full. Ive followed all the Consumer Reports (who have vzw as the top rated) and JD Power (who also have VZW as top rated), but this was my first actual hands on comparison. In another note I love how the Slingbox thinks that because Sprint was tied with verizon in one of what 6 regions, it makes them the best. Ahhh fanboyism at its finest.

[kurpaige]

I'm so happy I don't live where all of you the hate sprint live. I'm in Newport News, Va, almost everyone I know wiht Sprint are happy. People that left big V are happy to be saving money and drop 2 call compared to 1 (why do Verizon people lie and say that don't drop calls? Verizon say FEWER dropped calls not NO, there's not a carrier out that don't drop calls). I travel and have NEVER been anywhere that Sprint didn't have coverage and yes I've been to small cities. I'll say this, when I couldn't make a call, no one else could else, iphone people was the worst. One place I can name by name, Abilene TX, I was on the phone, my co-worker with verizon was waiting until we got off the AF base to get a signal. Verizon I think has been proven to be the best, but you don't have to say Sprint is bad to prove it. Sprint is no where near as bad as all of these people talk about it like you are not save unless you're on Verizon. Oh and I golfed on almost every base in the US and Sprint worked on all of them and its even my GPS for green distance.

[0xcb]

I switched from Sprint to Verizon 8 years back, primarily because of poor coverage. But the results recently posted by independent reviewers really got me surprised. The only unresolved issue for me is coverage, especially, because I plan to use the GPS on my phone for my trips. If Sprint coverage is similar to that of Verizon, I will go for a 30 day Tour trial on Sprint. I am happy with Verizon, but I am thinking of Sprint because it is cheaper.

[sprke81]

So we have maps showing Sprint with way less snow
PC world test showing sprint to have more reliable coverage
Gizz testing giving edge to Sprint with data being faster.

Come on V excuse fanboys lets have at it

I'd love to jump in and point out a few things about the maps you posted and a few other things but its really off topic and doesn't concern the 9630 forum so I'm going to refrain unless it comes up in a appropriate thread on topic.

I'm not a VZ fanboy, I've been very critical of VZ but I think your a little off on some of your above comments.

[r0k]

I have a VZW BB 8830. I'm considering the Tour. I thought about the Pre, but in SE Michigan, Sprint is not as reliable as VZW. I will often be in the room with my Sprint and Virgin Mobile (Sprint reseller) friends and I get a signal and they do not. This happens more often in buildings and outside of metro areas but it is enough to bother me. Around here VZW is #1, Att is a distant second and Sprint is an even more distant third. Tmo and Nextel aren't worth mentioning, and yes I've had Tmo and Nextel.

If Sprint and Att continue to build out their networks around here the playing field could become more level but for now I'm sticking with VZW. This means I might pick up a Tour this month, or I might consider a Pre when it comes to VZW in 2010. I'm impressed that the battery life spec for the Tour is even better than my already excellent 8830. I'd have to read about Palm doing some updates to extend Pre battery life before it could become a contender in my mind. Oh, and of course it would have to be available on VZW.

[Jodiuh]

the pre's camera?

...does not have auto focus. This may seem minor, but when taking macro photos w/ the Pre, all I got was blur. The Storm and I'm assuming Tour have auto focus and at least the Storm can take excellent close up pics of txt. This is important to me because from time to time, I need to snag a pic of pages of txt.

why do Verizon people lie and say that don't drop calls?

Because they don't? Honestly, I can't think of a time a call's gone awry in months. That's enough for "doesn't drop calls" to me. But if you need a stat...hmm...1-4 per year. I had 1 call dropped, 1 not go through, and another missing VM in 3 days w/ Sprint.

Pre battery life

3x per day, for 3 days. That's all I'm saying.

[pkcable]

Folks,

First off WB & Sling TAKE IT TO PM! Sorry to shout but you guys were getting VERY annoying, and totally off topic. I had to delete 34 posts as either off topic, or bordering on personal attacks. Certainly many posts while not quite full on attacks were VERY argumentative, and that includes more than just WB & Sling! Anyways a reminder from our Posting Rules & Guidelines......

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We now return you to your regularly schedule thread already in progress!

[Jodiuh]

Haha, these things don't bother me. My mouse wheel picks up on that crap and just scrolls right by.

So I went by the local VZW today, no Tour dummy. I might call a few more tomorrow. That keyboard needs to be touched!