Well .... Finally tried it !!

[ivor.berry]

Pre finally went on show in uk last week and after reading about it for months got a chance to play with it for a while. Now I am an original Palm pilot nut and was pleased to see Palm forcing themselves back in the game, but after trying 'in the flesh' I am amazed that so many bb owners seemb anxious to switch. I have a bold and first and most important point of phone to me is the keyboard and there is no comparison at all , not even close. The Pre generally has a cheap plastic feel relative to the Bold and the Pre keyboard felt very small and slow to key with my big fingers. I know I was only trying for few mins but when I first tried Bold I knew it was brilliant after 1 minute. Second I did not find the phone remotely intuitive, where the Bold in comparison felt like a comfortable pair of old slippers very very quickly. So Palm, nice try to grab some market share, lots off opportunity to improve, but don't think RIM should be losing any sleep yet.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[whitehorse84]

I have no real idea either as to why people would want to go to the Pre.

I went from a blackberry curve to a Pre and back to a blackberry after 4 months of use with the Pre.

I couldn't handle the limited battery life (6 hours is all I got if i was lucky, with minimal use), I had to have my pre replaced on a monthly basis (first I lost the top on/off button, it just stopped working, 2nd my headphone jack went AWOL, 3rd my pre keyboard stopped working).

The phone is fun, but that's it.. my productivity with the blackberry is leaps and BOUNDS that of the Pre.

[papped]

Just switched from the Tour to the Pre.

The battery life is crap, everyone knows it. So either find a way to deal with it (chargers, extra batteries, extended batteries) or look elsewhere.

So far the phone is quite nice to use though. Multitasking is the best I've seen so far and the keyboard is better than I expected.

The sms/IM chat integration is very nice.

[seven30]

Originally Posted by papped

Just switched from the Tour to the Pre.

The battery life is crap, everyone knows it. So either find a way to deal with it (chargers, extra batteries, extended batteries) or look elsewhere.

So far the phone is quite nice to use though. Multitasking is the best I've seen so far and the keyboard is better than I expected.

The sms/IM chat integration is very nice.

What was your reason for switching and why did you choose the Pre over an Android phone? Curious because I'm considering it as well. I just got the Moment (previous phone was a Curve), but I'm having problems with it so it's going back tomorrow. I'm undecided as to whether or not I should get the Pre or Hero....or maybe just go back to a BB and get the Tour.

[papped]

Originally Posted by seven30

What was your reason for switching and why did you choose the Pre over an Android phone? Curious because I'm considering it as well. I just got the Moment (previous phone was a Curve), but I'm having problems with it so it's going back tomorrow. I'm undecided as to whether or not I should get the Pre or Hero....or maybe just go back to a BB and get the Tour.

I tried the 3 major phones in the store (obviously not a long term test, but I can't do that without owning all 3).

1) Hero
-better looking hardware than the Pre or Moment. I like this better than the Moment in general, mostly because of the shortcomings of the Moment. In general I like the Pre responsiveness and UI a bit better than the android phones.
-Not the best trackball. I had a hard time telling if it was rolling or not based on feel alone.
-The screen seems larger on the Hero than the Moment. I'm not sure if it actually is, might just be an optical illusion due to the border styles (I haven't looked at the dimension specs for both yet).
-No keyboard. Big no no for me personally.

2) Moment
-Don't like the keyboard at all. The offset a,z,x,c keys thanks to the function button is annoying. The spacebar is too small so that if you press the spacebar where you think it should be with you right thumb you actually hit b... I had a ton of typos in general, a ton of keys ended up not being where I thought they were.
-Don't personally like the trackpad and don't find it terribly useful. Seems too small imo...
-Hero hardware looks better imo.

Since I hate the keyboard and the Hero looks better, Hero wins out clearly for me.

3) Pre
-The keyboard is actually what won me over. It's usable without a lot of errors for me. The Moment keyboard simply was not and I hate phones with only virtual keyboards...
-Smaller than the hero and Moment obviously.
-Even though the screen is small, viewing and UI selection is not an issue because the OS works very well on the screen.
-The card multitasking is fantastic, I like it better than the android UI. Android UI reminds me very much of windows mobile using SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 (for those who have).


All in all I'm very happy with the switch so far. The phone works amazing for whatever you want to do and multitasks better than any phone I've seen to date. Much to my surprise the smaller size doesn't really bother me. The screen is great and I can see and select everything very easily.

The largest con is battery life... Battery life is terrible. So either you have to invest in chargers (Touchstone charger, or get multiple usb chargers, car chargers), an extra battery, or an extended battery (1400mah oem sized, 2800mah, or 3800mah).

[papped]

I switched from the Tour for a couple reasons:
-RIM is in a transition period right now, with all the crap they announced at DC. In addition, they are working hard to play catch up. That's why everything is a mess lately, the opengl support (lack of) clarification, more build quality issues than normal, etc. I think things will be better later on (later next year) once all the dust settles. It's kind of a mess right now...

-Tour quality issues. For the most part my Tour worked, but I was getting hints here and there that it might not be that solid.
-The trackball is too recessed and the design is not as good as the Bold or Curve. I got the trackball jammed from scrolling one direction in 2 weeks after ownership and babying it... Normally it takes way longer than that on other BBs.
-On dark backgrounds (like in appworld) I could see waves from the screen refresh rate.
-4.7.1 is terrible. If I had to use the stock OS I would get rid of the phone anyways most likely. Upgrading to OS5 fixes that though, which I did.
-As much as everyone loves to bash on how Wifi isn't useful, I spend most of my day in places with weak signal. The phone is slow to browse/stream as a result and this murders the battery life. On my Pre or even my Bold, wifi is a lifesaver, both for battery life and actually having a decent network speed.

[papped]

Might be looking into the Seidio 2600mah battery for the Pre to fix the battery life issue. I think the extra size is acceptable because the phone is pretty small to begin with.

[Semantics]

How is the App store coming along? I'm intrigued by the Pre, though I do like the Hero, a lot. My 30 days was reset, so I have another 3 weeks before I'm truly locked in. It was a tough choice at the store for me when I got my Hero.

[papped]

Yeah the Hero vs Pre was tough, the Moment wasn't =P.

The app store has a pretty decent selection of free apps and cheaply priced paid apps. Also if you tack on homebrew there's even more (there's an app you can download to browse homebrew like an app store also).

Games selection is still kinda dry. But some pretty good apps overall like Fandango, Forbes.com, Where, Pandora, Feeds, Palmbook (homebrew), etc.

Most importantly the app store is easy to navigate and runs pretty smooth...

Three features I like a lot about the pre are the universal search, card multitasking + gestures, and the multi-chat inbox integration (im + sms).

[Semantics]

Originally Posted by papped

Yeah the Hero vs Pre was tough, the Moment wasn't =P.

The app store has a pretty decent selection of free apps and cheaply priced paid apps. Also if you tack on homebrew there's even more (there's an app you can download to browse homebrew like an app store also).

Games selection is still kinda dry. But some pretty good apps overall like Fandango, Forbes.com, Where, Pandora, Feeds, Palmbook (homebrew), etc.

Most importantly the app store is easy to navigate and runs pretty smooth...

Three features I like a lot about the pre are the universal search, card multitasking + gestures, and the multi-chat inbox integration (im + sms).

I'm going to have to look at the Pre again, maybe. I'm not really into gaming on my phone, I'd rather use my PSP. With the phone being out for six months or so, does the build quality feel okay? Any oreo effect or other noticeable things going on build wise?

[papped]

Build quality is solid, granted I haven't had it long so take it with a grain of salt.

The usb port cover is annoying to remove, I think they did it on purpose so that you buy the Touchstone (cool, but expensive)....

Not familiar with the "oreo effect".

[Semantics]

Originally Posted by papped

Build quality is solid, granted I haven't had it long so take it with a grain of salt.

The usb port cover is annoying to remove, I think they did it on purpose so that you buy the Touchstone (cool, but expensive)....

Not familiar with the "oreo effect".

I think its something along the lines of the screen and keyboard twisting, like if you would twist an oreo cookie. I think when the phone is closed, some people complained if it having to much play left to right when they tried to move it.

[Semantics]

I might try to get one used off Craigslist if I can find one for 150 or so. Probably can't, but maybe when the Pixie comes out, more Pre's will show up on CL. It doesn't seem that a lot of people are selling it, which isn't a bad thing.

[papped]

Originally Posted by Semantics

I think its something along the lines of the screen and keyboard twisting, like if you would twist an oreo cookie. I think when the phone is closed, some people complained if it having to much play left to right when they tried to move it.

It twists slightly (like a fraction). I'm not really sure I'd qualify that as an issue though unless it gets a lot worse.

Pixi seems like such a bad move for palm... WebOS is so screen dependant.... Granted I'm pretty sure the Pixi is nothing more than a cost reduction attempt at a Pre.

[Semantics]

Originally Posted by papped

It twists slightly (like a fraction). I'm not really sure I'd qualify that as an issue though unless it gets a lot worse.

Pixi seems like such a bad move for palm... WebOS is so screen dependant.... Granted I'm pretty sure the Pixi is nothing more than a cost reduction attempt at a Pre.

I don't really understand Pixi either. I mean, I get that palm wants to get WebOS out there, and the 99 dollar price point for the Pixi may help in some regard, but I really can't get behind the hardware look of the Pixi. Maybe that will be a plus for some people, and if it sells well, even as an entry level smartphone for some people, it will only benefit WebOS and the apps will start to really roll in perhaps.