Curve 8330 to Palm Pre

[Vegas]

When I was considering the Palm Pre, I looked every where for an honest review from a former Blackberry Curve owner. I coudn't find one, so here I am for you, my fellow Curve owner. I want to say that I love my Blackberry. I love how stable it is and how it just works. What I didn't love about it is that I have to scroll for everything. The screen is not the best on the market any longer and the web browsing experience is not the best anymore. I wanted a touch screen to help make things quicker and easier to see, but didn't want to give up the tactical keyboard. Enter the Palm Pre.

I left my Sprint Curve 8330 to give the Pre a chance to win me over. I loved a lot of things about the Pre such as, the browser (the best on the market right now), the card system, the ability to link contacts into one (although this still needs work) and the threaded SMS. However, the phone just didn't do the things I needed it to do as a business owner. I couldn't add any of my POP3/IMAP email accounts through my ISP or my personal domains. That was the deal breaker, but I also didn't like that I couldn't invite people to my scheduled appointments, hear my phone ring (I missed nearly 80% of my calls), lost signal/broken/dropped calls in places it never happened on my Curve. Additionally, the battery life was abysmal. I had the phone for 10 days and only had the phone last until the end of the day once. Battery was at 4% that day when I plugged it in. Other days it was gone by 6:00pm. I could run for two days minimum on my Curve. The keyboard is also one of the toughest keyboards to type on that I've owned. The gel keys felt like they took twice the effort to push as my Curve. My thumbs ached using the phone and I dreaded having to slide out the keyboard and type on the recessed board. The plastic lip would irritate the webbing between my thumb and my forefinger. I honestly would prefer the iPhone on-screen keyboard over the Pre's and I never thought I would say that. Finally, I hated that every time I would need to do something on the phone, I had to "launch the app". Even the phone was an app. The Pre is a phone, it should never have to "lauch" it's primary tool. When I click on contacts in my Curve, they come up instantly. The Pre is at least twice as powerful as my Curve and it would take 2 seconds to show up. That sort of lag is irritating after a while.

I want to love the Pre. It's the coolest device Sprint has had in years. WebOS is the future of mobile technology, but it's just not ready for prime-time in my opinion. I went back to my Curve on day 11 and I love that everything just works.

[soulfulzeta]

I also switched from the Curve 8330 to the Pre. Brought the phone on the 24th of June and return it on the 13th of July. It's a HORRIBLE phone! While it looks nice, Palm Pre is simply not ready and they should pull it right off the market!

[bigalemos]

well, i agree with you as to the problem with the pre, the key board is really hard to get used to when coming from a blackberry, and unfortunatly that's just something i had to get used to.

the battery life actually get's better after a couple weeks of using it, there are guides out there as to how to inprove the battery life, but it still sucks to have to charge it every night.

i will say in the last month i have never had my pre die on me once, but i do have to charge it every night.

the design is tough to get used to, but as far as the features on the phone, expecially with the email, apps and updates will come out that will help the phone become much more functional over the next couple of months, it's just a matter of waiting for palm to get on the ball.

i really liked by curve, and if something happened to my pre, i would probably go back to my curve, but i love the pre, i don't even get on my computer anymore to surf the internet, on my bb i would never try to buy something on ebay on my bb, worried the browser would time out or soemthing like that, but with the pre i do it all. some of these problems are just things that you have to deal with when you get a phone that is the 1st version. the same kinds of things happened when the first iphone came out, however apple got on the ball and fixed all the problems pretty quick, palm is taking their time, but i will galdly wait for the updates and the app store to get bigger and better.

i have made the switch to pre and am trying not to look back.

[Skibumette]

Long time Palm/Treo user here.

I usually am not a first-adopter... I usually wait for OSs and hardware to be out for 6 months before I jump on the bandwagon.

The Pre was the exception. I got one during the first week and I had it for 2 days before bringing it back. I'm hoping that in 6 months, maybe more software and fixes will be out for it.

The pros of it: internet browsing.. as long as you don't have to touch a link in the page - I hate having to use the fingertip to select things instead of using the edge of my fingernail, the tip of a pencil (that never hurts the screen on the treo) or (gasp) using a stylus.

The card thing was cool.

But overall, as someone with 1,500 names in her phone... it's a horrible device for someone in business who needs to actually stop playing with the device and make dozens of calls in a day.

Text messaging... better than a Blackberry (I truly hate the way BB handles texts compared to the Palm world).

So I went back to my Treo. Then a month later, my Treo needed to be exchanged (I keep wrecking the headset jacks in them).. and because Sprint didn't have a Treo handy, I decided to "grow up" and buy a blackberry to try it.

There are things I miss terribly about the Treo... but I figured I might as well grow up and go with BB because I think Palm will abandon the Treo line now that they focus on the Pre.

All I can say is that it takes 3-4 clicks to do anything on the BB compared to 1-2 clicks on a Treo.

[DougB541]

Originally Posted by soulfulzeta

I also switched from the Curve 8330 to the Pre. Brought the phone on the 24th of June and return it on the 13th of July. It's a HORRIBLE phone! While it looks nice, Palm Pre is simply not ready and they should pull it right off the market!

Um...what?

[JR_Rider]

Originally Posted by Skibumette

Long time Palm/Treo user here.

I usually am not a first-adopter... I usually wait for OSs and hardware to be out for 6 months before I jump on the bandwagon.

The Pre was the exception. I got one during the first week and I had it for 2 days before bringing it back. I'm hoping that in 6 months, maybe more software and fixes will be out for it.

The pros of it: internet browsing.. as long as you don't have to touch a link in the page - I hate having to use the fingertip to select things instead of using the edge of my fingernail, the tip of a pencil (that never hurts the screen on the treo) or (gasp) using a stylus.

The card thing was cool.

But overall, as someone with 1,500 names in her phone... it's a horrible device for someone in business who needs to actually stop playing with the device and make dozens of calls in a day.

Text messaging... better than a Blackberry (I truly hate the way BB handles texts compared to the Palm world).

So I went back to my Treo. Then a month later, my Treo needed to be exchanged (I keep wrecking the headset jacks in them).. and because Sprint didn't have a Treo handy, I decided to "grow up" and buy a blackberry to try it.

There are things I miss terribly about the Treo... but I figured I might as well grow up and go with BB because I think Palm will abandon the Treo line now that they focus on the Pre.

All I can say is that it takes 3-4 clicks to do anything on the BB compared to 1-2 clicks on a Treo.

Sounds like you need to disable dialing from home screen and download quicklaunch....problem solved....I had the Pre as well, but ultimately decided to return it because I was underwhelmed with the keyboard and realized no software upgrade was going to fix that...

[Brnkvc]

Originally Posted by Skibumette

Long time Palm/Treo user here.

I usually am not a first-adopter... I usually wait for OSs and hardware to be out for 6 months before I jump on the bandwagon.

The Pre was the exception. I got one during the first week and I had it for 2 days before bringing it back. I'm hoping that in 6 months, maybe more software and fixes will be out for it.

The pros of it: internet browsing.. as long as you don't have to touch a link in the page - I hate having to use the fingertip to select things instead of using the edge of my fingernail, the tip of a pencil (that never hurts the screen on the treo) or (gasp) using a stylus.

The card thing was cool.

But overall, as someone with 1,500 names in her phone... it's a horrible device for someone in business who needs to actually stop playing with the device and make dozens of calls in a day.

Text messaging... better than a Blackberry (I truly hate the way BB handles texts compared to the Palm world).

So I went back to my Treo. Then a month later, my Treo needed to be exchanged (I keep wrecking the headset jacks in them).. and because Sprint didn't have a Treo handy, I decided to "grow up" and buy a blackberry to try it.

There are things I miss terribly about the Treo... but I figured I might as well grow up and go with BB because I think Palm will abandon the Treo line now that they focus on the Pre.

All I can say is that it takes 3-4 clicks to do anything on the BB compared to 1-2 clicks on a Treo.

Just be happy you aren't dealing with the iPhone. 3 taps, 2 swipes, a 90 degree roration and a home button to so the simplest thing!

[Jazzbarton]

I still have my 8330 because I'm not up for a upgrade yet from sprint but for now I'm in a toss up between the Pre and the Tour. I love the internet and youtube player from the pre but I love bb durability and how it just never gave me a problem.

[RobNyc]

Originally Posted by Jazzbarton

I still have my 8330 because I'm not up for a upgrade yet from sprint but for now I'm in a toss up between the Pre and the Tour. I love the internet and youtube player from the pre but I love bb durability and how it just never gave me a problem.

I am stuck as well... cant seem to decide
I ordered a 1600mAh battery for the Tour for like $8 on ebay
the Amzer® SmartCell 1400 mAh Slim Extended Battery cost $50 for the Pre
the Seidio Innocell 2600mAh Extended Battery for Palm Pre cost $65 but I wouldnt buy Seidio for ****..
And the Amzer® SmartCell 2800 mAh Lithium Ion Extended Battery with Black Battery Door For Palm Pre cost $85 on ebay for Pre.

[Jazzbarton]

Originally Posted by RobNyc

I am stuck as well... cant seem to decide
I ordered a 1600mAh battery for the Tour for like $8 on ebay
the Amzer® SmartCell 1400 mAh Slim Extended Battery cost $50 for the Pre
the Seidio Innocell 2600mAh Extended Battery for Palm Pre cost $65 but I wouldnt buy Seidio for ****..
And the Amzer® SmartCell 2800 mAh Lithium Ion Extended Battery with Black Battery Door For Palm Pre cost $85 on ebay for Pre.

Well right now if you had to pick what one would it be?

[tscharf]

Originally Posted by Vegas

When I was considering the Palm Pre, I looked every where for an honest review from a former Blackberry Curve owner. I coudn't find one, so here I am for you, my fellow Curve owner. I want to say that I love my Blackberry. I love how stable it is and how it just works. What I didn't love about it is that I have to scroll for everything. The screen is not the best on the market any longer and the web browsing experience is not the best anymore. I wanted a touch screen to help make things quicker and easier to see, but didn't want to give up the tactical keyboard. Enter the Palm Pre.

I left my Sprint Curve 8330 to give the Pre a chance to win me over. I loved a lot of things about the Pre such as, the browser (the best on the market right now), the card system, the ability to link contacts into one (although this still needs work) and the threaded SMS. However, the phone just didn't do the things I needed it to do as a business owner. I couldn't add any of my POP3/IMAP email accounts through my ISP or my personal domains. That was the deal breaker, but I also didn't like that I couldn't invite people to my scheduled appointments, hear my phone ring (I missed nearly 80% of my calls), lost signal/broken/dropped calls in places it never happened on my Curve. Additionally, the battery life was abysmal. I had the phone for 10 days and only had the phone last until the end of the day once. Battery was at 4% that day when I plugged it in. Other days it was gone by 6:00pm. I could run for two days minimum on my Curve. The keyboard is also one of the toughest keyboards to type on that I've owned. The gel keys felt like they took twice the effort to push as my Curve. My thumbs ached using the phone and I dreaded having to slide out the keyboard and type on the recessed board. The plastic lip would irritate the webbing between my thumb and my forefinger. I honestly would prefer the iPhone on-screen keyboard over the Pre's and I never thought I would say that. Finally, I hated that every time I would need to do something on the phone, I had to "launch the app". Even the phone was an app. The Pre is a phone, it should never have to "lauch" it's primary tool. When I click on contacts in my Curve, they come up instantly. The Pre is at least twice as powerful as my Curve and it would take 2 seconds to show up. That sort of lag is irritating after a while.

I want to love the Pre. It's the coolest device Sprint has had in years. WebOS is the future of mobile technology, but it's just not ready for prime-time in my opinion. I went back to my Curve on day 11 and I love that everything just works.

I had a similar experience. The Pre just felt like a demo device for WebOS. I think Palm has a future with this OS, but coming from the feature rich BB, the Pre just felt like a demo phone. I didn't realize how much the BB did until I didn't have one for 3 weeks. It's going to be tough to get me away again.

[tscharf]

Originally Posted by Jazzbarton

I still have my 8330 because I'm not up for a upgrade yet from sprint but for now I'm in a toss up between the Pre and the Tour. I love the internet and youtube player from the pre but I love bb durability and how it just never gave me a problem.

Go with the Tour. If you've been using BB for a a while, you'll never be happy with the Pre. Trust me.

[Digital_Cataclysm]

Good review - I'm sure fellow BB users appreciate the candor of those who've (at least for a while) made the jump.

I have to say, I wasn't overly impressed with the device myself. My Godchild's mother has Sprint, and we stopped by the store the other day while we were out.

I agree, those gel-keys are God-awful. How someone would manage to bang out messages all day long on that thing, is beyond me. My thumbs would fall off.
The question of durability is another area I didn't feel was all that great either.

It felt flimsy to me - like the keypad would be really easy to tear off, if you dropped or whacked the thing.
I certainly wouldn't say it has the robustness to make it as a go-anywhere road warrior.

The OS was honestly, ok. It had it's cool moments, some things I didn't like - it didn't blow me out of the water, let's just say.

Anyhoo - my 2 cents for the canteen.

[jmatt83]

Well guys I'm pretty new to the bb scene and still finding out about my 8330's features but I'm addicted never the less. My roomate actually stood in line on the pre's lunch day for over 6 hours. He loved it, the second day he exchanged the phone for another due to it just being unreliable !! Bb users I think I found my significant other, my bb !!!

[Pimp Lucious]

Originally Posted by tscharf

Go with the Tour. If you've been using BB for a a while, you'll never be happy with the Pre. Trust me.

I used the BB Curve for a year and while it was a solid phone, I moved on to the Pre and could never go back. The only thing the BB had over my Pre was the build quality, but once I put the Pre in a hard case that became a non-issue. The thing I do the most, messaging, is easier, intuitive and prettier on my pre. Going back to a BB at this point would be like going back to Win 98 loaded on a brand new hardware.