Pre Plus and Pixi Plus announced at CES 2010

SoFLO · Thread Author #1 01-07-2010, 03:01 PM

Here's Engadget's hands-on
Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus first hands-on (video)! -- Engadget

They improved the slider and keyboard on the Pre which was my two biggest gripes against it and bumped up the internal storage to 16 gigs. Honestly this would be enough to sway me for a purchase but there's one thing...it's Verizon only apparently. I'll be switching to a Sprint family plan in a few months so as a potential customer, I'm disappointed. I would've thought it would have been easier for Palm to produce the same model rather than two different models of the same phone for two different carriers (including the Pixi, make that four). Also seems like they're throwing existing Sprint Palm owners under the bus a little.

ifly4fun · #2 01-07-2010, 03:14 PM

I just received confirmation from our VZW Rep both the Plus' are in their system and will be launching "very soon"

xxxxpradaxxxx · #3 01-07-2010, 03:27 PM

Very soon, in their head.

Wireless Vet · #4 01-07-2010, 03:52 PM

Just finished computer based learning in it today and will get to hold them both late next week. I an seriously considering replacing my Storm with the Pre.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

papped · #5 01-07-2010, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoFLO

I would've thought it would have been easier for Palm to produce the same model rather than two different models of the same phone for two different carriers (including the Pixi, make that four). Also seems like they're throwing existing Sprint Palm owners under the bus a little.

It's basically the same phone... They changed very little. Going from 8gb to 16gb internal storage probably won't even benefit a majority of the Pre users either.

It's not like they incurred a ton of research costs producing this for VZ since basically everything is made from existing parts.

ChiWo · #6 01-07-2010, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by papped

It's basically the same phone... They changed very little. Going from 8gb to 16gb internal storage probably won't even benefit a majority of the Pre users either.

The ram is doubled to 512MB, which would make a HUGE difference

and the new slider mechanism is much better than the original Pre, which means no more oreo effect.

papped · #7 01-07-2010, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiWo

The ram is doubled to 512MB, which would make a HUGE difference

and the new slider mechanism is much better than the original Pre, which means no more oreo effect.

Not really...

If you look at the history of webOs (which is very short), MOST of the major performance issues have been poor software optimization.

Case and point, the Pixi for it's life duration has been running far smoother than the Pre on inferior hardware. This is mostly due to Palm optimizing software for the Pixi and on the Pixi first. The frequent "too many cards" errors were not simply an issue of not having enough ram, considering Palm keeps correcting the issue in software...

Yes they tightened the slider rails, but I don't particularly consider this one of the groundbreaking issues with the Pre (which it has several). Also, considering the device has no wear and tear yet from the public at all, eliminating the oreo effect over time is not a confirmed yet.

wade_county · #8 01-07-2010, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ifly4fun

I just received confirmation from our VZW Rep both the Plus' are in their system and will be launching "very soon"

It's coming on the 25th Palm introduces Palm Pre Plus: 16GB, coming to Verizon on January 25th -- Engadget I'm may get the Pre Plus.. but their App store is just as bad as BlackBerry.. so who knows.

papped · #9 01-07-2010, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wade_county

It's coming on the 25th Palm introduces Palm Pre Plus: 16GB, coming to Verizon on January 25th -- Engadget I'm may get the Pre Plus.. but their App store is just as bad as BlackBerry.. so who knows.

It's worse. The Pre has way, way less app support. Most devs are waiting for VZ/AT&T to get webos before they even start considering making apps, because the userbase isn't large enough.

They do have a homebrew app "store" which makes the phone a lot more worthwhile though.

The official app store is about 1000 apps total... You could fit the entire app store on probably less than 6gb on your Pre and most of it is crap...

markhunsaker · #10 01-08-2010, 09:27 AM

Does anyone know if it will have a better battery than the Sprint's Pre. That was my biggest problem with the Sprint Pre was the short battery life.

JR_Rider · #11 01-08-2010, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markhunsaker

Does anyone know if it will have a better battery than the Sprint's Pre. That was my biggest problem with the Sprint Pre was the short battery life.

That was a big gripe for me as well.

papped · #12 01-08-2010, 12:27 PM

Software updates are the main factor for battery life.

1.3.5 significantly improved battery life. So whatever OS it's running is the only change most likely. But if you haven't used 1.3.5 on a Sprint Pre then you don't really have a good ground for comparison...

kalpain · #13 01-09-2010, 07:34 PM

Maybe I should have waited before returning my Pre. My 2 biggest complaints were the hardware and battery life. My battery would have just enough juice left for me to plug it in after minimal use throughout the work day. Heavy use and it was dead before I could leave the job. But if it was all just a software issue I wish they could have corrected it sooner.

I had both of my last 2 Blackberries for over a year. Really, I only got rid of the 8730 because Sprint finally got the Curve. With the Pre it just didn't feel like it would have lasted that long. And I really didn't care for the keyboard. I think WebOS is pretty great I just it had better hardware to go with it. Though I did discover after the fact that people had some good things to say about getting a case for it. In that it felt like a much sturdier device. And now Otterbox has case for it so that would probably help it too.

Personally, I would like to see Palm make a full touchscreen device. Something along the same form factor as the Pre but maybe the size of the Storm 2 or iPhone. That I think would be amazing especially if it felt like a more sturdy device.

papped · #14 01-09-2010, 07:49 PM

It'll be a really long time before they do though. Palm stated they do not want a diverse portfolio, which is why the VZ pre+ and pixi+ are virtually the same phone with just some addons.