Palm Pre Pre-view

Wait a minute, "Whether it’s to speak handsfree or to listen to music again something as basic as speakerphone is not even available on the iPhone…" - what? The iPhone, at least the original iPhone I have, has speakerphone (given, it's not a very good one). Anyways, Andrew, I know you're going to have a great review of the Pre before it even hits shelves. I'm very interested in knowing the quality of the speakerphone and the standard headset speaker. I may have slightly bad hearing but I have trouble hearing on my iPhone unless there's practically 0 ambient noise. So basically, please don't forget to review the phone aspects of the device =). Thanks!

@Ron - Ooops... Corrected my mistake about the speakerphone...

I'm hoping that I'll have my full review wrapped up just before the Palm Pre launch and I will naturally take a very close look at its performance as just a simple "phone".

Cheers, A.

Dual-band MSM6801A processor TI OMAP 3430

What does this actually MEAN?

Whats the actual processor speed?

Any final word on whether the new OS will be compatible with the old OS?

Watch your plan. It has to change with Sprint if you are going with the PRE. I have two phones and one Treo on my plan. The two phones my parents use for telephone calls only, no data, web mail, or messaging. I was informed by Sprint that I will either have to go with the family plan which will cost over 189.00 plus 89.00 for the third phone or I have my PRE phone on the 99.00 plan and have to buy a family phone plan for 69.00 and 750 minutes. So it's ending up costing me over 35.00 more. The plan I have now we share 2000 minutes. So even though I have 2000 minutes and unlimited data plan if I buy the pre Sprint says I have to change plans. My bill will go up and the other lines minutes will go down also. That Stinks took the wind off my sails. That's over 420.00 plus tax more per year for me?

Bravo for a very surprising Mac OS compatibility but as I have said many times, there is always something missing ( it is a congenital defect! ) in a Palm machine : the absence of WIFI is unforgivable.. a miserable mistake..

I apologyze there is a WIFI but I wonder about an FM radio or radio access online via Internet and why no video clip ?

Hang on a second... "Time and time again I have said that the biggest flaw of the iPhone is its lack of a physical keyboard" **in your opinion**.

In my opinion, the biggest **feature** of the iPhone is that it isn't bogged down with a physical keyboard. Last I checked we were still waiting to see about the quality of the Pre's keyboard, and I'm reserving judgement until I can do some serious typing on it.

But I gotta say... with the smart error-correction that my iPhone has, the Pre has a lot to live up to.

@NorCalLights I'm with Andrew. I got an iPhone and i want a physical keyboard. But you're right, it's subjective. That's what's cool about Android - the HTC Dream comes with a keyboard and the HTC Magic comes sans. Your choice.

But, you got to admit having actual buttons is a plus to many people - like all them Crackberry people (even more true after the failure that is the Storm).

My issue is that without being able to touch type, I look at the onscreen keys too much. And I still make mistakes despite looking at them because it's easy to hit the wrong key. So by the time I actually look at the text I entered, I notice a mistake I made a word ago. Even more frustrating, maybe I didn't make a mistake but the error-correction screwed my word up. Le sigh.

I'm the last person to mention a typo, but figured you might want to correct it: Point one - "fist" = "first"

As for iPhone without a physical keyboard, I probably would have owned one if Apple made one with it. That said, about 80% of the iPhone complaints "I" have heard has been "no physical keyboard and that they read emails but don't reply using the iPhone."

Hmm ... video format is only WMV? I find that odd.

@Darlene - I am a Verizon customer who will get a Pre and decide if I'm really switching, along with the other 2 family lines on my account. Also because only Sprint and T-mobile have any service inside our high school where my daughter is attending.

Anyway - I don't know who at Sprint told you about the plan change business, but as I have learned in other situations, it often matters who exactly you're talking to. Either hit another retail location, or call and talk to someone else on the phone. This sounds fishy, and as an existing customer, you might be able to get them to do something more in your favor. With any new introduction in the system, some people won't learn how to enter it in to do you the most good.

@M - Regarding backward-compatibility of existing PalmOS applications to run on the Palm Pre please note that MotionApps has already announced a PalmOS Emulator that will allow you to use existing PalmOS apps under webOS.

See: http://blog.treonauts.com/2009/04/palm-pre-mojo-sdk-released.html

Cheers, A.

Ok I'm a little confused...I thought we weren't needing to "synch" the Pre now, being that it is updated/backed up via the "cloud" or some "over the air" feature, so having a 32 or 64 bit OS isn't an issue any longer. Plus I heard there would not be any Palm Desktop type software needed anyway. The only reason to hook it up to a computer would be to use the storage portion of the Pre, and with any guess, that function shouldn't be OS specific.

Andrew...please clarify...this is a big deal!!!

Thanks!

Charles

I was ... very excited about the pre, until I saw the system requirements of only 32 bit Vista. There's no sense in me upgrading from my Treo 680 because it also doesn't work with my Vista Premium 64 bit. This is very disappointing that Palm has chosen not to support the operating system that many of us are stuck with. So with that I guess I have to check out other systems that may support Vista 64-bit. Not having the ability to sync with my home computer destroys the value of owning a Palm device.

@ Fr. Jerry
I am in the same boat.
I mean here this is supposed to be the next GEN of Smart Phone and no 64 bit support????
Makes no sense to me and still will not be able to use it.
Nutty and disheartening.
Still cannot sync to Vista 64 for my Treo 650. :-(

According to BGR, the Pre keyboard is too small and the device itself isn't that well made. You have to read the report elsewhere. Of course this website and it's loyal followers will never post anything critical.

@ Marc
Yeah it's great that BGR got its hands on the Pre before anybody else but I trust their reviews just about as much as I trust the opinion of my next door neighbor's dog. I'll hold my final judgement until more reviews become available and I get to hold one in my own hands.

Hardly a week goes by when I don't get two or three wrong number call from some IDIOT on his iMAPOMPOUSSNOB phone. We should all be filing a class-action lawsuit against Apple for lost minutes from their idiot users on their poorly designed phone.

I signed up for AT&T home phone service. In the 1 hour I was there, THREE people exchanged their iMAPOMPOUSSNOB phones because of a shattered screen.

Every day riding home on the bus, I see somebody on their iMAPOMPOUSSNOB phone cursing that their battery has gone dead by 5:30pm.

I'd pay $500 for a Palm Pre before accepting an iMAPOMPOUSSNOB for free (provided I couldn't sell it to some sucker!)

I still want to know whether this year's Pre's will be 4G capable since my city is getting 4G next year. I don't want to wait another year for this phone, but I don't want BS. Every time I ask this question some new moron babbles on about the Pre being featured in the same commercial as a plug for 4G.

I wish someone who actually KNEW the answer would just tell me yes or no. Does anyone from Baltimore KNOW whether the 4G network requires any special phones with 4G radios or any phone capable of using 3G EVDO-A will work just fine.

I currently use BB Curve and the biggest shortcoming is weak media capabilities. I miss my 755p which could play virtually anything downloaded from the web.

But here it says Pre only plays WMV? What about AVI and all the other stuff Kinoma used to play??? It would be helpful if Andrew or someone else looked into this.

Also, what about youtube? What about internet streaming video in general. Or at least streaming audio. I'd like to listen to some podcasts by downloading them straight to the Pre from the web. Possible? What about Flash video?

Is there a smartphone that will play anything from the web practically as much as a computer?

A little dissappointed about no 64 bit compatibility! You would think this would have been resolved. Love my Palms and looking forward to the Pre eventually coming to Verizon in about 6 months. One trick though I learned through the Palm blog site. Got a Cirago bluetooth dongle, followed the instructions and TADA!!! I can sync my Centro to my 64 bit Vista via a bluetooth connection!! This might be a viable option to back up the Pre as well?