We’ve got a lot of sources out there. For the past five years, we’ve dominated coverage of all the carriers. Sprint was the first.
So when Sprint decided to finally ship a somewhat open, Linux-driven, modern Palm phone… it wasn’t a question of who was going to review it first.
And now, for the first (full) review of the (final) Palm Pre.
Palm hasn’t been known for Sprint integration. Most of Sprint’s Palm phones come somewhat desolate of Sprint service integration. This is a major reason why Sprint gets a bad reputation in the wireless industry. Tech-savvy people grab a Treo, turn it on, and don’t find Sprint Navigation. They don’t find Sprint TV. They don’t find a Music Store. And while niche devices like the Treo 800w and Pro finally checked the boxes… the implementation fell silent. Everyone was already waiting for the Pre.
Thankfully, the Pre does Sprint integration right. Sprint TV excels on the Palm Pre. It’s not clear if the Pre is using a newer, higher-resolution H.264 connection… or if Palm’s playback software has hardware acceleration. But, it’s great. And, unlike SlingPlayer… doesn’t “harm the AT&T Sprint network.” Unlike AT&T, Sprint doesn’t violate FCC rulings and limit what you can do with your device.
And that shows with the Pre. Sprint Navigation is just the beginning… the app portfolio service on the Pre appears more extensible than iPhone. However, Palm didn’t let too much slip out about it; all apps have been removed from the store. Palm says they’ll add the service back on launch day, so we can’t put their app store to the test… yet.
Probably the worst feature that we had experience with, was USB mode. Copying to the device was slow… slower than ActiveSync was over USB 2.0. It almost reminded us of iPhone OS 2.0, before Apple updated the sync process to, well, work.
Amazon MP3 does work already… and it’s a welcomed relief from the Sprint Outsourced Music Store. Palm put their foot down, and it paid off here. Having a music store on-par with the iPhone is key for a device like Pre… and while iPhone’s iPod software makes iPhone better for controlling music… we were happy with the shopping experience.
And yes, music does play in the background.
Surprisingly, nobody on the team was happy with YouTube. While Sprint TV was a treat, YouTube was limited to searching. It’s not clear if this is going to be quickly updated, but the player software is minimalistic at best.
Facebook integration also appears to suffer from first-instance issues. The application supports a minimal set of the Facebook API, limiting users to a 2007-style interface, with only profile and contact information. Chat is nowhere to be found.
Other Sprint apps, such as Nascar Mobile, were also surprises… in that they weren’t terrible. Usually these outsourced apps run slowly and don’t update properly. Not so on the Pre.
Messaging is a delicate subject for many. The Pre not only has a capacitive display (which yes, is very much capacitive… unlike the Touch Pro, it loves a human’s touch)… but it also has a keyboard. Typing on the Pre, like any smartphone, is sure to be the subject of many arguments. Some will say that iPhone’s multi-touch approach is better… others will say the Pre is better.
We really love how the debate puts Apple’s Steve Jobs, and (formerly) Apple’s John Rubenstein at odds. When asked if Apple thought about adding a physical keyboard to iPhone, Jobs dismissed the idea flatly, citing the team’s unified decision to move ahead with multi-touch. The first device with Rubenstein (the “father of the iPod and iPhone”) as chairman of Palm… has a physical keyboard. It cauterizes rumors that he stood out as the most major opposition to the lack of a physical keyboard on iPhone.
Still, we aren’t alone in thinking it takes some acquiring to get acquainted to typing and messaging on the Pre. Every early user we’ve talked to agreed that the interface requires jumping through menus in an odd manner… especially when toggling between windows and apps.
Lingering Questions for Palm
We’re still left with some questions. With the webOS SDK still not fully unveiled… we’re left asking Palm what they’ll let people do with the device.
iPhone limits software to what they can do with background apps.
Android limits software to not run Linux software directly.
BlackBerry limits software all over the place.
Palm Pre? Well, we don’t know what limits will be there.
Obviously, for webOS software, a lot of apps are breaking the rules internally. A lot of these apps are Linux-coded from the bottom to the top. Will Palm let other developers have the same level of access? We think it’s going to be a deal-breaker if they don’t. As Apple learned with iPhone, limiting all the toys to their own software, leaves everyone else taking their toys elsewhere.
Lingering Questions for Sprint
Unfortunately, we’re pointing the most anger here at Sprint.
Once again, Sprint proclaims that another device requires Everything Plans. That is misinformation, plain and simple. The Palm Pre, like the Samsung Instinct, could run on any modern Sprint plan. Sprint simply would need to require the presence of a Power Vision Pack, in order to activate the device.
Even the hard of hearing, and data-only customers, are simply told to chose another phone. It makes us sick… and here’s why.
Instead, Sprint is requiring people to buy a top-revenue Everything Plan. Our memo to Sprint: It may just kill Palm, thanks.
Why might it kill Palm? Tech-savvy people like their old plans. They hate when people try to kick them off… and they’ll respond by going elsewhere.
With most of the tech savvy people refusing to get the Pre, on Everything Plan hostage terms, there won’t be many people rallying the success of the Pre.
Now, you might respond that while Sprint is in the wrong for deceiving people, that the Palm Eos will be coming to AT&T. We’re just left wondering if the Pre will fail because of these hostage-terms plan requirements, and if anyone will buy a Pre in the interim? Will Palm live long enough to ship the Eos?
Sprint, wise up and drop this ridiculous plan requirement. The Pre is an excellent device, but isn’t worth higher per-month pricing. Those customers can, and will, get a Wi-Fi enabled Windows phone, and sling Wi-Fi to the iPod touch. Such a shame too, because the Pre is Sprint’s converged solution. Only those on Everything plans will be able to use it.
Closing Thoughts
Barring any last-minute snags, which seem unlikely at this point, we’ve reviewed the final version of the Pre. There is the potential, as previously reported, that Sprint could pull their escrow of the firmware if they find anything show-stopping. We doubt that will happen at this point, and expect the device to be sold in early June.
Minor Update: Hours after posting this review, Sprint confirmed the June 6th launch date for the Pre.
We are holding off on casting judgment on a few areas, which we outlined previously. Palm’s App Catalog is not open yet, and we won’t touch the sync servers for calendars and contacts until they go live. MechaWorks is intimately familiar with cloud computing, and we understand that it is in an active state of development still. We aren’t even using those apps yet, so we don’t get any first impressions from servers that aren’t final.
The Pre is a beautiful device. We love it, we love to hold it, we love to use it. Sprint, please don’t kill the golden goose (for Sprint, or for Palm). Let everyone with an unlimited data plan use the Pre… it’s better, but not enough to fork over an additional $20 to $40 per month. For an extra $960 (over the course of two years), we’d rather have an iPod touch, plus a couple of netbooks (sipping Wi-Fi from any old Windows phone).
Sounds like it doesn’t live up to the hype, but competition is good and will drive down data plan prices.
ERIC: Big deal. So I got the names mixed up, go by what I meant not what I said.
Well, the fact of the matter is, that sprint allowed the sero plan and made a promise and now is not keeping that promise. If a plan includes unlimited data (SERO PLAN) it does not matter what phone it is it WILL WORK with it.
For those who say that the SERO should be canceled, please stop your crying and being mad that you couldn’t get a great plan like that. Not everyone can afford an everything plan and that is why they took advantage of the sero plan which INCLUDES UNLIMITED DATA NO MATTER WHAT PHONE.
At this point forcing people on to more expensive cell phone plans is not going to help sprint gain revenue. There are a lot of customers who can’t afford or just won’t pay anymore when they have a plan that works just as good as the everything plan. What sprint needs to do is allow anyone with a data plan to use the pre and focus on getting better coverage and customer service, and then maybe start raising prices. But as of now they have no leverage in raising prices.
I guess we will all see what happens. I will just stick with my Touch Diamond if they are forcing a plan change for using the pre.
Good Luck Sprint!
@other
“A easy reply to F1”
“How man Millions of Iphones have sold with plans that cost over hundreths more a year…”
response:
Comparing the 3rd Generation, (July release) of the well established Iphone, to the yet unproven, potentialy buggy first Generation (June release) of the Palm Pre WebOS, is comparing Apples to Oranges (Palms)!
“Sprints current plans and prices are giving current and “loyal†customers great prices”
response:
Care to back it up with factual data, examples please ?
I am a current, 11.5 year, some might say, “loyal” customer !
I can not get what I want, unless I give up my “Fair & Flexible 700”, even Retention “can not offer any help” !
The Consumer ultimately has to have the final say and choice, forcing people into any “Everything Plan”, almost sounds like the foundation of potential “price fixing”,and it will most certainly backfire, you want proof??
Take a look at millions of lost accounts at Sprint!
Thank You!
All these comments are going in circles! At the end of the day–sprints plans are cheaper and give more than att, verizon, and tmobile. those people with the old grandfathered plans want their cake and eat it too (stupid saying, but you know what i mean) So…………is there any other sites out there that can give an actual review of the phone or is this it? Because this review tells me nothing!
@F1
This is kind of Sprint’s customer-disconnect problem. They don’t see potential in this Pre widget as an avenue to a Second Chance with a lot of lost customers – and maybe some new ones – by differentiating themselves with the Pre as the company with the cool phone AND the cool phone company. Instead, they see potential in this Pre widget as an avenue where they can be indifferent and greedy with their customers and get away with it…just like AT&T! Hmmm….
Sprint could really pull a fast one on the competition by jumping the gun on the future…namely voice as a separate revenue stream is dead, VOIP is the future. LTE or WiMAX, everything’s going to be packet-switched in 60 months or so, including voice. Sprint has the biggest pure digital network of anyone, they are the company poised to be the wireless data company instead of the cellphone company. If they wanted to play hard-ball (real grab’em by the curlies hard-ball) for customers against the other carriers they would already have a VOIP app for the Pre, charge small connection fees a’la Skype, and sell plans by the gigabyte Something like $30 base access + first two gigabytes, eight bucks per-gig after unless of course you get the Endless Pipe Plan for like $100, bits-for-voice count against the data limits. Pricing for wireless data is something else that’s coming for wireless infrastructure, for very practical and fair reasons frankly, and no one wants to admit it yet. Of course, to get in on these plans you need to get a Sprint-provisioned Smartphone (Palm Pre = launch flagship for this revamped service model) and get at least the one-year contract.
They would blow the iPhone/AT&T deal out of the water in so much as value is concerned with a scheme like that, and scare the holy living **** out of all the wireless telcos who dine out on suckers paying for SMS messages and voice-plans. What would Verizon’s answer to that be? They don’t have one. Instead, Sprint is content to have an excuse to take advantage of customers who are willing to put up with them because of device-lust (hello, iPhoners). Sprint’s stupid.
The Pre looks great! The Everything data plans starting at $70 is good. For all you loyal SERO customers, I am sure there has to be a way around it. I have heard of plenty of Sprint customers who worked around ALL rules by Sprint. Can’t say that for AT&T or Verizon. I know plenty who could not get around their policies. I’m pulling for Sprint and will sign up with them.
@mike
You can not sustain your clientle, if you change the rules mid game for your existing accounts, 90 to 5 was today’s vote on the Consumer’s Bill of right on Credit Cards in the U.S. Senate, you might want to take a closer look at it.
TheZeitgeist, JJ ,Ray are examples of the fact that the era of consumer ignorance has expired!
Let them market these policies/plans to the new accounts,as you said it yourself: “At the end of the day–sprints plans are cheaper and give more than att, verizon, and tmobile” !
Bait and switch is what “those people with the old grandfathered plans want their cake and eat it too”, are experiencing!
However I do agree that this review was more editorial, than technical, you might want to just google “Palm Pre review” and pick your choice!
Thank You
@ TheZeitgeist
They are simply lacking the vision, to have an out of the box marketing plan, just simply shortsighted greed!
Although I do not solely blame CEO D.H.,
he has come a long way (regarding Customer service),with what he was handed to by Forsee’s legacy of distruction,but still, as I said before:
“The timing on this new policy, demonstrates the desperateness of Sprint, this is surely not going to stop the account losses, by not only lacking gratitude or appreciation for current or long-term customers, in addition completely disregarding the economic state of the country,
how patriotic,…!
Thank You
-alli can say, is if you really are loyal customers to sprint, you know, sprint changes plans before other carrier does and also sprint has a lot much more to offer than some other carriers.. just look back 1 year ago and power packs were cheap and worth. i know sprint is gonna’ think about this and will introduce something new with this at the time.
-plus, yeah, i agree we all like to read a more technical review, like camera features, music players and video play, more specifically.
TheZeitgeist, it appears Palm may not shut down Windows Mobile development completely… making devices like the Treo Pro relevant to their device portfolio.
While Palm has confirmed Garnet OS is done for, they haven’t made similar comments about Windows Mobile.
I suspect Palm is taking a wait-and-see approach. It’s smart… if webOS fails, Palm doesn’t want to say Windows Mobile is useless… and then have to switch to Symbian or Android just because they attacked every other option.
What isn’t clear is which way Palm is leaning. With only the Eos and Pre running webOS, I could see Palm continue the Treo line with Windows Mobile… tapping into the hardware advances Palm has made with the Pre/Eos as well.
[…] threads yet for the day though, so if this has been posted feel free to merge/delete this mods. Review: Palm Pre (Sprint) | PhoneNews.com They make sure to take a few jabs at some of Sprint’s competitors for recent items in the news as […]
@ TheZeitgeist
You are right.
One thing I notice on this board it seems like many of us/you here keep on getting it wrong as Sprint does. Of course Sprint has better pricing in many comparable plans than AT&T, Verizon, and Tmo, but Sprint neglect its customers for too long and refuse to be innovated. 2 simple things can help Sprint:
1. Take care of customers, price will not matter. (I used debated family and friends on why Sprint is better than the rest, but now – Heck no – won’t do – no sir/ma’am.)
2. Be innovative (They have the technologies, but don’t know how to put them to use. stop out-of-the-box marketing, outsourcing won’t solve the problem, think harder and more competitive)
– aww
Let me make restate some things for folks and maybe a clarification or two.
1. Chris and I and many others have stated and has been certified by SPRINT – Fair & Flexible, SERO and all other NON EVP/ BIZ + plans are Exempt from getting the PRE Without Upgrading PERIOD! There is no work around just like on the Instinct.
2. Some have said have Pointed at SERO Plan holders as a bunch of Cry Babies that just want it all for nothing. Hey Sure I want what I Pay Monthly for. I have a $50 and 2 $30 Sero plans. They include Unlimited Data, Text, M2M, everything except GPS & TV which I don’t Want. If I wanted it I would have added it and that is where Sprint Makes Money is Add Ons. EVP for what I get is $20-30 more a month per phone = $60 min to $90 Max before taxes. NOT Worth it for GPS and TV – Thats why I have a Real GPS, cause I have seen idiots holding their phone while driving and try to following directions. Don’t tell me it does not happen. Wait till the police give you your ticket, it won’t be pretty. I watch TV on my Laptop, or on a real friggin TV, Not a Phone – Neither do most I bet.
3. All those complaining its because SPRINT is losing all this money on SERO plans and us cheap users.
Have you forgotten a company SPRINT OWNS – Called BOOST – Hello $50 Unlimited Talk, Text, Web, Walkie Talkie NO CONTRACT- Thats better than my SERO gives me but they are pouring tons of advertising dollars into this deal to get everyone on a NO Contract EVP for Boost. So is SPRINT Really Losing because of us or themselves?
SERO and Fair & Flexible or older plans are not the Enemy folks!
Sprint Made Promises and Broke Them. Sprint also is profusely bleeding customers and cash. I for One really want them to stay around….. I love Sprint, though I would love them a lot more if they treated everyone EQUALLY!
My Biggest Gripe beside being treated like a step child is this: SPRINT ONLY GETS THE PRE FOR SIX MONTHS AS AN EXCLUSIVE. Then Everybody will get the PRE. Is it really worth Sprint Screwing over their most adamant followers and longest running patrons over a 6 Month Fling?
SPRINT Needs to make up it’s mind if they really want to be in business and do right by their customers or try to do a quick screw over hoping that 20 million people will flood them in 6 months to save their company and those 1-3 million they lose will be a minor inconvenience!
Think about it folks. We all want the same thing here. Equal Treatment by a company that seems to have lost its way!
3.
@Chris Price
It may or may not be Palm’s intention to support Windows Mobile indefinitely, but the Windows Mobile business has been a big banana-chocolate-sundae of bleeding money for Palm. The Treo Pro is the cherry on top of that sundae. The last thing Palm needs frankly is a Balkanized distribution of resources in their platform development…especially given how relatively scarce those resources are at this point for Palm.
Throw in the fact that Windows Mobile at this time is a market-share-shrinking loser in the high-margin smartphone biz, does not differentiate Palm (or Sprint) from a slew of competitors, and is another cost (gotta pay MSFT for each copy of that outdated OS) on the platform, I just don’t get it.
I think proprietary platforms like Symbian, Blackberry, iPhone OS, and webOS – with their respective value-adds and tight hardware integration – can survive and prosper just fine going forward. But there is only room for one cross-platform OS for multiple hardware vendors (read: Taiwan and Korean companies) in the licensing-to-vendor model. And I think that OS is going to be Android, and Android’s rise will come almost exclusively at the expense of Windows Mobile. Microsoft is dead in mobile computing platforms that way. Hardware advances in things like capacitive touch-screens on the Pre are useless with Windows Mobile, which doesn’t support such advances and is not built to take advantage of their benefits at all. Given that Android is free on top of all that, Doze is done in mobile.
This is what I mean by Palm having great engineers but some pretty low-wattage business people. I think Palm is going to poorly execute business-wise on their great webOS platform along with Sprint, stay barely above water financially, and get snapped up by a company with the business acumen to actually make some money on all that cool tech. I’m thinking Dell here. Dell specializes in the business of tech, not the creation of it, it would be match made in heaven that way and Dell could pick up Palm for what-for-them is chump change. That is the vision in my Crystal Ball.
This review uses the English language in the most tortuous fashion possible.
Was it translated from Ukrainian by Babelfish ?
I cant wait for the Pre to come out. When the Instinct came out, i got it right away and had to upgrade. The phone sucked, but the plan is great.
All the SERO broke a$$es keep your cheap plan, and your cheap PHONE.
If you want a high end phone with great features, but dont care to use them so you dont want to pay for them, stay with a usless phone.
TheZeitgeist, Microsoft appears poised to launch Windows Mobile 7 using a real Windows 7 kernel. All indications are that was the cause for the WM7 delay (plus it gives MS a path to x86 mobile devices).
Windows Mobile has been down for years (you heard that here first, circa 2004). But it’s not out. And corporate customers usually take years to embrace new platforms… Windows Mobile remains a staple of the corporate world.
Someone asked about Visual Voicemail on the Pre. We didn’t see it. Of course, we use Google Voice, so we might have missed it… since our voicemails go elsewhere. Tapping the voicemail icon… just calls up voicemail.
There was one Palm press photo that everyone typically points to, claiming that is evidence of visual voicemail. I’m sorry, but it isn’t. The dialer app, like all others can have a running feed of “notification events.” What you see in that photo was an incoming message, not a visual voicemail.
@Chris Price,
That’s nifty and all that Windows Mobile 7 will be a stripped down version of Windows 7, which is itself a hasty improvised build because Vista laid an egg. Windows Mobile 6.5 I think is supposed to be out…when, Q3? Q4? WM7 is slated for I think first half of next year. That’s eons in this biz. Android is already being compiled and developed to run on Atom processors for netbooks. x86 is no advantage in the mobile space, ARM is currently the way, and if x86 takes off, I can legally as a developer compile my own Android distro to run on it instead of wait for someone else (MSFT) to do it.
Capacitive touch-screens are a good example. Windows Mobile didn’t support them when Apple came out with the iPhone waaay back in 2007. Here we are in 2009…still no capacitive touch-screen support in DozeMobile. If Android had been around in 2007 and I was a device manufacturer, I’d just write my own driver support for cap-screens into my Android build and release my new cap-screen widget. Its this precise shortcoming in Doze Mobile that led the Instinct to being a non-MS phone (and I did some pre-release work on that thing at Sprint’s HQ in Kansas back in 2008). I’ve dealt with the Windows Mobile group in Redmond a lot in the past two years, and most those guys at the management level are outsourced chumps with marketing degrees and no technical background who don’t know the difference between screen-types, among many, many, other things that are critically relevant to their business. If that’s the coach running the team, my bets are on the other guys.
Think about it. Every new initiative Microsoft has undertaken since Steve Ballmer took over has been a loser from a financial perspective: Zune, Windows Mobile, Windows Live, Xboxes. Vista was the most botched and lampooned OS release Microsoft has ever had…and it was more than a year late. Outside of the very good Office and Exchange products, Microsoft is a stagnant business that plays catch-up.
SPRINT REMEMBER UR A CDMA CARRIER. PHONES ALWAYS TAKE 6MONTHS TO BECOME CDMA FORM GSM. PEOPLE WILL FLOCK 2 T-MOBILE SO THEY CAN HAVE CHOICES LIKE AN IPHONE OR TOUCH PRO2. WAKE UP SPRINT. DONT DO THE SAME TO THE TOUCH PRO2 OR YOU’LL LOSE ME TOO. GIVE PEOPLE CHOICES.
Here’s a question for those with SERO, if you all feel this strongly, why don’t you all do something about it? Email like crazy to Sprint! Bombard their inbox to no end. Make them see your point. Do something about it. I am sure if most or all SERO, Fair & Flexible, or whatever plan, you might change their mind.
Make them see they are making a mistake. Just don’t sit here and bitch and moan, poor me, poor me.
You didn’t really get a Pre, did you. How are people going to take you seriously if you keep posting pseudo reveiws?
Thats right. Its all about choices. You can chose to stay with sprint or go with someone else. But when you have a great plan, wether it be sero or a fair and flexible with power vision add on, you don’t want to give it up.
Isn’t it in everybody’s interest for sprint to stay in business? The more cell phone competition the better the pricing will be for all the consumers. If sprint keeps picking at their scab and making it bleed customers then sprint wont be around and verizon and att will raise their prices.
Look what happend with satellite radio. They said prices would go down once the merger went through and now they are raising their prices across the board. The same will happen with cell phone companies.
The sero customers are only a small amount compared to all the fair and flexible plans that are out there. My mother in law just canceled her account with sprint because of their customer service and who knows how many people are going to continue doing the same thing. Sprint should focus on strengthening their weaknesses and keep their current customers happy especially the tech savvy ones who stay with the company through thick and thin. (SERO!!!!)
Sero customers might have a low monthly plan but they add on a lot other stuff in the end which in turn gives sprint more money.
LETS ALL JUST HOPE THAT SPRINT DOES THE RIGHT THING AND KEEPS THEIR CUSTOMERS HAPPY. IN THE END, ISN’T THAT WERE THE MONEY COMES FROM?
CMON SPRINT DO THE RIGHT THING FOR ONCE!
In the end sprint might just kill the PRE due to their ignorance.
But we will all see on June 6th. Sprint might surprise us all!
Geez, the sense of entitlement is quite thick in here. You can’t seriously think that the Palm/Sprint and the Pre will be that seriously hampered by the lack of SERO, an old program that was never advertised in the first place and has been discontinued for a year, when Sprint currently holds by far the cheapest data plan for PDA/Smartphones in the US, can you?
Sprint. Is. A. Business.
Sprint needs to make money and to do that, they need to sign up more customers with better margins. I don’t know if you all noticed this, but PHONES, not plans, is how you win on-contract wireless customers to your carrier. Phones. AT&T proved that. Twice. Sprint is fixing the phone problem slowly but surely, but this SERO nonsense that you all keep whining about is ridiculous and totally inconsequential. And seriously, I note again that they still have the best on-contract plans in the US.
For you people who want to grandfather a new hot **** phone into your SERO plan, Touch Pro 2 is coming soon and you’ll probably be able to do it with that. Meanwhile, Sprint and Palm will have no problem selling this device only to new customers/non hard-core loyalists such as yourselves who don’t care (or probably haven’t even heard) about getting a $30/month plan.
Bottom line is that the phone is cheap. They make their profits on the plans. If you don’t like that model, then put your own cell network up and charge what you want.
As a former employee of sprint, I had the chance to see the palm pre and how it works waaaaaay before the public got to see it, and sprint is making everyone switch to the simply everything, or a everything plan….so sorry hate to burst your bubble. The phone is AWESOME…. it makes the Samsung Instinct, look like a toy. This is the phone to buy…….It is a Must Buy….
Hey Sprint employee, you make it sound like this phone is going to save Sprint from bleeding hundreds of customers a day. Maybe it will. But from past examples, verizon has stayed on top even with mediocre phones. Do you know how they did it and are still doing it-GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND A GREAT TECHNICAL SUPPORT SYSTEM. If sprint manages to improve on these levels then maybe you might have something.
@ those who say that the plan is what makes a company money, you are 100% correct. But who stays on those plans and keeps paying them, HAPPY CUSTOMERS. How are customers happy? When a company treats them right and fair and not change their terms midway.
Don’t get me wrong. I love sprint and their plans. But when your loosing customers left and right something must be wrong, that’s just my opinion though.
In this economy, smarts will get you through. Lets hope we never hear that sprint is asking for a bailout.
Like some have said before, Only time will tell if sprint will gain more customers or keep loosing them by the buckets.
As for me, I love my sero plan and if sprint does require an everything plan for the PRE, no big deal. I’ll stick with my great plan a windows mobile phone and be happy. If forcing people to everything plans is going to keep Sprint in business then so be it. I am more than happy to see sprint prosper.
LOL
@Chip:
Chipster, I was working with proto-Pre’s way back in November (BTW, I’m not under NDA anymore, internal Palm codename for Pre = “Nova”). They’re neat devices…and that’s about it. Fact of the matter is, the iPhone defined what a capacitive touchscreen mobile widget is supposed to be. Its like the old Sony Walkman. Everyone and their dog came out with a portable music player after Sony, but they were forever known as “Walkmen” even if they weren’t Sony widgets. That’s how big of a mindshare Apple has with these devices.
Also, there is a potential weak point in the webOS that could be a problem short of a slew of API-type packages from Palm: All the cool software dev that makes it so easy to develop for Pre – stuff like Webkit and css – doesn’t benefit from or is able to access hardware acceleration. The Pre is running pretty heavy duty TI-OMAP proc that can do some snazzy 3D effects, but developers can’t hook into it in the current SDK. Given how games have become kind of the killer app for the iPhone platform, the Pre is going to need similar interactive eye candy to build as compelling an application “ecosystem” as exists on the iPhone and right now a 3rd party developer can’t use the hardware to make that happen.
Another problem for the Pre and high-power apps ironically is multitasking. Aside from a DMA pool reserved exclusively for a small process set on the iPhone, any app that launches by the single-thread nature of the OS has all the silicon resources to itself. That makes it way, way easier for developers to anticipate the user environment they are developing for, much like developing an app for a console vs. a PC, and they don’t have to worry about uglies like illegal ops with some dork-TSR they’ve never heard of. The Pre will be like a Windows computer in that regards, and trying to minimize a hard-core game on the Pre – to answer a phone call for instance – is going to be a much more, ahem, interesting process. It also means the more stuff you launch and play with, the smaller the resource pool gets for other apps launched. Multitasking is a double-edged sword that way. I wouldn’t be so quick on Must Buy.
Stop attacking Chris he’s right Sprint is ridiculous for requiring a plan even if the plan is still good.. Apple loses Iphone sales all day everyday because of the higher plan.. The ONLY reason Apple can get away with it is because the Iphone IS AN IPOD.. So that makes it more identifiable, more desirable, with a bigger marketing budget.. I refuse to pay more than 100 dollars a month for a cell phone.. I need over 1000 mins, unl data, unl text, and ins.. That means the Pre barely makes it on the Everything unl.. One Problem… on Sero I have TWO PHONES for less than that.. I have a Touch Pro which is very arguably better than Iphone or the Pre.. So I have to give up the luxury of having two phones for a phone that isnt clearly better than the one I have now.. Lol Cant see that happening
LOL,
I just want the money.
Show me the money.
Yes,the money……
Chip,
Sorry to burst your bubble , the pre is not a Must Buy.
I have two sero lines. I can do everything I need with a Palm Centro.
So, Spring won’t let me put a Pre on my plans.
How is that any different from the Pre comming out on ATT.
I won’t switch plans for a phone. That would be nuts.
[…] PhoneNews was able to get their hands on a Palm Pre and have provided a full review of it. They like the fact that the Pre comes loaded with Sprint TV and Music Store and other Sprint customizations (the things we generally call ‘bloat’ and try to remove from AT&T). They note that copying to the device over USB was slow. Otherwise, the pre-installed apps were either neutered or will be updated before a final release as the YouTube app doesn’t play videos and Facebook had limited functionality. And regarding the keyboard and general operations Still, we aren’t alone in thinking it takes some acquiring to get acquainted to typing and messaging on the Pre. Every early user we’ve talked to agreed that the interface requires jumping through menus in an odd manner… especially when toggling between windows and apps. […]
How does the Palm Pre compare to the Instinct? Battery on the intinct sucks. No aps (compared to the iPhone). Any improvements here?
Ok how many people exactly are on this damn SERO plan geez…by the way isn’t it called WEBOS….meaning you are constantly on the web to adhere to the phones purpose….I mean I honestly do not see the purpose of buying the phone knowing all of what it can do….just using it to talk or some text too…..I mean seriously…..as for the F&F plans….if you add everything else like text and data to a plan like that you end up paying the same thing or even more believe me I would know…..as for that stupid idiotic comment about hard of hearing….you can pick whatever phone you want and still be put on a special plan….a couple of my friends have an instinct and a curve which are both required on everything data plans but she is still able to use those phone because she is hard of hearing on that special plan….i mean if people are gonna seriously complain about it….get a nokia 6000 series phone….a tom tom….an itouch….and a palm zire….that way the only thing you are paying monthly for is a old nokia phone on some 10 year old 39.99 a month plan
OK so the Palm PRE is $300 bucks – $100 mail in rebate is for Sprint Credit only, NO Cash Back so still $300 bucks!
No Fair & Flexible, Grandfathered, SERO or other plans other than the EVP plans will be able to purchase and activate.
Last Year Sprint according to multiple sources had roughly 49 million subscribers. WSJ and others now state Sprint only has 35 million subscribers currently.
So Sprint again I ask, knowing that less than 5 million of that 35 million subscibers is currently on an EVP plan, you SERIOUSLY Want to Dismiss 30 Million people by requiring an EVP Plan for your Savior Phone? Do you really think that is wise in this current economic state and knowing you only have enough cash on hand to make a run of this till Mid 2010? Does the possibility of losing 10 million more offset by the 2 million you may gain really make sense?
Again – 6 Month Exclusive then everybody gets your lifeline phone. Are you that ready to be gobbled up by Verizon or ATT Sprint?
Another year like the last one and your done!
Me,
I assume there are a lot of folks on the damn SERO plan. (it was one great deal)
The Eos will come out later to replace the Centro and it is WEBOS based. (probably won’t be plan restricted)
10 year old plan for 39.99 ! I don’t think so. 🙂
Sero is 30.00/mo (some pay less) for 500 min, unlimited text, unlimited data, Free roaming, Free M2M, ect.
Yes, good attitude about monthly fees. Use a garmin for GPS. way better.
Curve does not require special plans, the relay site promotes the curve.
@ Dubs29 Even if the $100 rebate is Sprint Credit only (which I don’t think is the case), you can usually use that credit towards your plan. And, if it upsets you so much you can go to your local Best Buy where you get an instant rebate.
This is a full review? There’s no mention of *any* of the most rudimentary functions found in most *basic* reviews for any phone anywhere. Battery life? Call quality? Display quality? Speed tests? What a joke!
M-Jym, asked and answered. We already addressed why those factors are local issues that vary widely between users and locations. We maintain our long standing policy to encourage people to take advantage of return policies… and actually try the device out themselves.
Please read the existing comments before posting further, so that you can see if any of your future questions are already answered.
I never saw so much debate over rate plans. I mean seriously this is sad. All I hear is sprint should do this, Sprint should do that. And Verizon & AT&T’s names are being brought ino this article. Did all of you know that on AT&T your perks on your next phone depends how much your montly rate plan is?
And for Verizon, I know co-workers who looked at the Curve and the price of the Curve was different for each of them. One had a more expensive plan so they got it cheaper.
Bottom line is you spend more, you get more as set examples by VZW & AT&T, you get more perks. That’s how it works and I honestly don’t see a problem with that. If people are going to spend more money, they should get more.
I am not an iPhone fan by no means BUT I don’t have a problem for devices being exclusive. if you want the iPhone go to AT&T. You want the Storm go to VZW. You want the G1 go to TMO. ALL can put plan requirements which I think is fine. Those certain devices are just fine to require special plans.
Sprint needs to follow suit as both VZW & AT&T. From I read they improved their CS & tech support greatly! If that’s true then they needs to follow both VZW & AT&T business model. Aparently their subs don’t have a problem with their policies. Sprint needs to keep up with the times. Times change and you have to keep up with the trend or they will be gone or bought out.
@M-Jym @Des @Xyg Word. No pics or video either?
Hey Me, webos doesn’t mean that the phone needs internet to work to its full potential. All it means is that the applications are built in javascript. This makes it easier for all types of developers to make their own apps and so much more. Before posting please do a little research. Thank You.
Great News!
Another example of Inventory preperation, for a key product launch by a Bankrupt Company run by an incompetent C.E.O:
Sprint’s Hesse: Pre Shortages Likely (Phone Scoop)
Yesterday, 2:14 PM by Eric M. Zeman
“Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said that there is a high likelihood that there will be shortages of the Palm Pre. He said, “We don’t intend to advertise [the Pre] heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while. We won’t be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time.” Hesse didn’t elaborate on how long the shortages would last.”
Wow. in a “review” you really just told folks to buy the thing for themselves to see what they think?
do you pick up a game magazine and read, “the game is neat and all but you should go rent it for yourself and see for yourself if it’s any good or not.” …no, because reviewers REVIEW products, not refer products. if you really reviewed the pre, how ’bout some details of the actual phone, the os, the ui? anything? no? ok.
besides, i’m sprint’s ceo and i know for a fact we didn’t get you a pre to review. now quick, make a scummy comment, it’s about the only honest thing you’ve done on this post 🙂
I agree with Cell Dude. All this plan debate is crazy. If Sprint changed your pricing in the midst of a contract that’s one thing. Maybe I’m missing something, but if your contract has expired where is Sprint’s legal obligation to honor your current plan when you upgrade your phone. It’s a business which is driven by the current market. The plans that sprint offered in the past made sense at that time. In this day, there are very few things priced at the same point they were a few years ago. I think it’s unfair to expect Sprint to honor grandfathered plans forever, just as it would be unfair of an employer to expect one to accept the market salary that was offered for a position years ago. How can one stay afloat if the cost of living has increased? We manage ourselves if we were a business, by making the choices that best suit our needs without putting ourselves in a bind. At some point I think everyone gets caught up in thinking what’s best for us is best for a company. The beauty is that you have a choice to either keep your current device and plan or move to another carrier; whatever works for you. Those who want Pre will get it with the plan requirements. If you’re unwilling to pay the new prices, that’s your right. No one is forcing you to change or upgrade anything. I would love to get a BMW, but am I willing to pay the price for it? NO, not when I’m satisfied with my current car and it gets me where I need to be minus all the luxuries. At the end of the day Sprint is a business and like any other it needs to make money to survive. In a perfect world a business would make every customer happy, but that’s just not possible. Yes, the Pre seems to have some potential from what I’ve seen on the net. If it’s a hit (they could use one) I think it would be good things for Sprint ,but on the other hand if it turns out to be a complete failure it won’t force them out of business.
“We maintain our long standing policy to encourage people to take advantage of return policies… and actually try the device out themselves”
So basically this isnt a review. Its a recommendation to try out the phone and see if you like it ?
“And now, for the first (full) review of the (final) Palm Pre.” not what I would call ‘FULL review’
You say that things vary by region but Battery life, Display quality, and Speed test should at least be mentioned somewhat.
I agree. That was not a “full” review. What about MMS? Is it smooth? How about movie playback? Do they have to be MP4’s or AVI? What about texting? Is it tetherd like an IM? If so does it look good? What about ringtones? Can you make your own like on my Treo 755p or do you have to purchase them like the Iphone? Does the speaker sound good with music and movie playback?
I appreciate you guys checking the thing out and telling us about it. I really do. I don’t think you should call it a “full” review when you didn’t even mention the above things I’m wondering about.
If you don’t like our review style (which again, we have used many times in the past), we encourage you to read other site’s reviews of the final device.
Everyone has 100 questions. We’ll take them as we have time, but many of them are way too open to interpretation. Some love watching full length movies on Windows Mobile… others think it’s a deplorable experience.
Again, we have always encourage Buy It and Try It, versus giving qualitative assessments. We held iPhone to the same standard when reviewing it.
P.S. Speaker sounds fine volume-wise. This isn’t a first-gen iPhone (or a second-gen iPod touch, for that matter).
IMO it would be better classified as a hands-on impression rather than a Full review… i could be wrong.