Help Me: BlackBerry on WebOS, Smartphone Round Robin

[mordy07]

So is that review coming? CES is over now, yet it seems like more than one review in the Round Robin is overdue...

Keep up the good work though. Definitely interesting to see everyone's different takes on the varying platforms

[onlineaddy]

i wanna win!

[hs2716]

Definitely there needs to be more apps, more useful apps. As a practitioner in the medical field there are currently 0 apps that are useful for me. the ones that are there now are web based searches, in which case I prefer accessing the website directly.
I also think there should be a bigger screen without a physical keyboard. I am using the N1 this week and I have no problems without a physical keyboard.

[skabeer]

So some questions:

- how have you been finding your Pre / Pixi? How's the hardware holding up? How's the daily use? Battery life good? Speed of use? Is there lag or is getting snappier?

>Love my Pre. The hardware has no problems and I use it every waking hour! The battery life: I feel 'talking' on the phone is the quickest drain. On heavy usage (voice) days, I need to charge about 1.5 times a day, otherwise once a day is just fine. Speed: mmm, need some relative compariseon, but its slightly slow, but nothing too bad. But faster is always better I guess.

- how's the app situation? i'm not so concerned about quantity like apple's app store, but you can find the apps you want/need for the major things you do throughout the day/week?

>Well, I think we need more apps. But recently its been improving. I would like apps for major websites, such as amazon, IMDB. Utility apps are on the up, time management, task management etc.


- what are you really loving about being on palm webos? how did you arrive to it (so where/how is it better than what you were using before)?

>Love the webOS! It has the most intuitive and user-friendly interface out there. Checked the phone out in a Sprint store and fell in love.
(a) The cards approach to multitasking. A thing of beauty! Just too easy to use, addictive!
(b) The gesture area, just brilliant! You can do everything you want here, going up in an app, copy, paste
(c) universal search where you just type what you want and options for search in Google-wiki-a webpage-twitter show up
(d) Over the air updates which improves the phone continuously
(e) The physical keyboard which helps making typing things such as long emails a breeze.


- what do you think blackberry users might love about palm webos? what do you think they may not like?

>Dont have much experience with the Blackberry. The completely touch based interface-no buttons needed, ultra-intuitive simple beautiful interface, and to those used to keyboards on the blackberry, the Pre has one.
>The Precentral and Homebrew community!
>Nothing that you wouldnt love!

- how do you like the two current form factors in the pre and pixi? perfect? ok? what do you want to see in the next devices they release (i think webos would rock more with a wayyy bigger display)?

>Totally agree! A bigger screen would INDEED ROCK!!!! Please palm, release one! I love the Pre, but a bigger screen would make the browsing experience more comfortable.

[Jethrotull]

how have you been finding your Pre / Pixi?

I wasn't much convinced when I ordered my pre. It's my first palm product and I was not certain that I had made a good choice until I had it in my hands. And what to say? I loved it since I first started the device. These guys at palm have delivered a slick interface with this webOS. Pretty, elegant, intuitive. Not to talk about the hardware. Whatever you want, it's already on the pre: gps, wifi, bluetooth, accelerometer...

How's the daily use? Battery life good?

I'm not a heavy user, so most of the time I keep just essential services on, which means that I can spend two days without charging. Phone services are fine and the sound is good. The text messagery deserves a mention apart! It classifies the received sms by contact name and orders them together with the sent ones in a conversation line (much like gmail does). I don't know if other smartphones provide this capability, but for me it was a discovery.

How's the hardware holding up?

The hardware is fine in my case. Despite some users have reported some problems (i.a. screen defects), I have detected none on my pre. Also, no scratches on the screen nor on the case... But I take much care of my devices.

Speed of use? Is there lag or is getting snappier?

Speed of use is improving with every new update. I received it with 1.2.1, then updated to 1.3.1, which was noticeable enough, and two days ago with the latest 1.3.5.2 there's been an astounding speed increase. There's still some work to do, but I guess the palm guys will deliver.

how's the app situation? i'm not so concerned about quantity like apple's app store, but you can find the apps you want/need for the major things you do throughout the day/week?

This is the actual weak spot of WebOS. So far, there are not many official applications available and much less in Europe, where I live. In my case, this is not such a problem since for the most part I make use of the applications that came bundled with WebOS: email, contacts, tasks, gtalk, notes, gcalendar, pdf reader, documents reader, web browser... It even has an application to see Youtube videos! In essence I don't need much more. Well, flash and video recording, but those are coming in the next update (1.4).

All these apps are stable and provide good functionality. In addition, Evernote (notes app) and TweeFree (twitter client) are also useful applications that are freely available at the AppStore. There are also some interesting homebrew apps, so I'll be joining the homebrew community soon (I was waiting for the 1.3.5.x update to hack my pre).

what are you really loving about being on palm webos? how did you arrive to it (so where/how is it better than what you were using before)?

Before I was using a WM PDA (WM6.0). Well, except for the number of apps, WebOS is superior to it from every point of view. Ok, I'm probably not being fair here, since the pre has much better and newer hardware but... You need an external application to close programs or do a soft reset? Come on! WebOS provides a cleaner, more intuitive interface out-of-the-box. Also, things that with WM were slow and laggy, are done in a blink with the pre. And multitouch and gestures are superb. Oh, and the way synergy deals with your contacts.

what do you think blackberry users might love about palm webos? what do you think they may not like?

Probably, they'll love the way it manages contacts and how easy it is to access vital information. You start typing and automatically your contact comes up or you're offered to look the text up on Google/Wikipedia/twitter. Maybe they won't like how heavily some palm pre applications rely on the web. The integration of Google apps (for instance) is excellent, but these users might prefer other solutions.

how do you like the two current form factors in the pre and pixi? perfect? ok? what do you want to see in the next devices they release (i think webos would rock more with a wayyy bigger display)?

The pre is superb. They revamped slightly the design for the pre plus... for better, I guess. Basically, they removed the central button which is unnecessary when you have a tactile area right there. And people say that the keyboard is more clicky... Cannot confirm that, since I have seen the pre plus only in photographs. In general, everything feels very integrated. I like it very much.

On the other hand, I don't like the design of the pixi. The screen is too small and there is this black empty area between it and the keyboard that simply doesn't feel right (is it tactile?)

In new devices, I agree with you here: a bigger display would rock.

anything else you think i need to know?!

Two things I don't like about the pre: Not all the apps can be used in widescreen mode (for instance the pdf reader) and the calculator is pretty basic (I need a scientific one).

[onlineaddy]

Not giving up...

[DougReeder]

Originally Posted by miata

-
...
- how's the app situation? i'm not so concerned about quantity like apple's app store, but you can find the apps you want/need for the major things you do throughout the day/week?

I have most of the apps that I really need. The one thing missing from my PalmOS days is an outliner application. I also wish I had something to sync with a desktop task management application like Omnifocus. I am not into games at all.

Outline Tracker, a task tracking application that also functions as a general outliner, is now available in the App Catalog. A fuller description is on the website: outlinetracker dot com.

I think it's pretty good; but then again, I wrote it. :-)

[aximmaxim]

- how have you been finding your Pre / Pixi? How's the hardware holding up? How's the daily use? Battery life good? Speed of use? Is there lag or is getting snappier?

90% it's fast to respond, 10% it's a little painful. Worst is when it lags on pickup/ hangup of phone Had it about 2 weeks -> no failures so far, lol.

Battery life is horrid. I plug in throughout day.

- how's the app situation? i'm not so concerned about quantity like apple's app store, but you can find the apps you want/need for the major things you do throughout the day/week?

There are a few things I still want, app wise, notably office editing. But my top access is a reader, music, and web. That's all available and works well.

- what are you really loving about being on palm webos? how did you arrive to it (so where/how is it better than what you were using before)?

Multitasking, synergy are amazing. And it's pretty.

- what do you think blackberry users might love about palm webos? what do you think they may not like?

More exciting. Less intuitive.

- how do you like the two current form factors in the pre and pixi? perfect? ok? what do you want to see in the next devices they release (i think webos would rock more with a wayyy bigger display)?

Like, but always can improve.

[onlineaddy]

a few of us are still going...

[rodhnc]

Love my Pre! A must-have is an extended battery though. Will be thrilled when we get video & other enhancements coming with 1.4. Come on people, this is a 1st generation device and OS- have a little patience!

[onlineaddy]

persistence is a virtue

[skabeer]

wantz the pre!

[onlineaddy]

Oops, missed a day.

[skabeer]

Round robin entry!

[Orangensaft]

SPE Round Robin contest entry.

[rodhnc]

the Pre WILL be the best phone I ever had, once they get the 1.4 enhancements out. I was a WinMo junkie before trying webOS.

[onlineaddy]

back for more

[skabeer]

till the end!

[Orangensaft]

Contest entry for SPE Round Robin smartphone giveaway.

[skabeer]

back again!