[Jason Robitaille]

I still have my Palm TX and plan on upgrading to the Pre. I plan to listen to music on bus rides to and from university, maybe the occasional video during spare time, a productivity workhorse to take down notes in class, and all the rest of the time as a phone and organizer. I have no real need for more music/video usage other than that, so to me at least, the Pre is the perfect convergence device.

A bit of a breakdown of estimate usage, in terms of importance:

Productivity: 3-4 hours per day
Music/Video: 2-3 hours per day
Phone: 1-2 hours per day
Organizer: 30min per day

Let's hope the battery can keep up. Thankfully it's removable and larger capacities are possible

[dbpaddler]

Exactly.

We like to talk about how different people need different needs, yet for some reason are trying to tell people who have evaluated their needs "You're wrong. You don't need to do that."

And in regards to chargers and batteries? A majority of people have car chargers for their phones. It's probably the most basic accessory out there and has been since the dawn of the cell phone. Extra batteries? Anyone that intensively uses their phone and knows it won't always last till they can charge it again has extra batteries. I have extra batteries for my Centro because I often run it down during the day when I don't have access to charge it. I even have a charger that will charge the battery separately. There are many 3rd party manufacturers selling extended batteries which indicate people need more juice than what the OEM is giving them. Why would I expect that habit to change for a device I plan to use more? Did battery technology suddenly leapfrog what we're currently using? Does the processor in the Pre mimic the difference between a dual core processor and an Atom processor? No. What a ludicrous statement. First you feel the need to dictate how we should make use of our phone and its storage. Now you create a ludicrous leap of carrying extra things to try and further your point. And yes, I used ludicrous twice.

Enough people seem to want choice, options or just plain more for various reasons and you just vehemently knock them down, pick them apart and say they are wrong and silly. It's just sad, and I have no clue why anyone would feel so negatively against others opinions.

[jhoff80]

I think Palm needs to release ANY new news just so we can stop having these same 3 discussions over and over again.

[berdinkerdickle]

I'm going to ask everyone again;

Don't debate it here!

This thread isn't the debate;
'people don't need this' or 'people shouldn't tell us' is not for this thread.

The OP is asking for how people currently or plan/hope to use their device.

lurking on this forum. Seriously I was unaware of this based on the fact that your phone already has less of a battery life than most mp3 players. I didn't know it was a big deal but maybe I am living in a technology stone age. Personally when I first got a phone that had external storage I stored music on my phone but being a big audiophile I prefer a separate device for my needs. That way I keep my battery in tact on my cell, and my music constantly playing. Is there anyone who will be using their Pre for minimal music use like myself?

This is not a thread to debate on how reasonable or unreasonable a person's use of their device is, or who needs to see things from a different angle, or you would be dumb to use your device for this or that.

[Gerorne]

Exactly.


And in regards to chargers and batteries? A majority of people have car chargers for their phones. It's probably the most basic accessory out there and has been since the dawn of the cell phone. Extra batteries? Anyone that intensively uses their phone and knows it won't always last till they can charge it again has extra batteries. I have extra batteries for my Centro because I often run it down during the day when I don't have access to charge it. I even have a charger that will charge the battery separately. There are many 3rd party manufacturers selling extended batteries which indicate people need more juice than what the OEM is giving them. Why would I expect that habit to change for a device I plan to use more? Did battery technology suddenly leapfrog what we're currently using? Does the processor in the Pre mimic the difference between a dual core processor and an Atom processor? No. What a ludicrous statement. First you feel the need to dictate how we should make use of our phone and its storage. Now you create a ludicrous leap of carrying extra things to try and further your point. And yes, I used ludicrous twice.

Enough people seem to want choice, options or just plain more for various reasons and you just vehemently knock them down, pick them apart and say they are wrong and silly. It's just sad, and I have no clue why anyone would feel so negatively against others opinions.

Was confused there for a second. I thought that second part was for me as well, but then went back and saw that it wasn't.

[dbpaddler]

sorry for the confusion. I get tired of quoting.

Was confused there for a second. I thought that second part was for me as well, but then went back and saw that it wasn't.

So to get back on topic. Because the Pre seems to have the capability to be a decent media player with it's nice screen, interface, processing power and 3.5 jack; I plan to use it for a media player. I use my Centro once in awhile for media, but the things that hold me back from using it more are absent on the Pre. The goal would be to use my smaller flash players less, and the Pre more.

Yes battery life is less than my standalone players, but I already carry extra batteries because the Centro battery life is less than ideal. So it's not a big deal for me to do the same with my next phone unless battery technology makes a quantum leap in the very near future.

[laravia18]

I'm going to ask everyone again;

Don't debate it here!

This thread isn't the debate;
'people don't need this' or 'people shouldn't tell us' is not for this thread.

The OP is asking for how people currently or plan/hope to use their device.



This is not a thread to debate on how reasonable or unreasonable a person's use of their device is, or who needs to see things from a different angle, or you would be dumb to use your device for this or that.

Thank you Berd! I can see both points of view easier by getting around to other threads and looking at people's needs. I wanted to get an understanding on how someone would use their device. Seeing as if a lot of people use their current phones for their music and movie needs I wanted to know was there a huge shift to using their phones as a multimedia player or was it just certain people who use their device as another way of storing their music/audiobooks/videos. Sorry I caused so much confusion with my poll. I had an idea for this poll and I was just trying to get into many of the posters mindset.

[marcol]

1st as a Phone
2nd as a Pda
3rd as Media Player.

For the Treos, Nokia E61 I had before the iPhone (my current device), top three (no particular order):

Phone
PDA
Navigation device

Everything else pretty distant.

The iPhone changed that. Top four:

Phone
PDA
Web browsing device
Media device

Games maybe fifth, everything else distant. Problem with the iPhone is that even with third-party apps it's still not a great PDA and it still doesn't have turn-by-turn navigation.

I'm hopeful that the Pre could give me a top five of:

Phone
PDA
Web browsing device
Media device
Navigation device

I've expressed my concerns about the media side in another thread and since it has been explicitly asked that we don't discuss that here I won't. Those concerns notwithstanding, however, I'm tending to the view that if the Pre comes with or can have added to it a decent turn-by-turn nav app (for the UK) I'll get the device. Of course if Apple suddenly decided to allow turn-by-turn navigation I'd probably need a rethink.

[Aero]

This is not a thread to debate on how reasonable or unreasonable a person's use of their device is, or who needs to see things from a different angle, or you would be dumb to use your device for this or that.

Thank you! We had two people come over and tag my direc tanswerr to the OP!

"Everyone you know" has iPod nanos, then? Because the iPhone can't "fully" replace any standard iPod sold since 2004 (20GB and up).

The metric you are empathizing as value then soley: memory capacity.

I tend to think the key elements for use as personal multimedia player are are connectivity plus storage capacity.

That is why the iphone is better than the ipdo in many respects and why you see so may people with iphones using iphone for multimedia, not as a convenience, but as functional preference.

[anon(45821)]

Current use on my 700P:
Email/texting/pim/web browsing: 60%
Media: 30% (usually streaming music via ptunes)
Phone: 10% (82 mins of talk time last month = 2.65 mins a day)

[SolarPlexus]

please guys,

don't come and sling your mud over here in this thread.

Take it back over to the 'obsession with more than 8gb' thread.

Thanks,
berd

+1

[SolarPlexus]

That is why the iphone is better than the ipdo in many respects and why you see so may people with iphones using iphone for multimedia, not as a convenience, but as functional preference.

Thats interesting. My wife has an iphone. Its an AMAZING device. But I would never use it to replace a dedicated device. BUT. I can definately see how some people would. It replaced her old Sandisk 4GB player. I guess I just can't imagine someone who is used to their ipod (not nano or whatever) junking it to use their iphone as their only device. Maybe to complement it...but not to replace it. I know some other folks with iphones.......Maybe I will ask them....
Interesting thoughts, though.....

[paulpenny]

When I still used my 750 regularly I didn't see it as a media player. I used it to surf some mobile optimised sites and to get some streaming radio occasionally but the "itunes" capabilities were not really used much.

Since I have switched to iPhone for my main phone I find that I do use the media capabilities more. The screen is fine for watching movies or tv shows when travelling and I listen to a lot of podcasts in the car.

On the downside, the pda capabilities are poor. The calendar is basic, you can't create documents and so I find that I just use it to add appointments and keep up with my email.

I'm currently back with my 750 for a week or two as I've lent my iPhone to my son whilst his has gone back for repair. PDA functionality on the 750 is way better than the iPhone.

So, the Pre seems to be the ideal cross between the two. It has proper pda emphasis but will still allow me to get my podcasts, view some tv or movies and have decent web browsing. So I expect to be using it as the ideal hybrid pda/media device.

[Dingle1911]

I agree, phone first, then pda, then media player. I use my 700p in that order. Battery life isn't a huge deal to me b/c I often have access to power in my car or at my office.

[Gameboy70]

Laravia,
The pre is pitched as a convergence device. I am circumspect on the battery, it is a difficult compromise given the empahis on form factor. But the competition is iPhone, which with everyone I know does replace their ipod. That is why Palm pitches Pre as a convergence device with the implicit replacement of your mp3 player.

"Convergence" is an amoeba word that means different things to different people. I interpret convergent as meaning "capable of playing any type or many types of media," but more than a few people on the forum interpret it as "capable of playing all of your media." Personally, I 80/20 my media selection for my Centro, meaning that I put the 20% of the music I listen to 80% of the time on my 8GB card, and use a PMP for the rest. The Centro is my default music device, since I have a replacement battery, but when I really need that other less listened-to music, the Creative is there.

Honestly, unless Palm is offering to buy the product for me, I couldn't care less how they pitch it (or in this case, Roger McNamee, not Palm in general). I buy products based on how the satisfy my requirements, not how they're marketed. I purchased the Centro because it can fit in my front pocket, not because it's positioned to a "youth market" that I'm not a part of.

[dbpaddler]

I don't think people are trying to replace their larger ipods, zunes, zens and what not. For me, if I already have to carry my phone, why would I want to continue carrying my flash player. Flash players are no longer single digit gigabyte players. Many have 8 and 16gb capacities, and many have expansion storage. I believe Apple dropped it's 4gb Nano outside of a limited edition version and has expanded to 16gb to keep up with the Zune. Creative and Sandisk have very double digit gig flash players as well. Heck, the tiny music only Sansa Clip comes in 8gb. If the market wasn't there for these larger gig flash players, then the companies wouldn't be making them. Consumers want more variety on smaller players so they don't have to carry the big gig hard drive based players as much. People are carrying around music based phones which have replaced flash players for some. Would think that as some of those people get older and need more business functionality, they'd be perfect candidates to drop the Chocolate, Fusic or whatever and get something like a Pre.

[swieder]

I use my Treo 680 everyday to listen to MP3s.

[erwos]

The plan is to replace my Zune, HTC Apache, and car GPS unit with the Pre. The only real question I have is sync'ing - the Zune software makes it so easy for me to just plug in my Zune and have a fresh bunch of podcasts and music waiting for me when I go to work. There's stuff like Media Monkey that can relieve some of the load, but it's not going to be as easy as the Zune or iTunes software, I should think. On-device interface is also a concern - it's no help to me if it's hard to play my music and podcasts how I like to play them.

The other thing I spend a lot of time with, but on my phone, is the email and web browsing. Thankfully, the Pre seems to have nailed these two applications pretty nicely.

[Rhody]

I currently have a Treo 800w. I do not use it for media for two reasons: 1) no 3.5mm jack, and 2) terrible battery life.

Aside from those two things, it would make a fine media player. Kinoma Play is excellent. But more than anything, the batter life is horrible. Sadly, I expect the same to be true for the Pre. I'm considering buying a Zune for my girlfriend, and I might buy one for myself, although it's not as good a video device as it is a music device.

[ADGrant]

lurking on this forum. Seriously I was unaware of this based on the fact that your phone already has less of a battery life than most mp3 players.

You clearly haven't been paying attention to iPhone sales.