[showson1]

Good move or no?

I know it's only been a few hours, but could I get some honest opinions from people that used an iPhone as their primary phone before the pre?

Thanks!

[DDD]

Still evaluating. Waiting on news monday about 3.0 and maybe new iPhone. Pre has some great things, but there are some things the iPhone does better. So, no clear winner for me at this time.

[swivet#CB]

I am a current iPhone 3G user and I picked up the Pre this morning to try out before deciding to port my number. I have yet to really sit down heavy with it as I'm letting it charge on the touchstone now. But from the brief time I have spent with it, here are my thoughts:

Overall it truly is an absolute winner. After using it for only a few minutes, going back to the iPhone actually was quite strange. It felt like the iPhone no longer fit right and it was oversized or something. It felt really big and sort of awkward. The Pre just fits exceptionally well in your hand - really the best phone I've ever held in my hand design wise.

I rely heavy on MobileMe to keep all of my computers and iPhone in sync, as well as using it for email, so I was pretty nervous as a Mac user coming to the Pre; especially since I don't use Facebook or Twitter. But I downloaded the Pre migration utility posted on Palm's website and it transferred all of Address Book contacts (with pics and all), as well as iCal events, without a hitch. I was actually surprised and beyond happy that it did exactly what it claimed to.

WebOS is just stellar as can be. Card view is the balls; definitely has an Apple feel to it. The scrolling around is just slightly less smooth than the iPhone, but probably only noticeable to heavy iPhone users who are nitpicky about such a thing. It's that close.

The browser is pretty on par with Safari. This was major for me. I use Safari constantly on my iPhone. The Pre might load slightly faster than Safari, but they're pretty close. The opening bookmark page screen is a nice feature as well. The iPhone, however, syncs my bookmarks with MobileMe and matches my Macs exactly, so I might give it the edge because of that.

Now for the keyboard... it's actually not bad at all. I haven't had issue with it in the slightest. I can blaze like no one's business on the iPhone and Blackberry Bold keyboards, and I was cruising pretty well on this one as well. Having a physical keyboard really is nice, especially while driving - not that we should be texting while driving, but not having to look at the keyboard is nice.

The only bad thing I have to say about the Pre so far is not even a fault of the Pre (I hope at least). I am smack dab on the Las Vegas strip and the Pre has been fluctuating between full EVDO to none, to full 1x. The iPhone 3G will fluctuate a bit as well but nowhere near as much as Sprint service has been since I got home an hour ago. However I get a ridiculous amount of failed calls on ATT and weird garbled calling out issues all the time on both my ATT phones all over Vegas. But I am pretty nervous about this Sprint service and that might be a deciding factor in itself.

I'm going to dive in heavy once the Pre is off the Touchstone and I will report back. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask because I'm in the same boat as you. I am anxious to see what Apple announces Monday.

[Chessh2036]

I am coming from a iPhone 3G also, and this guys is 100% right on. Its exactly how I feel, im nervous about Sprints network but other than that the phone is amazing. I think the iphone feels a little better quality wise and obviously does some things better than the Pre, but the pre over all is really a great phone

I am a current iPhone 3G user and I picked up the Pre this morning to try out before deciding to port my number. I have yet to really sit down heavy with it as I'm letting it charge on the touchstone now. But from the brief time I have spent with it, here are my thoughts:

Overall it truly is an absolute winner. After using it for only a few minutes, going back to the iPhone actually was quite strange. It felt like the iPhone no longer fit right and it was oversized or something. It felt really big and sort of awkward. The Pre just fits exceptionally well in your hand - really the best phone I've ever held in my hand design wise.

I rely heavy on MobileMe to keep all of my computers and iPhone in sync, as well as using it for email, so I was pretty nervous as a Mac user coming to the Pre; especially since I don't use Facebook or Twitter. But I downloaded the Pre migration utility posted on Palm's website and it transferred all of Address Book contacts (with pics and all), as well as iCal events, without a hitch. I was actually surprised and beyond happy that it did exactly what it claimed to.

WebOS is just stellar as can be. Card view is the balls; definitely has an Apple feel to it. The scrolling around is just slightly less smooth than the iPhone, but probably only noticeable to heavy iPhone users who are nitpicky about such a thing. It's that close.

The browser is pretty on par with Safari. This was major for me. I use Safari constantly on my iPhone. The Pre might load slightly faster than Safari, but they're pretty close. The opening bookmark page screen is a nice feature as well. The iPhone, however, syncs my bookmarks with MobileMe and matches my Macs exactly, so I might give it the edge because of that.

Now for the keyboard... it's actually not bad at all. I haven't had issue with it in the slightest. I can blaze like no one's business on the iPhone and Blackberry Bold keyboards, and I was cruising pretty well on this one as well. Having a physical keyboard really is nice, especially while driving - not that we should be texting while driving, but not having to look at the keyboard is nice.

The only bad thing I have to say about the Pre so far is not even a fault of the Pre (I hope at least). I am smack dab on the Las Vegas strip and the Pre has been fluctuating between full EVDO to none, to full 1x. The iPhone 3G will fluctuate a bit as well but nowhere near as much as Sprint service has been since I got home an hour ago. However I get a ridiculous amount of failed calls on ATT and weird garbled calling out issues all the time on both my ATT phones all over Vegas. But I am pretty nervous about this Sprint service and that might be a deciding factor in itself.

I'm going to dive in heavy once the Pre is off the Touchstone and I will report back. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask because I'm in the same boat as you. I am anxious to see what Apple announces Monday.

[jjlucsy]

For me the biggest gripe is missing all the apps I have on the iPhone to keep myself organized. Some of my apps have web portals as well, but the Pre browser doesn't seem to do well with those. The sooner the SDK is opened for all, the happier I'll be. It needs WAY more apps.

[HandyDJs.com]

The only bad thing I have to say about the Pre so far is not even a fault of the Pre (I hope at least). I am smack dab on the Las Vegas strip and the Pre has been fluctuating between full EVDO to none, to full 1x. The iPhone 3G will fluctuate a bit as well but nowhere near as much as Sprint service has been since I got home an hour ago. However I get a ridiculous amount of failed calls on ATT and weird garbled calling out issues all the time on both my ATT phones all over Vegas. But I am pretty nervous about this Sprint service and that might be a deciding factor in itself.

Funny you should mention this EVDO/1x phenomenon on the strip. While I was in my hotel room at the Riviera during a convention, I noticed frequent "lockups" and switchings between EVDO & 1x on my Treo. In fact, it was very slow on the convention floor there. All the vendors were complaining that their aircards were not working well, too. But I have very rarely seen this happen elsewhere. I live in Ohio and travel frequently.

[supervillain]

my girlfriend has the iphone. I used to use it all the time stice I had a curve. I can say the pre bests both tjose phones. The iphone is no longer attractive to me.

[valvalis]

I'm keeping both. The Pre's multi-tasking is the big win for it, and I absolutely love it for that. The iPhone on the other hand has a screen that feels better and has the apps going for it. Still waiting for the Pre's app selection to develop before I say it's an absolute win.

Also, holding the iPhone in landscape feels a lot better than holding the Pre in landscape.

[pufftissue]

Those of you who have now used both, do you think that the Pre is basically an iphone for Sprint users or is there truly something different and compelling about the Pre that will cause current iPhone users to defect to the Pre?

If applicable, are you glad you gave up your SERO plan--even after the novelty wears off?

[swivet#CB]

I can't post a link yet but if you check out the thread right below yours we have been discussing this topic there:

"For those that got their pre and swtiched from iPhone.."

[rj5620]

Presently syncing my Pre~ as an iPod with my iMac and the iPhone is sitting in the Sprint bag on the other side of the room. I will use the Pre for the next 30 days and we shall see, so far I really like it. It is small and feels like a weathered skipping rock found by the shore. The throwing the apps up and away is the ****s man. I love it. I always look at form then function, art in a cell phone catches my eye. Hope Sprint sells boo coo today, we can have a lot of new apps in the coming weeks and improvements in the WebOS. I want notification when it is asleep.

[DogEarsAZ]

Whole buncha stuff....

Jacked is spot on with everything stated sans one. Cardview is not balls, it's the nicest view of the two valleys, you have it backwards

WebOS is absolutely stellar, even better than I imagined. That feeling you got when first using the iPhone, when you were like OMG this is so sweet! Well, that's back again and in spades I might add. They out-phoned the iPhone, pure and simple.

I've been comparing the two all morning and going back to the iPhone, it feels like it was made for my kids now that I've been using the Pre for the last few hours. WebOS feels, just more natural is the best way to put it. The way notifications are done, simple things like 2 taps to turn off Wi-Fi, the beauty of the Email client, etc.. The email on the iPhone is a massive joke when you are trying to manage multiple accounts. No unified Inbox, no favorites, you can't sync more than one Exchange account, etc..

One thing that has been mentioned a lot is the limited battery life, and while I can certainly see that, people have really short memories. When the 3G was released a huge portion of the population had god-awful battery life, but it's been a year and we have all forgotten. I couldn't make it 6 hours without needing to plug it into my laptop until 2.1 dropped. I haven't used it an entire day yet, so it's hard to comment, and I think in a week we'll know the real story on battery life. But I can definitely see the need to juice it up late in the afternoon if you are a heavy user. With luck, a lot of this will be addressed with an update, just like they did with the 3G. I picked up a car charger, because as a .net consultant I do have a fair bit of driving most days.

Keyboard, when I saw it I was like "OMG that's tiny", and after using it, well it's not going to bother me one bit. After a day or two of use you will be flying along, unless you are just uncoordinated, then god(s) help you I'm really really happy to have a physical keyboard again.

I live in the Phoenix area, and the Sprint network out here is stellar, but this varies by region and affects all carriers. I was with Sprint a couple of years ago, moved to the iPhone, and now back again. Speeds on the data network here are quite impressive. AT&T, not so good in comparison, so moving to the Pre is a huge + for me here.

I met a rabid iPhone buddy for lunch, and after playing with the Pre for an hour he was ready to switch. After using it all of the iPhones holes suddenly became apparent to him. He's at home to talking to his wife about it right now. I really didn't show him much, he's a huge gadget freak so I just let him play and figure things out. There were a lot of "OMG, that's awesome", "holy ****e that's sweet" comments throughout lunch. He's hoping the 3.0 software fixes some of the issues, but if it doesn't he'll be jumping camp me thinks. His last comment was "man, my iPhone feels so dated now". If you knew this guy, that's saying something because he LOVES his iPhone.

I tested out the turn by turn on the way back from lunch. I was impressed, as it easily matches my wife's 2 year old TomTom. I haven' evaluated anything more recent so can't comment beyond that. But when I hopped onto the 101, the traffic alert service told me there was congestion 10.2 miles ahead and I squealed like a little girl because I knew the freeway was closed (only in Arizona do the shutdown the entire goddamm freeway on the weekends).

My primary reason for wanting to ditch the iPhone is the ungodly horrid reliability it has as a phone. I've been calling it "my iDevice" for about 6 months, because it just absolutely sucks as a phone. Not to mention that AT&T doesn't have the greatest network, especially near my house, so it makes it tough to lay the blame. But the minimum of 3-4 dropped calls/day won't be part of my life anymore. I've made about 9 calls this morning both in and out of the house and every single one has been perfect. With the iPhone, I guarantee you that 3 of those would have dropped, minimum. Not everyone actually needs a phone anymore, but I'm not one of those people.

I am one happy panda!

[swivet#CB]

I'm keeping both. The Pre's multi-tasking is the big win for it, and I absolutely love it for that. The iPhone on the other hand has a screen that feels better and has the apps going for it. Still waiting for the Pre's app selection to develop before I say it's an absolute win.

Also, holding the iPhone in landscape feels a lot better than holding the Pre in landscape.

This is true. Landscape is better on the iPhone, mainly because you can type with a landscape keyboard (well, in some apps...at least for the next 48 hours).

[pufftissue]

my bad, sorry. no need to answer people.

[fbeaumont]

for web browsing, in landscape mode the Pre is significantly smaller.. of course the Pre itself has a significantly smaller footprint.

The Pre may render or text wrap pages maybe a bit better than iphone - and I think the text is just a bit crisper (even though the relative size is a bit smaller).

I kind of wish the Pre screen was a bit bigger.. but the overall size is a nice small pebble.

[pufftissue]

I was a pedestrian and almost hit by a car. Would have been if I hadn't been the one to realize this dude doesn't see me...and that's because the guy was texting/talking, whatever. It was then that it became a pet peeve of mine. So now I don't do it and neither should anyone imho.

Most of the professional reviews seem to say that the hardware is cheap feeling, but relatively few people in this forum think so.

[swivet#CB]

Yes, I would have to say that this hardware is anything but cheap feeling. It feels like a typical cell phone. Slides nicely as well. I would compare the quality to the Bold while holding them both in my hands. Dropping it will scare you as much as when you drop your iPhone.

Oh, and yes puff - I agree. I try to no longer text while driving. Just not worth it. At red lights I do though...and fast.

[Pioneer]

This is true. Landscape is better on the iPhone, mainly because you can type with a landscape keyboard (well, in some apps...at least for the next 48 hours).

I was told by the Pre guru when I bought mine that there will be a software upgrade soon that will include a virtual keyboard in landscape mode.

[swivet#CB]

Well I have come to the general conclusion that the Pre is the best phone available...on Sprint. If you are already a Sprint customer and have good service then it is a no brainer; this is the phone for you. However....

I won't be leaving ATT and instead will be returning the Pre in favor of the new iPhone or at least 3.0. Unfortunately, I can't maintain a Sprint signal at my location. My iPhone and Bold both have full 3G. I understand I could get the AirRave antenna deal but I just shouldn't have to when I'm smack dab in the middle of Las Vegas surrounded by hotels and cell towers - also one of the places Sprint is launching 4G at soon.

Seems that my Pre (and many others per the forum posts) are developing heat splotches on the screen. I'm on my 2nd Pre and the same thing is true (Sprint exchanged my first unit because the J key didn't depress). On the Touchstone the splotches appear at the bottom; with the USB charger they appear on the right side adjacent to the USB port.

When closed I absolutely love the Pre. Hardware wise it's beyond a pleasure to hold in your hand. But I just can't fall in love with the interface in its entirety. Scrolling and double tap zoom is a tad shy of the caliber of the iPhone and just a bit more jittery. But not by much. Just enough for picky iPhone users. Like it or hate it, the iPhone just nailed it right and is the standard by which all other touchscreens will always be compared. On the Pre you actually see a grid of dots, which I assume are for touch sensitivity.

When the screen goes dark on the Pre you can't push the center button to awaken it, and if the phone is open from typing last, clicking the power button is inconvenient because it sits behind the opened screen. It's not a deal breaker, but on the iPhone you can just click the home button and get rolling again.

I can't seem to fall in love with the email client on the Pre either. I set up my gmail account and it actually deleted all my other contacts and calendar information from my Palm Profile. When I sent a 134kb .wav attachment of the 24 CTU Ringtone to my email it took a while to load over WiFi (since I don't get service) and it would stream, but that's it. It's similar to Mail, but again, it just doesn't seem as intuitive or pleasureable as the iPhone. Also it took a few minutes for it to show up on the Pre despite arriving instantly on my Mac.

The keyboard is not bad by any means but I don't find it to be as good as the iPhone after prolonged use. The sharpness surrounding it doesn't bother me at all, but personally I prefer the flow of typing on the iPhone. Even though it's a virtual glass keyboard it honestly just feels better. I really miss the standard double space to insert a period as well, as found on the iPhone and Blackberry. I am also not a big fan of the text selection implementation used for copy paste, etc on the Pre. It just doesn't make sense or work properly for me. And not being able to copy paste text that isn't editable is a deal breaker. Manufacturers should know by now how vital this is, especially to the business user.

As lame as it sounds, it really just comes down to the overall feel of the Pre vs the iPhone. The iPhone, for me, just feels right when navigating around and banging out type fast. The sliding of the keyboard vs having the virtual keyboard just appear is actually a bit annoying to me after doing it all day.

I absolutely wish the iPhone had the Pre's Card View and gesture implementation because that is the best feature set of any phone ever created. Flicks and gestures to open, close, go back, etc are just the best idea EVER. The hardware design is just amazing. I wish the iPhone was shaped and sized like this.

I have to say as a package, the iPhone is better suited to my tastes. I want to love the Pre so badly, and if it was on ATT and got reception at my location I would be more inclined to give it deeper chance. But a phone has to work where you need it to, so I can't justify the Pre in this case. I just wish Apple, Blackberry, and Palm would team up on one monster device. That would be a dream come true.

[cjdaniel]

My first impression is that it works so much better for me than iPhone. Honestly I fell into the hype of the iPhone, and that is why I bought it. I should have returned it and didn't. Apple replaced my iPhone 3 times and they blamed ATT and ATT blamed Apple for all the problems I have had with the phone portionn. I have never really liked it other than the cool apps. I bought a G1 to use for a phone and never ended servie with the 3G, I tend to use it for texting as I can type faster on the iphone w/o a keybaord than I can on the g1 with a keyboard.

The pre fits natually in my hand and I don't mind just holding it. The iphone does feel, as I mentioned in another thread, like a '79 Buick,in my hand.

I am happy so far. Battery life with every smartphone I have had sucked to I guess I have lo expectations.

AS far as Sprint goes, I am thrilled. I had Sprint with the 755P and their coverage in this area has been greatly improved.

ATT did the mhz change, merged with Cingular and the sell off of towers to T-Mobile.
I have zero coverage with the iphone at work, except outside. I had ATT(Cingular) for years at the same place without issue.

I am very happy with the Pre so far. I am a camera buff, and the camera seems very nice, I can't wait to download them.