[BlueSkyBlueWind]

First of all, let me clarify that this is not a Palm-Pre bashing or iPhone-fanboying thread.

I've been a loyal Palm user since Palm V. Currently I have iPhone 3G, but previous to that I also had Treo 650 and Treo 755p, both from Sprint.

There was some mess up by Spring with my Personal and Business accounts that both became unusable (cannot receive or make calls) and couldn't keep my number without porting over other carrier. So at that time, I moved to the iPhone bandwagon.

Although I don't like Apple and don't want to be associated with the Apple Fanboys (I really don't like Apple - but their products are really good), but I must admit that iPhone is the best cellphone out there in my opinion. Both in its appearance and functionality.

Ever since I heard about the launching of new Palm (Pre), I've been very excited and finally I pulled my trigger 2 days ago and got mine. After reading various reviews and threads, however, I was skeptical of the quality of the hardware and the software, but I decided to give it a shot and see if I want to cancel iPhone account and migrate back to Sprint with Pre.

My first impression was... wow this phone feels great in my hand. But, the quality of the hardware is inferior to that of iPhone. Pre feels like just any other smartphones out there, nothing special, nothing sexy about it. It was disappointing but none of the Palm products had any hint of sexyness, so that wasn't a deal breaker.

My biggest and foremost gripe of Pre is... its performance, or the lack thereof. It's sooooooooooooo slow and sluggish. Every app that I try to launch takes 2-3 seconds minimum. iPhone does its UI trick to hide the loading, but considering Pre has much faster CPU, I was hoping it to be at least par with 3G but it's not. Even though there is no other card open, it takes so long to open things. Even making phone calls takes so long (compared to iPhone) if there is some other apps opened. If nothing is opened, at least the phone module comes out quickly, but opening Contacts is so darn slow even if nothing is opened - and I now only have about 40 or so contacts only! If there are about 3 cards or more opened, even the phone modules slows down and sometimes it takes 10 or so seconds to respond to my touches properly.

Exchange Email and Calendar are key functions for my job. Although Palm Pre is doing okay in those aspects, I feel that they are not very refined in Pre and things are presented and handled better in iPhone

I'd love to love Pre. I would take it over iPhone any day as long as its performance and the utility are on par with iPhone. But at this time, nothing is on par. (Of course, there are things Pre is much better than iPhone, but I don't think they are really big deal that can overcome the current shortcomings.)

ex-iPhone owners, how do you feel? Only if the speed was acceptable, I wouldn't even considering returning Pre. But I am not quite certain if I can throw the usefulness of iPhone now and just live with Pre. I wonder if Palm would be able to optimize the webOS significantly anytime soon. Hmmm.

P.S. Also, howcome even Palm's own website is not optimized for Palm Pre? what's up with that?

[beret9987]

First of all, let me clarify that this is not a Palm-Pre bashing or iPhone-fanboying thread.

I've been a loyal Palm user since Palm V. Currently I have iPhone 3G, but previous to that I also had Treo 650 and Treo 755p, both from Sprint.

There was some mess up by Spring with my Personal and Business accounts that both became unusable (cannot receive or make calls) and couldn't keep my number without porting over other carrier. So at that time, I moved to the iPhone bandwagon.

Although I don't like Apple and don't want to be associated with the Apple Fanboys (I really don't like Apple - but their products are really good), but I must admit that iPhone is the best cellphone out there in my opinion. Both in its appearance and functionality.

Ever since I heard about the launching of new Palm (Pre), I've been very excited and finally I pulled my trigger 2 days ago and got mine. After reading various reviews and threads, however, I was skeptical of the quality of the hardware and the software, but I decided to give it a shot and see if I want to cancel iPhone account and migrate back to Sprint with Pre.

My first impression was... wow this phone feels great in my hand. But, the quality of the hardware is inferior to that of iPhone. Pre feels like just any other smartphones out there, nothing special, nothing sexy about it. It was disappointing but none of the Palm products had any hint of sexyness, so that wasn't a deal breaker.

My biggest and foremost gripe of Pre is... its performance, or the lack thereof. It's sooooooooooooo slow and sluggish. Every app that I try to launch takes 2-3 seconds minimum. iPhone does its UI trick to hide the loading, but considering Pre has much faster CPU, I was hoping it to be at least par with 3G but it's not. Even though there is no other card open, it takes so long to open things. Even making phone calls takes so long (compared to iPhone) if there is some other apps opened. If nothing is opened, at least the phone module comes out quickly, but opening Contacts is so darn slow even if nothing is opened - and I now only have about 40 or so contacts only! If there are about 3 cards or more opened, even the phone modules slows down and sometimes it takes 10 or so seconds to respond to my touches properly.

Exchange Email and Calendar are key functions for my job. Although Palm Pre is doing okay in those aspects, I feel that they are not very refined in Pre and things are presented and handled better in iPhone

I'd love to love Pre. I would take it over iPhone any day as long as its performance and the utility are on par with iPhone. But at this time, nothing is on par. (Of course, there are things Pre is much better than iPhone, but I don't think they are really big deal that can overcome the current shortcomings.)

ex-iPhone owners, how do you feel? Only if the speed was acceptable, I wouldn't even considering returning Pre. But I am not quite certain if I can throw the usefulness of iPhone now and just live with Pre. I wonder if Palm would be able to optimize the webOS significantly anytime soon. Hmmm.

P.S. Also, howcome even Palm's own website is not optimized for Palm Pre? what's up with that?

I have to say that hardware quality is not up to "Apple" standards yet but I'm blaming that on whoever is manufacturing that for them. Software can be a bit pokey but the multi-tasking just blows Cupertino out of the water. God forbid, I can text/AIM, surf the net and listen to Pandora all at the same time!

Another point, I do wish the storage capacity was bigger(I feel jipped in my own right, coming from a 16GB iPhone 3G), but as I stated before, software is great on the Pre and its thats the thing thats keeping me with Sprint(along with the awesome rate plans)

[KoukiFC3S]

10 sec really? Never experienced that.

[Kev1000000]

I felt EXACTLY the same way you are feeling coming from 2 years on an iPhone. But the more I use my Pre, the more I love it. The notification system, the multitasking, and synergy are what is keeping me from returning my Pre. I am just sick of Apple and the iPhone, while very nice, was losing its appeal, especially since 3.0 did not really add a whole lot.

My biggest grip still is the slowness of the UI. Things dont scroll as smoothly as the iPhone, and apps do take a bit to load. However, we all know WebOS and the Pre was rushed out the door, and optimizations usually happen at the very end. I honestly think Palm will iron out these issues relatively quickly, and we'll have the performance and scrolling smoothness we are used to on the iPhone very soon.

Some of the performance issues seem like debug logging code. I am developer myself, and logging can really chug animations and performance. Once Palm fixes some of these glaring bugs, I think they'll focus on speed improvements and new features.

And again, the more I use the phone in real world situations, the less I miss my iPhone.

[jsimon9633]

I am an iphone original and 3g owner

I am fairly haopy, the multitasking is incredible

But alas like any software of this order the 1.0 is not refined

Much like iphone os 1.0

I miss things on the iphone but generally I see good potential for the webos

Its obvious some resource optimizing is in order. It feels like a laptop that's new but full of bloatware

hright now palms priority , and rightly so is getting out the SDK and fixing/optimizing code

I am willing to stick it out until at least next july when iphone 4G comes out then I will have to see where palm stands both software and hardware

[mrloserpunk]

I am an iphone original and 3g owner

I am fairly haopy, the multitasking is incredible

But alas like any software of this order the 1.0 is not refined

Much like iphone os 1.0

I miss things on the iphone but generally I see good potential for the webos

Its obvious some resource optimizing is in order. It feels like a laptop that's new but full of bloatware

hright now palms priority , and rightly so is getting out the SDK and fixing/optimizing code

I am willing to stick it out until at least next july when iphone 4G comes out then I will have to see where palm stands both software and hardware

really, att's 4g network by july? Or do u think CDMA iphone on sprint? Att's 4g is 2-3 years out by most estimates...and really the only 4g network next year would be.......would that be Palm Pre 4g what you were thinking of ;P

[dog44]

I love my pre but i understand the iphone i got when it came out two years ago was lacking way more than the pre started off. Palm has a good start they just have to catch up on their app catalog.

[jsimon9633]

really, att's 4g network by july? Or do u think CDMA iphone on sprint? Att's 4g is 2-3 years out by most estimates...and really the only 4g network next year would be.......would that be Palm Pre 4g what you were thinking of ;P

Whoops I meant 4th gen iphone not 4G speed

Palm pre v 2 will probably address the hardware issues and if it had 4g network speeds that'd be great

Then again maybe it'll be on verizon as well

Tough choices next year

I gotta say though sprint service has been fine for me

Except at home ( but they gave me free airave and service) and now I get full servie in my home

[mrloserpunk]

Palms advantage is gonna be the OS. With multiple styles and Forms Pre,EoS and maybe a TREO ULTIMATE business line! (palm if you were going to ever hear me...hear me now!)

I've been really impressed with sprints data speeds. At home I was 1-2 bars EVDO before 1.0.3 but been pretty solid 4 since. 4th gen Iphone with address the multitasking i'm sure...

[agent2099]

I never owned an Iphone but I was a T-Mobile customer and had the choice between the Iphone 3GS and the Pre. I agree with your gripes with the pre, it's definitely not as responsive as the Iphone (can be forgiven easier by me since I was coming from WM6) and it doesn't feel as sturdy as the Iphone. The build quality is an overblown issue though IMO as the Pre is actually built quite well and my Pre has been to War and back. Maybe it doesn't feel as solid as the iphone in your hands but it's right up there with every other non-iphone.

So speed ended up being the last straw for you and sent you back to the iphone. Well what tipped the tide for me in favor of the Pre was the rate plans. Apples iphone plans are absolutely ridiculous. Had the plans been equal I'd probably have an iphone right now (and give up the multitasking and physical keyboard).

But we all have things that make us tick. For you it's having the fastest phone out there, for me it's not paying 60% more for the same plan.

[enjoyingsilence]

In a nutshell, compared to my iPhone, I am happy with (the few day I had with) my Pre.

Compared to the culmination of other phones I've had in life (in excess of 100-150 phones.

No. I am not happy.

[drjt82]

I used the iphone for roughly two years and I can say that I was not planning to part with it...however atts rate plans are a tad outrageous considering I get the same functionality from sprint for about 50 dollars less...but the transition has been relatively easy like the iphone the UI on the pre is equisite on par with the iphone....I will agree on the point that some apps are generally a bit sluggish (mainly on start up) but as mentioned this is to be expected from a 1.0 device the pre will only get better and become more and more efficient...I would recommend sticking with the iphone for job purposes until WebOs is debugged but then my friend you will have a truly difficult decision on your hands....cheers

[mrloserpunk]

I never owned an Iphone but I was a T-Mobile customer and had the choice between the Iphone 3GS and the Pre. I agree with your gripes with the pre, it's definitely not as responsive as the Iphone (can be forgiven easier by me since I was coming from WM6) and it doesn't feel as sturdy as the Iphone. The build quality is an overblown issue though IMO as the Pre is actually built quite well and my Pre has been to War and back. Maybe it doesn't feel as solid as the iphone in your hands but it's right up there with every other non-iphone.

So speed ended up being the last straw for you and sent you back to the iphone. Well what tipped the tide for me in favor of the Pre was the rate plans. Apples iphone plans are absolutely ridiculous. Had the plans been equal I'd probably have an iphone right now (and give up the multitasking and physical keyboard).

But we all have things that make us tick. For you it's having the fastest phone out there, for me it's not paying 60% more for the same plan.

I was speaking to someone today in the same situation, he wanted me to cut him a deal so bad, he was almost begging just so he could buy the iphone. I can't change rate plan. He wanted to get my employee discount so he could afford the phone and family plan with 2 iphones...Funny, I dont get an employee discount...I use sprint

[kinster02]

I think people fail to realize that with the Pre is not about speed because you can open one app go to the next one while first opens and have them running in the back ground where you don't have to open them again. The Iphone needs that speed more because do to the inability to multi task it has to constantly open and close apps.

[mrloserpunk]

I think people fail to realize that with the Pre is not about speed because you can open one app go to the next one while first opens and have them running in the back ground where you don't have to open them again. The Iphone needs that speed more because do to the inability to multi task it has to constantly open and close apps.

I've noticed that as well, unfortunately I run out of things I need to do while waiting for pandora to start playing

[Ben7seven7]

This is a 1.x version operating system. The iPhone ran like garbage when it initially came out and was strewn with bugs and problems and apps were non existant. But now look at it? Give Palm and WebOS time and it will eventually shine as bright as the iPhone Star, if not brighter even as I think the webos seems to have more potential than the iPhone's OS. And Sprint's service is better than ATT too.

[mrloserpunk]

This is a 1.x version operating system. The iPhone ran like garbage when it initially came out and was strewn with bugs and problems and apps were non existant. But now look at it? Give Palm and WebOS time and it will eventually shine as bright as the iPhone Star, if not brighter even as I think the webos seems to have more potential than the iPhone's OS. And Sprint's service is better than ATT too.

I totally agree. With the kinks worked out, webos is gonna be huge...

[groovy]

I've never waiting 10 seconds for my phone to do anything except possibly the app store.

[Ben7seven7]

I've never waiting 10 seconds for my phone to do anything except possibly the app store.

Ditto, even with multiple cards open, it takes a few seconds at absolute most for some apps to load. For the most part things load up within 2 or 3 seconds. The Phone app loads the fastest.

[mrloserpunk]

I've never waiting 10 seconds for my phone to do anything except possibly the app store.

Outta curiosity, how much stuff is on your phone?