[PedroTheGoat]

The Palm Pre lacks nothing. Nothing at all. I will hear nothing disputing this.


I also don't like trucks.

; )

[Pearl_Diva]

Sorry, but you are clearly not an iPhone user. I'm very comfortable in saying that iPhone apps blow Palm os apps away in quality and quantity. I use my iPhone for my work and personal email, task management, attachment viewing, ebook reading, on-line banking, note taking, Instant Messanging, games, music, photography, Keynote remote control, web browsing, database management, etc.

Any app that is available for both Palm OS and the iPhone is usually far superior on the iPhone. If the iPhone is just a multimedia phone, then what is a treo?

I am a gadget lover, so I will buy a pre. I can only hope the software matches the iPhone.

I disagree also. Most useful iPhone apps are born out of what the iPhone should have had built in. Filling in shortcomings don't make "blow away" apps.

[cardfan]

Mobileman... it would make your point much more tagible for a lot of people here if you actually gave examples. (assuming a lot of people here are like me and have only a limited experience with an iphone, and certainly much less experience with its app store.

cardfan... I'd like to know how you came up with your specific list for Palm's big apps, and why the list stops there.

It's hard to evaluate either's point with a short list that doesn't describe any criteria for how the list was made, to a vague statement of "the iphone's apps are better."

That's just it. My list of apps will differ from anyone else's. And so i guess the value you place on a smartphone will differ depending on how you use it and what your needs are. As well as the value of the apps.

The iphone works for him. Which is great. Works for me too because that's what i use currently. But i imagine the Pre will work even better for me given what i value in a smartphone as well as a cheaper carrier with faster, better coverage in my area. Heck, i'll save a lot of money the day i ebay that iphone and tell at&T to go screw themselves along with their insane plan, little fees and crappy service. Hopefully the Pre won't drop calls left and right but i've gotten used to it with the iphone.

[paulpenny]

The iPhone is a great product and having been without it for a week now I do miss it in some ways. At the same time, going back to my 750 has served to remind me that the iPhone does have it's weaknesses too.

I much prefer a physical keyboard. I like the calendar, Agenda One, much more than the iPhone calendar. In an ideal world, there would be a third party application on the iPhone that would give me the same functionality but Apple won't allow it.

I like that I can stream BBC radio on my 750 which I can't do on my iPhone. There is no technical reason why the iPhone couldn't do it. But I hate that I can't use my normal 3.5mm headphones to listen to it.

My experience of iPhone apps is that there are good ones and bad ones. But my big gripe is finding the stuff that is useful to me. If I am looking for something particular I don't think that the way it is categorised is conducive to finding it easily. Looking under productivity and finding thousands of apps, many doing completely different things, is not helpful. and very often the names of the apps don't help much either.

[mobileman]

I disagree also. Most useful iPhone apps are born out of what the iPhone should have had built in. Filling in shortcomings don't make "blow away" apps.

Maybe most useful apps to you, but to me I find incredible value and quality in lots of 3rd party apps. Here are some of my first screen apps......

Omnifocus - there is no task management app on any other mobile device even close to this. The Omni Group - OmniFocus for iPhone and iPod touch

Note2Self - I use this app to leave myself voice memos. The app starts recording when I lift the phone to my mouth. When finished it automatically emails me a copy so I can store it also on my laptop. I have read a newer version will transcribe the voice notes into text.Welcome to WebIS.net - Note2Self for iPhone

Splash ID - Password protection app, far better than the Palm OS version. Sync from my laptop to iPhone over encrypted wi-fi.

MLB at Bat - Big Met fan (I'm crying on the inside). This app allows me to follow in-game highlights and scores. The 2009 version will offer in game audio broadcasts. If you like baseball, buy this app.MLB.com At Bat™ | MLB.com: Mobile

BeejiveIM - used it first on my old Blackberry curve. Its by far the best IM client available. Landscape keyboard, awesome graphics, text and email notifications. Since I started using this app, I find myself never logging into IM anymore on my laptop. I do it all from my iPhone. Beejive - instant messaging anywhere

Evernote - Future PRE owners should start migrating their outlook tasks to this app now. Awesome note take app that integrates real nice with outlook. The iPhone client is very nice. Evernote for iPhone | Evernote Corporation

Stanza - I have a long train commute each day. Gives me plenty of time to read. This ebook reader allows me to create my own ebooks, download directly from fictionwise, or purchase from ereader.com. Love the interface. Stanza: a Revolution in Reading | Lexcycle

Pandora Radio - Internet radio at its best. Love it. Please create a PRE version. Pandora Radio - Listen to Free Internet Radio, Find New Music

AP News Application - I'm a news junkie. This app is awesome. World news, local news, sports, business, weather, entertainment, etc.. All included in an app with an incredible UI.

Wikipanion Plus - I need to do a lot of research for my job. Nothing beats Wiki. This app for the iPhone allows me to download articles to save and view later. The Wikipanion Experience: Plus Features

X-Plane - I am a amateur pilot. This app is an incredible flight simulator program with a desktop quality. If you like to fly, try this app. Click the link to see the graphics. New York

Now Playing - App that will show movie times at local theaters, reviews, trailers. Its last update brought Netflix queue management. All your movie needs are done in this app. NowPlaying - metasyntactic - Google Code


Other apps I use: NY Times, Handbase, Chase on-line banking, Texas hold em poker, Twitteriffic, USA today crosswords, Amazon shopping app, lots others.

[Pearl_Diva]

Pandora=fun app, I have it too.

I do agree that some of those others are good, but I don't know about better than Palm OS versions just because they're developed for the iPhone. But I was mainly thinking of those apps relating to contacts, messaging, calender and tasks. They are what the iPhone should have had to begin with, so I can't say I'm blown away by them, just that they made the iPhone actually usable for more than just fun.

[MannyZ28]

A flight simulator on a phone....that just puts it in perspective just how far we have come.... Remember Flight Simulator on the Commodore 64 and Atari ST, or on the first 286 computers?

Off topic....but looking at those screenshots was pretty amazing.

[mobileman]

Pandora=fun app, I have it too.

I do agree that some of those others are good, but I don't know about better than Palm OS versions just because they're developed for the iPhone. But I was mainly thinking of those apps relating to contacts, messaging, calender and tasks. They are what the iPhone should have had to begin with, so I can't say I'm blown away by them, just that they made the iPhone actually usable for more than just fun.

In my experience, every app that I have used on a Palm OS device that is also available on the iPhone, is far better on the iPhone. I find it amazing that after only being available for a short period of time, the iPhone has the greatest software catalog of any mobile device (WM is second in my opinion).

However, I admit I have only used a few that are available on both.

[mobileman]

A flight simulator on a phone....that just puts it in perspective just how far we have come.... Remember Flight Simulator on the Commodore 64 and Atari ST, or on the first 286 computers?

Off topic....but looking at those screenshots was pretty amazing.

X-Plane is simply amazing. Its a major time killer if your into flying. I also have the desktop version on my Mac.

[Reeves]

I find it amazing that after only being available for a short period of time, the iPhone has the greatest software catalog of any mobile device (WM is second in my opinion).

However, I admit I have only used a few that are available on both.

I...have to disagree. And it's not a matter of "home team pride." I have a Centro, and I have an iPod Touch 16GB. I downloaded quite a few apps the first day I got the iPod Touch, and I have used almost none of them since.

To some degree, this is because it's a personal media player to me instead of my phone. But if I see a superior app on the iPhone/iPod OS, I'd use it in a heartbeat. When my family went on vacation this Christmas, I used the iPod Google Maps almost all of the time (I only used my Centro one when we were away from wi-fi). It's a superior application on a device with much better specs than the Centro. But I have yet to see a PIM/scheduler that matches the Palm OS ones. I have yet to see any non-jailbreak options for skinning the iPhone, whereas I can configure the look and feel of Palm OS 50 different ways with a few button presses (though I mostly stick with UltimatePhone these days). While iPhone is flush with graphically-rich games, I dislike using the accelerometer or touches to control them.

And to me, there's no point in comparing eReaders, or movie ticket apps, or even news apps...the newness of the iPhone OS coupled with the size of the screen and the processing power means it SHOULD have a significant advantage in text/reading-heavy apps over other mobile devices. I'd be no more impressed if you told me you'd rather do these same things on a 17-inch screen laptop running Vista.

And while Apple has created a streamlined framework for apps, the restrictions are part of why I wouldn't want an iPhone as my main device for more than a little while. The look of their OS is already becoming a bit dated in my opinion. But you can't change it without a jailbreak. Tired of Safari constantly crashing? Not too many options to replace it. Other OSes have plenty. Want your choice of onscreen keyboards and how they are oriented? Tough. Want a media player with everything you want integrated instead of having to use the iPod app AND an internet radio app AND another app for this or that?

There's too much I have to have to fight Apple for regarding a device that I own.

[SolarPlexus]

Maybe most useful apps to you, but to me I find incredible value and quality in lots of 3rd party apps. Here are some of my first screen apps......

Omnifocus - there is no task management app on any other mobile device even close to this. The Omni Group - OmniFocus for iPhone and iPod touch

Note2Self - I use this app to leave myself voice memos. The app starts recording when I lift the phone to my mouth. When finished it automatically emails me a copy so I can store it also on my laptop. I have read a newer version will transcribe the voice notes into text.Welcome to WebIS.net - Note2Self for iPhone

Splash ID - Password protection app, far better than the Palm OS version. Sync from my laptop to iPhone over encrypted wi-fi.

MLB at Bat - Big Met fan (I'm crying on the inside). This app allows me to follow in-game highlights and scores. The 2009 version will offer in game audio broadcasts. If you like baseball, buy this app.MLB.com At Bat™ | MLB.com: Mobile

BeejiveIM - used it first on my old Blackberry curve. Its by far the best IM client available. Landscape keyboard, awesome graphics, text and email notifications. Since I started using this app, I find myself never logging into IM anymore on my laptop. I do it all from my iPhone. Beejive - instant messaging anywhere

Evernote - Future PRE owners should start migrating their outlook tasks to this app now. Awesome note take app that integrates real nice with outlook. The iPhone client is very nice. Evernote for iPhone | Evernote Corporation

Stanza - I have a long train commute each day. Gives me plenty of time to read. This ebook reader allows me to create my own ebooks, download directly from fictionwise, or purchase from ereader.com. Love the interface. Stanza: a Revolution in Reading | Lexcycle

Pandora Radio - Internet radio at its best. Love it. Please create a PRE version. Pandora Radio - Listen to Free Internet Radio, Find New Music

AP News Application - I'm a news junkie. This app is awesome. World news, local news, sports, business, weather, entertainment, etc.. All included in an app with an incredible UI.

Wikipanion Plus - I need to do a lot of research for my job. Nothing beats Wiki. This app for the iPhone allows me to download articles to save and view later. The Wikipanion Experience: Plus Features

X-Plane - I am a amateur pilot. This app is an incredible flight simulator program with a desktop quality. If you like to fly, try this app. Click the link to see the graphics. New York

Now Playing - App that will show movie times at local theaters, reviews, trailers. Its last update brought Netflix queue management. All your movie needs are done in this app. NowPlaying - metasyntactic - Google Code


Other apps I use: NY Times, Handbase, Chase on-line banking, Texas hold em poker, Twitteriffic, USA today crosswords, Amazon shopping app, lots others.

Agendeus/Datebk6. And even when Pocket Informant comes available, it likely won't compare in functionality because of apple's rules.

Sorry, but There are some of us who feel that core PIM functionality is the basis of a smartphone/PDA - and everything else is secondary. Apple's core PIM functionality is dreadful at best. Mostly because its not designed to be a serious device.

Maybe when Pocket Informant is baked a little more I will consider looking at the iphone as a serious productivity device, but until then.........

And believe me, I tried to give the iphone a fair shot BECAUSE it is such a tight device...but in the end, it just couldn't keep up with even my Centro for my needs.

[MannyZ28]

Call me stupid or something, but what does PIM stand for? Personal Item Management?

[NachoB]

Call me stupid or something, but what does PIM stand for? Personal Item Management?

http://tinyurl.com/ad78om

[mobileman]

Agendeus/Datebk6. And even when Pocket Informant comes available, it likely won't compare in functionality because of apple's rules.

Sorry, but There are some of us who feel that core PIM functionality is the basis of a smartphone/PDA - and everything else is secondary. Apple's core PIM functionality is dreadful at best. Mostly because its not designed to be a serious device.

Maybe when Pocket Informant is baked a little more I will consider looking at the iphone as a serious productivity device, but until then.........

And believe me, I tried to give the iphone a fair shot BECAUSE it is such a tight device...but in the end, it just couldn't keep up with even my Centro for my needs.

I will be purchasing Pocket Informant. I have used it in the past on my old WM device. I have to admit though, I'm pretty satisfied with the Contacts and Calendar app already on the iPhone. I sync up to my Exchange server at work and everything is pushed down. I have about 750 contacts on my device and never have a problem finding any of them. My calendar shows all of my meeting with any notes I might have included.

Add this to Omnifocus (I'm a huge task managment user), and evernote (have about 300 notes on my iPhone), and I think I'm pretty well covered.

Please tell me how the iPhone PIM is "dreadful at best"?

[JohnH59]

Agendeus/Datebk6. And even when Pocket Informant comes available, it likely won't compare in functionality because of apple's rules.

Sorry, but There are some of us who feel that core PIM functionality is the basis of a smartphone/PDA - and everything else is secondary. Apple's core PIM functionality is dreadful at best. Mostly because its not designed to be a serious device.

Maybe when Pocket Informant is baked a little more I will consider looking at the iphone as a serious productivity device, but until then.........

And believe me, I tried to give the iphone a fair shot BECAUSE it is such a tight device...but in the end, it just couldn't keep up with even my Centro for my needs.

I don't think the PIM management is bad at all on the iPhone if you use Exchange. Plus, by adding iMExchange you get your email, contacts, calendar, note and tasks all syncing OTA.

[mobileman]

And to me, there's no point in comparing eReaders, or movie ticket apps, or even news apps.

You might have to excuse me, but not everybody wants to use their device like you do. I use my ereader every day. When I'm getting on a subway car in NYC, I'm not about to take out my laptop and start ereading. I also use my movie app to manage my Netflix queue. Again, having the ability of not having to be in front of my laptop when it pops into my head that I might want to watch a certain movie is so convenient.

I find it incredible that people can't understand that my needs may be different than theirs. I could never go back to an outdated OS that doesn't allow me to do half the things that my current device does.

[deleonj1225]

That's why their apps might seem better to some people, you're using it on a bigger screen with an OS that looks better than palms..give WebOS a chance for apps to be built on and i'm sure the same apps on a palm would look and be better on a Pre than a Treo.. you're talking about building apps on an OS that's 10 years old, the fact that you can find apps that are that useful for a Treo is actually great..Now bring on WebOS and let those new apps do wonders..I for one thought the UI on the iPhone was the best out there till the Pre..and i'll be ordering one as soon as it's on the Sprint website

[deleonj1225]

I could never go back to an outdated OS that doesn't allow me to do half the things that my current device does.

This is exactly the reason why the Pre is garnering so much attention, it's a new OS, and for now the iPhone is an old OS

[MannyZ28]

Well I was close.

[deleonj1225]

I agree the iPhone apps store does have better apps than the Treo on some things, but we're talking about a 10 year old OS, the fact that you can still build useful apps on it, to me is a testament to the great OS it was when it came out. Blame Palm for not improving on it. But don't blame Palm for going out of the box and coming up with WebOS. If you take the same apps and hopefully have the chance to make them as functional on a Pre as on an iPhone, and I I'd take the Pre apps over the iphone ones..The iPhone OS since it came out has been the best without a doubt, until I saw the Pre's WebOS..And who knows within another few years we'll all be gawking at the newest OS to shame Apple and Palm.