Are you buying a Palm Pre? Yes or No — and tell us why

Posted on 20 May 2009 by


palm pre.jpg

Today’s GearChat is simple. We all know more than we want about the Palm Pre shipping on June 6. We know it’s going to be $299 less a $100 mail in rebate. Engadget is reporting the no-contract price is $549. Watching and reading about the release is exciting. But ultimately what really matters is how many buy a Palm Pre.

Will you be buying the Palm Pre (either on launch day or before the end of this year)? If so, why are you buying? What feature(s) do you hope to use that you aren’t able to get on today’s crop of Smartphones ? And if you’re not planning on buying – why? Are you totally satisfied with what you use?

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Wayne is a diehard Blackberry user and consultant specializing in Sage MAS90 Accounting Software. He lives in Glastonbury CT with his two children. When not helping them with their homework or pushing the latest school fundraiser off on his co-workers, he is active hiking, Scuba Diving and investigating all manner of technology.

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  • http://www.s-consult.com/index.php Wayne Schulz

    I’m not feeling the “buzz” like I was a few months ago. Maybe that will change as June 6 approaches. Using an iPhone the only thing I’d like better is a tighter integration to Gmail. The problem with switching is that if I do so then I lose all those iPhone Apps that I love.

    Will be interesting to watch reaction to this. Sprint and Palm definitely seem to be in a do or die state. Also I’m wondering if we’re going to see a Palm Pre type device without a cell phone (similar to iPod Touch).

  • mchinsky

    Not sure on the touch (I just don’t think anybody can compete with Apple due to itunes in regards to music)

    There is rumors of an ‘EOS’ which is supposed to be a different form factor (smaller). Since the Pre has a real and virtual keyboard option, It maybe their modern incarnation of the Centro. Something the non-text happy mavin would want.

    I’m guessing once the OS is baked, the R&D for different form factors is relatively low.

    I’m buying one because, for a variety of reasons, I’m sticking with Sprint. I also like the fact that overall Sprint is always alot less expensive than AT&T and Verizon and has much better 3g coverage than AT&T.

    I’m hoping for a caching newsreader app at some point like Byline:
    http://www.phantomfish.com/byline.html

    It downloads your RSS feeds from Google Reader, and more importantly spider’s down to the originally linked HTML and caches it.

    For the ipod touch that is key as wifi in the wild is pretty rare. As usual with Ipod/touch OS, it can’t do the caching unless it is the forefront application.

    If they could do this on the pre, but fetch the updates and cached pages in the background, then when you read the newsfeeds and web pages, they should fly like broadband since they are coming out of memory.

    I don’t see an iphone user hooked into AT&T switching but I bet you see alot of Blackberry users with iPhone envy switch as they aren’t willing to give up the real keyboard (I have a Palm 700p and an iPod touch and there is no competition as to which one I want when I have to type more than a yes/no response to something.

    The big question is, how long until Verizon gets the Pre. That’s when the sales trajectory will really take off.

  • http://www.geardiary.com Judie Lipsett

    I really feel that Palm dropped the ball by limiting themselves to a CDMA carrier.

    Sure, Sprint has a long-running relationship with them and I understand that, but I think they shot themselves in the foot by not going with a GSM carrier *worldwide* right off the bat.

    It seems to me that for a struggling company, limiting the number of people who can use your product right off the bat is foolish.

    OK – argue that Apple did that with the iPhone by making it US AT&T only, but did they really? How long did it take for people to get around that? Unfortunately their is no easy fix to get around CDMA. :-P

    Anyway. I liked what I saw at the Pre launch, and I hope it does well for them, but at this moment I am not feeling it. Maybe once I try it, who knows. :-P

  • http://www.geardiary.com Federico Cervelli

    Waiting for the GSM version too…

    My deal breaker could be a goofy native PIM suite (e.g. no categories), and a difficult migration path from older Palm OS devices.

  • Gatewood

    No way! Sprint is just not good where I live and AT&T is. I’m into Blackberry right now, and it’s awfully hard to leave that.

  • kiffmeister

    The lack of a GSM version is a dealbreaker for me too. I travel overseas a lot, and I want one smartphone for everywhere I go.

  • doogald

    Probably not buying it. First, I’m in a Verizon contract until December. Second, I’m strongly considering moving to AT&T for an iPhone then because my VZW signal stinks at home, has not improved, it seems it will not anytime soon, and I learned that AT&T – which used to have no signal at my house – suddenly has a fairly strong 3G signal here.

    Sprint will be no better than VZW, so, simply for the ability to actually use the thing, I really doubt that I would go to a Pre.

    And $299 with a rebate you need to wait for? Who the heck likes that kind of a deal, when the major smartphone players are all available at $199 out of pocket or less? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

  • Joel McLaughlin

    As I just switched to a GSM carrier, no way. Even though T-Mobile did not work in the sticks and Sprint did, I would not switch. The Palm Pre is starting to become like the ever elusive US version of Cupcake (here’s a hint T-Mobile….I appreciate it that you are trying to make it bug free, but to promise it for an entire month, well….there ya go. Also, there’s no such thing as bug free software. Just release it dang it!

  • reidme

    I’m getting it day one (or hopefully sooner as a Sprint Premier customer.) I think one reason Palm is beginning the launching on Sprint alone is supply; they are already predicting shortages. Why have it more widely available if they can’t meet demand? They are spacing out the launches on other carriers and other regions to spread out the demand as they ramp up supply.