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Palm: Pre, webOS & app discussion

as mentioned ad nauseam before I have been concerned about whether synching would really work with a Pre and my mac...without having to use google

I totally know that the plural of anecdote is not proof..but these posts from an experienced phone geek suggest I'm right to be at least wary at this stage (I too have an unhappy history with Missing sync on the mac and palm centro)

http://jwz.livejournal.com/1069500.html

so he has decided to go back to iPhone

http://jwz.livejournal.com/1108212.html

and that is the direction I'm headed now

so long..and I'd love to hear some tales of Pre/Mac lurve!

I really want the Pre to succeed..and bizarrely I might get one+ a new 18 month 02 contract and swap with an unhappy iPhone friend (although I'm not sure he realises how much money I'd want to do that, assuming it's even technically possible???)
 
Piers Gibbon said:
so he has decided to go back to iPhone
Click to expand...
That users experience with the performance of his phone bears no relation to mine or just about every review I've ever read.

It's easily as fast as an iPhone and the multi-tasking elevates into another league altogether for some tasks. Right now, I'm listening to a streamed radio website, have two email windows open, another website, the image viewer and a notes app and it's running very smoothly.

Have you checked out precentral.net? There's loads of good advice on there about the Pre and Mac issues. I'm still *really* loving the the phone.
grit said:
Is it possible to stop that behaviour from happening? Personally I wouldnt like it switching between IM and SMS with me knowing/controling it.
Click to expand...
Of course. It's entirely up to you. It's a great feature.
 
glad to hear Pre is still pleasuring you!
I wasn't really referring to his speed issues..purely the synching with Mac probs...and I've read about the advice on Pre/Mac issues, cheers. I think what's attractive about iPhone for a mac user is there aren't really any synch issues to need advice on!
 
Piers Gibbon said:
glad to hear Pre is still pleasuring you!
I wasn't really referring to his speed issues..purely the synching with Mac probs...and I've read about the advice on Pre/Mac issues, cheers. I think what's attractive about iPhone for a mac user is there aren't really any synch issues to need advice on!
Click to expand...
Absolutely, but the iPhone doesn't come without its own set of caveats.
 
APNews is there (it's AP Mobile) but some of the others are homebrew apps.

I've been using Accuradio - an amazing free streaming radio app, wetter.com and the almost ludicrously glossy bWeahter weather apps, infopedia, flixster and Yelp. Oh, and Tweed which is really good too.

I might have a go at this homebrew lark over the weekend,
 
New UK based review here.

It’s been just over a week since I took loan of a Palm Pre, a device that bears the weight of Palm’s future success on its shoulders. Or so the story goes.
And it’s far too good a story for most pundits not to have written, me included. The truth, of course, is a little less dramatic but significant nonetheless.
While the Palm Pre is undoubtedly the company’s comeback device, the big bet is the accompanying webOS that powers the Pre along with the subsequently released Palm Pixi. In fact since the second device running webOS was unveiled, Palm have announced that, moving forward, they’re dumping Windows Mobile to pursue a single OS strategy. Thanks Redmond for easing the transition away from the dying PalmOS to the newly born webOS. But make no mistake, that’s all you were good for.
It’s in this context that when reviewing the Palm Pre it’s more tempting than usual to consider the phone’s hardware as separate from the operating system it runs on. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Click to expand...
 
It's a really remarkable phone. I'll be amazed if every other smartphone manufacturer doesn't rip off the webOS concept and offer some form of similar multitasking in the coming months: it's that good.
 
I was in my local O2 shop on saturday playing with one. WebOS looks slick and the multi-tasking is nice. The keyboard for me was close to unusable (however this is all down to personal preference I guess).

My only really complaint was the lack of accuracy of the touchscreen, it was giving a little ripple effect when a tap is registered and it always seemed to be slightly off.

It kinda reminded me of a G1, groundbreaking OS being shown in a tech demo shell.
 
Had a play with it recently, not particulary impressed, the apps for sluggish compared to the iPhone, the screen was no where near as good or responsive. The build felt cheap and plasticky, although it sat very nicely in the hand and was very comfortable to hold. I was amazed at how tiny the thing is!

The keyboard is terrible though, even the Palm Centro's tiny cramped keyboard pwns this. The buttons aren't raised enough, they're too stiff, the top row is nigh on impossible to type comfortably on. I felt like a prototype of a better phone to come to me...
 
That's strange because I'm finding the phone every bit as snappy as an iPhone - it's a very responsive phone. Maybe the display models are getting borked.

I prefer the Pre's keyboard to the iPhone's by miles, but it's a matter of personal preference, of course. Have to say that going back to any phone that doesn't have Palm's slick multi tasking feels like a massive step backwards now.
 
Least I'm not alone in thinking exactly the same about the keyboard. Too small and stiff for comfort. Its only good feature was that kinda rubbery shine makes your finger stick when pressing so you don't skit across multiple keys. I don't want to press very much at all, or i'll have to tense my left arm up to support each press. I find that annoying.

OS looks great though, needs better hardware. Unfortunately for Palm, Apple got there 1st.
 
Kid_Eternity said:
the apps for sluggish compared to the iPhone, the screen was no where near as good or responsive. The build felt cheap and plasticky, although it sat very nicely in the hand and was very comfortable to hold. I was amazed at how tiny the thing is!
Click to expand...

Thats pretty much it, seemed to be about a 300ms delay in application responsiveness and the touch screen was not accurate. iPhone seemed to take a different view on the application responsiveness issue, where sometimes showing a splash screen and forcing the user to wait until the application had fully loaded and therefore seemed snapier. WebOS seems to redraw the screen the minute it has something to show and therefore the first few seconds of using the application is a bit sluggish.
 
Xanadu said:
A 300ms lag is pretty hefty. The videos (including user reviews) posted on YouTube don't show any lag.
Click to expand...

That was a rough guess from using the phone in the shop for about fifteen minutes. It certainly felt like 300ms however as its a guess it could be less.
 
editor said:
That's strange because I'm finding the phone every bit as snappy as an iPhone - it's a very responsive phone. Maybe the display models are getting borked.
I prefer the Pre's keyboard to the iPhone's by miles, but it's a matter of personal preference, of course. Have to say that going back to any phone that doesn't have Palm's slick multi tasking feels like a massive step backwards now.
Click to expand...

That's what I was hoping, gonna try and see if there's a better working one in a O2 shop locally. I agree with you about not being able to go backwards. Now every phone I use other than iPhone just frustrates, none come close in terms of ui.
 
Sunray said:
Least I'm not alone in thinking exactly the same about the keyboard. Too small and stiff for comfort. Its only good feature was that kinda rubbery shine makes your finger stick when pressing so you don't skit across multiple keys. I don't want to press very much at all, or i'll have to tense my left arm up to support each press. I find that annoying.

OS looks great though, needs better hardware. Unfortunately for Palm, Apple got there 1st.
Click to expand...

Yep the keyboard is horrible, the Centro one is easily the best tiny full qwerty I've ever used. The iPhone is the best non hardware one I've used.

grit said:
Thats pretty much it, seemed to be about a 300ms delay in application responsiveness and the touch screen was not accurate. iPhone seemed to take a different view on the application responsiveness issue, where sometimes showing a splash screen and forcing the user to wait until the application had fully loaded and therefore seemed snapier. WebOS seems to redraw the screen the minute it has something to show and therefore the first few seconds of using the application is a bit sluggish.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it was just a display unit problem tbh but when I tried to flip the card off screen to shut an app down it didn't move. I had to try again to get it to 'grip'. There was a noticable lag when opening apps, or navigating in them. It was slower doing this than the iPhone 3G.
 
One odd thing I noticed though was the 3G speeds while surfing the net were great and consistent. I took out my iPhone and could only get two bars to the Pre's 4 and the web was slow. I was standing barely a foot from the Pre! O2 really have to sort out their network coverage...
 
Kid_Eternity said:
Yep the keyboard is horrible, the Centro one is easily the best tiny full qwerty I've ever used. The iPhone is the best non hardware one I've used.



I don't know if it was just a display unit problem tbh but when I tried to flip the card off screen to shut an app down it didn't move. I had to try again to get it to 'grip'. There was a noticable lag when opening apps, or navigating in them. It was slower doing this than the iPhone 3G.
Click to expand...

To be honest a display unit is just a unboxed retail unit so if its a problem with the demo models in the shop its a problem with the retail version of the phone.
 
editor said:
I meant from watching people use the Pre on videos. It's as snappy as an iPhone - and just about every review says that too.
Click to expand...

Got any mates with a iPhone 3g? would be interested to see it in a side by side comparison speed wise, sure you'd get another wirefresh article out of it ;)
 
Kid_Eternity said:
One odd thing I noticed though was the 3G speeds while surfing the net were great and consistent. I took out my iPhone and could only get two bars to the Pre's 4 and the web was slow. I was standing barely a foot from the Pre! O2 really have to sort out their network coverage...
Click to expand...

That doesn't make sense. Same 3G network = same performance levels, especially as you had the phones side by side!
 
grit said:
Got any mates with a iPhone 3g? would be interested to see it in a side by side comparison speed wise, sure you'd get another wirefresh article out of it ;)
Click to expand...
There's a video comparison with the 3G here:

The iPhone looks pretty massive compared to the Pre! There's no lag I can see and the reviewer had no problem typing on the Pre either. In fact he says it's better than the iPhones.
 
grit said:
To be honest a display unit is just a unboxed retail unit so if its a problem with the demo models in the shop its a problem with the retail version of the phone.
Click to expand...

Hmmm I'm not sure it's that simple, it's possible that the constant less than careful use might have messed the units up. Like I said this was just first impressions and store units, real world use could easily be very different.

sumimasen said:
That doesn't make sense. Same 3G network = same performance levels, especially as you had the phones side by side!
Click to expand...

You're telling me! I was baffled, but then I've had super fast 3G speeds on the 3GS moved half a foot and it's dropped to Edge...O2 = fail.:facepalm:
 
Kid_Eternity said:
Hmmm I'm not sure it's that simple, it's possible that the constant less than careful use might have messed the units up.
Click to expand...

Does not compute, if someone using the phone in the shop can mess it up, its an issue with the phone.

People are not testing its bouncing ability off the walls.
 
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