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Palm: Pre, webOS & app discussion

That review neatly sums up what's wrong with it. Great OS, shit handset quality and a pretty crap app store. All plastic case? Really Palm? Really???

HP really need to step in quick smart and get that sorted. Fuck it...outsource the handset design to HTC if you have to.
 
The webOS is so good and intuitive that whenever I spend five minutes on the Pre I get immediately frustrated by the limitations of my iPhone. The gesture area is genius as is the card multi-tasking, but the hardware and software is miles behind.

Palm owners in Europe get a shit deal compared to US users too.
 
Madness. If were HP I'd make sure they were given away on cheap contracts, get more phones out there, people talk about them, developers will be more interested as there are more handsets. Even if they made a loss doing so, it would help massively when the next gen of hardware comes out and had brand recognition.

Ed: What do you mean the software is miles behind? Do you mean the apps for it or the syncing software?
 
O2 had an advert for the Pixi Plus in the Metro yesterday.

I don't think it mentioned the price though.
 
BUMP.

Don't buy a Pre unless you want a battery life that lasts use till lunchtime, dropped calls every fucking time, an appstore that's laughable, and buggy software to boot.

Ive had it since launch, and regret it hardcore.
 
The battery life wasn't so bad, but the app store is a joke. That said, the Pre still has the best OS of any mobile platform - but that's a fat lot of good if there's no decent apps to run.
 
sumimasen said:
BUMP.

Don't buy a Pre unless you want a battery life that lasts use till lunchtime, dropped calls every fucking time, an appstore that's laughable, and buggy software to boot.

Ive had it since launch, and regret it hardcore.
Click to expand...

Very happy I never waited for it and got an iPhone 3GS instead...very happy indeed.
 
I've just given up on the Pre after the screen cracked by itself. The battery wasn't too bad, but the internal clock was a joke (there isn't one), and on more than one occasion something or other left me fuming.

The app catalogue on the iphone is fantastic, but like ed says the OS on the Pre was a step above. I'm missing that, the notifications, the contact linking (not played enough with the iphone yet, so hope there's something similar) and the keyboard, but practically all the rest of the Pre can go hang.
 
Your Pre should still be under warrenty,wouldn't a cracked screen be covered unless it was caused by abuse.

The power button on my own pre died a couple of week back. I bounced it back to O2 and they had it back a week later as good as new.
 
manifold said:
I've just given up on the Pre after the screen cracked by itself. The battery wasn't too bad, but the internal clock was a joke (there isn't one), and on more than one occasion something or other left me fuming.

The app catalogue on the iphone is fantastic, but like ed says the OS on the Pre was a step above. I'm missing that, the notifications, the contact linking (not played enough with the iphone yet, so hope there's something similar) and the keyboard, but practically all the rest of the Pre can go hang.
Click to expand...
The iPhone doesn't do proper contact linking - Android does a far better job of it.
 
I now have to return my 2nd Pre for repair, and just like last time I'm fucked because I have hundreds of business-related texts that I will lose. I can't even back them up, my Samsung from 5 years ago could do so though!
 
sumimasen said:
I now have to return my 2nd Pre for repair, and just like last time I'm fucked because I have hundreds of business-related texts that I will lose. I can't even back them up, my Samsung from 5 years ago could do so though!
Click to expand...
You can if you follow these fiddly instructions:

Didn't see anything like this on the forums so figured I'd share my experience in saving my SMS messages, call log, and possibly other things when exchanging my Pre today.

This should theoretically work for backing up information as well, in case you are worried about bricking your phone, wipe clean every so often, etc.

Sorry in advance for the instructions, I am sure I left something out somewhere. I am not the most technical person in the world, but everything seems to be fine so far.

1) You will need to have rooted your Pre.
2) Copy /var/luna/data/dbdata/PalmDatabase.db3 to /media/internal
3) Connect via USB (or SFTP) and copy PalmDatabase.db3 to your computer.
4) Switch out Pre's!
5) Move the PalmDatabase.db3 back to the USB drive on your new Pre
5) Backup the current PalmDatabase.db3 (make sure the filesystem is in RW mode) [mv /var/luna/data/dbdata/PalmDatabase.db3 /var/luna/data/dbdata/PalmDatabase.db3.old]
6) Move your old database to the correct postion [mv /media/internal/PalmDatabase.db3 /var/luna/data/dbdata/PalmDatabase.db3]
7) Switch back to Read-Only mode
8) Reset the Pre


http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre/187145-how-back-up-text-messages-when-exchanging-phones.html
Click to expand...

Or an easier, but more time consuming way:
The only way I was able to do it was to use the "Copy All" feature in the text thread and paste it in an email. It doesn't save the entire conversation though it saves it in sections depending on where in the thread you are at.

I needed to get an entire thread about 2 months long backed up, so I went to the very top of the thread, did the "Copy all" option and repeated as I scrolled down through the conversation. Once you do that 2 or 3 times, you'll get an idea of how big a chunk of the conversation is being copied.

This is much faster then clicking on each individual text and copying into an email.
Click to expand...
 
Cheers Ed, though I don't want to root in case o2 use that as an excuse for the numerous issues I have with the phone. Ive already tried the 2nd method, it's unbearably crap lol
 
If you web doctor it back to standard 1.4.5 there's no trace left on the original phone. Anyhow my pre went back and it had been hacked around with something rotten, yet O2's repair people didn't seem to care
 
I was looking at the release notes for WebOS 2.0

Palm, your having a laugh if you think that is a full point release? It hardly brings anything new to the table.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/webos_20_now_available_for_download.php

Exhibition

Exhibition is a screensaver-like program that runs when the phone is docked. It can display slideshows, a clock, stock updates, news, or sports tickers but can also be customized through apps created by developers.
Click to expand...

A screen saver?
 
editor said:
Hold on - Palm have certainly lost ground, but the new grouped/multi-tasking interface completely pisses over anything Apple and Android can manage - and neither have managed to come up with cordless charging too.

http://www.wirefresh.com/palm-webos-2-0-offers-even-better-multi-tasking-and-search/
Click to expand...

Cordless charging or a slightly less complicated way to switch tasks aren't going to save it. Nobody will give a fuck. They had a chance and blew it pretty much every step of the way.
 
Things Palm fucked up:

- The huge lead time without giving a launch date
- Bugger all PR
- Finally releasing it close to an iPhone launch
- Going with O2 as a carrier
- Fuck all in the app store
- Crap tech support



Any more?
 
beesonthewhatnow said:
Cordless charging or a slightly less complicated way to switch tasks aren't going to save it. Nobody will give a fuck. They had a chance and blew it pretty much every step of the way.
Click to expand...
I'm not disagreeing with that, but Sunray's comment were a little unfair - the new release does bring some interesting new features. It's just a shame that the OS and the hardware never kept up with the brilliant OS.
 
beesonthewhatnow said:
Things Palm fucked up:

- The huge lead time without giving a launch date
- Bugger all PR
- Finally releasing it close to an iPhone launch
- Going with O2 as a carrier
- Fuck all in the app store
- Crap tech support



Any more?
Click to expand...
I think I covered it pretty much in these wirefresh articles:

http://www.wirefresh.com/palm-pre-why-it-failed-in-the-uk/
http://www.wirefresh.com/palm-in-the-uk-its-pretty-hopeless-really/
http://www.wirefresh.com/o2s-website-spot-the-palm-pre/
http://www.wirefresh.com/carphone-warehouse-and-palm-pre-the-palm-what/
http://www.wirefresh.com/palm-pres-uk-pricing-our-thoughts/
 
editor said:
I'm not disagreeing with that, but Sunray's comment were a little unfair - the new release does bring some interesting new features. It's just a shame that the OS and the hardware never kept up with the brilliant OS.
Click to expand...

Its not that brilliant, some features are good, but the odd good feature does not make a good phone.
 
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