Comments on: 5 Gotchas That Could Hold Back Success of Palm’s Pre

By: thegeniusfiles

thegeniusfiles — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:33:28 +0000

I must disagree with those who say the lack of a storage card slot doesn’t matter. One of the things I like about the Treo 700p is the SD slot. I can take an SD card, put it in my camera, put it in my PC’s card reader, use it in the Treo. This is very handy, and I am disappointed that Palm dropped it in this iteration.

By: John in Norway

John in Norway — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:17:50 +0000

Afraid not, Kevin. Been bought by a couple of lesbians (I kid you not).

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:59:19 +0000

“Number 1 is a non-issue and I can only imagine you included it to make sure you had a list of five. Does the iPhone has a memory card slot? Nope.”

You’re right, the iPhone doesn’t have a memory card slot. But it *does* have a 16GB model and we’re likely to see a 32GB device next week. Palm has one model of the Pre: 8GB. For some folks, that’s not enough. For me, it will have to be.

By: tvlampsn

tvlampsn — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:46:39 +0000

Number 1 is a non-issue and I can only imagine you included it to make sure you had a list of five. Does the iPhone has a memory card slot? Nope.

It doesn’t need one. If anything Palm should have (could be) releasing a 16GB/32GB version of their phone(s). If people needed more memory – Apple would have included it. I’d imagine that people with 80GB of music/video probably have a standalone music player.

While it’s great that your phone can carry music, there are going to be compromises and it’s one of them.

SanDisk came out with MP3 players with memory card slots and while people loved the concept, it didn’t help them become an “iPod killer.”

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:50:55 +0000

I think James hit it spot on. Everyone has their own preference for a mobile OS and although I used Windows CE / Pocket PC / Windows Mobile for 7 years, switching to an iPhone was a breath of very fresh air. Palm’s WebOS is another step forward for me personally, so while I’d entertain WinMob (or S60 / BB / Android for that matter), I’d rather go with WebOS for now, simply for the experience factor.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:47:56 +0000

Excellent point John! Is that house next door to you still for sale? LOL!

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:47:24 +0000

I’m thinking that you’ve missed the point of the post, which was “I’m assessing some of the compromises that I’ll have to make.” Nearly all of the reviews I read last night (after my post was published) pointed out the same things that I did. ;)

By: John in Norway

John in Norway — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:29:00 +0000

All of your problems could be solved by moving to another country and buying a proper phone. :)

By: oneAwake

oneAwake — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:45:52 +0000

Hmmm… So you haven’t got your hands on it yet, that explains it.

1) Everyone knew the Pre did not have expandable memory, why is that a problem now?

2) I saw the Pre is person, the keyboard is not that much smaller than the Bold’s keyboard and it is larger than the Centros keyboard. In fact, Slashgear has a review unit, the side-by-side pictures clearly show the keyboard isn’t cramped as some are saying. http://mypre.com/palm-pre-review-2-2009031789/

3) You do not have to setup facebook, if you insist on facebook, you can always log into facebook from a desktop and clean it up

4) If a phones success was dependent on an app store, how did the 1st generation iphone make it through the 1st year? Why is the Blackberry doing so well. Give the Pre time, the development community will warm up to it. Actually, 60% of the developers who wrote app’s for the iphone have already signed up for Palms SDK

5) Sprints network is a bonus, I do not understand why people try to slam Sprint. Sure they had customer service issues, they have since cleaned it up. Verizons customer service is steadily going down hill.

@brettbum, Verizon is not getting the Pre in August, Sprint has the Pre at least through 2009.

By: inksim

inksim — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:36:28 +0000

Not just expensive, but the phone will be crippled by Verizon as usual. Sprint has got some bad reputation, but in my experience, it’s no worse than Verizon and way better than AT&T in terms of call clarity and data speed/coverage.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:24:13 +0000

The Pre NDA has been lifted, so you can check out a number of reviews now. I suggest the Engadget one, as it’s definitely the best, or the second best one is PreCentral.net one (which despite being a Pre-focused site, is very objective.)

By: Petabro

Petabro — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:24:59 +0000

The Palm “Pee”

By: brettbum

brettbum — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:56:02 +0000

number 5 is my biggest concern. Doesn’t help that Verizon is picking up the PRE in August because Verizon is expensive as hell. :)

By: James Kendrick

James Kendrick — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:47:07 +0000

I can’t speak for Kevin but for me there is no comparison between WinMo & WebOS. That is the big draw to the Pre, not comparing each little feature of the phone.

By: Luscious

Luscious — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:14:21 +0000

Kevin, have you considered holding off a few weeks for perhaps a WinMo device like the Touch Pro 2? It would eliminate 1,2 and 5 off your list, while 4 wouldn’t matter, leaving just no. 3 to ponder over. Can you mention anything the TP2 “wouldn’t” be good for?

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:11:42 +0000

Is the sound quality on the Pre any good? I haven’t read anything about that anywhere.

The iPhone is already lacking in the SQ department (with good earphones) so I can’t help but question if the Pre will be any better. My guess is that it will be adequate but not impressive. I still prefer dedicated DAPs for audio playback, though, so I guess no phone is ever up to snuff. :)