that's weird because the keyboard layout and spacing look exactly like Palm's 755p whose keyboard works just fine. I've had no complaints at all with it and can crank out emails very fast. I can type much faster on it than the iPhone although I haven't had much practice with the iPhone's keyboard.
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Early Palm Pre Review: WebOS Off to Great Start But Bad Keyboard
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"Its a rubberized coating kind of like the Centro and Treo Pro, and while the keys are a bit harder (better)...."
not sure how I feel about that though, but it's definitely not a deal breaker
I agree with that, but i cant wait till the new iPhone is reviled to see how it compares to the Pre.
Looking forward to it! My gf is getting one - we're going to get to the sprint store @ 6AM next saturday to pick one up. I'll post my impressions!
Hmmm. I read all 15 reviews and all of them were glowing, except one. I must be reading something different than you. And that one negative review was obviously from a fanboy - it didn't have one (just one!) nice thing to say. I don't know about that guy, but I don't live in such a black & white world. There was one other "review" that said this:
What's great about it: Nothing. It's an iPhone rip off that's not as good.
What's not so great: $849.99 Is that a joke.iPhone $299 Tough decision!
"Do not buy!! Wait for the iphone. Or u will be sorry!"
Whatever...
I don't understand the mentality that actively wants the Pre to fail. Of course it will not outsell the iPhone - only a fool would think it will - but to actively want to see the Pre "fail" in this manner is bizarre.
Can't you people just stick with your iPhone smugness and let others do what they want? Sometimes being part of the Apple "community" is embarassing.
I am a an apple "fanboy" for the want of a better word. Love my iMac, Macbook and iphone.
As for the Pre - I like the look of it and don't want it to fail.
Its good competition for the iPhone and will spur on progress.
I switched from a palm TX to the iphone and fell in love with the ease of use - especially in the touch screen dept. But I still have a lot of time for palm.
I know that wanting your team to win - especially when you have thousands of pounds invested in purchases - but that doesn't mean we should want the other team to fail.
A team is only as good as its competition makes it.
I will stick with the iphone because i like the aesthetic and function - plus it makes me feel happy - like any good gadget should.
Come on Palm - lets have a good old ding dong!
As for the Pre - I like the look of it and don't want it to fail.
Its good competition for the iPhone and will spur on progress.
I switched from a palm TX to the iphone and fell in love with the ease of use - especially in the touch screen dept. But I still have a lot of time for palm.
I know that wanting your team to win - especially when you have thousands of pounds invested in purchases - but that doesn't mean we should want the other team to fail.
A team is only as good as its competition makes it.
I will stick with the iphone because i like the aesthetic and function - plus it makes me feel happy - like any good gadget should.
Come on Palm - lets have a good old ding dong!
I'm considering this one as my next phone (only because of the price, unfortunately, otherwise I would buy the iPhone; this one may start with a higher price tag, but in time it will come down to a very affordable price, unlike the iPhone).
One thing that saddens me is the fact that the OS does seem like an iPhone rip-off
at least the switches and other system elements (buttons...) are very similar... I was hoping to see newer concepts, but its all the same(ish).
One thing that saddens me is the fact that the OS does seem like an iPhone rip-off
at least the switches and other system elements (buttons...) are very similar... I was hoping to see newer concepts, but its all the same(ish).
Not everybody is as slow with hardware and software "upgrades" as Apple. If more people than just this one guy complain about the keyboard, you will quickly see a hardware refresh.
I think the limitations of the Palm developer API will be no problem for most PDA-style applications, and I think that the Pre will appeal to older people who might have used a Palm in the past.
As someone else pointed out, an interpreted Javascript + HTML5 + custom tags application on a 600MHz Cortex A8 CPU (2x as powerful as the ARM11 in the current iPhone) will outperform native C on an old ~33MHz Coldfire on classic Palms, probably even faster than on a 200MHz ARM9 in the later Palm devices given the quality of Javascript JIT compilers these days.
I do think that a native API would be better, but this takes time to do. Palm appear to have thrown away five years of development (that's a lifetime in the computer industry) due to appalling mismanagement, buying BeOS, dropping that, failing to develop PalmOS further, selling PalmOS, rebuying PalmOS, etc, and finally knocking up WebOS. Hope they learned from all the lessons learned in that time. Wonder what happened to the Foleo?
As someone else pointed out, an interpreted Javascript + HTML5 + custom tags application on a 600MHz Cortex A8 CPU (2x as powerful as the ARM11 in the current iPhone) will outperform native C on an old ~33MHz Coldfire on classic Palms, probably even faster than on a 200MHz ARM9 in the later Palm devices given the quality of Javascript JIT compilers these days.
I do think that a native API would be better, but this takes time to do. Palm appear to have thrown away five years of development (that's a lifetime in the computer industry) due to appalling mismanagement, buying BeOS, dropping that, failing to develop PalmOS further, selling PalmOS, rebuying PalmOS, etc, and finally knocking up WebOS. Hope they learned from all the lessons learned in that time. Wonder what happened to the Foleo?
This is Apple's worst nightmare. A western company with ambitions to attain the excellence of Apple 's design philosophy but with the aim for mass market.
They aren't quite there but they made the first important step and that's recognising their products have to greater than everyone else's out of the door.
This company could do some serious damage in a year or two because again I say Apple has been slacking on iPhone innovation. Two years down the line - it looks the same - it feels the same - to the Average Joe that means 'it's the same'....they've just let all the apps developers do the work.
Seriously it's two years since something that I could call 'innovative R&D' came out of Apple. What are they doing ?
Apple needs some 2009 sensations...I just hope that feverous tempo didn't just stop when Steve walked out the door
They aren't quite there but they made the first important step and that's recognising their products have to greater than everyone else's out of the door.
This company could do some serious damage in a year or two because again I say Apple has been slacking on iPhone innovation. Two years down the line - it looks the same - it feels the same - to the Average Joe that means 'it's the same'....they've just let all the apps developers do the work.
Seriously it's two years since something that I could call 'innovative R&D' came out of Apple. What are they doing ?
Apple needs some 2009 sensations...I just hope that feverous tempo didn't just stop when Steve walked out the door
Keyboard is a deal breaker. Sad in a way. I really wanted to get this phone, but I knew if there was no soft keyboard, that would be a problem. Plus they didn't focus on the apps enough for me. Apps alone can make or break a phone. The fact that the Pre is not launches with an awesome app category, or at least a promise, shows me that they still have thier old way of thinking.
Seems like the Pre Has been out and about for a while now...
If it was really that bad we would have heard about it months ago. This is one reviewers opinion. Because I remember them saying the same thing about the iphone keyboard and how bad it was when it first came out.
If it was really that bad we would have heard about it months ago. This is one reviewers opinion. Because I remember them saying the same thing about the iphone keyboard and how bad it was when it first came out.
"As much as iPhone and App Store is a success for Apple, it's a humiliating
defeat for the rest of the mobile industry," said Bengt Nordstrom, Chief
Executive of telecoms consultant Northstream.
"Twenty years of efforts from operators and vendors to create mobile
applications that customers like is overtaken in a heartbeat by someone that
never done it before," Nordstrom said.
That says quite a bit. And yet the Mobile industry in this country still does not get it, offering plans that tie you to a carrier for years, with contracts that penalize the customer, limitations to service, etc.
I hope the Pre is a success. But it will be a success because of Apple, not because of anything Palm has done. Apple has forced every single Mobile manufacturer to rethink their business.
It will be interesting to see how this story develops over the next few years as the iPhone develops into a broader platform with the kind of depth (and hopefully more carriers) the iPod has. One can only imagine what the iPhone OS will look like 5 years from now...
defeat for the rest of the mobile industry," said Bengt Nordstrom, Chief
Executive of telecoms consultant Northstream.
"Twenty years of efforts from operators and vendors to create mobile
applications that customers like is overtaken in a heartbeat by someone that
never done it before," Nordstrom said.
That says quite a bit. And yet the Mobile industry in this country still does not get it, offering plans that tie you to a carrier for years, with contracts that penalize the customer, limitations to service, etc.
I hope the Pre is a success. But it will be a success because of Apple, not because of anything Palm has done. Apple has forced every single Mobile manufacturer to rethink their business.
It will be interesting to see how this story develops over the next few years as the iPhone develops into a broader platform with the kind of depth (and hopefully more carriers) the iPod has. One can only imagine what the iPhone OS will look like 5 years from now...
I think I would have preferred a physical keyboard on the iPhone - though I am getting used to the virtual one.
It's just a matter of what you're used to. Blackberry users are used to a physical, albeit cramped keyboard. iPhone propeller head die hards aren't. That's all.
Who the hell reads BoyGeniusReport stuff anyway?
Yea, but CNET hates the iPhone... So any competitor to the iPhone gets great reviews! Have you seen their "Matchups" segment where they pit one piece of tech gear against another? They've put the iPhone up against every other top end phone (smart or not) and it's lost every time according to them.
I do normally trust CNET on most of their reviews, but their anti-iPhone bias is quite clear.
I had a Treo before I went iPhone and there is NO comparison. I had been a long time Palm PDA user as well and would like them to succeed, but I'm dubious.
Coachingguy