Need advice about staying with my Pre or going with the iPhone

[fresnoboy]

Hi. I'm just about done with my 30 day trial period for the Pre on Sprint, and need to decide whether or not to keep the Pre or return it and go with the iPhone.

I really like how the Pre handles my email accts. It talks to exchange at work, and to my exchange server at home, as well as my personal email acct which i get via IMAP. Being able to have an integrated view of both calendars via exchange and having it viewable in one integrated view is great, and the email has an integrated view just like my old blackberry did. And the keyboard is very usable.

What's not great is Sprint coverage. The coverage in my house is Ok, but sucks at my office, and when I'm in the office, the pre bounces from 1x to EVDO to Roaming on VZ hurting battery life. Lack of Apps is a pain, but I expect that will get fixed over time. Getting exchange to work properly was also a hassle, but I have things running pretty well now.

My family is on an AT&T family plan, and AT&T has great coverage in my office and home, so I'd really like to stay on AT&T, but the pre won't get to AT&T until next year. So I'm thinking about getting an iPhone (I was out of contract on my old blackberry).

I like the iPhone a lot - tons of apps, fast browser (at least on the GS), and a jailbroken phone gives me tethering and backgrounding (like on the Pre). I'd prefer a hard keyboard, but can live with the landscape onscreen keyboard.

The hard thing for me to deal with is email and calendar syncing. is there anyway I can get something similar to what I have on the pre on an iphone? As near as I can tell, I can set up multiple email accts, but there is no single merged view (I don't want the emails all mixed on one server - I need to keep work and personal separate). Is there really no way around this?

What about calendaring? Is there a way for an iphone to sync with 2 exchange calendar's? Or maybe syncing through gmail and neuavasync or some other solution? Is the pre the only way to get an integrated view of email, contacts and calendar?

I am an engineer and work in telecom but have little iPhone experience except from playing with friend's iPhones. Does anyone have some advice for me?

thanks,
mike

 

[tjp888]

I feel your pain...

Fresnoboy:
I had the Pre for a week and went through the exact same issues that you did. I liked the phone, but the Sprint coverage was terrible for me too. While AT&T is strong both at my home and work. I went to the 3Gs after returning the Pre. I REALLY miss the way the Pre handled email notifications. Also, I appreciated the way it synced my Google calendar and contacts. Pre is way ahead of the iPhone in this area.

But, I finally decided, what was the point if I couldn't connect? Having this device with little or no signal is a major handicap.

So, I made the switch to AT&T and the iPhone. Looking back, I would do it again. The mutlitude of applications available on the iPhone has made the transition easier. As has the equally large amount of iPhone accessories. I mean, everybody makes stuff for the iPhone!

After breaking in the battery on my 3Gs, I can easily go 15 hours (wifi and BT on) and still have 50% battery left. This is slightly better than what I was getting with the Pre.

I think you should make the switch.

 

[fresnoboy]

Fresnoboy:
I had the Pre for a week and went through the exact same issues that you did. I liked the phone, but the Sprint coverage was terrible for me too. While AT&T is strong both at my home and work. I went to the 3Gs after returning the Pre. I REALLY miss the way the Pre handled email notifications. Also, I appreciated the way it synced my Google calendar and contacts. Pre is way ahead of the iPhone in this area.

But, I finally decided, what was the point if I couldn't connect? Having this device with little or no signal is a major handicap.

So, I made the switch to AT&T and the iPhone. Looking back, I would do it again. The mutlitude of applications available on the iPhone has made the transition easier. As has the equally large amount of iPhone accessories. I mean, everybody makes stuff for the iPhone!

After breaking in the battery on my 3Gs, I can easily go 15 hours (wifi and BT on) and still have 50% battery left. This is slightly better than what I was getting with the Pre.

I think you should make the switch.

Do you have any tips of advice on how to deal with multiple email and calendaring accounts? I am trying to figure out how to get what I need to work on the iPhone... I am coming from a blackberry, so there is some things that just need to work.

 

[hsk]

Do you have any tips of advice on how to deal with multiple email and calendaring accounts? I am trying to figure out how to get what I need to work on the iPhone... I am coming from a blackberry, so there is some things that just need to work.

I have Exchange and GMail on mine and both calendars are there to view - and there is an "All Calendars" view. Sorry, I don't know how that works as I only use one - my Exchange - so I would actually like to get rid of the Gmail one.

 

[actorkid]

my google calendar syncs over the air to my iPhone. If you have more than one calendar, you can view them all at once simply by selecting "all calendars" from the calendar app on the phone ( i think this is what you're talking about?)

as for email, you can set up multiple email accts. but each inbox will be kept separate from each other. Right now, I have two personal e-mails and an exchange email set up. Each has their own inbox. There is no way to merge all accounts into one inbox

 

[TSX]

I can tell you want an iPhone more than the pre. Coming to the iPhone forums ,your going to more people that are biased. What kind of results would you get if you posted this up in the Pre forums? Do you think they would push you to the Pre or iPhone?

 

[tjp888]

actorkid,
I'm a bit confused. My calendar app doesn't show "All Calendars" as an option. I can only see the calendar from my work's Exchange server.
The only way I know of to sync with my google calender & apps is by using m.google - and that requires the Exchange connection that I am already using for work.
How do you have your google (gmail) setup?

 

[maflynn]

I think its a no brainer and based on your post its evident to you as well. Go with the iPhone. More apps, better coverage, better carrier and of course I'll say better phone

 

[actorkid]

actorkid,
I'm a bit confused. My calendar app doesn't show "All Calendars" as an option. I can only see the calendar from my work's Exchange server.
The only way I know of to sync with my google calender & apps is by using m.google - and that requires the Exchange connection that I am already using for work.
How do you have your google (gmail) setup?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/724114/

that thread gives a step by step to set up google calendar via calDAV

as for the "All Calendars" option, when looking at one of my calendars, in the top left corner, I have a back arrow labeled "Calendars". When I tap this, it brings me to a list of all my different calendars. From here you can select "all calendars"...this might only pop up if you have more than one calendar synced.

hope this helps!

 

[tjp888]

Thanks actorkid!
This is going to be a big help.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Do you want a crappy built phone with a keyboard that's 3 fingers wide at best? Do you like cracked screens? Bad coverage? If so.. buy a Pre. Otherwise, take that junk back and buy an iPhone.