Sprint Smartphone

[timwhit]

I'm looking to get a Sprint smartphone in the near future. What would you recommend? I don't care about Exchange integration or other office type things. This will be used for personal business only.

My thoughts:

• I will be using it with Gmail for email and it would be nice if Gmail chat works too, but I don't know if that's a possibility.
• GPS seems like a useful feature
• An integrated keyboard might be nice, depending on the quality of touchscreen
• Must work with Sprint

I know the Palm Pre is supposed to be coming out in the next couple months, which looks nice, but I don't know if I want to wait that long. So, if you had to choose a Sprint smartphone today, which would you choose?

 

[Mercutio]

I use an HTC phone because I like they larger screen as compared to the Palm, RIM or Samsung options. My phone has GPS, but I don't ever use it. Nor do I use the hard buttons on the slide out keyboard.

I think the Touch is the current equivalent to my phone.

 

[Fushigi]

If you don't have large hands, you might be able to pick up a Centro for a song. My wife got one free (w/contract renewal) at Best Buy last year. It runs Palm OS and there's a native Gmail client. No integrated GPS (or WiFi) but if you buy an external GPS mouse there is software from the likes of Tom Tom for it. The Blazer browser is decent and IIRC there's an Opera version. It has BlueTooth, of course, and a decent media player that WMP sees just like any other MP3 player, which makes adding music easy. You don't need to load Palm Desktop on your PC unless you need integration or want to back up to the PC (v. backing up to, say, a microSD card). Palm OS is dying, though, and the Centro is pretty much the last device that'll be marketed with it. But it is stable and there are plenty of 3rd party apps. My wife likes hers a lot but it wouldn't really work for me due to the smaller keyboard.

There are several Windows Mobile options as well as a couple of BlackBerrys. I don't know enough about them to comment. Ditto the other SmartPhone models.

I'd recommend that you go to a large Sprint store (probably not the kiosk in a mall or Best Buy) and play with them. Then hit http://www.sprintusers.com/ to look for reviews and read forum postings about the phones you're interested in.

I'm waiting for the Pre but while I'm hopeful I will do a review ("Pre"-view?) before making a purchase decision. My current Treo 700p is almost 3 years old and is definitely due for replacement.

 

[Mercutio]

I just looked, and apparently, Sprint has drastically changed the requirements for a SERO plan. You need an Employee ID number now, so the $35 a month 500 minutes + unlimited data package I enjoy is no longer available except to actual Sprint employees.

This frankly sucks.

Anyway, I'm using Outlook 2007 Mobile on my phone to download mail from six or seven accounts, mostly because it was there already. I'm not doing push or real-time syncing of any data. I barely use the address book on my phone so I don't really care about syncing to (desktop) Outlook, either. I use Gmail for my outgoing SMTP server.

I also don't use the Calendar so I don't keep track of how to do that, either.

If you're looking for tight Gmail integration, make sure you look at what's supported by Google Sync. I believe Google just licensed ActiveSync from Microsoft to do push to Windows Mobile, if that's something you care about.

I do use my phone to handle Office documents and PDFs when I'm out and about. I find that useful, but I can absolutely see how an awful lot of people would not need that software.

Pocket Internet Explorer is an asstastic browser. A lot of Javascript will just kill it. Opera Mobile is slightly better, but it's a total memory hog. Fennec (Firefox for Windows Mobile) doesn't work on my phone yet. Minimo (an older Firefox codebase) runs, but has a number of bugs as well, but since it supports tabbed browsing and doesn't chew through RAM the way Opera does it's the browser I use the most.

 

[timwhit]

I ended up getting a Blackberry Curve 8330. I tried all the smartphones that they offered and l liked this one by far the best. The HTC Diamond Touch seemed slow. Plus this will only cost me 100 after rebate.

 

[Fushigi]

I'm waiting for the Pre but while I'm hopeful I will do a review ("Pre"-view?) before making a purchase decision. My current Treo 700p is almost 3 years old and is definitely due for replacement.

Got the Pre this morning. Love it so far. I'm not going to use the iTunes capabilities; I've just used drag-n-drop to put music & pictures on it so far. And some PalmOS apps to run under the emulator.

All of the setup was a breeze: Gmail, Exchange ActiveSync, Wifi, BlueTooth, Pandora, location-based services, etc.

Only concern so far is battery life. I will very likely be charging daily. We'll see how it performs this week while I'm on vacation.

SERO plans aren't usable on the Pre right now. I imagine that may change when the initial fuss is over with. At the moment I'm on the $69.99 plan (450 day minues, unlimited night & w/end, data, texting, etc.). Sometime next month I'll stop getting a bill altogether as my line will join my employer's pool. Under the pool, All Sprint phone's will have their minutes pooled and we simply pay for what we use. Apparently it's tons cheaper, like closer to $30 a month per line.

 

[mubs]

Thanks for the feedback. How is the speed? Some "pre"views said it could get sluggish at times.

 

[Fushigi]

Loading apps isn't the fastest thing. They generally take a few seconds. Once loaded most things are quite speedy, which they should be considering the CPU. The Pre is very data-centric, so it will hold the data connection on basically all the time. WiFi can be faster but seems to take a heavier toll on the battery.

I love the screen. Very bright out of the box even though by default it was set to under half. Touch response is great and pretty intuitive after just a couple of minutes.

I'd like more apps to take advantage of the accelerometer, but I figure those will come in time.

The biggest failing of the device so far is not the hardware, which is very good if not great, or the core webOS functionality, but the functionality of the bundled apps. Some things one would take for granted nowadays are missing, like graphical emoticons in the messaging app (you have to type in the smilies v. selecting from a picture list). I imagine these deficiencies will be rectified fairly quickly. The Pre does updates OTA and does them automatically so new features can appear without user intervention.

Last night we used the Fandango app to buy tickets for Terminator: Salvation. Very easy, painless, and as advertised it booked the movie time on my Google calendar (what I chose as the default) automatically.

The video & picture viewers are good, as is the MP3 player. Haven't tried playlists yet. The picture viewer looks through the entire RAM space so it will even include album art. The You Tube app works well enough.

The camera is fast and pics are easily the best I've seen from a camera phone. If you select a camera pic to be associated with a contact it shows you in advance how the pic will be cropped for display, which is a nice touch.

Things it still needs:
- As noted above, add features to provided apps.
- More games.
- Ability to edit Office docs v. just view them. This is coming soon.
- Cut-n-paste that works outside of editable fields.
- Ability to save images from the browser. Right now you can by doing a screen cap but that's not a real solution.
- Improved font control.
- Flash support. Promised by year end.

IMO most areas where it comes up short can be easily addressed by software updates and new apps. I expect that to be taken care of over the coming weeks/months. Developers are reporting that writing for webOS is 4-5 times faster than writing for the iPhone.

If I were an iPhone user, would I switch? Probably not today, but possibly once some software updates / enhancements are released. Coming from a PalmOS device, it's an easy upgrade (unless you need the IR port). Especially with the Classic emulator that runs many PalmOS apps.

 

[udaman]

Touch response is great and pretty intuitive after just a couple of minutes.

- Flash support. Promised by year end.
I expect that to be taken care of over the coming weeks/months. Developers are reporting that writing for webOS is 4-5 times faster than writing for the iPhone.

If I were an iPhone user, would I switch? Probably not today, but possibly once some software updates / enhancements are released. Coming from a PalmOS device, it's an easy upgrade (unless you need the IR port). Especially with the Classic emulator that runs many PalmOS apps.

Be many months...oh heck, be years at minimum before you'd ever come close to the variety of apps the iPhone enjoys...will Sprint go the way of US auto by then, be bought-out, merged?

New iPhone comes out soon, your 'comparison' lacks validity...but then you expect that from the M$ fanboi crowd.

I hate flash, most gawd awful bloatware ever created! Boycott flash.

Funny, I could have sworn I saw a critical eye on the iPhone for being 'exclusive' to one carrier. Sprint has an exclusive on the Pre, just like AT&T has on the iPhone (thought that will probably change before the Pre exclusivity contract expires).

But you're not an iPhone user, therefore your bias is obvious. Use an iPhone yourself, the new one; for 3 months minimum, then get back to us, lol.

Best cam phone images *you've* seen. Glad you qualified that. There are a few 'smartphones' with better cameras but still the best are not either/or. You' don't buy a Pre or iPhone with any expectations of the best or better than average in camphone images. Samsung & Sony-Ericsson both have competing high-end camphones coming to market> 3x optical zoom, ridiculous 12MP sensors, higher ISO, zenon flash, etc.

There will be more useful comparison reviews coming soon, im sure. I probably would have waited for the last-in-line Sprint(Verison just announced it, Sprint should follow...sometime ), to add the crackberry 8230 Pearl Flip *if* were getting a 'smartphone'...I hate candy-bar style phones-including the iPhone & high-end camphones .

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/04/palm.pre.review.roundup/

 

[ddrueding]

I'm looking for a smartphone as well, but it needs to be on the Nextel network and support direct connect (for work) and it needs a keyboard (or it wouldn't be very smart).

I believe that leaves me with exactly one option, and it is a Blackberry. Crap.

 

[Stereodude]

But you're not an iPhone user, therefore your bias is obvious. Use an iPhone yourself, the new one; for 3 months minimum, then get back to us, lol.

Do you lay awake in bed at night deciding how you can best look like a complete and utter idiot before you post something? With beauties like this, one has to wonder. :rofl:

 

[Fushigi]

Udaman is on my ignore list, but since Stereodude quoted his post, I'll respond.

I have no bias against the iPhone per se. Or Apple FTM. My issues are more with the need for iTunes to do anything useful with the device and with AT&T as a carrier. I guess you could say I wonder at the iPhone mania as the device, since inception 2 years ago, offers nothing new except a slick GUI and the accelerometer.

 

[udaman]

Palm Pre risks early demise with $99 iPhone 3G



http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/08/palm.pre.faces.99.iphone/

The main caveat is the longevity of the network technology. AT&T plans to upgrade its 3G service to faster speeds and will eventually move to 4G, with 3G as a legacy format. Sprint also has plans as well, but CDMA and EVDO are unlikely to survive at a certain stage. It's unlikely that both will be shut off anytime soon, but it does mean that the cut-off point will come sooner.

Well I hope that doesn't happen as fast as automakers going bankrupt because I've got the lowest price subscriber deal there is from Sprint, have had it since 1997.

wrapping up

Palm and Sprint can claim at least a minor win on paper. The long-term costs of ownership are indeed lower, and the hidden benefit of a more reliable network may be worth any added initial cost. There will also be power users who simply need multiple simultaneous apps or who are experienced with hardware keyboards.

Much of that, however, won't matter to many casual iPhone buyers. The $99 iPhone 3G is sufficiently inexpensive enough that the Pre's plan advantage is negated. And while an iPhone 3GS will be more expensive to use over two years, there's no escaping that it has more headroom for storage and already has more features, at least until Palm can upgrade webOS in earnest.

There will always be those who buy a Pre because they're existing Sprint subscribers, because they dislike (or just can't use) AT&T's network, or because they believe Apple is too controlling. But with as many as 40 percent of iPhone customers coming from other carriers even before the $99 model's debut, we suspect many will only see the initial price tag and overlook Palm altogether.

 

[Will Rickards]

So how is sprint? I hear bad things about their customer service/billing issues. But their network? Voice quality?

I'm on verizon now. I use the phone as my only phone, no land line.
I get great coverage at my house. I can be in the basement where my office is and still get multiple bars.
But I only get one bar at my office inside, but fine if I go outside.

I'm considering the Pre and the $99 unlimited plan. The plan seems like a good deal but what if you want two lines?

 

[Mercutio]

Billing and customer service are awful. The only way I can successfully pay my bill (as in, with Sprint actually taking my money) is pay by phone from my cell phone.

My calls have crystal clear quality and the data network at least around Chicago buries Verizon,AT&T or T-Mobile. My phone is often faster than local DSL service.

Verizon should almost always win on ubiquity of service, though.

 

[timwhit]

I've been with Sprint for the past 8 years and have never had a billing issue.

Their network seems quite solid to me as well.

 

[Fushigi]

I've never had a bad CS experience with Sprint and I've used them for over 10 years. I've actually rarely had to call them; probably less than once a year on average. And really, if you lok around, all of the carriers have piss-poor CS at some point.

Never had a payment problem either. A long time ago I set it to auto-bill to a credit card. I still get a monthly statement and as long as the numbers are fine I don't do anything. And the numbers have always been fine.

I think a lot of the CS issues have been with people with complicated plans, SERO (which is going away), people who try to get something for nothing, or other things that aren't cut and dried.

Reception will depend on your area. Chicagoland has pretty good Sprint reception, but YMMV.

I'm currently on the $69.99 plan - 450 day, unlimited everything else. I apply a corporate discount to that.

 

[timwhit]

I'm on a 2 line plan. 1500 shared minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited data for $129.99. Actual bill is quite a bit more. I pay for insurance on both of the lines and then taxes make it come out to ~$167. Tax is $19.10.

 

[timwhit]

I'm not even sure the insurance is worth it. It's $7 per line and with the Blackberry Curve there is a $100 deductible if I need to get the phone replaced. Does anyone else pay for this?

 

[Fushigi]

I've never bothered with the coverage. I take care of my phones. I keep it in my front pants pocket (screen facing me) and don't put anything else in that pocket. After I use it, back it goes.

With BT, the need to remove the phone for a call is greatly reduced.

I know people who empty their pocket out at every opportunity - wallet, keys, etc. - whenever they get home or to their office. I've never been one to do that (except with keys) so chances of me misplacing the phone are reduced.

And the phone itself will come with a year warranty. It doesn't cover loss but should cover reasonable damage.

IMO you should bank the $7/mo/line and use the money to upgrade the phones more often.

 

[Will Rickards]

Re: insurance
About a year into our verizon contract and consequently a year after going cellphone only, my wife drops her cellphone into a pot of boiling water and spaghetti. She was talking on the phone and cooking dinner. Phone was toast. Insurance might have helped here. But even so I consider this an outlier condition and don't get the insurance.

Re: sprint
So it sounds like sprint isn't all that bad after all. Now I just have to find someone with a sprint phone around me so I can test the reception. Their coverage maps seems to indicate good coverage at my house, my brother's house and work.

 

[Fushigi]

Will - Get your wife a BlueTooth headset. That way the phone can stay on the counter or in a pocket.

I believe you have 30 days to cancel any cell phone account so worst case you can sign up and see how well it works. If you get the Pre you'll definitely be doing data so make sure your area has EVDO for data. The Pre has WiFi and using it is apparently more battery-efficient than EVDO (which is a switch compared to most phones) but you probably want high-speed data wherever you'll commonly use the device.

 

[Handruin]

In my area Sprint seems to have less than ideal coverage for me. I was a Sprint customer many years ago and swore never to go back based on the crappy coverage I had (I know they've since improved). I never had any CS issues, but I also never had to use it other than to cancel. I know a few people with Sprint and their coverage isn't as good as what I have with Verizon (specifically indoors). When a Sprint phone has good reception, it sounds really good and I'm sure the data transfer is great from what I've heard, but I've never used their data plan.

If Verizon is to some day offer the Pre, I would try it, but I won't switch to Sprint to get a specific phone. I also feel the same with switching to AT&T for the iPhone...I'm not moving carriers for it.

 

[Will Rickards]

I felt the same way about switching carriers.
Then I put my consumerist hat on and asked myself why am I loyal to this brand or that brand.
The only reason is the coverage.

But verizon doesn't work well at my brother's house. He is frequently dropping calls at his house. He's stuck with verizon through it. Even considered getting one of their repeater devices you hook up to the internet connection to improve reception. But they wanted 250 dollars for it. And you can't control that other people are using it. They should _give_ them away for free to people like him. But the CSR didn't see it that way. He is so ready to switch. I don't know why he hasn't already.

He is considering the iphone on AT&T. I am too and like their rollover minutes. But I think their data plans will cost me more than sprint or am I wrong? I'll probably get the sprint $130 plan (that's really $150 with taxes) that timwhit has.

So if sprint has coverage where I need it, the plans are cheaper, and it has the phone I want.... why not switch?

 

[Handruin]

So if sprint has coverage where I need it, the plans are cheaper, and it has the phone I want.... why not switch?

I would agree that switching in your case might make sense. I want to emphasize that my experience with Sprint was just for my area and I realize it could be a lot better in your area (and others). Fushigi suggested taking advantage of the 30 trial which makes sense to me too.

I'm not loyal to Verizon as a brand, in fact there are many things that bother me about them. What I like the most is that 99% of the time I use my mobile phone, I get coverage and it's good, or good enough to get done what I need. I haven't had a home phone in 4+ years and for those times I need a non-wireless phone I use skype. If my coverage was crap (like my experiences with Sprint many years ago) I changed companies.

 

[Handruin]

Not sure if this interests you...

Palm Pre Recovery Tool Leaks Out, Including webOS Root Image

 

[Fushigi]

I saw the thing about the recovery tool. Right now I'm not too worried about hacking or jailbreaking the phone. The main missing function is tethering and most folks are pretty sure an app will be released shortly that handles it. The Pre can do it but Sprint blocks it.

I agree with the words regarding loyalty. I've remained with Sprint because I've not seen anything on Verizon that appeals to me, AT&T is evil, T-mo isn't pervasive enough and lacks a good device selection, and Sprint has yet to do anything wrong to me. Here around Chicagoland, a few years back they invested something like $80 million in infrastructure upgrades. Since then, my reception problems have been minimal.

Sprint's data connections almost always rate faster than AT&T and it always costs less. On comparable plans the Pre on Sprint is $360 cheaper that an iPhone on AT&T over the course of a 2 year contract. You can get full-speed data over just 1 bar of signal on CDMA; on GSM your data speed can vary with signal strength.

Now, Sprint & Verizon are both troublesome from a technology perspective if you do a lot of international travel. CDMA just isn't as popular outside the US as GSM. Sprint and I assume Verizon offers a "World Phone" or two (CDMA/GMS combo phone) but that's it. AT&T has an advantage for world travelers. Personally, I travel internationally very rarely so it's a non-issue for me.

CDMA also, as implemented by Sprint, doesn't do simultaneous voice & data. The Pre can do WiFi data & CDMA voice. Some people call this a huge failing, but if you're doing something with data & a call comes in, the data conversation is paused so the call will go through. After the call is done, the data traffic will resume. So it's not really an issue, at least for most people.

 

[Mercutio]

Re: Customer support/Billing with Sprint.

I *am* on a SERO plan (500 talk minutes + truly unlimited data @ $35 a month) and getting my phone set up and my number ported was nightmare process that took about four hours total on hold after the initial internet-based order. And - I'm not sure how this is possible, but for a while, my voice mailbox was associated with some other number, even after my phone number was transferred. Which took another couple hours on hold to explain and fix.

I can log in to my Sprint account, but I'm not listed as a person who can pay my own bill or even see my current charges. I can only receive email at some sprint.com Email address from it. Talking to Sprint CSRs (another couple hours, total hold time) about the issue was completely non productive. They say they can't do anything about web stuff.

So I can't pay my bill online.

Similarly, I indicated when I first signed up that I wanted paperless billing. They're supposed to E-mail me a bill.

I've never, ever gotten a bill from Sprint, paper or E-mail. Supposedly, I can adjust those settings on the web page that I'm supposed to be able to log in to pay my bill with.

Again: CSRs say the web stuff is completely different and they don't know who to talk to. The web site tells me to call the CSRs when I have issues.

End result: Every few months I hit *3 on my phone and put additional credit on my account.

Basically anything you do with Sprint requires minimum 45 minutes of hold time, except paying your bill.

Now, on the other hand, my call quality is close to perfect as long as I'm not roaming. My data connection is really fast. My data plan is truly unlimited (people who bought data service after July 2007 have an "unlimited" data plan that caps at 5GB a month, older accounts have "unlimited" grandfathered on their plan). My phone does exactly what I need it to do.

But Sprint's customer service is nightmarish. Maybe my experiences are out of the ordinary, or because I'm on a SERO plan, but reading about other people's experiences on Consumerist.com makes me think it's not just me who has had issues.

 

[Fushigi]

Like I said, SERO plan people tend to run into problems. It definitely sounds like some wires have been crossed somewhere in your account settings.

Instead of talking to CS on the phone, go to a corporate Sprint store and ask them to help straighten out your billing issue. Or call the Executive CS.

BTW, I didn't see any forums at Consumerist.com so I'm not sure where to see the complaints. But for giggles, try about replacing "sprint" with "at&t" or "verizon" and seeing if the complaints are really all that different.

 

[Howell]

I guess you could say I wonder at the iPhone mania as the device, since inception 2 years ago, offers nothing new except a slick GUI and the accelerometer.

We all know I have a 3G but I wouldn't call it mania. : ) You've never seen me manic. : D

When everyone else copies you two plus years later that would indicate that you did something right the first time. Which is preferable I'm sure you would agree. You didn't exactly identify anything about the Pre hardware that offers anything new over the 3G iPhone which is barely different from the original (only GPS and 3G). For that matter I can't find evidence that there was a capacitive touch screen available on a phone before the iPhone. Multi-touch was such a new ability that they patented it.

As far as I am concerned what the iPhone brought to the table was a full-size touch screen and a slim profile. The accelerometer is icing. Most of the functionality of the iPhone came from the creative use of the hardware like shake to update email and landscape mode for several apps as well as taking for granted an always on internet connection.

If the rumor is true that you can develop faster on the Pre that is not insignificant. How long before the Pre is available for Verizon?

Lastly, the Pre appears to have the same limitation as the iPhone regarding creating meetings.

I agree with you. You can not copy text from emails that have more than one replies in it. The mail program could be greatly improved. Same thing with the calendar, it does not support creating meeting, only events, it also does not support ICS. Not to forget about tethering because according to Sprint it was removed because of limitation of the phone.

http://www.precentral.net/pre-developer-rom-uncovered-could-lead-hackingcustomization

 

[Will Rickards]

Sprint is looking better and better to me.
I get a 22% corporate discount versus 18% with verizon so 129.99 would be 101.39 + 20 tax would be @120 per month and that is unlimited text, data and gps.
But my wife seems dead set against them.

 

[Fushigi]

I wasn't playing much upon the Pre's hardware as webOS is the real darling. But the Pre's CPU is fast enough to decode HD video. It has a real keyboard, which is something I won't compromise on. The Pre really does have a warm, organic feel to it (especially with the matte finish of the back that comes with the Touchstone), far from the IMO unemotive slab of the iPhone. And I'd never buy a device without a user-replaceable battery.

The Pre's WiFi is probably the first smartphone that has better battery efficiency with WiFi as compared to cellular data.

While the iPhone was apparently the first with a capacitive touch, it was far from the first touch screen smartphone. That's an evolutionary advance, not revolutionary. The full screen nature is really a requirement given the lack of any other input capability.

I simply love webOS's ability to multitask. After less than a week with the Pre, I already find myself with emails open while browsing while running the GPS and updating my contact list. Just to try it, I got up to something over a dozen cards (apps) open before it wouldn't let me do any more.

I don't know all of the iPhone gestures, but shaking to refresh email seems rather unintuitive. Perhaps there's a context I'm missing. The mail app in webOS has a refresh icon to tap, although it isn't really necessary if using Push for Exchange and GMail. Or IMAP with IDLE support.

Re: Tethering: The Pre/webOS supports tethering over BT and USB. Sprint does not allow it so that feature is disabled. Most people believe a tethering app will be released withn a few weeks, probably from June Fabrics who has tethering apps for other devices. Consider it a 3rd party jailbreak to enable what Sprint has disabled.

Most of the other limitations are due to limited features being rolled out in the webOS app suite's 1.0 release. They needed to nail basic functionality first. Other features, like Flash support, Yahoo! integration equivalent to the Google integration, and presumably updates to the email & messaging apps should come fairly quickly. The device is designed to get updates automatically OTA and it's expected they will be frequent.

As I said before, I really don't think it's currently enough to make an iPhone user jump ship. I wouldn't expect you or anyone else to make the switch without a compelling advantage and right now IMO each platform has numerous small advantages ove the other but no major, "killer" advantages that would sway someone to change form one to the other.

However, it's probably the best competition to the iPhone at this time and can be the preferred device depending on what someone wants out of their mobile platform.

 

[Striker]

Does anyone have any experience with the G1? I've been to a couple of stores to look at them but they never have any working units. Only the dummies. I'd like to check it out before buying.
I was also considering perhaps the Iphone 3GS or the Palm Pre.
I'm mostly interested in the browsing available on the phones.
The only one of the three I've had access to is the Iphone 3G which I'm assuming is using the same browser.

 

[Mercutio]

Re: Tethering: The Pre/webOS supports tethering over BT and USB. Sprint does not allow it so that feature is disabled.

I'd call tethering support fundamental to my needs for a mobile device.
I would also say that the ability to multitask is critical. I absolutely want to be able to browse the web and compose an E-mail at the same time. That's important to me. I'd far rather have the core functionality of the device work properly than worry about all the toy applications I can buy for $1.

 

[Fushigi]

Striker, I don't really know anything about the G1, but the Pre and the iPhone both use Webkit-based browsers. Reports are that the Pre offers the fastest experience, being about 4x faster than the iPhone 3G, which should make it still roughly twice as fast as the new 3Gs. Both offer automatic page rotation to landscape, both use pinch controls for zooming in & out. I'm not sure about the iPhone's Flash support, but Flash 10 is promised for the Pre by year's end.

iPhones have an advantage with the App Store, but Pre development is supposed to be very fast so useful apps should appear quickly. Pre clients for Pandora, Fandango, You tube, and LinkedIn are already out. The Facebook client will be out soon although it works fine via the browser.

Do you have a carrier preference? Platform standards for corporate email? Or other factors that might narrow your choice?

 

[Striker]

Thanks Fushigi,
I did a little more research and noticed that the G1 uses webkit also; so it should be a similar browsing experience all around.
I'd like to avoid the premium and locked down nature of the Iphone so I think it's out.
I don't really have a carrier preference. Probably Tmobile or Sprint, just because they're cheaper. I don't talk on the phone much so I don't need a plan with a lot of minutes.
I don't need corporate email on the device.
Now that I know that android uses webkit also I'm off to research if there are any new android devices coming out.

 

[Mercutio]

Now that I know that android uses webkit also I'm off to research if there are any new android devices coming out.

Apparently, there were some Android-based handsets at E3 running on 1.7GHz ARM CPUs. I can't imagine what a mobile phone would need with that kind of horsepower, but just as a tech demo, it suggests what a G3-type handset might be like.

 

[Howell]

I wasn't playing much upon the Pre's hardware as webOS is the real darling. But the Pre's CPU is fast enough to decode HD video.

Interesting. The new iPhone is supposed to be faster and more power efficient than the 3G but I'm not sure how that translates into HD decoding. In fact, is that important outside of watching movies or maybe TV on the phone which is not something I do? Now if the Pre can decode HD and can port the audio and video to a home entertainment system...oh my.

It has a real keyboard, which is something I won't compromise on.

The new landscape keyboard gives you bigger keys for typing but that might not be sufficient for some people. The biggest drawback to a hard keyboard and full size screen in my experience is that it increases the thickness of the device. I have a hard enough time finding pants with enough room in the pockets as it is. A personal problem, yes.

The Pre really does have a warm, organic feel to it (especially with the matte finish of the back that comes with the Touchstone), far from the IMO unemotive slab of the iPhone. And I'd never buy a device without a user-replaceable battery.

I have debated with myself whether or not I would like a matte finish on an iPhone. I do like matte visually and tactilely but I think about whether it would slide in and out of my pocket as easily. I don't have any of those goofy rubber cases on there for the same reason. You can replace the battery in the iPhone just like you can in other difficult to work on Apple products.

The Pre's WiFi is probably the first smartphone that has better battery efficiency with WiFi as compared to cellular data.

This chart indicates that the 3G has better battery efficiency with WiFi as compared to cellular data. The new ones that came out are even better. I would think this would be dependent on the individual chips. <shrug> The 3G gets better battery life if you turn off the 3G as well. I wonder if that is 3G data transfer you are looking at.

While the iPhone was apparently the first with a capacitive touch, it was far from the first touch screen smartphone. That's an evolutionary advance, not revolutionary. The full screen nature is really a requirement given the lack of any other input capability.

It certainly revolutionized the way you could interact with the device and was seen as useful enough the others are following on. Whether it was revolutionary as opposed to evolutionary is not relevant to most people as they just want to use the stupid thing.

I simply love webOS's ability to multitask. After less than a week with the Pre, I already find myself with emails open while browsing while running the GPS and updating my contact list. Just to try it, I got up to something over a dozen cards (apps) open before it wouldn't let me do any more.

From the video I saw, the way the Pre handles multi-tasking is pretty slick. Can you have multiple emails open at the same time? But it is not like OSX is incapable of multi-tasking so I don't know why it doesn't unless it is for battery life. Most of the time I forget that I can't except when I need to repeatedly switch between applications which isn't that often. If the video I saw of the 3GS is any indication even that won't be an issue.

I don't know all of the iPhone gestures, but shaking to refresh email seems rather unintuitive. Perhaps there's a context I'm missing. The mail app in webOS has a refresh icon to tap, although it isn't really necessary if using Push for Exchange and GMail. Or IMAP with IDLE support.

I don't know them either. At least I don't think of them a set of things people need to learn. And I really didn't think that example through as what I wrote isn't even true. I do wish it were though. I wish all of the apps would refresh on a shake. Pocket Informant (3rd party) syncs its info to the internet on a shake. You don't have to be as precise with a gross motor motion as you do with something like punching an on-screen button which is advantageous for some applications and counter-productive for others. Even so, shake isn't the end all be all. There was the downside of that "shaken baby" app. Poor taste indeed. Maybe it'll show up on the Pre.

Intuition is intuition. As soon as apps work similarly then you get used to it and it becomes intuitive. It's not intuitive for you because you've never done it that way. It took me a little while to get used to the way the the 3G works. I think some of it documented here somewhere.

Consider it a 3rd party jailbreak to enable what Sprint has disabled.

eww. I don't like doing that kind of stuff to my equipment and I know you don't either. I think the same thing is available for me but I avoid it.

However, it's probably the best competition to the iPhone at this time and can be the preferred device depending on what someone wants out of their mobile platform.

About 2 months ago I tried to switch over to an LG Vu which was supposed to be an iphone equivalent but that lasted about two days. It just did not work as well. I agree that the Pre is one of the best alternatives to the iphone for now though the Android based platforms may be close. And, it does have that keyboard. : ) I'd be interested to know how much of consumer likability of the iphone is due to the sveltness of the hardware (physical size and durability) vs the usability of the software.