Holy crap, the Pre's battery life is AWFUL

[shortylickens]

Just got a Palm Pre this afternoon.
Battery life is meh.
OS is OK. Not great. Did not impress me compared to Android. Not quite as much stuff preinstalled, and not nearly as many things on the App store. Cant keep stuff on the desktop permanently, like Widgets or Gadgets. But having multiple web pages and full screen apps open is nice. Sliding between screens is easy, but I'd prefer a dedicated home and back key, as well as end and send, like HTC Android phones have.

Web browsing is meh. Making bookmarks isnt as easy as Android, neither is finding new websites. You cant save objects from web pages. I could not find other web browsers in the app store. No dedicated Google box available. Changing settings requires digging and you cant do much anyway. It is very easy to turn off wifi or blutooth or set airplane mode, and quickly.

Automatically pulling and consolidating contacts works great, and I teeny with lots of contacts scattered to hell would appreciate it, especially if they have Myspace and Facebook.

Display is awesome and the cute little visual effects work nicely. No external memory, but it has 8GB onboard.

App store is limited, and not easy to browse. Keyboard is too small, even for my little fingers. Battery is unacceptable for a multimedia smartphone, but there are extended batteries available.
So far it feels like this phone and OS is inferior in every way to a G1 or MyTouch.

Thats it, I wanted to do a full review but didnt feel like it. So I bumped this.

 

[Deeko]

The OS is definitely not inferior in every way to Android. Android's multitasking and task management is nowhere NEAR as powerful as the Pre's. In fact, its rather abysmal - while Android does multitask, I'd rank it below Windows Mobile and maybe even Blackberry in that category. The app store is limited, but so was the Android Market at first, give it time. Its improving. The browser, while perhaps not as many options as the Android browser, is considerably faster. The camera application is better too, and combined messaging + synergy is awesome. It has full exchange support - including multiple exchange accounts.

Oh, and it doesn't have a "google box" but you can automatically search just by typing. Hell I turned off the Google Box on Android, its a worthless waste of real estate, hit the search button and one pops up.

edit: Android is better in ways too, though. The desktop is better than the Pre's (there isn't one). As you mentioned, currently there are a lot more apps for Android. Obviously, google integration as a whole (gmail/gtalk/search/etc) is better on Android.

 

[randomlinh]

err, i was in NYC, phone died on me at about 10pm (11am start), with google maps open for half the day. it's the chat app that sucks the battery down. i have never had a problem going through a day of normal use though. But yes, the battery life does suck compared to everyone else.

 

[Tom]

My Touch Pro2 was last charged 16 hours ago, battery is at 40%.

1.5 hours talk time, 3.5 hours total device usage. that includes multitasking web, email, gps about a half hour, browsing photos and some Sprint TV.

 

[Reckoner]

The reason your phone probably had battery issues is due to AIM. It's a known fact that there is a MASSIVE battery drain with AIM enabled, and Palm is aware of it. Since AIM is enabled by default, that was probably one of the root causes of your battery problems. Also, when I originally used the default battery, I had the same problem.. battery dying pretty quickly and all. Battery life does improve over the course of a week or two as you condition it. However, I ended up grabbing a Seidio 2600mah extended battery for $49 off of amazon which has solved any and all battery related issues. No matter what I throw at the Pre, I'm left with plenty of juice to spare by bedtime. I highly suggest all Pre owners grab it.

 

[her209]

Did the bug with the phone crashing when you close it ever get fixed?

EDIT: Link to what I'm talking about.

 

[Reckoner]

Originally posted by: her209
Did the bug with the phone crashing when you close it ever get fixed?

EDIT: Link to what I'm talking about.

That's a battery issue. If you go to a Sprint store and alert them to this problem, they'll give you a new battery.

 

[Nebor]

I have push gmail, push exchange (for my Army email,) and listen to music on the way to and from work (40 minutes or so) off my phone, and use google maps w/ gps to find things during the day. Day starts at 0500 and ends around 2200 every day. Phone is usually around 50% battery by then. It's a Sony Ericsson X1A, one of the biggest smart phone failures to date, I think. The X2 should be along shortly. As should the Satio. I'm trying to decide which one to buy. Both should be just under $1000.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: Reckoner
The reason your phone probably had battery issues is due to AIM. It's a known fact that there is a MASSIVE battery drain with AIM enabled, and Palm is aware of it. Since AIM is enabled by default, that was probably one of the root causes of your battery problems. Also, when I originally used the default battery, I had the same problem.. battery dying pretty quickly and all. Battery life does improve over the course of a week or two as you condition it. However, I ended up grabbing a Seidio 2600mah extended battery for $49 off of amazon which has solved any and all battery related issues. No matter what I throw at the Pre, I'm left with plenty of juice to spare by bedtime. I highly suggest all Pre owners grab it.

some of us don't want to stick a giant battery on the back of our phones. that and some of us have the touchstone for convenience.

if the iphone can manage to pull off better times, so should the Pre. Or stuck a 1400mah battery in there. It's still on the bad end of the scale for battery life.

 

[Reckoner]

I didn't want the bigger back at first, but I have to say that it feels a lot better in my hand now in comparison to the stock size. I had the touchstone too but I sold it since the only time I have to charge the phone is at bedtime.