Palm - here's why you suck

[MJinZ]

Played with a friend's Pre for a while, so here goes. Please chime in, but I think I'm going to nail real hard with hammer time here:

1) Your stupid names - Pre? Pixi? Do you really think any guy is going buy a phone called a Pixi?

2) Debuting on Sprint - you are sooo SMART. Idiots.

3) Slow OS/ hardware. Oh lookie @ us, we want our stock to go up but you know what, we will try to sell an inferior product.

4) Plasticky quality. Have you people even held an iPhone before? Like your main competitor? Please, fire your QA people. Fire your management. You guys blow.

Anything I'm missing?

 

[Phobic9]

I bought a Pre Plus for Verizon because I was excited to try out WebOS. Honestly, the OS is pretty good and one of the better ones I've used. The phone, however, was... umm... yeah not so hot. Everything about it just felt cheap and plasticky like you said. In the end, it was a combination of minor issues with the Pre Plus that had me running back to my Droid just 2 days after I bought it.

Maybe Palm should just focus on software like Sega did when they stopped pumping out consoles.

 

[pm]

I agree with #4.

As far as #1... the thing that is the least likely to influence my phone purchase is what the phone is called.

 

[TheStu]

The phone feels... fake, to me. Anytime I hold one I feel like it is a demo model, and doesn't actually work. I am not sure what about gives that feeling, but that is how it is. The screen is too small, the lack of onscreen keyboard (unless that was in an update somewhere), and the crappy (to me) physical keyboard all combine to be a phone that I have no interest in. On top of that, they only 2 mobile OSes that I am interested in right now is Android and iPhone OS. WP7S OS could be interesting but it is at least 6 months away, and they have a lot of catching up to do.

 

[rudeguy]

I used a Treo 650 for a while.

I'll never own another Palm product again.

 

[MJinZ]

I agree with #4.

As far as #1... the thing that is the least likely to influence my phone purchase is what the phone is called.

But it influences the mainstream. Call a phone a Palm Fairy and see how many men would even consider one.

 

[Phobic9]

But it influences the mainstream. Call a phone a Palm Fairy and see how many men would even consider one.

Probably didn't help either that Verizon's first Palm Pre commercials were focused directly at women. Then again, Palm hasn't had any good commercials for the Pre at all, regardless if they had them made or any of the carriers.

 

[Spoooon]

Palm Pixi feels pretty high quality in the hand. The wife's phone.

 

[Slick5150]

I wouldn't trade my Pre for any phone currently on the market.

I blame poor marketing more than anything. Plus, as Palm's CEO agreed with today, their exclusive launch agreement with Sprint prevented from getting the Pre on Verizon for too long. Had they gotten it on Verizon prior to the Droid, it would have been Verizon's tentpole device and would have gotten a much bigger push from them.

That said, WebOS is still the best mobile OS out there. They just need to get it running on better hardware.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I agree with #4.

As far as #1... the thing that is the least likely to influence my phone purchase is what the phone is called.

I do to some degree. While true that the quality is not up to par with the iPhone, the cost of ownership is not nearly as expensive as the iPhone either.

 

[Bateluer]

That said, WebOS is still the best mobile OS out there. They just need to get it running on better hardware.

While there is definitely a lot to like about WebOS, I don't think its the best mobile OS out there. Though personally, I am an Android fan for several reasons, I think WebOS loses to Android.

iPhone OS, of course, blows. And I've only used Blackberry OS for brief periods on a Storm, Curve, Bold, and Curve 2. Didn't particularly care for it.

 

[tdawg]

I like the OS, but hate the small keyboard. Put webOS in the body of a Nexus One and I'd be very interested.

 

[randomlinh]

1) I don't think the Pixi was aimed at the men. They wanted to get the women, but didn't know how.

2) Do you think Palm could even try to debut on the other networks? I don't think they could have met with the supply, and thus, looked bad anyway. However, the 6 month exclusivity was indeed dumb. But again, do you think Verizon even wanted them? I bet Sprint was desperate for something, and gave Palm a deal.

3) sadly, yes, it's slow. OS though, hardware is on par w/ the Droid, so it has room to breath. The problem is they hired their GPU guy in what, Sept? yeah, AFTER the phones debut.

4) I actually think the phone is fine, except for the plastic band that encompasses the volume rocker/power switch. But yes, it doesn't hold compared to an iPhone. However, I also hate the iPhone form factor (and every other giant touchscreen phone). Sadly, I'm betting the Pre is the the last line of phones that will keep a smaller form factor.


I hope Palm can stay afloat and continue, as I love WebOS aside from the speed. The whole "synergy" thing (ok, that's #5, synergy, really Palm?) works extremely well for me, and in fact, would not have worked on any other phone until Android 2 came out (actually, can you have android 2 pull from multiple gmail/google app accounts... mail/contacts/calendars?).

 

[preslove]

They're not going to suck much longer...

It will be interesting to see who buys them out. I'm hoping it's google.

http://gizmodo.com/5491521/why-google-should-buy-palm?skyline=true&s=i

 

[Xenon]

Probably didn't help either that Verizon's first Palm Pre commercials were focused directly at women. Then again, Palm hasn't had any good commercials for the Pre at all, regardless if they had them made or any of the carriers.

They are still focused on women but the commercials are getting better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1OHlFOee2w

 

[secretanchitman]

OP you are exactly right. they should have debuted on verizon, then att. get a cdma and gsm pre/pixi out first, so then everyone can benefit.

 

[DivideBYZero]

But it influences the mainstream. Call a phone a Palm Fairy and see how many men would even consider one.

Plenty of people bought the BlackBerry Pearl. When it was announced that that was going to be the name I was sure it would bomb due to it being Girly, but it was one of the most successful BlackBerry's ever made. :shrug:

 

[Bateluer]

can you have android 2 pull from multiple gmail/google app accounts... mail/contacts/calendars?).

Mine is synced to multiple Google calendars, but I've never tried syncing it to multiple GMail or Facebook accounts. The option is still there to add additional facebook accounts or mail accounts though, so I assume yes.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I've got to say I love multi-tasking. The phone does piss me off at times, mainly since I upgraded to 1.4, but I'm not sure what I would do without multi-tasking now.

 

[AstroManLuca]

If the Pre had a better keyboard, I may not have traded it in for an Android phone. I loved the design and feel of the phone at first, but it did start to feel cheap, especially once I replaced it with my Samsung Moment. Also, the USB cover is one of the worst features of any piece of electronics I've ever owned.

The OS was a bit sluggish but it wasn't intolerable, just frustrating at times. Kinda wish there was a bigger screen. Palm needs a top-tier phone to get back in the game. The Pre strikes me as sort of a low-end smartphone. It's not bad, but it's not really a serious contender when you compare it with the Nexus One, Droid, or any of the big upcoming Android phones.

 

[randomlinh]

They're not going to suck much longer...

It will be interesting to see who buys them out. I'm hoping it's google.

http://gizmodo.com/5491521/why-google-should-buy-palm?skyline=true&s=i

That's just conjecture, but if it happened, I would love Android with WebOS UI.

They are still focused on women but the commercials are getting better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1OHlFOee2w

I thought the original pixi ad was pretty good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbcnH0h69NY then again, the only comparison was creepy girl commercials...

Also, the USB cover is one of the worst features of any piece of electronics I've ever owned.

ha, got that right. The Pixi is sadly no better.

 

[Strk]

Sprint really needs to work on their PR. Their network is actually pretty good. Speeds are good. Reliability is there and, even if you do lose a signal, you'll just roam off of Verizon's towers.

They also cost less and offer more on their plans than any other company.

What does suck about them would be their phones. They always seem to be the last to the party when it comes to decent phones.

 

[finbarqs]

I'm on sprint, and I love their plans. I'm on the Simply Everything 99/mo for everything with a Pre! If they can get the responsiveness up to Apple's bar, + a phone with apple's build quality, Then they've got a complete annihilation winner! Honestly, I've been using WebOS since launch. Since then, I've been on Palm OS, Windows Mobile 6.0, and now WebOS. Out of those, it's the most stable OS i've used so far (which isn't saying much, seeing what it's compared to).

I absolutely love the WebOS. Multi-Tasking is like my savior on the phone! I can't imagine any other way to make multi-tasking easier than what palm has done with the "card" system. "Synergy" is also a breeze. Add mobo hotspot + a great data plan, I've got a winner! I'm just hoping for an iphone hardware based on webos!

 

[bigboxes]

Played with a friend's Pre for a while, so here goes. Please chime in, but I think I'm going to nail real hard with hammer time here:

1) Your stupid names - Pre? Pixi? Do you really think any guy is going buy a phone called a Pixi?

2) Debuting on Sprint - you are sooo SMART. Idiots.

3) Slow OS/ hardware. Oh lookie @ us, we want our stock to go up but you know what, we will try to sell an inferior product.

4) Plasticky quality. Have you people even held an iPhone before? Like your main competitor? Please, fire your QA people. Fire your management. You guys blow.

Anything I'm missing?

1. You post is petty. Pixi is definitely aimed at the female market.
2. I've been with Sprint for 10+ years. Sorry if that is not your network of choice. Best call quality around. I can talk unlimited to any cell network along with unlimited data and text. AT&T call quality blows and they nickel & dime you with data fees. All those iPhones users can attest to the dropped calls and sucktastic 3g experience.
3. There are times that the phone really pisses me off, but it's cuz it's so damn difficult to operate while driving. Give me voice dialing Palm/Sprint!
4. Yeah, I wish it was a bit more durable. I'd like the screen bigger for visability and smaller for portability. It's a compromise.

Luckily I don't have fat fingers and have adjusted just fine to the keyboard. I'm not a heavy texter so it's not a deal breaker. The smaller screen/keyboard makes it easier to carry with you. I'm not a teenager so I don't need to watch movies on the go. I actually miss my Samsung A900. That was a great phone. I'm more of a techie so this is more of a pocket pc with a phone proggie built in. I got Sprint to give me 5 most-used numbers (like Fave5 on T-Mobile) and made my Google Voice number on of those numbers. That way any outgoing/incoming on that number does not count against my anytime minutes (1500), which I hardly use since ALL cell numbers are unlimited in usage.

 

[ViRGE]

You know things are bad when analysts are setting price targets of $0 and basically abandoning the stock in droves.