Epic Versus Pre

[ryangur]

Ok my wife hates her pre, (sprint) she is going to change to the epic on the first of october, and i am gonna keep my pre.. I want to know if anyone has officially compared the two. Ive seen a few small comparisons, but noting in a full out scope.. So maybe we can use this to post comparisons (mods, if there is a better fitting please point out the direction so that i can get there.)

Wanting to know, she hates how cheap the pre feels, is this an issue?

she wants to know how does it hold up through out the day, the pres battery is terrible, and she wants to know how this holds up.

I am a homebrewer (on the pre) and i want to know is there a homebrew community, i see that there is mentioning of rooting.. so a little insight would be nice..

Thanks for your time..

 

[adjmcloon#IM]

There are several Palm Pre threads, try a search.

I dropped my Pre for the Epic. The Epic is easily 100% better than the pre in most every way. Don't even think twice.

 

[liquidxit2]

I dropped my brickes pre for a temp moment until the epic arrived. There is already an extended battery in the works with siedio and since I got one for my pre I will for my epic. It is what made my pre go from not even lasting a day to lasting 2.5-4 days.

As for your questrions here are my opinions coming from a pre to an epic:

Wanting to know, she hates how cheap the pre feels, is this an issue?
No. The phone feels really good and solid. I will admit I prefer the metal chassis that the motorola droid has, but for plastic and gorrila glass its a pretty sturdy phone. In fact my wife sat on it for ~2 miles for a ride to a football game. My pre on the other hand lost its volume buttons from dropping on a pile of soft laundry....

she wants to know how does it hold up through out the day, the pres battery is terrible, and she wants to know how this holds up
Sadly they are about the same stock. Granted juice defender and a few other tweaks can improve the time on battery. But realize that youre getting the most powerful current cell phone for that time as opposed to a 500/600mhz low end phone.

I am a homebrewer (on the pre) and i want to know is there a homebrew community, i see that there is mentioning of rooting.. so a little insight would be nice..
I too was a homebrew guy. I had the uber kernel and many many other patches and so on from preware and homebrew markets. From what I gather there isnt a homebrew market like the pre per se, but there are a ton of free apps and most of the features and apps that are on the preware and homebrew markets already come standard with android.

**Disclaimer** I am NOT a palm or webos hater. Infact Im a long time palm addict...err I mean fan. Now Im an android convert after palm spat in our faces and removed all the features that made palm good(my treo 650 had more features and better features then my pre).

 

[ryangur]

Thanks that helps a good bit, I like the updating and all that goes with it.. you should see my wifes pre, it doesnt have volume keys, power key, keyboard doesnt work, etc.. its kind of funny.. but sad at the same time..

is the updating better? have you noticed a huge difference, and is the multi tasking worse or better.. I really appreciate the feed back..

 

[Mr Bok]

As most folks have said in other threads, they love WebOS, but hate the hardware.

I was a launch-day Pre owner, and had nothing but Palm phones since '03 (before the 600 even), and I agree - WebOS is better, but it's so nice having fast and solid hardware.

Some specifics:

- Hands down, multitasking is better on WebOS. The cards system is way better than the sort of "automatic" multitasking in Android.
- Notifications are better on WebOS. Android (or is it Touchwiz?) really needs live notifications. For example when playing music the player has an entry in the notification tray, but it only allows to go to the Player app, not to pause, skip, etc., like WebOS. Also just indicates email is available, not who it is from (at least in the Gmail app).
- Weirdly, the headset button seems to do nothing. It doesn't control the music, and I know it doesn't hang up the phone (it may answer it - I don't think I've tried).

As far as updating, do you mean system updates? Got one this morning, and it's definitely faster, though I personally don't see updating as a big issue.

The hardware and the app market are the 2 things that really make me like this phone. I've downloaded more apps in 2 weeks than I did with my Pre in the year+ I had it.

If the Pre2 was coming out b4 Christmas, I would be tempted to wait, just because of WebOS and I think they know they need to have better hardware and HP will be able to let them do that. However, since it's going to be up to 12 months, I'm good with the Epic.

 

[ryangur]

Mr bok, i appreciate the insight. what did you mean about the headset button.. and is the app catalog really good? i had heard about alot of trash apps.. but im hoping thats wrong.. cause i mean lets face it.. i could potentially have the best of both worlds, playing with all the up to date stuff on my wifes phone and still using my pre..

 

[Shadnic]

I had the pre, I loved the Pre, I preached the glory of the Pre to my friends and family. I got the epic, and android has made me embarrassed to ever have had a Pre. I loved WebOS at first because of how beautiful and intuitive it was, but now looking back it seems so simple and limited. The app market alone sells me on android, and the power of the phone towers over the Pre.

I did homebrew and overclocked and all that on my Pre, and even though those things made it passable, it really doesn't even compare to the Epic. My guess is that some of my friends and family would be happier with a Pre because it's layout is a bit more simplified (though tbh, those people would go with an iPhone over a pre any day). Everyone has their preferences. Android is kind of intimidating at first with how many options you have, but I've loved every second of it and wouldn't go back for anything.

 

[spectator52]

I am a former PRE user as well. I was really hesitant to make the switch but so glad I did. While I miss the card view and multi tasking, there really is no comparison. You can still multi-task with the epic by holding the home button for a second (which brings up previous apps)

 

[mud76]

I have a pre and really want to upgrade. But I'm hesitant because of all the issue I've been seeing on the epic (ex. upload speeds capped, gps, 50% time without signal/wcdma, battery life). My pre is love hate, love webos hate everything else.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

I am a former PRE user as well. I was really hesitant to make the switch but so glad I did. While I miss the card view and multi tasking, there really is no comparison. You can still multi-task with the epic by holding the home button for a second (which brings up previous apps)

You can still multi-task with more than 6 apps as long as you back out of the app using the home button and launch the other app either by using the holding-home or by launching a shortcut or opening the app drawer and selecting the app that way. The reason I like multi-tasking on the android platform better is becuase I usually only use it for copy/pasting with the browser. On the Pre, the page had to entirely reload once you went back to it. That may have been fixed, but wasn't when I ditched WebOS back in November. Using Dolphin cache's the entire page until you close the tab or clear the cache manually. Quite nice.

 

[mntackle]

I converted many people over to a Pre since it launched. After going through 3 Palm Pre's I decided to give the Epic a shot on launch day. (had to have a keyboard) I love the hardware, the speed, and size, the display, and the android market. I don't like the multi-tasking or the extra steps to shut down progams on the Android. WebOS has some serious potential but its not enough anymore to make me stay with it. The screen alone on my Epic makes my friends an family way WOW!

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

I don't like the multi-tasking or the extra steps to shut down progams on the Android.

You can just hit the back button, you know. Last I check that was easier than hitting a button and swiping up.

 

[AgentRedlum]

You can just hit the back button, you know. Last I check that was easier than hitting a button and swiping up.

Two quick swipes up! Love the Epic, but I do miss the Pre's cards and gestures, especially swiping between open apps. Advanced gestures let you run your finger across the entire gesture area to move between apps, rather than minimizing, swiping, then tapping the desired app.

 

[Dexter505]

I have the Pre and got the Epic on launch day but returned it a week later. The problem for me is the Android OS and I am not a fan of the huge landscape keypad. I find it easier and faster to do the tasks i need on the Pre. Hopefully a new device would be out soon but imo the Pre is really good. There are lots of things about Android that I don't like. One is the OS looks really ugly...almost like looking at Windows 3.1.

 

[Addie_Goodvibes]

I turned on my Pre last night to get some bookmarks , And I immediatly realised why i do NOT miss it.

It took forever to boot up.
The screen resolution grainy & poor compared to the Epic.
The screen size.. wow was it small.
It laggs big time..

Some reason I do miss it are:
Simple clean UI with the notifications and cards..

However I like Androids out of the way notifications and multitask handling.
It seems Pre could play more video content from the web.. shocking... except it still hangs up when doing so, and lags /freezes.

Epic handles streaming Youtube videos much better..

I liked the feel of the pre in my hand but it was easy to drop, the Epics size seems more solid and easier to hold on to.


As far as Homebrew:
In my opinion Homebrew was a work around for the lack of developer support for real content in the App catalog. This is another area where Palm failed..
Not getting the Devs on board and excited to develop for WebOs.
So Kudos to the Homebrewers who did their best to push content. There were a handful of really nice useful Home-brew apps that even still aren't beat in the Android market ( dr.Podder, Music Player Remix) However majority of the Home-brew apps were very limited and lacked the fit & finish need to make it worth staying on board.

I do miss Dr. Podder and Music player remix...

So I am not missisng the pre too much right now..

 

[messiah143]

I use to have the Palm Pre and all of the Palm Phones. At one time the Palm smartphones was the phone to have. But when the Palm Pre came out, they came with a superior OS and UI but not a superior hardware. The hardware on the Pre is somewhat like cheap flea market material they put on it. I still really like WebOS and the homebrew community but Android has really step up their game as a huge powerhouse of smartphones. Me and my wife have the Epic 4G and we are really satisfied with the phones performance. Also we love the fact that you can customize the phone to your liking out of the box and that is the power of Android.

 

[dianagr#AC]

I'm also someone who switched from Pre. So here's the non-techie girl perspective...

The GOOD:

1. Notifications are fine, perhaps even less obtrusive. I actually like that I can pull down the list and all those bars don't keep popping up on the bottom of the screen before they minimize. Clearly this is personal preference.

2. The calendar syncs perfectly with google - no more deleting a single meeting from a recurring appointment and having all future instances disappear from Pre

3. Perfect integration with google voice.

4. I love the speed

5. and I never thought I would say this...the larger screen is awesome! Can you tell I generally like smaller phones?! I especially have fun with the live wallpapers and widgets.

6. Google Maps actually loads and even has street view.

7. I have Kindle & Nook and they hold my place from desktop to phone!!

8. No freezes, resets or lags.

9. You can ignore a call with text....finally. This was super on Treo and I can't believe it was missing from Pre. I even think there is a way to create stock messages, but be careful. If someone called your google voice number and you ignore with text, the text goes from your cell number, not your google number.

The BAD:

1. Mail sucks. The gmail will not allow me to use my multiple sending identities. My other email (yahoo) gets checked by a separate, and less functional program. The fix is to get a 3rd party mail app to have an integrated box and all the "sending-as" options.

2. And the Mail still really sucks. Without yet another 3rd party app, I was unable to attach documents to outgoing email.

3. No integrated Inbox. But the 3rd party app I downloaded, k-9 has it.

4. No push for yahoo, not anyway, not anywhere, no solution other than interval polling which is a battery drain.

3. Cannot search the calendar. OK, Pre could not do it either, but there was a nice app for that. The 3rd party search apps here are not as good.

4. Maybe not bad, but definitely weird and redundant, is that there is a voicemail icon on the homepage which has all my voicemails in it but my voicemails are also in the phone app, so I have every message twice. The one on the homepage cannot be heard through bluetooth.

5. To fully close an app, you have to back out, sometimes many times, so it is a more unwieldy than WebOS, nothing beats flicking a card away.

6. Touchstone was a much better way to charge. Battery life is about the same.

The UGLY:

1. It does not fit into my little going out handbags and I am having trouble finding a flip-open type case that I like and is easily functional (I'm holding out for Piel Frama...hoping it isn't a long wait).


OK, it's been 3 days....I am very happy with the switch.

 

[locationman52]

I'm also a former webOS user and honestly I loved it. As many others have said, the hardware just isn't there. If you switch, you'll miss the following:

Ease of multitasking: Yes, it is possible to multitask with the Epic, but it's a difficult process. Now, with that said, the processor is so fast that it compensates for the clumsiness. IF, and that's a big IF, the Pre had comparable hardware, I'd much rather use the card system in webOS.

Task Management: Some have mentioned using the back button to close out apps (instead of having to use a task manager to end apps)...in some cases that works, but other times it doesn't. For example, if you're using the browser and you surf multiple websites, do you really hit the back button 20 times to close the browser??? With webOS, you simply swiped up and away to end.

Notifications: Don't even get me started on this...webOS is the big winner here. Even if you download a free app like Handcent (which make notifications possible), I haven't found a way to REPLACE the stock messaging app with Handcent. So, you can get notifications but you have to run two messaging apps (Handcent and stock) to achieve this. Running both apps is cumbersome (i.e. constantly running two programs and having to clear out your crappy notification from the stock app).

But, at the end of the day, I am happy I made the switch (despite having to pay $10 extra for 4G service that I'm unable to use). There is no such thing as a perfect phone and I realize that. The Epic has many features that are far and away better than the Pre, but mulitasking, notifications, and task management aren't three of them. Otherwise, you will love the phone. I do (at least until Palm comes out with dominant hardware and increases availability of apps).

Oh yeah...your wife will have to play with the settings to achieve the battery life she desires. I went from getting 4 hours on a charge (with sync running and gps on) to about 11 hours with the those two settings off. So, battery life will depend on how she uses the phone.

I hope this helps...

 

[ryangur]

Man, These tidbits are amazing! This is starting to make me really excited to get this phone for her. I think that she will like this alot better. Do you all know of a few things we should definetly try to look for and obtain once she converts?

 

[Shadnic]

Task Management: Some have mentioned using the back button to close out apps (instead of having to use a task manager to end apps)...in some cases that works, but other times it doesn't.

You can press the home button to get out of any app at any time. Yes it leaves the app running, but that's the glory of multitasking on android, it manages your open applications and closes ones you don't need anymore. You even have the built in task manager to kill things off if you want to.

Notifications: Don't even get me started on this...webOS is the big winner here. Even if you download a free app like Handcent (which make notifications possible), I haven't found a way to REPLACE the stock messaging app with Handcent. So, you can get notifications but you have to run two messaging apps (Handcent and stock) to achieve this. Running both apps is cumbersome (i.e. constantly running two programs and having to clear out your crappy notification from the stock app).

I thought webOS notifications were the coolest thing ever when it was first introduced...but then it became cumbersome and intrusive. I love android's way of handling it so much better. They're there at all times but you only check it when you want to. As for text notifications, you can just go to the stock messaging app, dive into settings, and turn notifications off. Bam, no more double notifications. You can set handcent as the default messenger, so any time you reply to an app or start to write a text, it will always open up handcent. I haven't had the stock messenger app launch on my device since week 1.