Any former Pre users??

[MegabyteCoffee]

Former Pre user here

I am a former Pre user. Had my Pre since it was released and just moved to the Verizon Droid.

I liked the Pre, but it's email functionality was much to be desired and the most frustrating for me.

One mail server I maintain needs to use a self signed cert until it can be migrated to the new mail server. The Pre will NOT handle self signed certs, no matter what trick you try. So, I ended up installing a SMTP relay server just for the Pre users like myself and others in my company. No other phone had these issues.

Then, the last WebOS update changed the way the Pre's email client handled POP email. It wasn't a specifications change, but just how the client operated. The Pre used to only show mail still on the server. So, if a message was deleted off the server, the message was no longer seen on the phone in the inbox. Now, messages are downloaded locally in the phone's inbox, and if you delete the message from the pop server, it still appears. you have to delete it. This was the final straw for me, especially when some morons from the Precentral forums said I should move to imap or Exchange.. I don't think they know the cost and the trouble of migrating a mail server, when the only people having problems were people in my office using the Palm Pre. I also run mailserver from my home and since it doesn't required SSL, I never had the cert issues, but when Palm screwed up the email client's functionality and that was the final straw.

Now, the overall size of the phone and small keypad was tough to get used to, and the small screen size made some web apps too hard to work with.

The Verizon Droid has a large keyboard, but it is terrible. You cannot tell one key from another, so I misspell every single word. I'm slowly getting better, and my overall verdict is that the Droid and the Android OS is a much better phone than my Pre was.

 

[MegabyteCoffee]

Ok, here's one thing that the Pre does better than the Droid: Taking good pictures.

The camera on the Pre takes MUCH better photos. I've tried all the options on the Droid, and the Pre camera kicks the snot out of the Droid. Yeah, the droid does video, but it's nothing to write home about either. I am hoping that a future update will address this.

The Pre takes pictures faster and the quality was top notch every single time. Only time the Droid takes good pictures is either close up or outside -And it's slow. so 1 for the Pre.

 

[ultimate_ed]

The Sprint "get out of jail free" promotion (i.e. the contract change), has given me the chance to seriously re-evaluate my Pre. I left Verizon after eight years as they never seamed able to get a serious smart phone and the Pre looked like a real game changer.

I had high hopes that Palm would get back in the game with WebOS. I really like using my Pre, but the combination of Sprint's weak network and the Pre's weak ability to hold a signal are proving to be a big disappointment. Living in a 90,000+ person suburb of Houston, I expected to get decent reception. Yet, even along the major road that runs through town, I have places where I simply cannot make a call or move data.

I really appreciate all you former Pre owners who've already switched relating your experience. Once I get the contract business sorted out, I'll be taking a very close look at the Droid and returning to Verizon. You do get what you pay for.

 

[SoCalBIGmike]

I had a Pre since June and Sprint gave me a 2 Year Upgrade Authorization, so I took advantage of that and bought the Moment Christmas Eve. I sold the Pre today as a matter of fact, total net cost to me was $70! Of course, I did re-sign a 2 year agreement with Sprint, but I have been -very- happy with their Customer Service and quality.

 

[lolthisismyname]

Palm Pre- What could have been, but wasn't.

I switched over from a Palm Pre to a Motorola Droid and it was well worth the trade-off.

As far as raw interface goes, Android doesn't even come close to how great WebOS is and neither does the iPhone interface for that matter.

That said, WebOS is crippled by crappy hardware and a lack of apps.

Android 2.0's interface isn't bad though (and neither is the iPhone) and the quality of hardware (Droid is amazing, great job Moto!) coupled with the abundance of apps make it totally worth it.

You broke my heart Palm. The Pre could have been the best phone ever but you cut too many corners. Also, it should have had a trackball instead of that stupid button.

On a related note, Sprint's customer service is absolutely awful in my experience. So far, I like Verizon much more and the extra cash for the plan is worth it. I considered T-Mobile because I heard they were awesome on that front but I wanted a good network with lots of coverage.

P.S. I had no problems with the keyboard's size and actually preferred it over the HTC Touch Pro2 keyboard, but then I had been using a Centro for about 2 years.

 

[ryan925#AC]

Former Pre user here too. Switched to the HTC Hero. Almost cost me my marriage but it was worth it. (joke)

I have to say that where I am, Sprint's service is great and the cost of the plans and the features you get with them can't be beat perhaps only by TM but their service isn't as solid here.

I've been using the Hero for several weeks now and enjoy it very much. The keyboard I find very responsive, no lag but I do type on the faster side of slow so perhaps others may disagree. I do find switching from portrait to landscape to be lagging though but it does switch and I'm ok with a little lag.

The app store is amazing. I've used the BB app store, iPhone app store, and the dare I say Palm app store and Android's app store has by far the most free apps I've seen. Perhaps iPhone's has more but there a lot of junk apps. I've installed probably 30+ apps and haven't had to pay yet. They do have ads in them but you've got to earn money somehow so I'm fine with that.

Battery life is not the strongest but I have GPS, Bluetooth, Wifi/EV-DO, running at all times and I use the data a lot as well as being on the phone a lot too and I find that I can get through most of the day without having to charge but since I work out of my house I just plug in the charger.

What I miss the most about the Palm Pre is the Touchstone Charger. It was great! Also having multiple cards open made it so quick to switch between apps. I just got so bored with the lack of apps and updates that I needed to switch.

 

[ultimate_ed]

For all the Pre -> Droid switchers, I've got a couple of questions about how Droid does things. These aren't going to be easy to determine from playing with it in the store, so I'd appreciate the feedback:

1. Messages - my wife really likes how messages are "threaded" by contact. i.e. when she and I trade messages, they are in their own list, so we can easily see the history of messages. How does Droid group/thread SMS/MMS messages?

2. Calendars - Back before the Pre came out, I converted over to full Google. My wife, each of my kids, and I have a Google account with the associated email and calendar. My wife and I have full read/write access to each other's and to our kids calendars. On my PC, I see appointments for all four of us on screen and I can create/edit appointments for anyone. On my Pre, I also see appointments for all four calendars and I can create events on any of them. My wife has the same for her Pre. I can literally create an appointment for my wife on my Pre, it syncs up to Google and shortly there after makes it's way to her Pre. It's one of my favorite features of the Pre. I would hope that a Google OS phone would have all of this capability as well. I only have my Google account assigned to my Pre, but can see/access the other calendars because of the permissions that I have. Can anyone confirm this works the same for Droid?

3. Contacts (images) - I've gone through my Google contacts and assigned pictures to most of my friends and family. With Synergy, those pictures show up on my Pre and appear in the email, messaging, and phone dialer applications. One weakness with the Pre is that, for reasons that nobody seems to know, the images that come from Google to the Pre get degraded and look poor, especially when they show up in the dialer/caller ID. Will the droid pull in images assigned to contacts on Google and do they look better?

4. Signal - I know this one is going to be more subjective since it involves both the phone and the carrier - One of my biggest drivers in looking to switch back to Verizon is that I get horrible reception with the Pre on Sprint. I live in a major suburb of Houston and had no signal problems with Verizon. Since switching to sprint, I find myself often getting kicked over to roaming and there are some places in town that are completely dead. I'm not talking about out on the fringes, I'm talking about on the main road through town. For those who've gone from Sprint/Pre to Verizon/Droid - have you noticed any improvement in your signal strength in the areas you normally travel?

Thanks to all in advance for your responses.

 

[snakester9]

For all the Pre -> Droid switchers, I've got a couple of questions about how Droid does things. These aren't going to be easy to determine from playing with it in the store, so I'd appreciate the feedback:

1. Messages - my wife really likes how messages are "threaded" by contact. i.e. when she and I trade messages, they are in their own list, so we can easily see the history of messages. How does Droid group/thread SMS/MMS messages?

2. Calendars - Back before the Pre came out, I converted over to full Google. My wife, each of my kids, and I have a Google account with the associated email and calendar. My wife and I have full read/write access to each other's and to our kids calendars. On my PC, I see appointments for all four of us on screen and I can create/edit appointments for anyone. On my Pre, I also see appointments for all four calendars and I can create events on any of them. My wife has the same for her Pre. I can literally create an appointment for my wife on my Pre, it syncs up to Google and shortly there after makes it's way to her Pre. It's one of my favorite features of the Pre. I would hope that a Google OS phone would have all of this capability as well. I only have my Google account assigned to my Pre, but can see/access the other calendars because of the permissions that I have. Can anyone confirm this works the same for Droid?

3. Contacts (images) - I've gone through my Google contacts and assigned pictures to most of my friends and family. With Synergy, those pictures show up on my Pre and appear in the email, messaging, and phone dialer applications. One weakness with the Pre is that, for reasons that nobody seems to know, the images that come from Google to the Pre get degraded and look poor, especially when they show up in the dialer/caller ID. Will the droid pull in images assigned to contacts on Google and do they look better?

4. Signal - I know this one is going to be more subjective since it involves both the phone and the carrier - One of my biggest drivers in looking to switch back to Verizon is that I get horrible reception with the Pre on Sprint. I live in a major suburb of Houston and had no signal problems with Verizon. Since switching to sprint, I find myself often getting kicked over to roaming and there are some places in town that are completely dead. I'm not talking about out on the fringes, I'm talking about on the main road through town. For those who've gone from Sprint/Pre to Verizon/Droid - have you noticed any improvement in your signal strength in the areas you normally travel?

Thanks to all in advance for your responses.

I can answer 1 and 4.

1. Messages are definitely threaded, just as you describe.
4. My signal has GREATLY improved since the switch. I used to have a Sprint BB Curve, and although it was decent enough around here, if I went more than 25-30 miles north, Sprint turned into a 1X roam fest. I have had NO problems with losing 3G EVER yet.

 

[poidogger]

For all the Pre -> Droid switchers, I've got a couple of questions about how Droid does things. These aren't going to be easy to determine from playing with it in the store, so I'd appreciate the feedback:

1. Messages - my wife really likes how messages are "threaded" by contact. i.e. when she and I trade messages, they are in their own list, so we can easily see the history of messages. How does Droid group/thread SMS/MMS messages?

2. Calendars - Back before the Pre came out, I converted over to full Google. My wife, each of my kids, and I have a Google account with the associated email and calendar. My wife and I have full read/write access to each other's and to our kids calendars. On my PC, I see appointments for all four of us on screen and I can create/edit appointments for anyone. On my Pre, I also see appointments for all four calendars and I can create events on any of them. My wife has the same for her Pre. I can literally create an appointment for my wife on my Pre, it syncs up to Google and shortly there after makes it's way to her Pre. It's one of my favorite features of the Pre. I would hope that a Google OS phone would have all of this capability as well. I only have my Google account assigned to my Pre, but can see/access the other calendars because of the permissions that I have. Can anyone confirm this works the same for Droid?

3. Contacts (images) - I've gone through my Google contacts and assigned pictures to most of my friends and family. With Synergy, those pictures show up on my Pre and appear in the email, messaging, and phone dialer applications. One weakness with the Pre is that, for reasons that nobody seems to know, the images that come from Google to the Pre get degraded and look poor, especially when they show up in the dialer/caller ID. Will the droid pull in images assigned to contacts on Google and do they look better?

4. Signal - I know this one is going to be more subjective since it involves both the phone and the carrier - One of my biggest drivers in looking to switch back to Verizon is that I get horrible reception with the Pre on Sprint. I live in a major suburb of Houston and had no signal problems with Verizon. Since switching to sprint, I find myself often getting kicked over to roaming and there are some places in town that are completely dead. I'm not talking about out on the fringes, I'm talking about on the main road through town. For those who've gone from Sprint/Pre to Verizon/Droid - have you noticed any improvement in your signal strength in the areas you normally travel?

Thanks to all in advance for your responses.

Yes to #2. I can schedule an appointment on my phone for my son's google calendar. It shows up on his phone and on google. Plus you are going to love the calendar! I used to have a PRE and the calendar was sorely lacking. It's quicker than the PRE's and the widgets that are available are just great.

 

[dg417]

I am so torn! Sprint is making changes to the contract so I can get out with no ETF this month. I think the Droid looks like a really attractive option. I am just afraid I will regret my decision later on. WebOS is such a nice OS and it handles multi-tasking in such a nice way. But, I am just getting so fed up with the lag (slowness) and I also miss having a video recorder and voice memo recorder. The Droid would fill these voids...I played with one at Best Buy and it was much more responsive than my current Palm Pre.

My VZ discount (20%) is better than my Sprint Discount (15%). I did the math and after its all said and done I would be paying the same amount (pre-tax) monthly. So cost isn't a factor in my decision.

 

[ultimate_ed]

Excellent to hear. I appreciate the replies.

Saw the info today about the Nexus One coming to Verizon later in the spring. That puts it outside of the Sprint No ETF window and is sounds like the Droid still compares favorably and will be getting the 2.1 Android update fairly soon. Looks like some Droids are in my near future.

 

[dg417]

Excellent to hear. I appreciate the replies.

Saw the info today about the Nexus One coming to Verizon later in the spring. That puts it outside of the Sprint No ETF window and is sounds like the Droid still compares favorably and will be getting the 2.1 Android update fairly soon. Looks like some Droids are in my near future.

Let me know how it goes cancelling with Sprint? I am curious if they give you a hard time or try to make you any offers to stay.

 

[mcll]

I had a Pre and I must say, I loved the OS and interface, so elegant and sleek. I did end up going back to my Blackberry though, the battery life way HORRIBLE. Nothing in my opinion tops a Blackberry for messaging, and my battery life is great

 

[kalldrexx]

Woo just ordered my Droid. Bye bye pre

 

[rvspinx]

Woo just ordered my Droid. Bye bye pre

I just switched from the Pre to the N1 and won't be turning back, even though the Pre just released their SDK addon allowing for some better apps. The transition was pretty painless though since both android and the pre are cloud based with contacts, calander and the like are stored in gmail contacts. Here is my quick rundown on the differences:

Pre - better multitasking, cards > long home press in my opinion but not by much.

Pre synergy slightly better than N1 or Droid "synergy" Pre has more options for accounts to sync, I do miss having my aim/google talk/linked in/facebook/gmail contacts all in one place. If the ability to integrate additional contacts gets added to android then tie.

Android > Pre app wise. However there are more "homebrew" equivalents that are free on Pre. I don't know if there is an equivalent on Android, nor do I know if patching (other than custom roms) is an option either. I've been hesitent to get to deep into this on the N1 since its new and I am still getting used to stock functionality.

Andoid (N1) > Pre on battery life. Granted 1.31 did provide much better battery life than 1.1 and it looked to be improving.

Both the Droid and N1 have the magnomiter(sp?) which the Pre is lacking so I never knew what I was missing, Layrs browser... since I live in the sticks not that useful but still very impressive.

Here is the other big change for me Tmobile works great where I am, and works places I might have to go for work like Iraq or Afghanistan, Sprint would not so that made it a little easier to make the jump.

Both the Pre and the N1 (and Droid from my experiences playing with one) are excellent phones. WebOS has a lot of upside potential but I think it should have been released back in June where it is currently. Android has the clout of Google behind it and while it might not have the visual polish (stock) that WebOS has it does have what looks to be a much larger developer base which can only be good, and Google appears to be staying on top of improvements.

Just my .02 cents though.