Shift signal strength/reception compared to Palm Pre?

[mkokotovich]

I currently have a Palm Pre, and I'm looking forward to upgrading soon. My biggest concern is signal strength/reception, because this device is primarily a phone, after all.

I've read a few posts here saying that the reception on the shift is worse than other phones, but I've also read a lot of posts from other former Pre users who are happy with their upgrade.

So I would like to know what people's thoughts are about the reception on the Shift, especially (but not limited to) comparisons to the Pre.

Also, one side note. I've read a quite a few people saying they barely use the physical keyboard at all. That makes me wonder if I should just buy a phone without a physical keyboard and get rid of the bulk/weight. How much does everyone use the physical keyboard? Is it worth it?

Thanks!

 

[Verdes8891]

My girl switched from the pre to the shift and is in love with it.

Her pre kept on screwing up on her by freezing and pushing calls to voice with a signal. The only thing on her shift is she keeps on hitting the mute button when we talk. But other then that, shes a happy convert.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

 

[grandebob]

I'm a convert from a Pre, and I do like my shift very much. I like the portrait keyboard style from the pre better then the landscape style of the Shift. For example, when I get a text message, i read it portrait style. I have to switch to landscape to reply to it, and that takes both me and the phone time to reorient. With the pre, I would just pop the keyboard open and start typing.

Android is a great OS, but I like the way WebOS works better. What really pushes android over webOS though is the amount and quality of apps. Google Maps is way better on Android then WebOS. Barcode reader apps, voice recognition apps, AR apps, don't even exist on WebOS.

As far as the bulk/weight, The Shift is thick, but it still over all much smaller then the EVO and is much more pocket-able. The Shift weighs more then a pre, but the screen is made out of glass where the pre is plastic.

My pre got horrible signal, so much so that I got sprint to send me a free air rave. I feel my shift is much better as far as signal is concerned.

My advice is to try it for 30 days. If you don't like it, return it and go back to your pre. the downside to that plan is that when you swap back to the pre you will still have to pay the $10 premium data for activating a smart phone. But you will have to pay that now regardless.

 

[crump84]

I don't know about the Palm pre but compared to my BlackBerry the signal is about the same. It seems to hold it's signal fairly well, unless I'm in the basement of a concrete building. (I don't think anyone would have a signal)

As far as the keyboard, I was one of the people that said they barely use the physical keyboard. Although I don't use it much, I like having the option, especially for writing long emails. The main reason I got the phone wasn't for the keyboard, I liked the size and the speed. It's not the thinnest phone because of the keyboard but it fits pretty nicely in your hand.

Like someone said before I would give it a trial run, if you don't like it, return it.

 

[Jon no h]

Previously had a Pre here, too. Maybe it's my area, but both my Pre (before) had and my Shift (now) has good signal strength and reception. Even in the depths of our concrete warehouse I still get good signal and reception.

I use the physical keyboard for less mistakes and for longer messages. I use the onscreen for mostly quick replies with the Handcent pop-up-over-lockscreen feature.

The Shift was, for me, the perfect next step after the Pre. WebOS is smooth, but I really don't miss it much at all anymore.

 

[AKAndy]

I just upgraded from the Pre to the Shift, and I haven't seen any noticeable difference in signal strength. I've had good signal on both.

I am one of those who uses the virtual keyboard in landscape mode more than I use the physical keyboard. I'm still glad I have the physical, but with the auto-correct that the virtual keyboard uses, I can type way faster than on the physical keyboard.

Also have to agree with other posters about WebOS vs Android. I much prefer the way that WebOS handles multi-tasking, and think that WebOS is much easier to use than Android. However, Android is still a great OS, and with all of the apps, there are just so many things that you can do with Android that you can't do with a Pre.

 

[zmann]

I upgraded from a pre to a evo. Yesterday I upgraded my daughter's pixi to the evo shift. I looking forward to adding something usefully to the topic this afternoon.

Evo-lution

 

[jjeffcoat]

Former Pre user, signal strength on the Shift is just fine.

 

[smartphoney]

Also a former Pre user and signal strength seems comparable to me.

I like the Shift better than the Pre overall (and I was a launch day Pre owner who loved my Pre). Build quality on the Shift is better than the Pre and of course the Android app selection is much better. For example, email on the Shift is much better with apps like Touchdown and K-9. The Shift is just a better built and more powerful phone with better apps and a better screen size. The OS is not as elegant but Android is by no means difficult to master.

Having said that, and although I don't regret making the switch, I liked the Pre keyboard better than the Shift keyboard, mainly because of the portrait style. I do find myself using the on-screen keyboard in portrait mode way more than I thought I would, and frankly I've tried a bunch of different on screen keyboard apps and don't find any of them as easy to use as the hard keyboard on the Pre. So the way I look at it is I probably would have waited to upgrade to a Pre 3 if I knew that it was going to be carried by Sprint and if I thought app support was definitely going to improve. But of course there's no suggestion at this point that either of those things will happen so under the circumstances I feel that the Shift was the best option for me on Sprint.

As for saving the bulk and getting an Android phone without a hard keyboard, I actually thought about this during my 30 day trial period but in the end I kept the Shift. Realistically for me the only alternatives were the EVO and the Optimus. I decided to stick with the Shift for it's better battery life than the EVO and larger screen than the LG, but I think depending on your priorities any of these phones (along with the Epic) would be a reasonable choice.

 

[neonalee]

I came from the Pixi. I was really hesitant about losing the palm multitasking and figured I HAD to have a physical keyboard. I LOVE my Shift. Yes, the "multitasking" leaves a bit to be desired, but I find I'm using the virtual keyboard and Swype easily all the time (but still not willing to lose the hard keyboard). I can't talk specifically about reception, but I can say that my mom always complained about my Pixi when we talked. The first time I called her from the Shift she noticed the difference immediately. I LOVE my Shift (of course, I loved my Pixi for about 8 months )

 

[vintagetechtm]

My two sence

I am a heavy user of the physical keyboard. My "relationship" with virtual keyboards is love/hate, mostly dislike. I have purchased "keyboard from android 2.3+" by steven lin. This program ($.99) makes it much easier to use the virtual keyboard and gives me options like arrow keys, customizing the spacing of the virtual keyboard keys, etc. It's a good replacement to the stock htc virtual keyboard. You can also set steven lin's keyboard as the default virtual keyboard that opens up in all text editing situations on this phone. He gives you instructions on how to do this.

I have and will always prefer a physical keyboard. I use my phone for work Email and also creating/editing documents. So the virtual keyboard gets annoying quickly to me. This is not just the htc virtual keyboard, it's any virtual keyboard. I have a ipod touch and I'm not a fan of the virtual keyboard on that either. The htc evo shift screen is a decent size so the virtual keys are not squished together too much. I don't have small fingers so more spacious virtual keyboard is better for me.

I think it depends on how you use your phone. If you are typing work Emails were grammar and general professionalism is important then you may or may not like the virtual keyboard. The htc evo shift seems to do a better job of anticipating the words you want versus the samsung moment (my previous phone). However that can get annoying to me at times when I am trying to text some thing an the suggestions are not what I want and then I end up with having to retype a word because the suggestion was put in the text rather then my intended word.

Over all the virtual keyboard for htc phones (I've had the htc droid eris and now the htc evo shift) is good and I don't hate nor do I love it. Steven Lin's keyboard is an improvement and I have less dislike for his virtual keyboard (he reportedly used the stock 2.3 virtual keyboard and added some features hence the '2.3+') and I am more apt to use that BUT my preference is the physical keyboard. As I have stated my preference is a physical keyboard.

I have heard (in my research prior to buying this phone) and I have found that htc evo shift does not have a spring loaded mechanism for moving the screen to use the physical keyboard. You have to push the screen firmly up and down. I have seen some complaints about this. My take on this is I prefer it as it feels like the mechanism will last longer and it will be more secure.