Well it’s been nearly a week so it’s time for my 6th day review. I will start with how I got my Pre if you want one and have been trying to get one in your hands you know what I am talking about they have been sold out for weeks. I went to the sprint store last Saturday and put my self on the waiting list for the Pre I promptly left the sprint store and went to the Radio shack to check if there were any in stock no luck there either. I then drove across town to Best Buy it was Saturday if I go home I am just going to waist a few hours on the PPCGeeks or playing COD any ways so what did I have to lose, no luck there either. Satisfied I had done all I could do I went home. On Monday I was driving across town doing some site visits for my work on the way I p***** a little non corporate Sprint store when the Mogul came out they were the only store that had one so I thought what the heck I will check. I stopped in and was told that they would be getting 4 Pres in at 4 pm and if I was sure I wanted the Pre they would call me and I could come back and get one. I went back at 4 and picked it up I still have not gotten a call from the Sprint Store that placed me on the waiting list. Go figure!
I had to activate the Pre on my Daughters line to get the in store discount so we activated the device and I went home where I spent 1 hours on the phone with Sprint second level tech to get my Pre re activated on my line. The guy was very helpful and in the end wound up giving me $210 customer loyalty credit on my bill just for being a long time customer. Way to go Sprint CS what a big change from 2 years ago when I almost left Sprint for T-Mobile.
The first thing I did was put in my email information I have 2 accounts that I use one for work and then my Gmail for everything else, I use Google sync by the way this is important, then I started trying to sync with outlook so I could get my 278 contact #’s on my Pre. WHAT! It doesn’t sync with outlook via USB what am I going to do. Did I mention before I got the Pre I was very careful not to read to much about the device I don’t want to be tainted by the opinions of others I wanted a clean slate when I stared so when I write this review it is all my own thoughts. Granted I should have known the outlook sync thing. I started reading on what my options were while I was reading my Pre was busy downloading all my contacts and calendar information from Google sync so that when I went back to my Pre it already had all my calendar and contacts loaded and ready. WHEUW! What a relief and what a smart device I didn’t even have to inter the Google sync information the Pre just found it off of my Gmail information.
Now I will start with my thoughts on the device hardware. The Pre feels a little plastic and my Pre doesn’t seam to close flush it’s like the slider goes down just a little too far. I am still getting used to sliding the Pre opened the slider is a little hard to slide up and the plastic is slick so if my hands get a little greasy or sweaty I have to use both hands to slide it open. Hopefully that will get better with time and use or maybe I will just get used to it. At first the QWERTY was a little hard to get used to the keys are small and I have big fingers. It’s a lot better than using my Touch Diamond on screen QWERTY so after a day or two texting and sending emails I am back to shooting through long lines of text it’s a lot like when I had my 800w. The screen is magnificent I don’t know how else to describe it ultra sensitive to the touch just barely tap the screen and it recognizes the input. What a great improvement over the HTC devices I have loved for the last what 3 no 4 years. Palm really made the Pre a good combination of size and function my only complaint so far is there QC guy needs a pay cut the slider not stopping flush is just not acceptable.
Now for my thoughts on to the Software I am only going to touch on the major per loaded stuff. I have used Windows Mobile for a very long time I have flashed tweaked removed covers to make speaker holes bigger what ever you can think of that has been discussed I have done it just to make my WM device usable. What do I need to do to this device to get it jumping…….Nothing?! What the heck is wrong with Palm do they think I want this thing to work like it is. LOL! I have had ZERO software issues so far. My Pre is snappy fast intuitive and just works the way it is.
The Phone….. Works great had some Bluetooth issues the first day but it was user error I think. If you need to call someone in your contacts just slide open the QWERTY and start typing the name till you get the match you need. No need to open contacts first. On screen dial pad is big so it is easy to hit the numbers. All the Phone options you Treo users are used to are there. The speaker phone is loud and usable outside the office. I use it in the car when I don’t have my Bluetooth with me and I can actually hear it without holding the phone close to my ear. Phone wise I give the Pre 9 out of 10.
The Browser is very good if they fix the no flash player issue the browser will be second to none. The only issue I have had is sometimes the Pre wont update the page without a refresh it’s weird I will open a page on PPCGeeks and it will be the same page I had loaded an hour ago. I have to hit refresh to get the updated page. Everything I usually do on the web this device dose and dose well it loads pages quickly and everything I have tried to do it dose (Accept Flash Player). Browser get an 8 out of 10 flash is worth a -2 I think.
The Pocket Information Manager i.e.… calendar, contacts. No issues here either? What is Palm trying to do keep me from switching back to WM?! I like the way the information is handled on this device I know I don’t use it to its full potential yet I don’t even have a full grasp on what this device can do in this area so I will just give it a 10 out of 10 and move on.
Next is Email the single most important part of any device I use I get an average of 50 emails a day so sifting through emails is a pain I need a device that can handle email efficiently. The Pre has WM beat on this one I was using WM 6.5 on my TD and if that is the best that Microsoft has to offer in there next device well what can I say WM has some work to do to catch up. Examples like true HTML when I open an email on the Pre it’s all loaded and ready to read no tap to scroll left or tap to download pictures. Email wise I have to give it 9 out of 10
I will stop there because I know this is a long read and there is so much more to be said. I will conclude with Pre hardware gets an 8 and software gets an 8. Total device and performance Software hardware all together I give this device an 8.5 out of 10. That said I am sad to say for WM you have some work to do the best any of the WM devices I have had would get would be a 7. I can’t wait to see what new software comes out now that the SDK has been leaked. If you WM lovers are on the fence on the Pre I say if you can get your hands on one give it 30 days I think in the end you will keep it. I know it a long post but thanks for reading my review.
Dave~ Big D5
