DISQUS

Matt · 7 months ago

I tend to disagree with the statement "Sprint service is absolutely horrendous" because I have been with sprint for about 10 years now and I am usually the person that has service when no one else does. I have talked to a lot of people over the years who say Sprint service sucks but the funny part is none of them have ever been a Sprint customer.


You might find this video from cnet interesting Face it: the iPhone sucks.

Paul Johnson · 7 months ago

I am a Sprint customer in Kansas City and there are dead spots near the parking garage for the Sprint campus in Overland Park!

Chingon · 7 months ago

WOW!!! You rally are a misguided Apple "fanboi" :) Look, I'm from San Jose CA, I grew up with Apple computers, I love them, but, I'm not a fanboi like you; I agree with Matt, Sprint is a good carrier, and yes, with less footprint, but a lot more 3G coverage than AT&T! Have you at least tested that? And they do have service agreements with Verizon in many places, so, what else you want?

I have family and friends all over the States--Texas, Calif., North and South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Minnesota, Florida, and others--and they all agree; after having service with AT&T, Verizon or Alltel that Sprint gives them way better service, now, of course those that had Alltel or Verizon in the past, miss a bit of that greater coverage area, but better devices and 3G service in Sprint makes a great difference. You Mr. Jeff Weisbein are bias, I thought I was going to read a good article, but you FAIL!!!

BTW, I will drop my trashy and expensive AT&T service and jump ship to Sprint/Nextel to get the Palm Prē, don't get me wrong, I like my Apple devices, but my iPhone could have been much better, the Prē might be what I, and many, many more people NEED and WANT.

RattyUK · 7 months ago

I have noticed that all the people who want to criticize Apple these days on blogs often start with "I could be considered and Apple fanboi but..."

Seems the message is if you are going to criticize Apple you must SOUND like you are a fan first and so people will believe you when you say Apple are crap. I think I preferred it when the anti fans and the astroturfers actually said what they actually thought without having to pre qualify it with this sort of rubbish.

To the astroturfers: yes we know you have to stay on message but guys try and keep away from this meme.

Chingon · 7 months ago

No, you just don't get it, we are telling the truth, but you might never get it, I never said Apple was crap, so please, go and troll some where else!

Neil Anderson · 7 months ago

Looking forward to new AT&T terms.

John · 7 months ago

Palm is in a very difficult position. If it had come out with this phone two and a half years ago they'd have a smash hit. As it is they are now entering the field far behind the leaders. It is not a matter of whether they have a good phone or not. It is a matter of momentum. Apple and RIMM have gathered a huge amount of mind-share and fame. Palm has to come out with something multiple times better to get and keep the spotlight on them. Apple now has something like 200 stores where you can wander in and check out an iPhone, get someone to explain it to you, get someone to service it and so on. RIMM is well established in large companies that provide this service. Palm has nothing like that. Apple has tens of thousands of apps and a billion downloads. Palm hasn't yet released the SDK for the Pre.

Let's say Palm has a good start. Apple and RIMM are not going to stand around waiting for them to catch up. Apple will release the new iPhone soon with new features and new "social integrations" to attract customers and developers. I use that phrase as a catch all for things like iTunes store which are external to the phone but which make the phone more attractive.

I'm not knocking Palm. Just saying that they have a huge mountain to climb.

Jp · 7 months ago

Sprint, Verizon and Alltel (now part of Verizon have had a contract to use each other's towers for years. That AT&T map is BS especially when you get a few miles out from a big city.

Your math skills are fine, you just have incorrect data and thus, your conclusion is backwards...

Constable Odo · 7 months ago

Almost everyone agrees that Palm has a huge mountain to climb and I'm not just talking about the mighty Mt. Everest iPhone. Even the little foothills of WinMo and HTC. The Rockies of Nokia and RIM are even way out of reach for the Palm Pre. Palm is a financially weak company paired with another financially weak company known as Sprint. Between the two of them any minor collapse can turn into a major disaster. Let's give the Palm Pre a six month trial opportunity. If they can't sell a million Pres by then, let's bury the Pre and move on to some other almost but not quite iPhone wonderphone.

Al · 7 months ago

Wow! So Chingon is "dropping his trashy and expensive AT&T service and jump ship to Sprint/Nextel to get the Palm Prē." His "iPhone could have been better".

Does he know that when he signed his 2 year contract he promised to pay for the full 2 years?

Does he know that when he bought his iPhone it was the best smartphone that existed at that time? He couldn't have bought a better smartphone. One wonders if he ever owned an iPhone.

How could anyone know what the Pre is all about when no one other than the odd Palm employee has ever held one let alone used one to make a phone call, surf the net or send an e-mail? When will someone get a production model to review the Palm Pre and tell us all about it's capabilities? It could be a total dog for all anyone knows.

Chingon · 7 months ago

Did you even read what I wrote? "I like my Apple devices, but my iPhone could have been much better, the Prē might be what I, and many, many more people NEED and WANT."

Now, did you know that Sprint will let you try any phone on any plan for 30 days? Well, I will try the Palm Prē first, if I like it, than I will just wait for my iPhone contract to expire to cancel the crappy AT&T service. My 2 year contract is over in June, so, suck it up will you.

Even if the Prē is not what I was hoping for (which I'm hoping it will be even more), it's just Stupid to waste my money with AT&T.

So there you have it, now, go and try to have a nice life.

Matt · 7 months ago

Don't get me wrong here because I am an Apple fan and had actually planned on getting an iPhone once it could do copy and paste. I need copy and paste to do the work I would need to do on it to make it a tool vs a toy.

I just don't think the argument that the Palm Pre is on the Sprint network is a valid one.

It seems to be pretty common knowledge that Palm plans on producing multiple WebOS phones so that means they will eventually have a phone on AT&T and Verizon. If this happens then it will be great for the customers because they can pick who they think is the best carrier instead of being tied in.

RattyUK · 7 months ago

Well here is the issue.

If the iPhone was so "crap" (not having copy and paste) why did it sell? Put it this way, 20 million customers appear to be able to do without it. This is because a lot of the things you would do with cut and paste were built into the os - want to send a mate a link to a web page? Just press the plus and click the "mail link to this page button". It is all moot anyway as 3.0 has cut, copy, paste built in. But I am sure a person like you will find numerous other reasons not to get one.

Tool versus toy argument is going to fail soon too. As the newly opened up bluetooth / dock connection integration is going to make the iPhone / iPod Touch a general controller for a lot of serious applications.

The pre apps are very similar to the original web based apps that the iPhone ran from OS 1. Here they are a "fantastic" solution on the iPhone everyone said "this will never work".

Matt · 7 months ago

I never said the iPhone was "crap" so I am not sure why you quoted that. With that said it should be brought up that Apple only makes up 10% of smartphone sales.

My plan has always been to get an iPhone once it could do copy and paste. For me to be productive the way I need to be with the iPhone it has to support copy and paste. Not having copy and paste would require I retype a lot of information to do my tasks that would help me money and therefore is not worth the $30.00 a month extra.

I have been using Apple computers exclusively for the last 6 years and it is only logical for me to get an iPhone if it can help my my life easier.

My point, to the author, was that his logic that Palm would fail because they are releasing on the Sprint network was flawed for multiple reasons. The biggest being the fact that Palm will have multiple phones coming out using WebOS on all the carriers.

RattyUK · 7 months ago

"10% of smartphone sales."

Indeed but they were aiming for 1% of phones sales - they are now at 2% so not very good at forecasting really.

I am interested in your "conversion" Matt. The people I know who have switched have done so firstly because the new machines allow people to run Windows in either emulation mode or completely through Boot Camp. Ironically I have found it odd for several reasons.

Firstly after about 3 months they have found Mac software that can replace the stuff they were dependent on in Windows. For the few that remain stuff like Crossover allows them to run the essential apps that they run in WIndows.

Secondly they are the most vociferous OSX users, obviously you don't fall into this category, but I am just reporting what has occurred to the people who have switched that I know.

So the question I am asking is are you a Windows user who is "putting up" with being on a Mac or are you interested in using the Mac for it's own sake?

The main issue I see with the Palm is that does it do what it says on the tin? I mean there are lots of videos out there of it being used but nothing as of yet by real people, not by marketeers. I want to see what the Palm is like in real world example. Remember the Storm? How it was going to be the "iPhone Killer"? The videos looked fantastic. Unfortunately when it hit people realized how bad it actually was.

These days Palm is being credited for "sticking it to Apple". Problem is that they seem to have generated a list of things that the iPhone doesn't do and ticked all the boxes that Apple didn't hit. The problem as I see it is that this is tick box marketing. After all, Windows Mobile, on paper, has a spec that far exceeds the iPhone but the problem actually occurs when people come to use it. It doesn't "work". I mean it "works" but the issue is that if you don't have geek credentials it makes it very hard to actually achieve anything.

The palm WebOS emulators look fantastic again, but you are emulating what it is going to do. This leads to two misconceptions. Firstly will it actually work on the processor in the box as it does in the emulator? Secondly you are running this on a desktop machine, how does it work on the battery device you are going to be running it on?

The Jury is still out. But I think not having copy and paste is the least of the reasons for not buying an iPhone.

Matt · 7 months ago

Before using OS X I was using Linux for a few years as my primary computer. I did not like the fact that when I upgraded (realize this was around 2000 to 2003) stuff would break and it would take forever to get it working again.

I decided that OS X was the best choice around 2003 because it ran on *nix and could do everything I need. I am a web based application developer and everything I write ends up running on linux servers so it only makes sense to write it on a Mac.

With that said I have converted my family (parents and sisters) to OS X from Windows because I was sick of getting support phone calls weekly. Initially right after the move they called with questions but within a month the questions went from being weekly to monthly and at this point I have not had a tech support question in over 6 months (well I did have one but it was an email account being full and not an actual operating system/computer question).

Now as for the iPhone killer. I don't think the iPhone will ever go away. I think Apple is limiting itself a little bit by staying on one network and having only one device. I think Palm is going in the right direction by having multiple phones and putting them on all networks.

When push comes to shove we will never have everyone in the world using the same phone. I find it hard to believe that even 25% of people in the world would use the same phone. I think there is more than enough room in the market for the iPhone, the BlackBerry's, the Palm's, etc.

Realize that the iPhone is completely different than the Palm Pre.

1. The Palm Pre (WebOS) currently only supports applications as web pages. This means any application has to be written in html and javascript. This means you cannot have any video games on it currently (although technically it should support flash down the road so you could write a flash game).

So right there if you want a true application you have to stick with the iPhone. At least for now.

2. The Palm Pre has a physical keyboard. This alone could make it or break it for either device. I think the fact that you can turn the iPhone sideways and use the virtual keyboard that way is great, you cannot do that with the Pre. At the same time there is no physical keyboard on the iPhone.

So I think there is more than enough room for both devices.

The issue I have been replying to from the start is the fact that the author did not want to compare the devices but wanted to compare AT&T to Sprint. When push comes to shove they have the same network coverage (they gray in the Sprint map is roaming coverage but Sprint does not charge extra for roaming so actually Sprint has a little bit better coverage).

The reason I posted the cnet video was because you can find people all over that think wireless provider A or B sucks and you know what, in that particular spot they might be correct. That does not make it correct for the entire United States though. Then what about the fact that these devices sell all across the world on other providers.

besttechie · 7 months ago

I plan to compare the devices on features and functionality, however, I don’t want to do that until both devices (assuming a new iPhone is coming out) are available. I think that’s rather fair. Nonetheless, even with the contracts with other carriers (which may or may not provide equivalent or better service) numbers are numbers. Overall, the Pre will not be available to as many people as the iPhone currently is (at least under Sprint alone). I think it’s also worth noting that Sprint has continued to lose customers (and money) while AT&T; is growing its customers base and increasing revenues.

That being said if Palm does put its phones (including the Pre as well as the future devices) on other networks (which would definitely be a good idea) then perhaps they will have a better chance on really competing with the iPhone.

Rick Roberts · 7 months ago

Dude, you need an editor. Seriously.

Linus (Limpan) · 7 months ago

I totally agree with you. Apple has nothing to worry about.
Apple is almost taking over the cell phone market with their iPhone which makes the Apple competitors desperate for a phone that can be compared to the iPhone.
Some companys have partly succeeded, but have'nt even been near what Apple has offered for their customers.

Apple won't have anything to worry about.

slappy · 7 months ago

Having watch the Q&A and seeing that the Pre/Sprint cannot even do Voice & Data at the same time is one big fat FAIL. Thats what's great about the iPhone, I can be on a call and use all the data features that I want. Like look up a location or directions via google maps for a colleague while on the phone, and send it off to them via email and so forth. Since the Pre/Spring cannot do this, I wouldn't recommend this device. I don't want people to miss important calls if their using the data portion of the device.

besttechie · 7 months ago

I did not know that - thanks for the comment!

Enlightenment · 6 months ago

American cell coverage maps are a pile of cr*p! I have friends with every carrier that have signal problems.

Sprint can roam on T-Mobile and Alltel networks, so you need to merge their coverage maps with Sprint.

Robibrk · 6 months ago

I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future. Thanks!

Taranfx · 5 months ago

Check this featured comparison
Palm Pre vs. iPhone 3.0 3G S vs. Windows Mobile 6.5 - Feature Comparison Showdown
http://www.taranfx.com/blog/?p=1330