Can anyone score the iPhone/Palm Pre war objectively?

MRM · 07-13-2009, 12:43 PM

When the iPhone was new, conventional wisdom seemed to be that it was a great web tool, but not much of a smart phone. With the new generation, I have heard that this maxim may no longer be true. At the same time, the Pre is out there, claiming that it is the real smart phone with web access, and that the iPhone is a mere toy by comparison.

Can anyone help me keep score at home? I'm interested specifically in the Palm Pre/iPhone war.

My sitation is that my trusty Treo is about ready to leave this earth and I need to replace it. I always milk old technology until it can't be milked any more, then I try to get the latest cutting edge technology and hold onto it as long as possible.

My scorecard is pretty simple, but what I need done I need done fast and I need ease of use. I live or die by my ability to send and receive email by PDA, keep my calendar and synch to Outlook. I attend a lot of inspections where I want to take pictures at the inspection and email them to my client or personal server with comments. I also need GPS access. I send and receive some documents by PDA, so I need to be able to open and read attachments. The only other thing I need is fast internet access so I can keep up with Pelican wherever I am.

By these measures, how do the Pre and iPhone measure up to each other?

legion · 07-13-2009, 12:52 PM

I think they both suck.

I've been unable to find a cell phone that is good at being a phone for quite some time. All of the cell phones now available are compromises between 5 or so features--4 of which I don't care about.

teenerted1 · 07-13-2009, 01:07 PM

i have the palm centro mainly cause i have gotten used to the palm os and didnt want to change.
i would proably go with a pre when i have used this one up.

nothing against the iphone...but i wont use at&t so that limits the options
i have friends that love the iphone but i'm not one of them. touch screen only worries me personally. i have gotten used to the smaller palm keys, not a very fast texter but real buttons give me the fealing i want.

BlueSkyJaunte · 07-13-2009, 01:32 PM

Are you already on AT&T?

campbellcj · 07-13-2009, 09:53 PM

I guess I'm biased, but I have been very pleased with the iPhone over the last two years as a mobile client for Exchange (including contacts, calendar and mail) as well as web browsing and actual PHONE use. Some of the applications and games are fun too, but I could live without those. I'm not a big fan of the touchscreen keyboard so that differentiator of the Pre is intriguing but not enough to make me switch at this point.

Sapporo Guy · 07-13-2009, 11:16 PM

putting my Apple fanboy attitude aside:

I am in Japan and haven't a chance to get my mitts on a pre ... pre-hype and what not should be considered with actual usage and not some web re-cycled information.

I own a 3G and from what I've used and fiddled with in the past 15 years in Japan, I would say that this is by far one of the best phones I've owned. However, it is also the most expensive monthly due to packet rates.

I never used a BB type of keypad but going from a laptop to touch screen I'd say that it was a bit of a transition however, a pleasant one. I have come to like the speed and the ability of it to fix my thumbing the dam thing all the time. NOTE: let the phone fix your speeling erorrs ... which was my biggest problem.

IF the pre is a true WebOS then what are the rates going to be like and where is all your data being stored? This is one thing that I'm still trying to figure out since I do not what my data being stored in the etherlands of the internet. lolo, nothing juicy but still I'd rather have my data in my own machine not on some server that might disappear in a few years.

Another thought, is Palm going to be able to reproduce the "itunes" store and have 10's of thousands of not really useful apps? lolo, and people used to laugh at M$ for the same problem!

Pre, iPhone, and Android ... finally decent phones that will become useful.

Android and iPhone will more than likely become market leaders since they have (will have) pc integration. What is Palm going to do?

iphone + itunes + mac OS
android + ??? something + chromeOS (<- vaporeware is to be seen! lolo, sounds like the prepetual beta syndrome)

However, Palm had decent connectivity. It's too bad that they followed Sony!

Eric Coffey · 07-13-2009, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRM

My scorecard is pretty simple, but what I need done I need done fast and I need ease of use. I live or die by my ability to send and receive email by PDA, keep my calendar and synch to Outlook. I attend a lot of inspections where I want to take pictures at the inspection and email them to my client or personal server with comments. I also need GPS access. I send and receive some documents by PDA, so I need to be able to open and read attachments. The only other thing I need is fast internet access so I can keep up with Pelican wherever I am.

By these measures, how do the Pre and iPhone measure up to each other?

If you are used to/comfortable with the Treo platform and Windows Mobile, you might look at the Palm Pro. That is what I went with, and have been very happy. It does everything you mentioned (including built-in GPS, wifi, word, outlook, acrobat, etc.), but much better/faster than my old Treo 750. Worth a look anyway.

onewhippedpuppy · 07-14-2009, 04:17 AM

Lack of a keyboard is a deal breaker for many hardcore users on the iPhone. Even after over a year with an iPhone, my brother in law still says that he could type faster on his Blackberry. Personally I know that I can type without looking on my BB Bold, I don't think I could do that with a touchscreen.

From what I've seen, the Pre is worth a serious look.

gr8fl4porsche · gr8fl4porsche's Garage

I'm not very good at the iphone touch screen yet but my sister in law types on one faster than I am typing on this PC keyboard.

jyl · jyl's Garage

Milt started a thread about choosing a cellphone. I think the title said something about ultimate cell phone plan. I posted my comparison of the two phones in that thread.

On your specific needs, I can't add anything about outlook sync. The iPhone 3G camera is crap, the 3GS is supposed to be much better, though still no flash - that's easy enough to test out in the store. Finally, viewing documents - what kind? PDF, Word, Excel, etc? I can try that out on my iPhone.

Edit - here I'm on the ultimate cell phone plan, what to buy? I'll emphasize that, if a good hardware K/B is very important to you, the Pre is not your phone. It has a hardware K/B but not a good one.

BlueSkyJaunte · 07-14-2009, 07:37 AM

Hardware keyboard uber alles.

MRM · 07-14-2009, 04:57 PM

Some good points here. I thought I had narrowed my search down to the Pre and iPhone, but I will give the Pro a look. I saw an advertisement for it today and it might do the trick.

I am not currently with AT&T but I am not under contract to anyone and can switch whereever I want. So either staying with Sprint and getting a Pro or Pre is an option, or I can switch to AT&T and get an iPhone. The keyboard issue concerns me, but I don't have an iPod, so an iPhone would be killing two birds with one stone.

I guess the question is whether there is anything the pre does better than the iPhone, and what does the iPhone do better than the Pre? I do read a lot of PDF documents on my phone, so the larger iPhoen screen would be an advantage.

DSouth · DSouth's Garage

If you feel like waiting until August you should consider the HTC Touch Pro2 (Rhodium). Nice big screen plus hardware keyboard running Windows Mobile 7(I think). I'm a big Apple supporter (Macbook Pro laptop user) etc, but the iPhone isn't for me. Heck, it took until the 3rd iPhone version to get Cut+Paste?....c'mon. Good luck with your decision!.

Halm · 07-14-2009, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSouth

If you feel like waiting until August you should consider the HTC Touch Pro2 (Rhodium). Nice big screen plus hardware keyboard running Windows Mobile 7(I think).

Windows Mobile 6.5. Windows 7 is at least 12-18 months away.

We end up doing a lot of Windows Mobility as part of our Exchange consulting practice. Strongly consider an iPhone if you need to move now. Anything Palm isn't even on our radar. Lots of HTC phones are out there. Find one with the features that best fit your needs.

Zeke · 07-14-2009, 05:24 PM

I still haven't chosen, but I think the camera is going to be the feature I want the most. They seem to be getting as good as most lower end digie cams. I get the whole package, so the GPS is next up on order of importance. With Web capabilities, I can Google and get email.

Now, what I want is a cell phone with those features AND NO PHONE NUMBER!! That would be the bomb.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

Just got an i-phone 3GS w/16 Gig. It is great! It is very fast and the GPS is well integrated into all the apps. It is much more intuitive than any electronic device I have ever used.

onewhippedpuppy · 07-14-2009, 07:04 PM

GPS is a must. Once you've had it, you'll wonder how you lived without, especially when out of town.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRM

My sitation is that my trusty Treo is about ready to leave this earth and I need to replace it. I always milk old technology until it can't be milked any more, then I try to get the latest cutting edge technology and hold onto it as long as possible.

My scorecard is pretty simple, but what I need done I need done fast and I need ease of use. I live or die by my ability to send and receive email by PDA, keep my calendar and synch to Outlook. I attend a lot of inspections where I want to take pictures at the inspection and email them to my client or personal server with comments. I also need GPS access. I send and receive some documents by PDA, so I need to be able to open and read attachments. The only other thing I need is fast internet access so I can keep up with Pelican wherever I am.

By these measures, how do the Pre and iPhone measure up to each other?

Neither

You want a Treo Pro. I doubt you want to switch to Sprint. I don't know when the Pre will be out in GSM format, but I think it will be months.

If you are a Treo user, you like the physical keys. You will not be happy with a touch screen only phone.

You want GPS

You want E-mail with Outlook Support

You want PDF

You want a Picture phone

The TREO Pro will do all of this out of the box. It will do push Outlook. It has built in GPS. Use Google-Maps for free GPS application. PDF support is built in to WM6. You also can read and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint. All out of the box.

If you need fast internet, get AT&T service, the Pro is G3. The Pro also has built in Wifi. And you can sync, using the standard e-mail application, all types of e-mail services including, POP, IMAP and HTTP (Hotmail/Live).

Other things it will do? Bluetooth Stereo, out of the box. Fully sync calendar with Outlook. Notes and tasks with Outlook. More apps by a factor of 100 than Apple.

I been a confirmed PalmOS junkie for years. I went from the Treo 600-650-680 route, waiting for a replacement to come out. I tried an AT&T Tilt and was not happy. I sold the Tilt and bought the Pro and am very happy.

Plus, if you want to ditch the laptop, you can get a Redfly, which is a laptop like interface for the phone. It makes the phone seem like a mini-laptop. It makes Excel and Word and PDF files and Web Browser really easy to read.

www.redfly.com

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Here is my Treo Pro hooked up to a Redfly. I have the cable connected, which will recharge the phone from the mini-laptop battery. It also connects via Bluetooth. The Redfly is good for 12 hours on the battery. Weight a bit over a pound.

Notice, that is a USB wireless mouse to the right. It connects and sets up, with no software. The Redfly has a built in touch pad, but I prefer a mouse or trackpoint.

Oh and the Treo Pro can use a 32 GB micro-SD card for internal memory. And you can have movie after movie on different micro-SD cards. Putting music, videos or files on the Pro is drag and drop. The memory cards can be swapped at anytime.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Pelican on Redfly