Palm Pre Plus - Satisfaction Survey

[Jakes]

Now that we've all had a few days to dive into the Pre Plus a little bit more, I thought it would be a good time to see how satisfied everyone is with their purchase.

I'm satisfied, but there is room for improvement.

[brad76]

Thanks for posting this. While I'm not anywhere near a purchase of the Pre, I am interested in what people that have it are saying. I've talked to several Sprint customer who were not satisfied in the long haul with their device (physically) but I personally don't see a lot of flaws with it.

So a general thread for current users should be pretty interesting to get a feel for how well this platform is doing.

[Jakes]

Well according to what I've read, Verizon and Palm apparently addressed the build quality issues with the Pre Plus, but I don't have a Pre to compare it to so I don't know if that's true. It does still have a pretty sharp edge but it feels very solid. It doesn't wobble at all, opened or closed. Physically, I'm very impressed. Overall, I'm happy with it and like it better and better the more I use it.

[readability]

Voted satisfied with the only troublesome issue being battery life, but I'll be getting an extended one to rectify that.

[catchmyjetta]

I voted very satisfied. The only slight issue I have is the battry also, but for me it is not a big deal since I sit at a desk most of the day and it is no big deal for me to plug it in. But if you are a power user who is not near a charger all day, defantly use your trial period to see if it will work for you, because I don't see how a heavy user would be able to get a full day of use based on my testing. Maybe 1.4 will help fix this some more, but I would not hold my breath.

Otherwise, I love the phone. webOS is a sheer joy to use, and the form factor of the phone is just perfect for me. Also, I don't know if we can mention other sites on here, but I would suggest searching the internet for pre homebrew apps and patches. I got into that last night, and there are alot of things you can do to customize your phone and make it better. I have already added a virtual keybaord, email landscape mode, led notifications, date on the top bar, and battery percent on the top bar. Lots more stuff you can add too, including themes.

[rixnokia]

ditto: very satisfied tho the battery leaves me wanting. I will probably end up getting the high capacity battery. Might also get a touchstone - just to make frequent charging a little more elegant.

I also agree about apps and patches. There's lots of productivity items out there for free or next to nothing that make the pre even more of a joy to use. I couldn't get the virtual keyboard to work right for me - too bad because that would make the phone near about perfect. I'll probably try again when I have more time to work with it.

[pudgewack]

I am satisfied with the phone, but there are four area which could use some improvement.
1. Battery Life
2. Slowness when opening apps
3. Slight wobble from the slider when the phone is closed
4. Display does not easily rotate from landscape to portrait mode

With the exception of battery life, the other issues are small, but have room for improvement.

[Justen]

Had the Pre Plus for a few days now, finally able to make a few conclusions. First and foremost: the build quality is light years ahead of every original Palm Pre I've used. The keyboard improvement, as well, cannot be minimized. It's a night and day difference.

I'm paying extra for the Vz Navigator software for now (Sprint Navigation is included at no extra charge on Sprint). I have noticed the GPS (outside of Vz Navigator) appears to be unreliable, an issue I've never experienced on a Sprint Palm Pre. This is probably a software issue?

I just can't justify the $40 for Mobile Hotspot. It could be a huge selling feature for the phone. I could even have seen myself springing for it at $15 for each line. But $40 for one or $80 a month for the two Palm Pre Plus devices on our account would just be silly. It's unfortunate to see Verizon turn the big feature advantage into such a disappointment.

In any event, I would hands down recommend this device, it's fantastic. I just hope Verizon puts some of its marketing muscle behind the Pre so that it gains a wider audience.

[Guest 127]

I have noticed the GPS (outside of Vz Navigator) appears to be unreliable, an issue I've never experienced on a Sprint Palm Pre. This is probably a software issue?

It's a SW issue. Open "Location Services", select the "Preferences" menu, and uncheck "Use Google Services" under the "Locate Me Using..." drop down menu. Restart your Pre/Pixi. I've done it, and no issues with GPS whatsoever anymore.

During some work I've done for clients of mine I've found that Google Services, running in the background, restricts or blocks access to the GPS radio, even for the Google Maps application - on the iPhone, WinMo, and BBOS platforms, and now, WebOS. The WebOS is the first stock mobile OS I've used that allows me to turn off Google Services without using a cooked ROM. I get located in short order every time now on the Pre in Google Maps.

How do you like VZNav? I'm thinking of giving it a try. Switching to the new unlimited plan and dropping tethering cut almost $60 per month off my bill. Let me know, I might give it a spin. I have a nav unit in my Benz, but I'd want an application to beat the traffic more than anything else - $10 per month is cheaper than therapy..

[Justen]

It's a SW issue. Open "Location Services", select the "Preferences" menu, and uncheck "Use Google Services" under the "Locate Me Using..." drop down menu. Restart your Pre/Pixi. I've done it, and no issues with GPS whatsoever anymore.

I've followed just about every potential workaround that's been brought up so far over at the PreCentral forums (including this one). My experience has been that, at some point, the problem crops back up, and I eventually have to do the "Get Fix" option in the GPS programming screen again. Drives me batty, but reaffirms the "software bug" observation.

How do you like VZNav? I'm thinking of giving it a try. Switching to the new unlimited plan and dropping tethering cut almost $60 per month off my bill. Let me know, I might give it a spin. I have a nav unit in my Benz, but I'd want an application to beat the traffic more than anything else - $10 per month is cheaper than therapy..

It's decent. It's nowhere as good as Sprint Navigation for webOS from a design and user interface standpoint, and is obviously $10 more expensive. That being said, if traffic is offered for your city, it might well be worth it for you. I can't see any reason to not give it a try, if the $10 is palatable for you.

[readability]

How do you like VZNav? I'm thinking of giving it a try. Switching to the new unlimited plan and dropping tethering cut almost $60 per month off my bill. Let me know, I might give it a spin. I have a nav unit in my Benz, but I'd want an application to beat the traffic more than anything else - $10 per month is cheaper than therapy..

I've been using it. It's fine, but the speaker on the Pre Plus isn't loud enough for it to really work, so you'd have to connect it into the auxiliary input on your car for it to be audible.

[Cauchon]

I am satisfied. I have no problems with the device and I like what it can do.

[Guest 127]

I've followed just about every potential workaround that's been brought up so far over at the PreCentral forums (including this one). My experience has been that, at some point, the problem crops back up, and I eventually have to do the "Get Fix" option in the GPS programming screen again. Drives me batty, but reaffirms the "software bug" observation.


It's decent. It's nowhere as good as Sprint Navigation for webOS from a design and user interface standpoint, and is obviously $10 more expensive. That being said, if traffic is offered for your city, it might well be worth it for you. I can't see any reason to not give it a try, if the $10 is palatable for you.

I've been lucky with Google Maps working as I would expect since I've disabled Google Services. I'm troubleshooting for one of my clients, a transit district that just started using the transit layer - every single mobile platform is experiencing the same issues - the GPS radio seems to be blocked by Google Services when it's running in the background. I've figured out how to fix the issue on the iPhone platform, albeit temporarily, and am working with Apple to fix it in their next FW iteration - and I've seen the same behavior in the non-Android mobile smartphone platforms. Disabling Google Services through a command or hack seems to be the only way clear the pipes to the GPS radio.

The riders have a bear of a time catching the bus when they're bouncing all over the place according to their smartphones!

And, thanks to both of you for your feedback on VZ Navigator. I was hoping for a Telenav solution like SPCS has (including the nice price...) instead of the NIM application. I may give it a spin, I'd be in it for the Traffic and the POIs more than any other feature.

[benhar]

After a week with the Pre, I am very happy with it. I hate that it is the victim of lousy ad campaigns and poor release timing, because this really is a great phone.

Despite what I read, it does not feel cheap to me. It doesn't feel as tank-like as the Droid, but I still feel like I'm holding a quality phone. I just hope it doesn't break as easily as some reviewers suggest. Form is excellent. The keyboard was an easy transition from my Curve, and the whole phone feels great in my hand. My only physical complaint is the location of the charging port, which will be resolved once I buy a Touchstone (I suddenly feel like I fell into Palm's trap ).

The phone is very usable. Palm has done a great job with webOS, it's easily the best phone OS I have used. Any interface complaints were resolved by either installing patches (which I HIGHLY recommend any Pre/Pixi user take advantage of) or by just learning what the heck I'm doing. For instance, I hated not having shortcuts to contacts, but then learned I could add a fourth launcher page, and then add contacts to that page. There is a little lag loading apps, which you would think Palm could fix considering the Pre uses the same processor as the Droid, and I think iPhone (just set to different clock speeds).

Battery life has been tolerable. On average, I end the day around 50%. I have not been shy using the data, but I haven't had a day with extensive talk time yet. The battery life doesn't leave me comfortable, but coming from a Blackberry, that should be expected.

All in all I do not have any serious regrets getting a Pre over the Droid. If battery life and OS speed were better, I'd venture to call this the best smartphone on the market. I'm hopefull that these can be resolved or improved though software updates, so I'm willing to let my exchange period expire to wait for webOS 1.4 to come out.

[Guest 127]

Despite what I read, it does not feel cheap to me. It doesn't feel as tank-like as the Droid, but I still feel like I'm holding a quality phone. I just hope it doesn't break as easily as some reviewers suggest.

Got a holy cr*p for you. I was generally OK with the Pre Plus I had, but it was dropping data connections every day - and it would make a ping noise and prompt me to turn on WiFi. The construction was OK. After a couple of too many beers during the Super Bowl, when the Pre pinged at frickin' 1:07 a.m. this morning that was it...

I exchanged the Pre for another one, and it's like night and day. The construction quality on the newer device is much better - slide, keyboard (especially the keyboard!), and screen work as I'd hoped. The old device is crap compared to the one I picked up today.

My only physical complaint is the location of the charging port, which will be resolved once I buy a Touchstone (I suddenly feel like I fell into Palm's trap ).

Get the Touchstone. You know you want it. I did, and it was worth it - the savings in therapy costs alone will pay for the Touchstone dozens of times over!