Palm Pre gets caught taking a walk in the park
If you’re looking for rhyme or reason, unfortunately we can’t offer either for the time being. All we know is this: It looks like Sprint and Palm may be loosening the reins a bit when it comes to allowing the Palm Pre out into the wild. The image above was supposedly taken at something called “the annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel race”. It shows two people, whose identities are unknown, rocking Palm Pres. An eagle eyed attendee spotted them and managed to chat the pair up before snapping a few pics. The stealth photog tells us that the Pre-toting pair claim to have been using the handsets for several weeks now. In fact, they supposedly weren’t all that blown away by the device at first, but recent updates to the handsets have converted them into satisfied users. When asked about a public release, the duo’s only response was that we “probably won’t have to wait too much longer”. Could the recent rumors of a May release be on point? Were these naive Sprint or Palm employees who managed to get their hands on the device a bit early? Your guess is as good as ours. In the meantime, hit the jump for some more pics.
Thanks, banachunks!
Sorry
Not sure if it was here or engadg or precentral but it would make sense so that people would see that it was NOT an iphone or other similar phone.
should have been
Not sure if it was here or engadg or precentral but (someone else commented that) it would make sense so that people would see that it was NOT an iphone or other similar phone.
I’m starting to think bananachunks is one of the kids from the pictures.
Good to see backbeat still talking shit….troll
@backbeat Not interested in continuing this conversation with you if you’re gonna be the captain of the Strawmen league. I now recall why I had a vaguely negative feeling when I first saw your username — you do this a lot, and I remembered that too late.
Anyone who cares can see that we’re arguing different points. But, you know, you “win,” if you like.
[/OT]
^Still talking technically confirmed facts which are uncomfortable for “some”.
If Sprint factually had the larger footprint or network reach in a given geography, I’d be among those correcting someone stating opinions to the contrary. Does truth and integrity not have a place on the interwebs? 
@bananachunks- thanks for chiming in. would have been nice if BGR said the kids “loved” the phone after they got software upgrades(unlike the actual text that says they were “satisfied users”). makes one wonder though, how come it wasn’t the bomb a few weeks ago… i’m thinking this phone isn’t all its cracked up to be…time will tell.
Doesn’t look like it’s a global phone. EVDO Rev A only listed on Sprint’s home page (which has a very sexy 360 of spinning Pre on it). If it had GSM, I’d be in for sure.
@JakeyBoy
Yes, I wish they would have let me play with one, or at least said what it was they didn’t like about it until recently.
@banachunks- you should have just bum rushed them and grabbed both and hurried to ebay….lol….
looks like engadget rumors May 16th release…and ps-touchstone is $69.99…ouch
@JakeyBoy
I joked about doing just that, but it didn’t take long to realize that my Sparks intake at the time was going to make any sort of getaway pretty much impossible
the people of AT&t and VZ they have fear of sprint and the Pre. i travel to Miami , indiana, Orlando, Chicago, NYC,NC and Puerto Rico and never have problems with my signal with sprint speed. Palm Pre rocks….
I’m thinking this is a publicity stunt. The iPhone had a sighting like this before its release, and Palm wants to have the same buzz so it’s creating this press. These guys are being blatantly obvious in order to get caught with them. The photographer may be in on it as well.
I know that this is beating a dead horse, but I have to say that of all the times that backbeat has trolled to trash anything Sprint, this seems to be the mildest out of all of them. It’s actually impressive that backbeat was almost unbiased a little when writing his/her opinion. Maybe the blossoming of the spring flowers has made him/her a bit nicer (even if it’s temporary).
btw, and more importantly I hope the price is 199 because I’m pretty much sold on the Pre.
@jonnybruha I’d say the excitement is in the “excellent” compared to “mediocre”. At least, that’s what excites me about the Pre. There are so many OS’s, so many phones, and they all do this great, or that great, but then do the rest “mediocre”. You can live with it, but nothing you’re really happy with. With the Pre, you can tell that they’re striving to make the phone “Excellent”; as in, take different things that other phones/OS’s are good at, use it, and also add new ideas of their own. I don’t want to have to tolerate aspects of my phone you know? I want to be satisfied using it. And it seems like that’s where the Pre is going at least with what they’ve been showing. Now, how it’ll be once it’s actually released, who’s to know. But it’s got me excited =P
This is yet another dime-a-dozen stunt by the blogger who delivered this “scoop” to BGR. Check out the -full-sized- Pic #4’s keyboard. Though very blurry. you can make out the general form of each key’s letter well enough to tell that it doesn’t even remotely resemble the English language. Real keyboard: http://www.yugatech.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/palm-pre.gif And BGR ran with this? …
you sir are a giant douchebag
I cant wait for the Pre release. My wife an I had Iphones and the bill was ASTRONOMICALLY HIGH. We tested them out for 30 days and came to the conclusion that they were too freakin’ expensive. I can’t see payin 89.99 plus 60 dollars for two iphone data plans, 60(30×2) for texting plan. Damn thats over two hundred dollars a month with AT&T. With Sprint we pay $85 plus less with simply everything plan. That adds up to some dollars!
okay this look fake the second image u cant even see the guy or the crowd on the screen at all
Did you all ever think that this photo was a plant and that you are being manipulated by Palms PR arm?
o.0… Wow. I can’t imagine Palm’s reaction.
its not the actual hardware feature sets that this phone totes but its the software behind it that makes it spectacular. The same could be said for the iphone. it only has a 2 meg cam and cant even record video but its number one because of its software enable capabilities. what gives the phone its wow factor is not what it has but what it can do. I was going to wait for the release of the samsung dash (5 meg cam, wifi, lots of bells and whistles) but its reported to either run brew or the current instinct UI which sux balls (i know cuz i have one) which is a huge turn off. I really didnt even consider the pre until i saw what it could do. it works the way i think.
My bet:
Fake Nerds Carrying Pres: PR Agency staffers
Tipster: PR Agency lackey (or brother, or friend)
Too random that this took place in SF. Palm employees live primarily in the south and easyt bay. Oh but their PR agency. . .
I’m willing to bet most “testers” are overseas, far away from the rumor mill.
Those two look like PR plants too. Just casual enough to “blend in” and look hipster scruffy but obviously sticking their phones out and trying to draw attention. Just enough “oh, at first we weren’t so sure, but NOW . . .”
> …An eagle eyed attendee spotted them…
Uh huh.
More likely the director of the “ramping up” marketing campaign psoed them…
@ jonnybruha (juan witch in español)
Quit your bitching, Pendejos like you can’t see something good, with out bitchin, probably ’cause you just want attention, oh well.
Troll Much???