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!
@ backbeat (another Troll like juanwitch…jonnybruha) hehehe
You are another Pendejo, PLEASE, shut the Hell UP!!!
We know you don’t like Sprint/Nextel, well, suck it up.
BTW, We also know you love Verizon to give it to you from the “back” (or they “beat” your “back”, wherever you like better), thats why your name here is backbeat. LMAO
Where do all these armchair softrware developers spring up on these forums who can make such fantastic claims as:
Everything I’ve read about it has said that it is extremely limited as compared to a full SDK and it’s a lot like the same deal as the web apps we saw when the iPhone was first launched
If honest to God you don’t understand cloud computing, Google it, there’s some irony, I’m personally not a big fan of the idea, between unsecure distribution of data and inaccessibility in remote locations without a connection and software options being limited, but at least I can verbalize why I don’t like the concept rather than saying, “I don’t know much about no WebOS, but I likes my iPhone…”
i work at sprint and a few weeks ago we got 3 pre’s and managers got to use them and they said in the next few weeks we would get hands on training and they said it will got on sale in june not may so i guess they wanna get killed by iphone but i know ill be with my PRE
^Really? What’s your store number, location, and phone number? Store manager’s name?
That thing is fugly.
so exactly what “features” does the iphone or n97 have that the pre wont.. i mean apple does seem to have a monopoly on the useless app market.. ifart, fake mario kart, or the slew of iphone apps that do the exact same thing the website does! its so damn innovative.. if java and palm os emulators are confirmed that right there should mean apps can beat the iphone in development.. and whats appealing is the os if u havent noticed the iphones is so basic they left out things like a home screen and multi tasking.. plus the synergy function that makes other apps and services work together.. you take that with a real warranty and insurance, faster and more reliable 3g, better voice quality, almost no dropped calls, for a much lower price, my only question is how the hell can you not see the appeal.. EVERY tech site has given it stellar reviews, like where have you been you obviously arent intune with the tech world and thats why you dont get it.. what can the iphone do that the pre cant.. the only apps that will be hampered initally by the sdk are games and thats the only field the iphone is ahead in
lets help backbeat get a woman he seems to have some pent up frustration
^Trolling, still?
Because a quick review of the previous posts clearly indicate that what is supposed to be great about Palm’s new toy is that it is *new*, it is also incumbent upon it to differentiate itself from those who came prior. Therefore, common logic dictates that your question should have been “What does the Pre have that the iPhone or N97 does not?”.
Online **demos** do -not- constitute “reviews”, though it’s doubtful you require more to satisfy your intellectually-challenged mind.
I could have photoshopped all of those pictures in about 30 seconds. Literally.
I won’t believe it until I see it…
No I think there is so much hype behind the phone because a lot of people who are on the sprint network are satisfied with a phone that is actually personal. At&t had the Iphone witch was personal touting different apps to make it your own, and then T-Mobile with the G1. Sprint has been lacking with phones that you could do more on than make phonecalls with the technology available to people worldwide these days I think an “app phone” is becoming more and more demanding.
@roach, I don’t know which offended me more; that you called me an armchair software developer or that you think I’m using an iPhone to base my opinion.
This is the article I read about the Pre that shot down most of its points about its software development:
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/01/12/palm-pre-and-webos-lies-damn-lies-and-statistics/
I admit I’ve never written a single piece of software for any platform. I have, however, used almost everything available and know the difference between a platform with a full SDK and those without from a user standpoint. I don’t need a room full of iPhone users to tell you that what we’ve seen of a webOS so far has been disappointing, to say the least. If it wasn’t then no one would have cared about the app store. And per my point, even the iPhone with the app store is still missing come capabilities that other platforms with full SDK’s have had for years now.
no back beat if you read my post you wil see why everyone is hyped and what the iphone and n97 cant do.. which answers the original question.. i will reiterate tho insurance, real warranty, home screen, multitasking, java, palm os, synergy, physical keyboard, remov batt, fair price, better data, better voice, the web os slide up menu, the card menu.. the only thing the iphone wins at is games.. so again i ask why is the iphone or n97 any better
and what does a mobile expert testing a phone for an extended time and writing his thoughts into an article constitute.. well whatever it is i bet you couldnt find one tech site that said it was bad
^No “mobile expert” has had the phone in their personal possession for any length of time sufficient to perform “testing”, whatsoever.
Gotta luv all the -extremely- subjective “betters” you list. [HINT: It's -always- better to take the time to collect your thoughts before your stupidity takes advantage of the opportunity.
] What a congenital SprintPimping troll! You’d cheerlead 2 tin cans and a spool of string if it was Sprint-branded. Thanks for the laugh! 
@celz, I was going to start responding to your list of “pros”, but they seem to be focused much more on the iPhone rather than the N97. Or at least I hope they are since the US version will offer most of the things you mentioned and plenty more.
your a funny guy backbeat you talk facts with the name callers and resort to name calling when confronted with any amount of sense.. none of my points are subjective they are all facts and are all points of weakness made by iphone lovers and haters.. you havent gave any reasons why the pre isnt going to be a good phone.. you have never gave a reason why sprint isnt a good network.. all you do is use big words to masturbate your ego.. you argue non points and never state simple facts.. the funniest part is you think all the nonsense you spout makes you seem smart or gives credence to your opinions.. it doesnt is your life so uneventful that you cry out for attention by being a troll, really lets grow up.. so unless you have anything to say about the pre not deserving hype shut up
it was mainly to the iphone i think the n97 will be great to just like the iphone is.. the main diff between the two would be the n97 having a huge library of software ready and the pre looking more polished and being more user friendly.. the pre will be able to do just about anything the n97 can save for hi level game and a weaker cam.. the only diff is joe blow might be more limited.. the big guns will have more to work with when it comes to developing and i think thats evident with the palm emulator being done already.. im staying with wm for now i doubt the pre will be better out the box but you have to admit the os is slick as hell.. it flat out beats anything by a long shot.. wm and symbian are pretty old, but personally its the programs im after so id take wm over an iphone or pre now.. even tho the pre is a contender for my next phone i will admit its strong points and try it out.. jus like i did the iphone and android..
“better” data? Compared to what, in specific terms?
“better” voice? Compared to what, in specific terms?
See http://www.gotreception.com for comparative analysis of coverage and network strength. Hope you live in Kansas City, Mo.
Without coverage, you’ve got nothing.
“fair” price? Since when did application subscriptions become a ‘better’ alternative to license [Not including Palm's perspective of a much higher subscription profitability, that is
]
“warranty”? I can walk into a Palm store and get an instant exchange? Damn! Thanks for the tip!
“insurance”? See above.
“multitasking”? When was the last time you were doing 2 things at the same, immediate moment? (Drooling and wanking don’t count, for the record)
“PalmOS”? You mean you can emulate/run like on WinMo? Welcome to the 90s!
“Java”? See above just in case you’ve never heard of RIM.
“homescreen”? Like one that tells you what appointments are upcoming / Missed Calls / Voicemails / Unread Emails or Texts? Again, see above.
“synergy”? Is -that- the new term for a threaded PIM, such as PocketInformant, available on WinMo, iPhone, and Blackberry platforms? Thought so.
“removable battery”? Maybe you can supply the maintenance records which verify its problematic nature. I couldn’t locate any.
So … again … How is *new* making itself “better”?
Pocket Informant doesn’t seem like Synergy. Synergy is phone-wide connection between apps and the cloud. Pocket Informant is just a copy of PalmOS PIM with connection to google calendar.
^Besides not having a clue of what a threaded PIM is, you clearly know nothing about PI.
Anywhoooo …
The same unsecured cloud that contains your personal data, bank account data, ACH data, company data, pricing data, competitive data? That cloud?
At least I can buy movie tickets and have it show up on my calendar after I tell the phone to do that.
Is Palm supplying a free lifetime subscription to LifeLock?
Throw out a catchy name and market it as the next big thing/ iphone killer and watch the masses kill each other over it. THe phone will be a hit but the 1st batch will be just as iffy as the iphone. I’ll get one, but only when it’s 100.00 bucks….
I never said anything about knowing anything about threaded pim, not that it would matter, but I also don’t see from their website what PI can do that palm os can’t do natively besides synching with google and toodledo.
How does having your phone pull down your info and combine and organize it make it any less secure? It is as secure as the service that stores it is, but that is an internet security issue, not an issue with the os. Any phone will have that same problem. So your quip about Palm supplying a Lifelock subscription just doesn’t make sense.
Blake » It’s not just contacts and info that it pulls from the cloud.
Any type of sync will have to be done through the cloud. Also, it’s said that to back up your contacts, databases, etc. you’ll also have to put them to the cloud.
There is a highly legitimate concern about this. I don’t think smart enterprise users will be willing to take that kind of plunge. Personel users will also have to be wary of what they do on their Pre.
They seem kind of young to be beta testers. I wonder if this is a photoshop job?
Rumors are that those are the Palm employees kids.