Anyone using the Palm Pre?

[rabergnc]

My ATT contract is up in a couple of weeks and I am thinking about switching from the iPhone to the Pre - mostly to get away from ATT. Looking for opinions, thoughts, etc. Thanks

[pretzelb]

I haven't used it but I tried a demo in the store and the keyboard seemed really small to me. I have a BlackBerry Curve now and I can't see going smaller than that. But, this assumes that typing emails is a big deal to you.

[edit]
I should say the Pre does really interest me but after watching my own habits for the past 6 months I've realized that the first feature I have to find in a phone is a good keyboard. I have the iPod Touch and that virtual keyboard thing is just horrible compared to a real keyboard for me. To be honest, if you look at all the OS platforms out there (Palm, BlackBerry, Windows, Google, Symbian) they are all starting to "get it" and converge to include key consumer features. Even Windows Mobile may end up being pretty slick before the end of 2009. So I end up falling back to physical features like the keyboard and software options. I'm not happy with the BlackBerry software options so I'm going to switch when I get the chance.

[MaggieScratch]

I got a Pre the day it was released. I thought the keyboard would be too small, too (in fact I was really worried when they handed it to me in the store and thought I might be returning it) but it's actually quite good. I fat-thumb on it much less than I did on my Treo 680. I'm not sure how they did it, but there is obviously some really advanced engineering going on there!

I like WebOS quite a bit. It has a familiar feel as a long-time user of the Palm OS. However, the calendaring app is not quite as good as on the Palm OS, though no doubt it will improve. E-mail is fabulous. There are a couple of Twitter apps, too, if you're into that. The only thing it is missing for me is an ebook app, but I have a dedicated ebook reader that I mostly use anyway.

[rabergnc]

I got a Pre and used it for about a week before returning it. The main reason for the return was poor coverage where I needed it to work - despite what the coverage maps indicated. While I had it, I found that I did like webOS, especially the multitasking. Of some concern were the bugs that cropped up now and again. Certainly that sort of thing is to be expected on a ver 1 device but I found the the phone switching on its own to airplane mode most disconcerting. Once that occurred the phone had to be rebooted to get back to "normal" operation. I had hoped that Palm would have fixed that sort of thing by now - I used to have a Treo and periodically it would decide to reboot itself with no input from me - really irritating when it occurred in the middle of a call!! I expect that, if the Pre survives, it will become a really strong phone by ver 2 or 3.

[helder_jb]

Hi!

I cannot say anything about the Pre cause I've never used it, but I decided to chime in anyway, to suggest another option to consider
I have a Nokia 5800 and I'm quite happy with it! The latest firmware made it noticeably faster and more stable.
One of the things I wanted a smartphone for was to replace my laptop on some ocasions. 90% of the time I used my laptop on trips was to: check e-mail, surf the web, chat (msn/skype). I can do *all* that with my 5800. And if I feel the screen and keyboard are not confortable enough, I can plug it on a TV and hook a foldable bluetooth keyboard to it.

Good luck with your choices! Bye.

[MaggieScratch]

Not sure when you had yours, but the first couple of firmware updates cleared up a lot of bugs.

I haven't had a problem with the phone switching to airplane mode except when I accidentally touched the upper right corner of the phone (where the menu for that is). No resets that I have not initiated--sometimes it helps if the phone slows down a bit. I've had to do it rarely lately.