November 13th, 2009 by Morts
It’s interesting how married to Operating Systems people can become. My first computer was an Apple IIGS, but then we swiftly moved to Windows. I used to join in deriding Macs, then I got one. Mac OS, especially 10 and up, became my OS of choice. However, I still used Windows (and occasionally Linux) on a daily basis. I’m basically platform agnostic. A platform is a tool, and the one that works best for you is the best… for you. There is no perfect platform for everyone, for computer or phone.
I mention this because of discussions I’ve been having with some fellow techies. This week I finally broke down and bought a Pre. The reactions from my iPhone, WindowsMobile and Blackberry using friends (Sort of sad, but I don’t personally know a single Android user – no I’ve never met Justin) were almost comical in their predictability. I even got complaints about the Pre from a fellow Pre owner… because he’s really a Blackberry user. I’m not saying they’re wrong – I’m just saying the Pre is closer to my “ideal” phone than most of those other options (In fact, I recalled a doodle I drew ten years ago and it resembles the Pre to the point of scariness).
Every phone does its job in one way or another and every phone does it for someone. The cell market is really big enough for everyone. So how about we all just calm down and let people find the right solution?
So, why is the Pre my “perfect phone” (so far, anyway?)? Click the read link and find out.
[Warning – this thing is a fricking essay. I clearly have no life.]
First off, I won’t use Verizon because of the ridiculously high premiums they charge for even the most basic data services. That leaves the Droid out for me. AT&T doesn’t work in my office, so there goes the iPhone (which is also removed due to my personal refusal to buy a device without an end-user replaceable battery). T-Mobile is out as well, despite having very good prices and low Total Cost of Ownership. Buh-bye G1, MyTouch, and assorted Android phones running on aging hardware. So right away we’re looking at Sprint. It’s sad that I even have to note that they’ve gotten much better (there was a time I wouldn’t use them if you paid me). To get just about any smartphone I had to ditch my SERO plan, but with the new EPR, I’m still paying less than I would on AT&T or Verizon (I may even be ditching the EPR for a normal plan with my work discount and a Credit Union discount. We shall see).
The next feature I look at is price. I generally won’t pay more than $150 for a Smartphone. I’m not a fan of MIRs, but you get around that by buying at Best Buy or Radio Shack . That price limitation means the Touch Pro2 was right out, but left me with a ton of options. So what other features do I need?
As a writer, I need a good keyboard. This takes the Touch Diamond & HTC Hero out of the running. I really liked the form factor and would have overlooked the laggyness, but I need a keyboard. The Samsung Moment has a decent keyboard, but its landscape. That’s a big minus right there. My first smartphone was a Treo 180 (well, technically it was a VisorPhone), and while I’ve used numerous landscape phones (the HTC Apache was fun), I prefer portrait. This leaves me with several Blackberries, three aging Palm devices, a bunch of non-touchscreen WinMo phones, and the Samsung Intrepid.
I like touchscreen, so the Blackberries and non-touch WinMos get sent packing. Frankly, I don’t like the Blackberry OS anyway. I know it’s very popular, but I find navigation to have too many steps compared to even the old Palm 755p. Speaking of which, the Palm OS phones were out for a multitude of reasons – ancient OS that doesn’t multitask at all, no wifi or GPS, and tiny, unusable keys on the Centros. I’m glad the Centros are popular, but they really aren’t for power users.
We’re now left with the Intrepid, Treo Pro, the Pre, and the upcoming Palm Pixi. The Pixi gets kicked out of the running for having a smaller screen, a slower processor, and lacking wifi. However, having demoed one I have to say that Palm has a real potential winner in that thing. Better build quality than the Pre and it’s like holding a feather. Let’s hope they add some design notes to the Pre2. The Treo Pro looses out for multiple reasons as well. The most basic being that I have major issues with how Windows Mobile users tend to have to rely on patchers at PPCGeeks or XDA-Devs. Amazing guys, and the work they’ve done to put 6.5 on the Pro is to be lauded, but you shouldn’t have to. This is hardly MS’s fault: HTC or Palm should take the time to release the updates. Of course, that ignores the fact that they’re in the business to sell new phones, not support old ones. That’s up to us, it seems. I also don’t like how I need to install 3rd party apps to get what should be basic functionality in there – a proper start menu (Qmenu), apps closing when I tell them to (Qmenu again, or Magicbutton), and proper memory management. Palm adds a better with the “hold down ‘ok’ to launch Task Manager,” but it’s still an inelegant, counter-intuitive, kludge. Here’s hoping WindowsMobile7 finally puts all my quirks to bed.
I suppose you’re seeing why the Intrepid didn’t make my list, eh? Windows Mobile 6.5 is markedly better than 6.1 (which was better than 6.0, which was better than 5, etc), but I still don’t like the whole OS experience. Add in the smaller screen, and we have a pass. However, I think it’s a shame that the Intrepid isn’t getting more coverage, as it has one of the best landscape keyboards I’ve used in some time. If you are a WindowsMobile user, this phone is a great option – especially if you travel abroad.
So this leaves us with the Pre. It’s hardly a “oh well, I guess I’m stuck with it”. As I note, it’s pretty close to being my perfect phone feature-wise. However, in the interest of fairness, I’d like to note the issues people may have with it. For starters, it only works on certain plans. This means you’re paying a premium for it. I was willing to, but others may not be. Synergy was great at pulling together all my contacts, but I then spent a good thirty minutes linking AIM/Facebook/Google Profiles. Once done it was an elegant solution, but there needs to be a better way to do this task. However, as Palm’s last Desktop Client was a waste of time for me, I’ll settle for the phone solution. Still, be prepared to do this.
The keyboard is not for everyone. I was surprised how quickly I took to it. I will note that the minor changes to it (@ is now not shifted) keep throwing me off, but I’m pleased. I’d like to see a WordComplete solution (one of the things WinMo does elegantly), and the Virtual Keyboard enabled without a patch, but it’s certainly usable (and the Pixi’s is better).
Speaking of patching, Palm gets the same tsk tsk as Windows Handset providers for the phone needing way too much patching. PreWare is great and awesome, and the homebrewers are brilliant. Palm’s support of them has been fascinating to watch as well. However, there’s no reason I should need to download a patch to enable a Virtual Keyboard that’s already in the code, toggle GPS, to make my LED flash for alerts, or to lower my backlight settings- heck, just to have the keyboard light and backlight settings be two different sliders! These should all be basic functions, and it’s baffling why Palm didn’t include them. There are tons of other patches for things you may or may not consider necessary (why anyone wants to use landscaped email on a portrait device I Do Not Know, but whatever). Palm needs to look at what patches are popular and open these functions. They also need to get rid of the stupid block on how much memory one can install apps to. PreWare gets you around this by installing FairDinkum, which raises the limit, but there shouldn’t be one in the first place. I can live without expandable memory, but if that’s the case you need to let us use what’s there.
Apps are great, but I keep using PreWare instead of the App Store. This is mainly because the App Store will only run over WiFi. Boo. Also, Sprint Navigation uses aGPS instead of true GPS. Unlike the Treo 800W there is a real GPS radio in there, and it can be enabled with a little hard work (thanks, Ebag333!), but once again you shouldn’t need to do it.
I’ve heard a lot of complaints about battery life (a common problem with always-on devices), but I’m getting roughly five hours with light call use, heavy texting, two email accounts pulling, streaming Pandora or watching videos. Of course, I’m also keeping GPS toggled off and using Wi-fi for data when at home, which really extends your battery, but it’s a YMMV situation to be sure.
One final quibble with the phone is my quibble with just about every phone: the earbuds suck. I like to listen to music, watch videos, and still be able to make calls. That means that I’ll use the bundled headset. Palm’s actually have decent sound quality (better than Apple’s), but they were clearly made for people with giant ear canals. They actually hurt my ears. Someone needs to find a way to marry the technology of soft earbuds (like Koss’s dirt-cheap-but-decent Sparkplugs) with a smartphone. One size fits all, and they even drown out some subway noise.
So those are the cons. Some more pros are: The thing is f-a-s-t! I love the multi-tasking solution. It’s elegant and well-implemented. Synergy has some kinks, as I noticed, but once you have it tweaked it’s just great. Videos playback nicely. You can sync/convert with DoubleTwist if you like. The catch with this is that it’s on-the-fly conversion, so it takes longer. I’m using an older version of iTunes on my Mac and a copy of the awesome no-longer-available-to-buy app MediaHub (the big brother of abandonware app iSquint) . This way I can do batch conversions overnight, and then just drag and drop. I’m not a fan of Palm’s essentially hacking iTunes to get syncing to work (nor am I a fan of iTunes locking to only iPods, although that I at least understand), and intent to purchase Mark/Space’s MissingSync (which is really a must for any mobile device on the Mac – Android, WinMo, Blackberry, Palm or WebOS). The alert implementation is great as well. I can’t decide if I like this solution better than the one on Android, but I surely do like it. Sound is crisp and clear in calls and multimedia, and the YouTube client is a fun distraction.
So to summarize: Morts like Pre. Morts just not that into WinMo. Morts think iPhone cute, but just want to be friends. Morts eagerly await Justin’s Android review. Morts love Homebrew, but wish it were not needed. Morts is a wordy son-of-a-gun who should put this much effort into his NaNoWriMo attempt. Him go now.
