[Vincent Ferrari]

http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/

Smart move releasing it before WWDC 2009.  Not so smart move making the price contingent on a rebate, although we all know how rebates go, right?

So what's the deal, folks?  You rushing out for this one?

[Vincent Ferrari]

http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/

Smart move releasing it before WWDC 2009.  Not so smart move making the price contingent on a rebate, although we all know how rebates go, right?

So what's the deal, folks?  You rushing out for this one?

[Janak Parekh]

I'm waiting for reviews of both the new Pre and any rumored new iPhone. I've got an app investment in the iPhone now (plus AT&T contract), so unless the Pre has stellar reviews with amazing battery life I'd likely not switch.

--janak

[ptyork]

1) Best Buy will offer it with an instant rebate.

2) I'd not expect stellar battery life in this thing. It's got a pretty tiny battery. I'm expecting parity with the iPhone in this department (though possibly slightly better than the 3G's UMTS/HSDPA life).

I too am waiting for WWDC instead of camping out at Best Buy or my local Sprint store. If it is as great as it seems, it might be enough to get me to switch to Sprint, but it'll have to be pretty darned great.

Incidentally, anybody use any of the femtocell products? Do they work as advertised? I'd likely need a femtocell station in my home to switch to either Sprint or Verizon (which for me is better than AT&T where I need a femtocell in my office--an impossibility).

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by ptyork

1) Best Buy will offer it with an instant rebate.

2) I'd not expect stellar battery life in this thing. It's got a pretty tiny battery. I'm expecting parity with the iPhone in this department (though possibly slightly better than the 3G's UMTS/HSDPA life).

I consider the iPhone's battery life to be pretty good, actually (although not "stellar"). Let me rephrase: considering the Pre's unified notification mechanism, I'd like to see how long the battery lasts given actual real-world email, IM, and multitasking. If it's poor (i.e., needs more than one recharge a day), then there isn't enough of a benefit to me. And, yes, I'm not too optimistic.

Incidentally, anybody use any of the femtocell products? Do they work as advertised? I'd likely need a femtocell station in my home to switch to either Sprint or Verizon (which for me is better than AT&T where I need a femtocell in my office--an impossibility).

FWIW (and, yes, I know you can't deploy it in your office), AT&T has been working on a femtocell for quite some time. Who knows, though, when they'll release it.

--janak

[doogald]

My Verizon contract is up in December. I have a terrible signal at my house, and it doesn't seem like it will be anytime soon that it will improve. It once was that there was absolutely no AT&T signal here - it was like a black hole here - but I learned recently that there is a very good 3G signal here, so I'm pretty sure that I'll ignore the CDMA/EVDO Pre and go for the iPhone at the end of the year.

[doogald]

If this is true, I would strongly suggest not lining up at Best Buy or Radio Shack.

We’ve been told that there are only roughly 4,250 Palm Pres that Best Buy stores will be receiving for launch day on June 6th. Scott Anderson of Best Buy Mobile told us there were around 1,000 Best Buy locations that would be selling the Pre, so this leaves us with around 4 units per store. For launch. Incredible, isn’t it? ...

... We just got word from a RadioShack ninja that 721 RadioShack stores will carry the Pre on launch day. Our guy guessed each store would get around 2 units each and the stores themselves are limited to high coastal areas like New York, New Jersey, California, Miami, Texas, etc.