I've had the pre since day one it came out and have 3 other's on my plan (family). I've used Palm since the treo 300 (600, 650, centro) so I don't mind being an early adopter and working with the manufacturer while they tweak it. But I am pretty certain I will be either switching back to Centro's or Hero's (demand sprint allow it). My set up is 4 Pre's all using hosted exchange.
My complaints with the Pre:
1. Calendar -
a. Viewing Speed: it's so slow it is unusable. The only time I enter stuff in it is if I am sitting at my desk (with no one around waiting on me), but if I am I might as well use my outlook on my desktop.
b. I've noticed recently when I look back over 1 month, many of my events are not syncing - they are in my outlook, but not on the pre. Huh!?!
c. Entering in an event (when you find the date) is cumbersome and slow. Makes me long for the centro.
2. 3rd Party Applications -
a. I bought Classic and Splash ID - I like the Diet and Exercise Assistant from Palm and Splash ID was required for me. I have yet to use splash ID because I need a syncing solution that I do not have to think about. So right now I have all my IDs actually on paper.
3. Palm Profile: I had a Pre break, so I had to exchange it. It did not reload my PAID APPS!?! Both classic and splash ID were not present so I downloaded them and it did not save my registration! Because I am so busy, one month later I have yet to load those apps.
4. No Palm provided Desktop syncing. I understand third party apps do it, but I want something supported by Palm itself so I can be sure of the quality and its continued development. I use hosted exchange for $10/month/account. Its OK, but I want my apps sync'd like old palms did.
5. Speed - apps are slow to load and phone app is slow. I used Palm OS devices so long that I could move through applications faster than the centro could keep up (but at least it would eventually, can't say that for the pre)
6. I really miss the d-pad - it made navigation fast, gestures are slow. I think the gesture area should have been or be ditched for a d pad and hard buttons. The gesture area does not add functionality.
7. Sounds - Really? only one sound for all alerts!?! Crazy volume system, sometimes when I lower the volume it looks like a music icon or a bell icon - there is no rhyme or reason to which one comes up (i think if watching video its a music icon) - how many times I've used the hardware mute button, turned on a youtube video (didn't want sound) to have it play audio at full blast and wake up my wife. It's like there was no attention to basic detail on this device (I know the bean counters made them get it out or they were sunk). Give me options of if I want the hard-mute button to mute alarm, videos, and alerts, or just calls.
8. Touchstone - love the charging, but hate that it answers a call when I pick it up. I use it as a business phone and get calls at all hours - at night my instinct is to grab it, which I do, it answers (and since I don't want to talk my only option is to quickly hang up and hope they call back and leave a message . . . haha)
9. Alarm - I loved mobileclock from palm os, but when i'm waking up I never know whether I've hit the snooze or off button, 1 day per week my alarm goes off again when I'm having my coffee, waking up one of the kids in the process . . . grr.
Positives:
1. Sprint Navigation - never had GPS with other palm phones, I use it a lot now. But I think it was made me love the pre more than I should have, now I realize most smartphones on sprint have the same application.
2. Form Factor - I like the verticle slider design. Gives you large screen and physical keyboard.
3. Camera - I love the flash and 3mp camera. The Hero has no flash (I think), so that kinda stinks.
Essentially, looking at the pros and cons for my use. I am fairly certain I am going to leave Palm. I'm going to wait until next weeks update - hoping the speed issues will be resolved. I may live with it then. We will see.
Any of you using the Hero and think it would address my main complaints? Thanks.
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