Palm Pre 2: PreCentral members go hands-on 25
While we're not able to review the preproduction Palm Pre 2 sitting here at PreCentral HQ, that doesn't mean there aren't Palm Pre 2 phones out there for people to get impressions from. Palm was at Engadget's meetup last night (including Palmrieder, who called y'all "amazing") and several PreCentral members have chimed in on our Palm Pre 2 forums to give their hands-on impressions.
Croathlete writes:
The UI is smooth. Like iPhone smooth. Apps open up very quickly. Stacks work great. It was extremely impressive and I think they took a lot of people by surprise. [...] Slider felt a little more solid. No signs of any oreo effect [...] It will come with a rubber piece to cover the [microUSB] port.
Brain Mantis also gave some brief impressions:
Looks VERY similar...the only real noticeable difference is the glass screen. Its completely flat now which feels odd since i'm used to the slight curve, but overall is better and more consistent scrolls. Speaking of which, I didn't see it in videos, but the response time is improved. Esp. in the launcher. Pages scroll effortlessly. App launch time seems acceptable as well.
The thread also has impressions from xcharles718, Smartfah, Spinfusor, and Treiz (via other means, we note- Treiz saw the Verizon Pre 2). Of course, there wasn't much in the way of new details dropped by Palm employees at the event, as Croathelete sums up: "About 95% of my questions couldn't be answered because they knew it would be up on precentral in no time, but you could tell they were really excited for the future"
Why are you still here? Head on into the thread on our Palm Pre 2 forums and check out what everybody thought!
25 Comments
I would love to be a Beta Tester of the Palm Pre 2. Where do I sign-up?
You already are, chump. It's called owning an original Pre.
word. But people don't realize it. And its a pay to play type of testing. Early adopters for any new tech should realize this.
Dude, I'm in this thing for webOS like most people who still bother posting here. If you're not about webOS, then why even bother? In regards to beta testing, I'd love to beta 2.0. As a web/mobile dev, I'd LOVE to get a real look as to how well it could run on an original Sprint Pre like mine vs. WebOS 1.4.5. I bet it's faster, because unlike Android, the don't have to kludge it up with MORE java with each iteration...they're usually just yanking java out in favor of web service calls when the services become available.
Pre 2 is really a debugged hardware release of the Pre. It's the Pre 1.03.
Sadly I am on my 5th Pre. Each one had a hardware failure problem. And yes, I am on Sprint with no path to the debugged Pre.
This reminds me of the days when the Borg would release Windows patches/bug fixes for a fee.
Whomever said Pre owners are chumpy beta testers was right on. Killer software though.
We all are my friend...we all are
Another Review:
http://tinyurl.com/2ap4pj4
Love the software, just need a strong..... I mean "STRONGEST" hardware to win the people.
I dont know why people are so surprised that there isn't any sign of oreo effect, or the sliders more sturdy, or the keyboard has improved, or the screen responds better, etc. Do people actually think Palm didn't fix this stuff and just released another phone with all the same problems?
perhaps, they feel desperate, and are trying to catch up to everyone. but i hope not
Woohoo, front page! Wish I had a better camera with me. Speaking of cameras, I mentioned we needed an autofocus camera. He responded with a, "Oh, we know". I'd say that's a pretty good sign for next gen.
Can someone possibly post some pics and video from the 5 MP camera? I'd like to see if its camera is able to rival competitors of the same resolution. Should be interesting...
I was there.. And actually won 1 of the give aways ;) I was hounding the guy.. My impression from all we spoke was that Palm/HP are really out there listening and seeing the hombrew.. I showed my Pre minused over clocked and he knew and asked me so ur using the Govanah.. I was like Yep, good to see they actually sent someone who knew what they was talking about unlike Sprint who hosted the event but when I ? Them about Palm Pre 2.. All they where concern on selling me an Evo lol.. As far as newer Phones.. One guys told him he was disappointed cus he thought of a 4G phone and he said "well you never know what next yrs brings" I told him "thats why I'm waiting for CES" and he just raised his eye brows @ me.. Hmmmm all and even though I'm not excited for the Pre 2 (for me to own) I got a pretty good feeling that the next tru gen phone from HP is going to be kick ass.. Like higher than 1Ghz 4G 2 cameras and all that.. I can't wait
How much thicker is it than the old Pre?
Pretty much the same dimensions (it uses the same back cover). Only noticeable difference is the flat screen.
verizon palm pre 2 is real and i held it in my hands it was working model to and let say something it feels solid real solid and the device is very smooth and fast and unfortunately i wasnt allowed to take pictures of it but guys palm really made pre2 a solid device and only thing this phone lags now is the apps compared to other major mobile operating system.
I wonder if Verizon is going to offer some type of early upgrade program for those that have a pre plus!!! Kinda like what At&T and Apple did when the Iphone 4 was released.
One can only hope. Not that big of a deal. I like the glass screen though.
OVERCLOCK! I want a 1.5 ghz Pre 2.
Hmmm...wondering how long Verizon will hold off releasing 2.0 over air update to it's Pre + customers, in hopes of them dropping bucks on the Pre 2? My Pre + is in great condtion, so I can afford to wait to upgrade. Feeling for the loyal Sprint customers though. : /
Santa Palm is coming to town!
all i want to hear was the UI is SMOOOTH and fast, i am happy bring on the super phone.
Hey hey, I got my name mentioned in a post! Awesome. Yeah, the Pre 2 is nice indeed. I didn't drill the Palm guys for info, we just talked about how awesome the Pre & webOS is. I also showed them my overclocked Pre & we talked about some of the patches & themes I had on my phone. Definitely glad to see how Palm embraces homebrew.
thanks for feeling pitty on us loyal Sprint users guys! All I gotta say is Palm/HP & Sprint better make it up to us & soon! I don't want to switch to droid.
Still no HD recording or even autofocus, where are the FEATURES. I like webOS but the ecosystem is too small and the phone is lacking features, really wanted a larger screen (thats DOA to me already), and the same semi ok keyboard. I might be tempted to hop on iphone next and ill keep Android 3.0 on the radar. Not too much interested in Windows Phone 7 but hopefully Palm has another phone under their belt waiting for release.