Official switching from Palm webOS to iPhone 4 thread

[Rene Ritchie]

Tired of waiting for new Palm webOS hardware and thinking you might want to dip your toe into iPhone 4 waters, even if only until that HP cash starts flowing next year? Willing to give up some Synergy and Cards for Retina Display and more apps than you can shake an accelerometer at?

If you're on webOS you're pretty much on the cloud, so getting your stuff on the iPhone should be cake. There's a lot of the same apps and games, and HTML5 is far enough along -- and incredibly well supported -- that while iPhone isn't webOS, local web apps feel right at home.

If you need some help or have some help to share, however, this is your thread. Light it up.

We're going to post an article up on the front page later in the week and we'll be linking back here so let's get going and ease that switcher pain, shall we?

What do you know, and what do you need help with?

 

[dudrsnacks]

Goodbye Pre + and hello iPhone 4

Let me first start off by saying that I'm a Territory Sales Rep for Palm and have used smartphones since I was 14 years old and am now 25. I'm very knowledgeable about technology in general and an avid lover of smartphones and mobile tech.

I will be one of the webOS fallen on the 24th. I've been using it since the Pre on Sprint and now the Pre + on Att. I absolutely love webOS and my Pre +. Don't get confused. I'm just not really brand loyal at all. I'm a tech junkie and I want whatever I consider to be the best device on the market. That has just become the iPhone 4. It is the most impressive device on the market and I couldn't be more stoked about getting one. I've never owned an iPhone, but I am extremely familiar with the OS. I worked at Best Buy Mobile before my rep job. I just haven't really been impressed with the hardware up to this point. Also, the fact that you had to close and re-open apps every time that you wanted to switch to another app was tedious IMO. So it was a combo of the hardware not really impressing me. It was as good as whatever I was carrying, but not better. Then there was little nuances about the OS that seemed cumbersome. So I just stuck with whatever I was carrying.

Well, the iPhone 4 has pretty lined up all the complaints that I had about iPhones and kicked them in the b@lls one by one! The hardware is awesome and not to mention better looking than anything out period!IMO. The Retina Display from what I can tell over HD videos that I've watched is amazing. The A4 is a monster! Combined with IOS4 it will be the fastest user experience out there. The 3GS is a speed demon! Plus the fact that the IP4 has 512 RAM is just ridiculous! Then we have IOS4 which has brought Fast App Switching to the table. That alone make the OS so much more user friendly. Coming from a Pre + that does "true" multitasking I actually think that the way that Apple has decided to do it is more efficient (battery life) and user friendly (faster). If by "true" they mean "terrible battery life and slow" then yeah its "true" multitasking. Even with all the updates and better hardware of the Pre + the battery life is still a joke. And the Pre + is just slow. I'm sorry it is. Even compared to a 3GS it lags.

So it really wasn't a very hard decision this go round for me. I saw the keynote, watched some YouTube videos, read some hands on impressions and then just made my decision. I got one pre-ordered on the 15th. I can't wait to get my hands on my beautiful 16gb Black IP4! I always liked the iPhone up to this point, but didn't feel that it was really what I was looking for. It did a lot of things right, but dropped the ball on a lot of things as well. That is no longer the case IMO. The IP4 has amazingly powerful hardware combined with very impressive software tweaks that ultimately helped make my decision almost too easy.

So now I just wait (impatiently) for launch day to come so I can finally get my hands on my awesome new toy! As you can already see I choose a forum to call home I can't wait to start getting to know my new favorite piece of technology and using this forum.

I have zero regrets about switching and I am more excited about this switch than any to date.

Also as a side note:

I've played with the Evo 4G and wasn't impressed at all. Sense UI just looked bloated and not formatted to be on such a large screen. Not to mention that the Evo is just plain ugly IMO. Its too big. Also, it didn't seem very snappy at all in my tests. I know that it uses the Snapdragon, but it still seemed clunky and not as responsive as it should be. Which is proof that better specs don't always equal better phone. It's all about how everything is coded and how processes work together with hardware. Lets not even mention the battery life. I played with it for a couple of hours at a Best Buy. Well it was at 100% when he pulled off the charger and when I was done it was at about 40%. That's pretty sad IMO. So it just isn't all that it's cracked up to be. It feels more like a beta test device than a final product. Though that's pretty much Android in general. Just my thoughts.

So, even though I work for Palm I still feel that the iPhone 4 is the most impressive device out there. Which is saying a lot because they pay my Pre + phone bill and now I will have to pay my IP4 bill. I will still have to use my Pre + for work just not as my personal anymore. I will probably do a side by side comparison or review once I get my IP4 (hopefully!) on the 24th.

Thanks for reading if you actually made it all the way through

 

[card0124]

I am coming from sprints normal pre. I loved this phone and kept it longer then any phone i have ever had (6 months) and never even considered switching to anything else until i accidentally stumbled onto a site that had something about a new iPhone. curious I started doing some research and a few days later i was 2nd in line at my local at&t store to pre-order the new iPhone 4. Now as the previous post says i wasn't even slightly impressed with the iPhone 3GS and didn't even give it a second glance when i was shopping around for a new company after dropping helio/virgin mobile. I settled on the pre because it was the best phone out there in my opinion, and after seeing that the new iPhone has added everything that i felt it was lacking my choice was made instantly.

My only worries are that the new iphone 4 with ios4 will not be as easily customizable as the pre was. downloading themes and patches were as easy as browsing through preware and choosing what you liked. I know that when you jailbreak an iphone you can customize how you want, but my fear is apple tried to stop that from happening. I am not afraid to get into my phones os and mess around a bit because i am pretty tech savy, but not the best. I just want some gba, snes, and nes emulators on my phone as i am a big gamer and love to see real games on a phone (had the original ngage)

Overall i have been dreaming of the phone since i first saw it on the internet just a few weeks ago and have been very very very very impatiently waiting for the 24th and and my phone to arrive at my door. precentral you were great, but thanks for the link here. Hello everyone at tipb

 

[nmoreman]

Just found this post and will be interested in reading why and how people switch.

I have been with Nextel/Sprint for 12 years, basic Palm person, and love my Pre. As above, have played with it, modified, tweaked and have it doing everything I want it to. Had no intention of switching but got my husband the ITouch for his birthday for music and really like it.

However, we have summer lake home on the edge of Fair Service to Roam. Phones have been shaky, his hybrid works fine, but my Pre sucks, drops call if connected, but basically has no service, not even Roam. Service Center could find nothing wrong, wouldn't repair or replace with no issues. Last weekend I had 3 people on IPhones in my house getting calls so I borrowed their phone, that was it, service is most important.

Just happened to walk into ATT store on Tuesday, hadn't read hoopla, but ordered one before the cutoff, now just waiting and looking forward to it.

When I called Sprint to cancel, they did send me new Pre to see if its the phone and lowered my monthly bill a lot if I stay, which was very nice, and now giving me remorse. Cost wise it was a swap to have service, not with a large discount, it will cost substantially more for IPhone, so I'm waiting to get it and set them side by side to see which gives service, then enjoy that one.

One thing that scares me is limit on data, and limit on flexibility to tweak. Love PreCentral and the help given to make the phone function so much better - mine is overclocked, minimized, and runs like a champ. However if it doesn't work, it doesn't matter how fast it is or how much it costs, so waiting to see.

 

[SlimJim#IM]

I too am making the switch from Web OS. I have had my Palm Pre with Sprint since the first day it came out a year ago and have really been disappointed with it. It's kind of feels like palm/web os is a sinking ship and its time to move. Its sad when a phones hardware can't even last a year. I am eating and sleeping Iphone 4 (my poor wife is having to listen to it ). I'm stoked for Thursday morning, its going to be awesome!

 

[ugriffin]

I've got an iPod Touch 1G. I am extremely pissed off about the iOS 4 update, and I'm unable to get an iPhone because me and my family moved to Mexico, and here the best carrier is CDMA Iusacell. Thus, I can't get an iPhone until there's a CDMA one or my carrier gets a GSM network.

I love my Palm Pre. I'm just waiting out to see if HP blows everything or if Palm has a chance. Basically, even if they just get rid of the Palm name, I'm jumping ship. I'm seriously considering iPhone, if it works on my network. If not, I'll keep my Pre until iPhone works for me.

 

[bsoder#IM]

My first palm device was a Pilot 5000. Since then I've had a variety of PDAs and then palm smart phones - the kyocera 7135 remains my favorite smartphone of all time; of course it wouldn't match up nowadays but for it's time it was the best phone I've ever owned.

Additionally, I was on Airtouch, later Verizon, from approximately 1998 until 2009. I switched carriers (four lines, my whole family, so not exactly a small commitment) to Sprint last summer and bought two Palm Pres for my wife and myself. I have been SORELY disappointed with the Pre. WebOS is ok; buggy, very buggy, but feature wise it is probably better than anything else out there. The card metaphor is great, the notification system is much better than any others... But. Constant "too many cards open" errors, sometimes even with zero cards open. Lots of freezes and reboots. Slow to launch programs, even with nothing open. I won't go into the hardware issues, other than to say that I've replaced my Pre six or seven times over the past year; more times in the past year than all the other phones I've owned, combined.

Great on paper, but implementation needs a LOT of work. As bad as it's been for me, though, it's been a nightmare for my wife. I'm a techie type, so I understand dealing with buggy code. For her, she doesn't understand or care why it has problems, it just needs to do it's job, and the Pre fails at that.

I seriously considered going to the 3GS last year instead of the Pre, but I'd been a Palm guy for a very long time, and I expected more from WebOS. Everyone else on my team at work uses an iPhone, so I've had plenty of opportunity to compare the differences and iOS is obviously a couple more generations advanced than WebOS and it really shows. I bought a pair of iPads a month ago and the software is just way way more polished. Of course, gotta have the jailbreak, perhaps someday Apple will unclench the buttcheeks on that.

So, iPhone 4 for me in a couple days now, and we'll be evaluating the AT&T network here to see if it'll work for my wife. Ideally, she'll be able to get an iPhone on Verizon in the fall.

 

[Wes Equals hXc]

I will be making the switch. I have had my Sprint Pre since day one. I enjoyed the first few months with it but now I can't stand it. The clunky software combined with the fragile hardware is just too much for me to handle. I'm not the kind of guy that is going to download 4 or 5 apps a day. But I am the kind of guy that uses the same 4 or 5 apps everyday, and I need those apps to be perfect. The Pre just doesn't give me this.
I have gone through seven Pre's in less than a year. In order for me to get through an eight hour work day I have to turn my radios off, then and only then can I make it through the day.
I will miss the cheap plans on Sprint but I will not miss the poor customer support.
Lastly I must say that Apple did a great job on the upgraded hardware as well as the upgraded software this year. Can't wait to shoot HD video, and I really can't wait to have a bigger screen.

Oh yeah I almost forgot; another reason for this switch is that I live in a college town in New Mexico and every cell company has 3G in my area. That is every one except for Sprint.

 

[bsoder#IM]

Got my iPhone today. So far I'm really impressed... The hardware is so much better than the Pre - there's really no comparison. I wanna swipe stuff away though, even though I don't get that feeling with my iPad. Maybe it's the form factor.

 

[Devtodi]

Dinosaur to Sports Car?

I will be switching from a Treo 755p to an iPhone4 - any suggesting an transfering data?

 

[dudrsnacks]

I picked up my IP4 this morning around 9am (didn't leave until 10:15am) at BB. I've been playing with it for a couple of hours now and all I can say is wow. It is such a insanely impressive piece of technology. It is light years ahead of the Pre IMO. The build quality can't really be compared. This is what I call solid build quality. And the screen...oh the screen is stupid awesome! I have caught myself doing back gestures and up swipe gestures to minimize apps I look forward to getting more used to IOS4. So far this is the best smartphone I've owned to date. It's simply amazing. I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Now it's time to start downloading apps

 

[bsoder#IM]

Now it's time to start downloading apps

There's too many apps.... The app store needs better searching tools. Seriously, it's hard to find stuff I might like.

Maybe us ex-pre-ers can help each other out here. What are you guys finding are gotta-haves? Dropbox, Evernote are obvious. I've been using Atomic Web (tabbed browser) on my iPad but I'm not sure if I like it better than Safari on the iPhone. Tabs are less useful on the smaller screen.

 

[danno1769]

Potentially switching. I love palm OS and its ease of use with the gestures and the swiping but I am pretty tired of the phone running low on memory when even just running 1 game. I will surely miss the hard keyboard, This will be my first on screen keyboard. Im currently with Sprint and the coverage absolutely blows in my house and at work so Im hoping that ATT will have something better for me. If I dont like the iPhone, I can just switch down to the palm pre plus and have slightly better hardware than my current pre =)

Also to note, i have never even owned an ipod so this will truly be an experience!

 

[bluefox]

Switching to iPhone 4 in the next few weeks. I really wanted WebOS to succeed, but the problematic hardware, slow software and terrible battery life makes it more annoying by the day. The HP acquisition made it an easy decision for me to jump ship -- the integration will take time, with probably no new devices until next year.

I will miss Sprint's cheap price and coverage though, as I have great coverage both at home and work. I did look at the EVO -- good phone, but it's too big to fit in my pocket, and I don't really want to carry it around in a bag.

Both Android and iOS are advancing at amazing speeds, and all I can say is best of luck to Palm / HP... I won't be sticking around to find out.

 

[danno1769]

Love my webOS and I still think its the best OS out there. Unfortunately there just isnt the hardware available to support it which sucks. My iphone will be here in 7- 10 days. And I will make it look like my Pre as much as I can hehe.

 

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[Rene Ritchie]

Ahem. Bump.

 

[ananimus]

I'll second that bump!

Still rocking my Sprint Pre 2 and starting to consider making the switch. It's fantastic seeing the open source effort and interest over at webOS Nation, but I need something that just works for work.

Thought it was awesome when the editors across SPE put together their transition articles for webOS expats. More than a little surprised that after all this time precentral/webosnation converts haven't contributed more here!

So *taps mic*, you out there? Have a moment and care to share your experience? How'd you cope with the Synergy loss? Any must-have apps for a webOS convert? Are virtual keyboards hard to get used to for a hard key diehard?

Or maybe this thread launched a thousand others you thought were helpful. Do share!

Thanks.

 

[Bias X]

I find the virtual keyboard 10x better than the pre/+/2 keyboard. By a long shot.
I prefer physical keyboard but those keys were far too cramped.