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Palm Pre Rated a Gift You Should Return

By: , 12/7/2010 6:23 pm | 51 comments

Well the title of this article says it all. Fox News had an article today in which the Palm Pre was rated one of the top five gadgets you should avoid giving this holiday season. If you are one of the unlucky recipients of these gifts you should return them. Here is the piece from their article pertaining to the godfather of webOS devices:

That old saw, you get what you pay for, has never been more true when it comes to the Palm Pre. Sure, it’s free — with a contract — but it won’t make you happy.

Pushed by a single manufacturer, HP, Palm software was simply too late to the smartphone party (I know, it was the original smart handheld device, but the iPhone changed everything). The result is a platform with little software support, so it lacks all those attractive apps that really make Android and iPhone handsets sing — and makes them fun to use.

The Palm Pre is also unlikely to gain any further support, since most developers are tied to the Apple iPhone or running in droves to the Android market. The Pre is a great little phone, sure, but it’s all on its own.

Now we must say that stings just a little, but let’s analyze this for a second. They say that webOS was “too late to the smartphone party” but all of you should know that the real party has just begun. There is so many exciting things going on in the world of smartphones right now that nobody can put the nail in the coffin for webOS. We have faith that by this time next year webOS will be a household name as HP pushes it to a plethora of devices that will range in everything from printers to smartphones.

They state that webOS is “a platform with little software support, so it lacks all those attractive apps that really make Android and iPhone handsets sing — and makes them fun to use.” Hmmmm……that is almost true. The Palm App Catalog has slowly started to wither by the day. However it is far from dead. The apps will come back as the developers come back. In the mean time we have a couple of great apps that are webOS exclusives like Plasma Canon, neato!, and Voogle. So, webOS isn’t exactly a dead end street. There is plenty of great apps out there to keep the average person more than happy.

“The Palm Pre is also unlikely to gain any further support” was the point they ended with and that couldn’t be further from the truth in our opinion. Developers will return to webOS once things turn around. Right now there’s little money to be made on webOS when compared to iOS or Android. However, one day it will be a decent place to make an app for. HP did not spend $1.2 billion dollars on Palm just to let webOS wither and die. When a company as big as HP gets behind something you can believe they will make sure that it succeeds!

Maybe we have taken this little article a little too seriously. We do have to admit that from a hardware stance the Palm Pre is showing its wrinkles, but who would not love webOS? Things may be a little rough around the world of webOS right now, but we have almost made it through the desert. Look at webOS as George Jefferson because we will all soon be moving to that deluxe apartment in the sky! So why not give someone a Palm Pre as a present to someone this holiday season? webOS rocks and will only get better in the near future so giving someone a Palm Pre for Christmas isn’t a half bad idea.

[Source: Fox News]

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About Ryan St. Andrie

Ryan is a WOR News Hound and super geek who is always working to melt his phone with the latest experimental kernels. He is husband to lovely wife Keira and father to adorable baby girl Kyla, ASE certified mechanic and self proclaimed gearhead turned to railroad mechanic. Last but not least lover of all things tech.
View all posts by Ryan St. Andrie →
  • Anonymous

    I mean, if you give someone a phone that has been EOL’d, the original Pre minus; can you blame someone for returning it. Unless you pre-load it with, Preware, some patches & OC to 1ghz before giving it to them, it really wouldn’t be a nice gift to give someone a stock Pre minus.

    Now a Pre 2 on the other hand would be quite foolish to return.

    • Abraham Arango

      I agree completely on that Palm Pre 2. But soon we will have a big line of WebOS devices full of awesomeness and unicorns with rainbows coming out of their butt!!

      • http://twitter.com/glacierwookie glacierwookie

        I sure hope so!…especially the Unicorns with Rainbows coming out of their butts! Lol

      • http://twitter.com/glacierwookie glacierwookie

        I sure hope so!…especially the Unicorns with Rainbows coming out of their butts! Lol

    • Jim

      True the pre minus would be a terrible gift because ces is just around the corner. But, it’s just fox news showing how dumb and behind the times they are because the pre minus came out a year and a half ago. Fox news is for tards. Sorry if you don’t agree with me.

      • Al

        Fox as usual is on the money and the only tards are the ones who do not watch Fox News PERIOD…… This is not to say that Fox is the only news you should watch but it is THE ONLY major tv news outlet that is not in the tank for liberal and progrssive democrats so it really does provide balance in that way!

        Again you sir are the only tard running your mouth ignorant of the situation. If you were not a clueless lib that simply repeats what you hear you would know that FOX Stock is heavily invested in Apple. Much like NBC is owned by General Electric and invested and partnered with Micro$oft hence the MS. In MSNBC.

        So as I said the only tard is you!

        • Al

          You see Apple owns many shares in Newscorp and vise versa but again I’m sorry you are the compassionate genius lib… Lol

          You prob didn’t even know General Electric OWNS the entire NBC Network again lol @ ignorant libs

        • Dragon@Heart

          Ok people, please stay on topic, this is about the Palm Pre, not news agencies, I personaly can not stand any of the so called news out anymore, be it FOX, MSNBC, ABC, or any others. All the news these days turns out to be crap and people pointing fingers at other. I will say, I wouldn’t mind a Palm Pre, my Pixi is an ok phone, but I want the better support of the Pre, overclocking would be a nice touch right now.

    • Anonymous

      An EOL’d Palm PRE is still better than ANY mid-range Android phone that this author is suggesting these people get. Talk about not knowing what you are writing about?

    • Al

      Even a pre 2 is lacking when compared to the Evo 4g which can be had for 149 to 199 depending on where you get it !

      So as much as I love web os HP better act quick I am yet another about to leave.

      And what’s with web os 2 it’s been on the pre 2 for weeks now so hp is shafting us yet again.

      If anything thr current owners of pre and pixi should have had it before the pre 2 at the very least the same day.

  • Josiah

    What does Android’s software, or Apple’s ios have over webos? Do either of them have seamless multitasking? Personally, I have used blackberry’s os, androids’s os, apple’s os, and palm’s webos. I believe webos has the best core software. It could use some upgrades like voice commands, and folder options. And of course it needs some major hardware upgrades. I have found that the webos software has been most user friendly. I really hope HP can launch some updated phones running webos!

  • http://twitter.com/lemonsanver Jamie Lemon

    The Pre 2 seems ok to me. Would like to see a Palm phone with a touchscreen keyboard in the future tho. I think the hardware misses out on some nice-to-have accessories (phone cases etc) because of the current keyboard “slide out”

  • http://sorli.com sorli

    Interesting…coming from Fox News. Not sure how much research they did for the article, but they hit on a few obvious points and speculate on a few others. I also agree webOS is the best smartphone OS on the market, but the best certainly isn’t the most popular and popularity usually wins. Sorli…

    • Al

      Exactly it’s all about sales in the end and with next to no apps the superior web os will end up like the superior beta max vcr

      • http://twitter.com/oak_labs nicholas peterson

        Superior at what? I really don’t think WebOS is superior at very much. People scream about how their pre can multitask but honestly it makes the thing so slow it’s not enjoyable to lose, not to mention I have to constantly turn apps off because the battery life is garbage. It’s a multitasking OS that by it’s very design encourages to do things the hardware can’t easily handle…

  • Anonymous

    Apps are only part of the picture, usability and UI play a role for people as well. iPhone has all the apps, but if you gave me one, I’d sell it in a hot minute. All the jailbreaking, Cydia patches, and and Springboard themes couldn’t keep me on the iPod Touch.

  • http://www.webosroundup.com/ DanR

    A dubious honor. Then again FOX News has ALWAYS been spot-on with their facts, haven’t they???

    • Al

      The hard news team at Fox is spot on with the facts ! More so than all the other news outlets who are in the tank for liberals and will not report the facts when they make libs look bad they kind of swep it under the rug. Meanwhile the hard news team at Fox reports it no matter what political ideology the facts of the day make look bad. I think you are doing the usual george sorros media matters spin on reality confusing cleary labeled commentators like Beck with the hard news journalists. You do know their is a dif ? Though you have prob never even watched Fox for more than 5 min

  • Canucks Love Palm

    I can somewhat understand why fox has made this statement in regards to the palm pre 2 as a return gift. HP is way behind the ball on releasing this product. Maybe its HP-Palms intention on delaying the release of this product. In Canada there’s no advertizing and no firm release date. Its hard to understand their thinking…if you have a product to sell its all about marketing it and selling units. But maybe they are looking at legitimate demand for a palm pre 2 and doing test marketing to see the demand before bothering to release it. Smartphones are now a dime a dozen. I admit I love Palm Software but the hardware is behind other providers and in order to compete they need to get ahead of the curve not behind it! I love my Pre – I’d like a Pre 2 but I’d really like to see HP step it up.

    • Osiris_c3

      The report was not about the pre2, also I think the pre2 is for the most part designed for developers so they can have devices with webOS 2.0 so that when more devices come with 2.0 then apps will be ready for the new features. Notice in Engadget and PreCentral’s reviews the reviews were for 2.0 not the device itself. Pre2 is just a shell for 2.0 to be delivered to everyone.

  • http://twitter.com/chrisakavern Christopher Varney

    And the funniest thing is that I read the original Article on my Palm Pre via the “NewsRoom” App!

  • Mrusso328

    TRUE!!!! fox is right!!!…..i have the pixi plus and the phone freezesssss all the time and as far as apps THEY ARE ALL OVER PRICED!!!!!!!!! LIKE A 1.99 FOR ANGRY BIRDS PLEASEEEEEEE

    ugh the worst 200 bucks i have ever spent on a phone

    melissa

    • Jospeh Ziehm

      I have had no problems with an overclocked Pixi + which out performs and has more business functions the Droid. Even when it was underclocked the Pixi + still ran well just needed some modifications for youtube.

    • Ken

      Hi Missy!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Abdulai-Sheriff/639657854 Abdulai Sheriff

    It’s all Jon fault, the man has no idea when to rush a product to market. The Pre 2 should be out in the US by now. I don’t know what good is going to do by releasing it late Dec. If they are going to have new phones out early next year. HP NEEDS TO FIRE JON. The word on the street is that in 100 days the ipad 2 will be out. were does that leave the palm pad? Are they going to wait until the iphone 5 is out before they come out with any new phone out. Jon Rubi is bad for palm. JUST FIRE HIS ASS.

    • Jim

      Your a tard like fox news. The acquisition of palm was finalized less than six months ago. Jon now has the resouces for webos that he didn’t have before the buyout. Pre 2 would of been released 5 to 6 months ago if not for the merger. Are you willing to take jons place if you think you can do the job of creating and managing a team to create a great os. Do us all a favor go be an itard.

    • Trr1971

      Quite frankly I think Jon is the best thing Palm has going for it right now. I can’t wait to see him speak at CES this year. Right now he is just playing the game along with everyone else. Waiting until that magical date in January. I’m a computer tech, I don’t usually find other engineers interesting but when it comes to Jon he sparks my interest. The way he comes across as being dedicated to his product. Hell he could have jumped ship at the merge but he didn’t. Congrats Jon and keep up the good work.

  • Juan_Palm

    How a miss comment! A Pre is a good present anyway. Its a smartphone, a very good one afterwards. I dont understand these claims, seems only marketing stuff to me…

  • madison540

    If you get someone a Pre, it will get returned regardless. I love the OS, but the hardware is crap. I’ve had a Pre for the past year and a half and I am currently on my third device, which by the way has just crapped out on me again! I am switching to Android, I don’t care that I’m not eligible for and upgrade. I will gladly pay to be free of this device.

  • Jospeh Ziehm

    Lets see going with a homebrew Pre- or +, Pixi – or +, and my oh my Faux News is still so far behind the times Edison would have been proud.

    • Al

      Fox is on the money man the iphone and the newer Androids blow Pre away web os may be better yet the pre harware is prehistoric compared to an iphone 4 or evo 4g and that is not even taking into account the lack of apps

      Stop the fanboyism and admit reality !

      You are yet another close minded lib msnbc hoaxer

      • Jospeh Ziehm

        Wait a minute you come on here chatting gibberish about the iPhone and others simply when the mood strick you’re fancy. This makes me think Al wants to put life into the phone wars. As for Al you also know that Murdoch stopped an investigative team from the blowing the lids off of steorid injected cows of which he owned stock correct? Have to live conserva-commies and their new (old) age caste system.

  • Mike G

    Who the hell cares what Fox News thinks. Conservative brown nosers.

  • Jospeh Ziehm

    Why do people post here bemoaning the WebOS platform and proclaiming it as dead? Seems more like someone has damaged their phones and cries about it. Amazing Fox reviews a four year old piece of technology. When will we men see Megyn Kelly dress down for Playboy? That would be amazing hint, hint HP talk to Hefner!

  • WatchingHP

    The point Fox is making is the absence of business usability and apps. The two big boys can scan 3D barcodes, fire up a site or app accordingly, have some software to do things to document files… And have expanding app choices, card memory expansion… Who should sign up for 1 or 2 years on a new pre2 if it’s gonna be handled the same glacial way the pre was? 6 months after acquisition, and longer after deciding to buy, it looks like the 1.2 bill was just a crazy mistake for HP… But they are a 320 bill company, so maybe they don’t really care. In my view HP has about 3 months or less to make their intentions known, and to adopt a code of KEEPING their promises. 90 days. Or forget it.

    • Al

      Fox as usual is on the money and the only tards are the ones who do not watch Fox News PERIOD…… This is not to say that Fox is the only news you should watch but it is THE ONLY major tv news outlet that is not in the tank for liberal and progrssive democrats so it really does provide balance in that way!

      Again you sir are the only tard running your mouth ignorant of the situation. If you were not a clueless lib that simply repeats what you hear you would know that FOX Stock is heavily invested in Apple. Much like NBC is owned by General Electric and invested and partnered with Micro$oft hence the MS. In MSNBC.

      So as I said the only tard is you!

      • Al

        Watching sorry that was not a reply to you yet somehow posted anyway

        • WatchingHP

          Hey Al, no problem. This is essentially an opinion venting forum so things can get snarly, especially if you are upset by seeing webOS floundering month after month after month after month….

      • Al

        Watching sorry that was not a reply to you yet somehow posted anyway

  • Smarty McGee

    HP is in this for the long haul. The immediate future does not play into their plans. There will still be demand for phones 6 mos or a year down the road, right? They are obviously not worried about losing the few of us web os faithful. They will release new hardware & software when it is ready. One of palms biggest blunders was the launch of the pre. It was already outdated hardware & they had no developer support. It never had legs. HP will not make the same mistake. My feeling is that when they finally bring out the new phones they will make a big splash.

    • Pacran

      I am not so sure I can see it that way. With all the good wishes toward webOS in the world, let’s take a breath and be real, OK? So, you say, “Long haul”… perhaps you’re right. BIG… splash… maybe you are right too… In the can… OOPS, that’s always, always a risk… PARTICULARLY if you are essentially chosing to make yourself into a new player. The reality is that… absence of meaningful participation in the market has impaired webOS evolution. The type of evolution that’s happening behind closed doors results in unintended deficits and deformities. So you get surprises and disappointments at consumer launch. OK, what are the alternatives for webOS with HP? Option 1: The PalmPad….OOPS, the specs that have been leaked so far are so horribly underpowered… that ain’t it guys… not by a mile. The windows based Slate… maybe a real carve out product, we can at least hope for HP on that one. But the PalmPad, meh… Option 2: Use webOS on MFCs (and, joke, joke… lawnmowers?). Take a chill pill guys, that’s a completely different evolutionary direction with little real functional overlap with smartphones as I see it. Option 3: My understanding is that literally hundreds of thousands of smartphones are being sold every month. Where is HP with its customer interaction skills in this BIG DOLLAR business? Think about this as a hypothetical average consumer… Why would I spend any more dollars with them if “the immediate future does not play into their plans”….? When does the immediate future become the present? Why would I buy their product when it FINALLY does come out, if all the user base that indirectly supports my purchase at a development level has withered away? If you think about it, it was this paradox that hurt webOS the first time round, not the hardware, which could have been promptly upgraded if there had been a big market share. And, Smarty, are you deliberately trying to sting us…. if your point is that it was “out of date” in June 2009 then what on earth would you classify it as in Dec 2010? Yes, some of us are still on Pre’s. That’s how it works in the real consumer world. One or two year contracts. Unless we splash more money. So, again what is Option 3? TRANSPARENT believable PROMISES that some money is going to energize webOS, which “will meet the following general milestones… webOS 2 general release by…. document capability enhancement by…. bringing back Epocrates…. top of the line hardware for top of the line OS by… Option 4: Some people are suggesting an HP Nokia hook up, to get webOS out there. That’s what HP says they don’t want…. but if they can’t do Option 3, they need to shut up, and go for 4. BOTTOM LINE: Whatever happens needs to be big enough to get market share, to enable financial return, that greases further R&D. Find a business model that gels your capabilities with consumer needs. Good luck. Make a splash, hopefully in a good way!

      • Smarty McGee

        All good points. I think that I future becomes the present whenever HP decides to announces new hardware and begins to roll it out. As I said they aent worried about the few of us left. They’re objective it would seem is to start from scratch and do it the way it should have been done in the first place. Web os is awsome, but outside of diehard palm fans, who else knows about it? Rather than rush products out to appease current palm users they are going to do it the right way with good hardware and ads that attract new users to palm. While it is certainly frustrating to me and many others to have to wait it out, it is probably the best option for HP in order to succeed. When they are ready I think those of us that are patient enough to hold out will be pleasantly surprised.

        • Jospeh Ziehm

          We do not really need new hardware. What we need are newer business friendly apps and we are getting those. I am amazed how quickly those who own iPhone’s or other smart phones pan the use of the Pre and Pixi phones. It basically seems that there is cellular phone envy. The iPhone and Droid have a lot of cool games and the Palm WebOS devices have a slicker business agenda. It is in the eye of the beholder to choose. Personally my Pixi Plus is one of the finest Christmas gifts ever.

  • Smarty McGee

    HP is in this for the long haul. The immediate future does not play into their plans. There will still be demand for phones 6 mos or a year down the road, right? They are obviously not worried about losing the few of us web os faithful. They will release new hardware & software when it is ready. One of palms biggest blunders was the launch of the pre. It was already outdated hardware & they had no developer support. It never had legs. HP will not make the same mistake. My feeling is that when they finally bring out the new phones they will make a big splash.

  • Jospeh Ziehm

    Correction the Pre was released 2009 but Al the way technology and computers are wifi became the way to go. In reviewing technology politics and liberals, conservatives, and moderates aside the correct way to review it would have been the Pre+ otherwise it just makes Fox look out of touch. The Pixi+ overclocked is my favorite all around phone for work and the keyboard though small is a perfect fit.

    What we need now is a port of Wesnoth, Super Tux, The Mana World, ZSNES, FCEU, and Open Office. Be like WebOS 2.0 on steroids. Not much of a game except for Mario Wii and Cross Fire on my PC but wanting those on a phone. Long live homebrew!

    • DragonSlayer

      First, I liked the ATT Pixi+ so much that back in June I tried to give one to my girlfriend, but she laughed, told me I was having a strange moment, and told me to think about getting her a serious option, so she ended up with EVO 4G on Sprint in September shortly after our town got 4G. The point is… her comment about my “strange moment.” So honestly nobody really wants to ding the idea of homebrew, and nobody really wants to take you diehards head on in a contest. That said, and with all due respect paid to your prowess and manhood, Sprint seems to think the Pre Minus is EOL (see for example http://www.gadgetswire.com/2010/11/sprint-discontinues-the-palm-pre/) and I dare to whisper to you that most casual people walking into a phone store also smell right off that the cute sexy adorable Pixi, whether a Plus, or an overclocked Pixi+, or even a Pixi+ kissed on the blarney is even more EOL (except it sold so badly that there are a few more lying about.) You personally may be able to make the Pixi+ dance a jig inside a priest’s cassock, display high resolution streaming of the inner workings of the Notre Dame pre-game chat, feed a trapped miner stuck in a rabbit’s hiding hole, defuse a dirty bomb in NYC, or even make it sing bewitching fairy songs to naked genies at 3 AM, but until you come back and tell us that you’ve ported Madagascar 2, Frozen Bubble, and voted in conclave by Pixi for the next Holy Father you clearly haven’t reached your real potential. You are my personal hero, championing the Pixi to the end of the earth. But the Pixi+ as a comercially viable product it is not.

      • Jospeh Ziehm

        Frozen Bubble is Linux based and it will be ported give it time Dragon. Palm needed the HP buy out to bring in much needed developers and programmers. Just downloaded Toonwarz and it is a sweet game. Dragon you also forget that the Pixi+ works for those on a fixed income or who cannot afford iPhone’s and other such options. As a viable product it works, as for Sprint and AT&T having sold both products AT&T is not as really well received as Verizon. I forget in a magic make believe world that what customers can and cannot afford is the base line.

  • Jimmy

    Fox can suck it

  • WatchingHP

    Pre2 is DOA. Fox has nailed it. Dont buy any webOS devices until Enyo. Period. When that device is available webOS reboots and gets a new chance. EOL till then.

  • ViolentSaint

    I love my Pre Plus, but to be honest, I’m tired of waiting. Oh flash is coming….someday. Os2….someday. New palm phone….looks exactly like the one I have. Not one worthwhile app. No advertising….waiting for that too. Palm was bought so hp could compete with the iPAD not the iPhone. I can remember another company recently that tried to do it all themselves, called Sega. I hope I’m wrong but when I saw Andriod running flash, and I still had blue boxes with question marks, I gave up hope.