Yep, you read the title right. The Palm Pre 2 should never have been released because it's not ready for the public. It is hands down the worst, most buggy phone I've ever used. It's worse than beta software. The hardware is nice, but the OS is so buggy I would consider it alpha level. I had a Palm Pre on launch day and have been a fan. I'm still a fan of the concept of webOS, but I'm not a fan of is releasing phones before they are fully tested. I paid $500 for this Pre 2 and I feel completely ripped off. It's going to back to HP tomorrow!
Before I get too far into this story I should just say that I'm not a novice. When I called Palm's support line I could tell that they assumed that I had some issue on my end. It was obvious that they though maybe my computer was messed up, or maybe I was doing something wrong. I assure you, I did not do anything wrong. Everything the tech asked me to do, I had already done multiple times. I have had smartphones for years. I have 7 on my desk right now, and probably 27 in the closet. It's my job to know smartphones. During the last 5 days with this Pre 2 I've had to wipe the phone 5 times, doctor it twice, and soft reset at least 5 times. I synced it with Google, with the Palm Profile, and with Yahoo individually after clean wipes of the phone, and still the bugs persist. Palm should be embarrassed by this phone.
When you call tech support they tell how stable the phone is and how webOS 2.0 is so nice with so many features. Well, I expect a few basic things to work without requiring a workaround, and without having to wait for an update. Those things are:
I need to be able to receive all calls. I can't miss calls and my callers can't receive messages about the subscriber not being available.
I need a data connection to work at least most of the time if not all of the time. No, I'm not in a poor signal area. I can take the SIM out of the Pre 2 and pop it into my iPhone or Nexus One and it is fine.
I need all of my contact photos to appear everywhere they are supposed to, all of the time. It's basic. When you load the SMS app you don't want to see missing contact photos, at least not when you pay $500 for the phone. Yes, all my contacts have photos attached to them. When I open the contacts app I expect all of my contact photos to be there, and appear instantly. I don't want to have to wait for them to fill in.
The Pre 2 couldn't handle any of these basic needs. I'm missing calls, and I can only get a data connection about 20% of the time. I drove all over town today for 2 1/2 hours and never once got a data connection. Yes, I called AT&T and provisioned my phone with them.
I had so many issues over the last 5 days that it was almost like a Seinfeld episode. I chatted with Palm's support and then talked to their level 2 and 3 tech support team. They had no answers, except try using the webOS Doctor. My response - "already did that." Their response, "oh." At the end of one of the calls the tech told me, "well, I haven't had a lot of face time with the Pre 2." He said this after he figured out that his test phone was doing the same thing my Pre 2 was doing. That was after he insisted that webOS 2.0 was not buggy, and after I insisted on getting a level 3 tech. Why waste my time if you haven't had a lot of face time on the Pre 2?
I got another call from a level 3 tech who had me do a bunch of things. I had already tried them, but I did it again just so he would get it. He wanted to me to erase all the apps and reset the phone. I had already done that 12 times. He ran me through a bunch of hardware tests hoping that the hardware was somehow defective. The Pre 2 passed all the hardware tests. I sent them the logs from my phone so they can go over them too. They just won't admit that webOS 2.0 is sub-par, and buggy as all get out, but it is. They have not tested this OS enough, period. And I'm one of the suckers who keeps believing in Palm. Not anymore.
Here's a short list of issues I had:
Poor reception. I keep missing calls and my callers hear a "subscriber not available" message. Don't have this issue with the iPhone.
Can't get a data connection. No, I'm not in a poor reception area. Every other phone I have works great.
Battery keeps draining in under 6 hours.
Very poor vibrate mode. Can't feel it.
SMS app - I login and it stays logged in for awhile, then randomly logs me out.
OS hangs often causing mis-hits and wrong apps to launch.
Gesture tutorial keeps popping up even though I've been through it.
IMAP mail delayed.
Keeps dinging and popping up a charging reminder on Touchstone. Palm level 3 tech's suggestion: put a business card on the Touchstone. Didn't help.
Custom ringtones not saved. I set it but it's not saved.
Using favorites in phone app and selecting "view contact" does nothing.
Contact photos take long to load, and some never load. On every single screen that includes a contact photo, I have to wait for it to load. Lame!
Contact photos don't show up in SMS app, but they do in the conversation. Weird.
Data Transfer app no longer works with standalone Outlook on the PC.
Data Transfer no longer works at all with Palm Desktop or Mac Address Book.
Cannot preview ringtones. They won't play.
After wipe, email accounts cannot login. I had to remove and recreate them.
I could go on and on and on and on, but I won't. If you'd like to try the Pre 2 go ahead and let me know what happens. I am done with Palm. I'm done believing the hype. I'm done hoping that Palm will get it together and bring a really top of the line phone. I'm done believing that webOS has "endless possibilities" and is such a superior OS. I need a phone that works now, not later. I was so disappointed at the webOS event a few weeks ago. The TouchPad looks nice, but I really wanted a full blown, out of the park smartphone with top of the line specs. The Palm 3 looks nice, but just nice. It doesn't make me look forward to it.
webOS is built on Linux and it takes FOREVER to boot. Whenever you tell a tech that, they give you the same answer they give for everything. "We're aware of that and our engineers are working hard on that." How does that help my situation? It doesn't. You can't have my money until these problems are solved. Again, I need a phone that works now, not later.
I've had every Palm device since the Pilot. I had multiple Visors, and Treos. I was excited about webOS at CES a couple of years ago and couldn't wait to get my hands on the Pre. I got it on launch day and had so much fun with it, but the "wave launcher" just isn't enough to make me stick around. Yes, I like the deck of cards thing and I love the multitasking, but that's not enough to make me believe anymore. I'll miss the notifications, but I need a phone that does the basics well. I'm not a big fan of the iPhone, but it works. I don't miss calls and all my contact photos are where they're supposed to be, every time, without exception. I don't have to do any workarounds, and I've never had to call tech support. The bottom line is Palm just isn't as good as the other smartphone companies. They just aren't. It's sad, but true, and I'm done. I'm getting my money back.
UPDATE: I was sent a new Palm Pre 2 yesterday and I still have the same issues. Today, I updated to webOS 2.1. The same issues remain even after the update. What a piece of junk.
Before I get too far into this story I should just say that I'm not a novice. When I called Palm's support line I could tell that they assumed that I had some issue on my end. It was obvious that they though maybe my computer was messed up, or maybe I was doing something wrong. I assure you, I did not do anything wrong. Everything the tech asked me to do, I had already done multiple times. I have had smartphones for years. I have 7 on my desk right now, and probably 27 in the closet. It's my job to know smartphones. During the last 5 days with this Pre 2 I've had to wipe the phone 5 times, doctor it twice, and soft reset at least 5 times. I synced it with Google, with the Palm Profile, and with Yahoo individually after clean wipes of the phone, and still the bugs persist. Palm should be embarrassed by this phone.
When you call tech support they tell how stable the phone is and how webOS 2.0 is so nice with so many features. Well, I expect a few basic things to work without requiring a workaround, and without having to wait for an update. Those things are:
The Pre 2 couldn't handle any of these basic needs. I'm missing calls, and I can only get a data connection about 20% of the time. I drove all over town today for 2 1/2 hours and never once got a data connection. Yes, I called AT&T and provisioned my phone with them.
I had so many issues over the last 5 days that it was almost like a Seinfeld episode. I chatted with Palm's support and then talked to their level 2 and 3 tech support team. They had no answers, except try using the webOS Doctor. My response - "already did that." Their response, "oh." At the end of one of the calls the tech told me, "well, I haven't had a lot of face time with the Pre 2." He said this after he figured out that his test phone was doing the same thing my Pre 2 was doing. That was after he insisted that webOS 2.0 was not buggy, and after I insisted on getting a level 3 tech. Why waste my time if you haven't had a lot of face time on the Pre 2?
I got another call from a level 3 tech who had me do a bunch of things. I had already tried them, but I did it again just so he would get it. He wanted to me to erase all the apps and reset the phone. I had already done that 12 times. He ran me through a bunch of hardware tests hoping that the hardware was somehow defective. The Pre 2 passed all the hardware tests. I sent them the logs from my phone so they can go over them too. They just won't admit that webOS 2.0 is sub-par, and buggy as all get out, but it is. They have not tested this OS enough, period. And I'm one of the suckers who keeps believing in Palm. Not anymore.
Here's a short list of issues I had:
I could go on and on and on and on, but I won't. If you'd like to try the Pre 2 go ahead and let me know what happens. I am done with Palm. I'm done believing the hype. I'm done hoping that Palm will get it together and bring a really top of the line phone. I'm done believing that webOS has "endless possibilities" and is such a superior OS. I need a phone that works now, not later. I was so disappointed at the webOS event a few weeks ago. The TouchPad looks nice, but I really wanted a full blown, out of the park smartphone with top of the line specs. The Palm 3 looks nice, but just nice. It doesn't make me look forward to it.
webOS is built on Linux and it takes FOREVER to boot. Whenever you tell a tech that, they give you the same answer they give for everything. "We're aware of that and our engineers are working hard on that." How does that help my situation? It doesn't. You can't have my money until these problems are solved. Again, I need a phone that works now, not later.
I've had every Palm device since the Pilot. I had multiple Visors, and Treos. I was excited about webOS at CES a couple of years ago and couldn't wait to get my hands on the Pre. I got it on launch day and had so much fun with it, but the "wave launcher" just isn't enough to make me stick around. Yes, I like the deck of cards thing and I love the multitasking, but that's not enough to make me believe anymore. I'll miss the notifications, but I need a phone that does the basics well. I'm not a big fan of the iPhone, but it works. I don't miss calls and all my contact photos are where they're supposed to be, every time, without exception. I don't have to do any workarounds, and I've never had to call tech support. The bottom line is Palm just isn't as good as the other smartphone companies. They just aren't. It's sad, but true, and I'm done. I'm getting my money back.
UPDATE: I was sent a new Palm Pre 2 yesterday and I still have the same issues. Today, I updated to webOS 2.1. The same issues remain even after the update. What a piece of junk.