I do not like wikis, SharePoint and a good many products from Microsoft. This includes Windows on phones - even the sexy new OS (tried it on the HTC Touch Pro and took it back immediately). My nerd-friends know this. These friends also know that we are a Sprint family for better or worse (we've had respectable service from the Sprint network and honestly we've always found them to provide excellent customer service and value as well. They also are willing to admit when they screw up and will cut you a deal. Verizon and AT&T do not want your business badly enough to incentivize you to stay). So, as a Sprint user, iPhone is out for now. Verizon's phones have never spoken to me, though Blackberry's would work fine if I could use them with my work email servers and not pay extra.
So, what I know is that I'm staying with Sprint for a while. This really should be OK because all I need is a phone with a modern browser, an OS that doesn't get in my way (
Windows), syncs with M$ Exchange, top-notch calendaring/contacts/texting, and is responsive. I also must have a vertical keyboard and will pay extra for a physical keyboard. So, I'm left with Crackberry and some device from our friends at Palm. As a historical Palm user (currently running a Centro after many years with a Treo 650), I will stay with Palm. Therefore, after all this I will eventually own a Pre.
I've been watching the reports about the Pre and all the comparisons to the iPhone. Firstly, if I wanted an iPhone badly enough I would switch to AT&T -- I don't have to have an iPhone. I just need a phone that provides many of the same benefits as an iPhone - and in my case I also want a physical keyboard. I do not consider the Pre as an iPhone-wanna-be, I see it as just another "modern" phone (with "modern" once again defined for us by Apple).
The reports I've also seen speak about the let-down some people have had with the Pre (poor quality, still missing SDK, anemic selection of apps). I'd be lying if I said these reports didn't sadden me a little. But, I'm willing to cut Palm some slack as they rapidly push out a huge new platform - there will be bugs/issues. That said, I really need Palm to get the Pre platform cleaned up and silky smooth within 6 months. It seems like they have a trajectory to do that. But they still have some major hurdles.
