Sprint: Plug into Now

[Joel]

Check out Sprint's Now Network site for the Palm Pre. [details (http://www.1src.com/?m=show&id=2167)]

[Alan G]

I wonder if existing Sprint customers will have early access to the Pre through Sprint's customer loyalty program who's name I can't recall right now.

Alan G

[LupeValenz]

I like that webpage. I just love that kinda dull cuckoo clock, just funny how it says it. All I need is a release date and price and I'm all set to go! I love all this Pre commercials going on, hopefully a release date is soon.

[philpalm]

Strange that there is no left right or up/down bar, you just mouse to one side and it slides over....I wonder if Pre Browser will be doing that?

I will be waiting to hear what costs a Pre sign up will be. Not only that I wonder how much it will cost for usage of such implied services. After one month people will be getting the bill for the services and then experience customer remorse....

[Alan G]

Expect to be paying $99/month for Sprint's Simply Everything plan which bundles voice, sms messages, and unlimited data service. Sprint was saying that not all of their plans will be available with the Pre. No one said that you couldn't buy a Pre without data, but it was being strongly encouraged because the phone is going to rely so heavily on cloud services.

Check out my write up of the Palm/Sprint webcast with pricing on services here (http://www.smartphonefanatics.com/2009/03/notes-from-palmsprint-pre-event.html).

Alan G

[miles4000]

I guess I'm the only one who thinks that these ads and web site is just ok. Site is very busy looking and the TV ads are basically about the network, not the Pre. I guess they are laying the ground work before the Pre specific ads come.

[Jesus is Lord!]

Well, imho, these new adds are light years better than than those boring black, white and yellow commercials. They were so dull.

[Jesus is Lord!]

Btw, has anyone heard anything about MS Office on the Pre (other than seeing Dataviz's name on the big screen at CES). The Pre is useless to me without Office.

[miles4000]

I assume Dataviz will be on Pre when it is released. But never seen it demo'd on it up until now.

[DennisOS2]

Btw, has anyone heard anything about MS Office on the Pre (other than seeing Dataviz's name on the big screen at CES). The Pre is useless to me without Office.
Palm realizes the Pre must connect well with MS Exchange Server and have a MS Office compatible suite. Years ago when I was using a Sony Clie and Treo 650 There were a number of good MS Office suites ......... DTG being one of them. If I'm not mistaken they were all better (more compatible) with MS Office than the WinMobile Office apps were. Not surprising ......... WinMobile 6 is still a mess compared to even PalmOS. WebOS, if properly positioned and marketed, will most certainly give the iPhone and WinMobile a run for the money.

[Alan G]

Btw, has anyone heard anything about MS Office on the Pre (other than seeing Dataviz's name on the big screen at CES). The Pre is useless to me without Office.

My contact at DataViz isn't talking, but if you look at the many platforms Documents To Go has been popping up on, I honestly believe that Documents To Go Standard or Professional will come bundled with the Pre. Documents To Go Premium will still likely be a $30 upgrade option.

Alan G

[Jesus is Lord!]

Alan, I like the sound of that. After hearing we will need to pay extra to use Garnet apps, and probably need to pay extra for Outlook/ Palm Desktop sync, "bundled with the Pre" sounds really good right about now. Palm has been bundling DtG for quite some time, it seems logical.
Louis :)

[Alan G]

On the Outlook/Palm sync, you should be able to do that for free if you don't mind playing "Google in the Middle." The way it would work is to import your Palm Desktop data, if you have any, into Outlook. Then use Google's Contact's import utility to load your Outlook contacts into GMail. Then use the Google Calendar Sync tool to sync your Outlook Calendar to your Google Calendar. Palm's Synergy should sync nicely to Google's contact and calendar features.

I have been using Google Sync on my BlackBerry for a few months now and it is working nicely. I would have liked it if Google had a sync tool for Outlook's contacts and the GMail contacts. But I can live without it for now.

I'm still looking forward to learning about Palm's solution for migrating Palm Desktop data into a webOS device.

Alan G

[intellidryad]

I liked the site at first sight, but then when I was trying to get some real information out of it, the busyness starts to get real annoying. I was trying to find some info on what plans would work with the Pre. I know the plans info has been floating around the Palm community for sometime, but just wanted to see it form Sprint with my own eyes. Well, with the site being so busy with irrelevant rubbish, it's maddeningly hard to find anything. In the end I decided it's just not there on the site, but I had to "eye-scan" through so much junk to come to that conclusion.

I hope they have a much cleaner website once the Pre is actually released. As much as I hate AT&T, I had to say they had a much better website for the iPhone launch then this. I also felt much more comfortable with the T-mobile G1 launch site.

As for D2G, I really do hope it would be bundled with, or at least launched with the Pre. The ability to read pdfs, and read/edit doc and xls files is essential for a data centric phone. I would at least need to be able to open email attachments to read meeting info and copy it over to the calendar. If this could not be done, it would seem a better idea to just get a 2nd TH55 as backup :D

[Jesus is Lord!]

@Alan- Yeah, I've looked at the Google solution since you 1st mentioned it a while back. I actually like the Palm Desktop over Outlook and hope there's a way to sync that instead. I have just under 10 years of Palm data to migrate to the Pre.
@intellidryad- I don't remember the exact numbers, but you must get a "Simply Everything" Plan with the Pre. 450 mins for $69, 900 mins for $89 and all in for $99, or something close to that. This is a bummer for me, I have a SERO plan for my Centro- 1250 mins + free nights and weekends starting at 7 + unlimited net and texts for only $50!! They won't let me keep this plan. :( Oh well, it was good while it lasted.
Happy Easter everyone!!
Louis :)

[Alan G]

@Alan- Yeah, I've looked at the Google solution since you 1st mentioned it a while back. I actually like the Palm Desktop over Outlook and hope there's a way to sync that instead. I have just under 10 years of Palm data to migrate to the Pre.

Happy Easter everyone!!
Louis :)

Hello Louis and Happy Easter to you also!

Roger that! I have the same about of data left in limbo in Palm Desktop. I've pushed some of that data into Outlook so I can sync the data to my BlackBerry, but I'd much rather use Palm Desktop or a Palm portal for my data. The thing that really drives me nuts is when the fields don't match up. I've got some mobile numbers in Outlook's Home of Fax fields. Home addresses in Busines Address fields. It really is a pain in the butt. Moving the data up to Google and then back down to the Mac only makes things worse. I'm hoping that a Palm solution will help move my data across to the Pre more cleanly.

Alan G