The Blog of Frank W. Zammetti - The demented ravings of a software developer

I’ve been away from blogging for quite a while here, although I’ve been tweeting a lot (I’m SSOO lame!) and since I’ve been asked this question a number of times over the past few days I figured now is a good time to get back to it.

I’m a Palm Pre owner, and a fairly happy one at that.  There’s a lot to love about webOS and the Pre, and the future looks pretty good too.  But, there’s no denying that the EVO with Android is out there and looks impressive, and of course the iPhone with iOS 4.0 was just released this week.  Am I thinking of switching?  That seems to be the current question, for me and for a lot of people.

The quick answer for the iPhone is no, but maybe not for the reasons you think… I’m an avowed Apple hater, even though I own an iPad and frankly like it quite a bit.  That doesn’t change the fact that I detest many of their practices and philosophies, and I absolutely despise Steve Jobs in particular.  None of this is news to anyone that knows me.

What may be news though is that I’d have a very difficult time not getting an iPhone if it wasn’t for one thing: AT&T.  I’m a Sprint customer, have been for a long time, and I have almost nothing but good things to say about them.  The service has always been solid for me, and the price is unbeatable.  They have a decent lineup of phones nowadays, which wasn’t always true.  In fact, the lack of good phones a few years ago chased me to Verizon temporarily.  But AT&T is pretty awful.  The price isn’t great and the service is pretty crappy from what I hear (although interestingly, it seems to be a bit improved with the new iPhone).

I don’t think I could ever bring myself to suffer AT&T’s service for the iPhone, even though the device itself is something I’d be interested in.  It’s still got all the same downsides as any Apple device: lack of freedom, overhyped (but generally pretty good) operating system, some missing features I’d hate to be without… but it’s also got a lot of positives that largely overcome the negatives… excellent hardware (Apple has nearly always gotten the hardware right, and usually better than most others), tons of apps, most of the features I want in such a device.

Yes, if the iPhone was available on Sprint today I’d frankly have a very difficult decision to make.

EVO is the other competitor in my mind, and hardware-wise it seems to be a winner… although, I’ve seen some issues reported early on, but I expect they will be solved in future production runs.  Regardless, it’s hard to argue it doesn’t have some killer hardware lurking under the covers.  What about the OS?  Well, Android, in my mind, is just OK at this point.  It’s got warts for sure… interestingly, I think it has more warts than webOS despite having been out longer.  I haven’t seen any showstoppers though, but lots of little thing that would probably annoy me.

Still, Android is relatively open, which is a positive.  There’s a good and growing number of apps out there, which also is a big positive.  With Google backing it I expect it’s going to continue to improve rapidly, which is a third positive.  I think the bottom line is I wouldn’t be at all against owning an Android device, but the EVO is the only one I’d currently consider, given it’s available on Sprint and given that it has killer hardware.

And then there’s webOS and my Pre.

First, I’m still burnt that I can’t have a Pre Plus on Sprint.  I’m sure exclusivity was a dependency in getting the phones onto Verizon, which Palm had to do to try and build the user base.  Makes sense.  But it still sucks big-time for us Sprint early adopters.  It sucks because it goes a long way to solving some of the lingering annoying problems with webOS, primarily the “too many cards” errors.  Yes, they still happen, and more so now with the PDK-based games.  It’s frustrating to say the least.  Not to mention that I can’t have all the music and videos and eBooks I want on my phone now because the memory is constrained.

So, that sucks.  The Pre in  general, hardware-wise, is behind the curve for sure at this point and the gap is widening greatly.  I mean, I can’t really compare a Pre to the new iPhone or the EVO and have too much positive to say.  In  fact, the Pre having a physical keyboard is about the only positive thing I can say.  We’re starting to get some hints about new devices coming in the next few months, but those are already 3-4 months late in my opinion… I hesitate to say they are too late because if they come out in a few months and are top-notch then all would be forgiven… my fear is that any new Palm device will always be a few months’ behind the kings of the hill in terms of hardware…

…which means that webOS has to REALLY impress and make up for the lack of hardware.  Any you know what?  For the most part, it does, and it’s really the only thing keeping me with my Pre.  Look, to be clear, iOS and Android have their strengths and weaknesses, as does webOS.  I love how smooth iOS is under nearly any circumstance (based on my iPad and iPod Touch experience) and I wish webOS was always as smooth (it certainly is some of the time, but I can’t honestly say even most of the time).  Then again, webOS beats the snot out of iOS and Android when it comes to notifications.  Pluses and minuses to all of them.

Taken as a whole though, I’m still very much smitten with webOS and especially its development model (sans the PDK, which I personally don’t have too much interest in at the moment).  Palm still has the very best multitasking implementation out there.  Synergy still kicks the crap out of any alternatives on other devices.  As I said earlier, notifications are still unmatched.

I guess at the end of the day it comes down to this to me: I’m not switching, at least not right now.  I won’t get an EVO because I like webOS more than Android, and I like it enough more to overcome the EVO’s superior hardware.  I won’t get an iPhone because I won’t go with AT&T… but if Sprint offered it, I’d have a tough decision to make.

The takeaway here for Palm is this: I’m still a happy customer, but there really had better be a killer hardware refresh coming in the next 3-4 months.  I think webOS is fine.  I know you’ll continue to improve it of course, but I think you’re in good shape there.  The hardware though… it’s starting to take away from your great OS work and is looking worse and worse practically by the week compared to your competitors.  If I don’t have a new device from you in my hands in a few months, and not just a Pre Plus, well, I may be looking with longing eyes to an EVO… and at some point I MIGHT even be willing to take the AT&T hit to get an iPhone (that’s a lot less likely… maybe 5-10% chance… but I won’t rule it out completely).  I can be patient, and I understand the whole acquisition thing (I’m going through an acquisition at the moment too actually, and it’s the third I’ve been through in the past 15 years, so I really do understand the effect it has!)… but the window is closing.

Don’t let me down Palm!  Let’s see some new hardware that compliments what I still think is the best mobile OS out there… let’s see the total package that can go head-to-head with the EVO and the iPhone 4.  And get’er done sooner than later!  I know there’s some things brewing, but don’t make me wait too much longer or I may not be able to resist the temptations out there…

I’m weak, I need a greek fix soon!!