palm pre user looking for new phone

[buttchip]

I am finially giving up on webos and looking for a new phone. I upgraded to an EVO aug 1 and returned it yesterday. Android just isn't for me. I have read good reviews for the arrive but am turned off by the landscape slider. My question is how is the onscreen keyboard? How well does the camera and camcorder work? Has anyone switched to the arrive from the pre and liked it better?
thx, jeff

 

[Rhody#WP]

I took a similar route. I went from Pre to Pixi to Evo, back to Pixi, and now to Arrive. If you notice, the Evo is the only one without a keyboard. By far, the Arrive has the best physical keyboard, hands down! I can't comment on the virtual keyboard, because I don't use it.

I am not your typical WebOS user though. While I liked the way it pulled in multiple calendars, sources of contacts, email accounts, etc., that feature has become standard among all smartphones. I hardly ever had more than one card open, so I never cared about multitasking. The gesture area always seemed like another implementation for the same thing You only use it to go back, go home, or open your app list, things you can do easily on any smartphone.

The camera on the Arrive is OK for a smartphone. One word of caution: it does not have autofocus, so you must use the camera button like you do a digital camera. Like all smartphone cameras, pictures are brilliant in daylight and terrible in the dark. The camcorder is just OK as well.

 

[turdsamich]

I came from a pixi and I love my arrive but I gotta say if landscape keyboards arent your thing you may as well wait for sprint to get a wp7 device without a physical keyboard, kind of a waste of space if you dont intend on using it. The on screen keyboard seems pretty good to me though and Ive heard compared to android the wp7 onscreen keyboard is pretty good.

 

[foosball]

Lets put it this way....I vowed I would never use a non-portrait or virtual keyboard after using my Pre. The Arrive made a liar out of me.

Sent from my HTC Arrive using Board Express

 

[buttchip]

THX for the replies........I still have my pre but am now out of my sprint contract, so I was thinking about switching to T-Mobile and trying the HTC 7. It looks to be just like the Arrive but with a pre style keyboard. I live in the charlotte nc area and sprint service here is great. Does any know what the service around Charlotte is like with t-mobile? What about the HD7 phone, any thing I should know about it? Would I be better off waiting for a new WP7 to come out? THX a lot

 

[cabbonizio]

Lets put it this way....I vowed I would never use a non-portrait or virtual keyboard after using my Pre. The Arrive made a liar out of me.

Sent from my HTC Arrive using Board Express

I concur with this. I vowed exactly the same and I'm loving both the landscape keyboard and virtual keyboard. The spelling corrections are incredible as the engine in WP7 manages to clean up my mistakes more than 95% of the time.

 

[nyquistjack]

I am a physical keyboard snob...correct that, I was a physical keyboard snob.

I am actually considering returning my Arrive and waiting for a slab. I have a bunch of other posts about this, but the physical keyboard integration, after the way it was implemented on the Pre, leaves ALOT to be desired on the Arrive. Don't get me wrong, the keyboard is nice, but I rarely use it. The vKB is amazing, just freaking amazing. I can type I'd guess 40% faster on the vkb than on my Pre physical keyboard. It's almost like magic.

the only problem is the Arrive is too narrow for typing comfortably on the vkb in portrait. That's why the Titan has me very interesting, but all signs point to Sprint not getting it...sounds familiar.

 

[smartpatrol]

THX for the replies........I still have my pre but am now out of my sprint contract, so I was thinking about switching to T-Mobile and trying the HTC 7. It looks to be just like the Arrive but with a pre style keyboard. I live in the charlotte nc area and sprint service here is great. Does any know what the service around Charlotte is like with t-mobile? What about the HD7 phone, any thing I should know about it? Would I be better off waiting for a new WP7 to come out? THX a lot

HD7 is a decent phone. It's not the most exciting piece of hardware out there, but it has the biggest screen on a WP7 phone (at least until the Titan hits) and of course WP7 runs like a dream. I'm happy with mine.

If I were you, though, I'd go with the Venue Pro. You can order them unlocked directly from the Dell website for $299 (or $1 if you sign a new T-Mobile contract). If you get it unlocked you can save $10/month on T-Mobile by bringing your own device, and then you're not locked into a contract. So you could always upgrade later whenever you feel like it and sell the DVP. DVP has an AMOLED 4.1" screen, Gorilla Glass covering, and a metal body. It does have a slide-out QWERTY portrait keyboard which is IMO not so useful for WP7 (like nyquistjack said, the virtual keyboard is amazing), but regardless it is one sexy piece of hardware.

 

[Forgewizard]

Seems like my Palm Pre has been getting quirky lately. So I have bit the bullet and made changes to my account with Sprint so I could get a new Arrive. Had to add a line, then will terminate the original line -means I end up with a new number, and will likely have to pay the ETF of 100.00, but at least I'll have a working phone! ANd man does this little jewel WORK!

Am still in the discovery mode and must admit - even got chill bumps when several things I could never get set up on the PRE - actually set p on the arrive in a snap - and WORK!

Being as I went to Verizon on Friday evening looking for their WP 7 Trophy - but they didn't have any and sent me home with an Android HTC Merge,I discovered that there is no Verizon signal at my house. THe merge was returned within 24 hours, still encased in all the plastic covers!

SInce I've had to drive a considerable distance to acquire this Arrive, I've not even returned home yet. Keep your fingers crossed that the Arrive gets signal! If it does - you can count me in as one very HAPPY HTC WP7 user!

WEB OS is a nice environment, but the hardware it was installed on did it no justice. I take care of my devices, so didn't experience a lot of the troubles others had, but still in the last several weeks strange things havebegun happening. Oddly enough tonight, right after purchasing the Arrive, I closed the slider on the PRE and went to open it again - and the device stayed black! Multiple attempts over the next couple hours were unsuccessful.

So am thinking the Arrive arrove just in time!

Its snappy, solid, easy to use, quick to learn, has a brilliant display, is customizable and is now getting updated to Mango - so I'll get to really test it out! THink I read somewhere that a couple of the peeps that worked on the original WEB OS are now working with WIndows Phone - so that speaks volumes! Coupled with HTC and Microsoft backing - this platform should do very well!

I'm happy now!
Cheers!

 

[drnikki]

Welcome, Pocket_fuzz! I just moved from my launch day Pre- to the 7 Pro (same phone as Arrive, cheaper carrier) for the same reason--lots of hardware quirks appearing all of a sudden. On switch stopped working, using slider to wake up the screen didn't always work, phone started running really hot when talking on it. I've found the transition to WP mostly quite easy. Strangely enough, I miss the small size and rounded edges of the Pre. My new phone isn't nearly as comfortable against my ear. I'm getting good use out of my bluetooth earpiece.

Hope you continue to enjoy your Arrive!

 

[infenit101]

I just moved from a Sprint Franken Pre 2 and this phone is worlds better. WebOS is great and does a lot of things well but for me it was time to move on from what is essentially a dead platform. You probably should have just bought an Arrive off ebay. My unit is basically brandnew in the box and I paid $200 for it. The physical keyboard is great! And the virtual qwerty is astoundingly good. Better than the iOS keyboard I feel. One of the biggest things I will miss though is flash and free tethering. Hopefully that will come soon. Oh before I forget, the battery on this thing is just flat out mind blowing. I browse the web, play games, talk, text all day and the Arrive just keeps on chugging. I think I have got at least 1.5 days with moderate usage.

I actually think the Arrive has to be the most underrated, overlooked phone on Sprint. I like it more than the EVO 3D and the other Android devices.

 

[Forgewizard]

Thanks for the welcomes! And yes, I'm getting full signal at the house - so the move was a good one. Slvrshot: I considered the ebay route, but I'll only owe 100.00 etf and the start up for this arrive was only 75.00 - so I saved a few bucks overall and gota brand new device in my paws immediately! WHich as we all know - faster is betterer, and I'm one of those people that stands at the microwave wishing it would cook FASTER!

HAve pretty much been up all night doing the update, fussing with Zune, and am now trying to understand how to get my office docs onto the device and not on skydrive. Will check other threads.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to being happy with my smartphone. I REALLY like the solid feel of this phone! Makes the feel of the pre stand out as being fragile, cheap and inadequate.

Although I only had a couple hours of NON-MAngo use - after the MAngo update I could see a VISIBLE difference in many menus and how they worked even faster! I am very impressed!

Cheers!

 

[CrwBlade]

buttchip, I was a LONG time palm user, from the flippy 300, to the 600, to the 750p, then to the Pre, and I think there may have been another one in there somewhere. I loved them all. I never got an iphone, partially cause never was too much of an apple fan, but MAINLY cause I could not pull myself away from a physical qwerty. And for some reason, although I can't put my finger on it, just never had an itch to try an Android phone.

My wife got a WP7 a little while before I did, LG Quantum, which has the phisical qwerty. Even though I was wanting to make the change to the WP7 world, what I mainly wanted was the bigger screen. So I reluctantly went with the Focus (no qwerty). And you know what? It's not near as bad as I thought it was finally switching over to the on screen keyboard. Probably because the WP7 has a LOT of cool tricks and shortcuts that does not transfer over to a physical qwerty.

Things I could easily do on my focus, I could not do on my wife's physical qwerty. Just a couple of examples, when the phone knows your typing in a web address, it will then give you a [.com] key, and if you hold that key down, it will then pop up [.net] [.org] [.edu] options (why no [.gov]? who knows). if you hold down the 1, it will pop up 1/2 1/3 1/4 options that look a LOT nicer than just typing the [1][/][2] keys, they actually look more like fractions (and similar options when you hold the 2,3 or 0 keys). The locks are much easier to use for CAPS and numbers and symbols, and a nice touch and slide feature if you just need 1 quick number or symbol that automatically switches back to the regular keyboard.

Anyways, I hope this helps you out with your decision.

 

[TigerGrad85]

Also an original Pre owner from 6/6/09 and my Pre- is still hanging on, albeit barely. I have been looking strongly at the Arrive via Sprint, especially since Mango has rolled out. But, having a hard time breaking free from webOS, and am actually considering getting a Pre3 off of eBay. I know, crazy because of the lack of apps and there would be no support, but keep reading that those who got the Pre3 are really enjoying it. I really like the TouchStone that is available for the Pre phones and I prefer the drop down QWERTY on it vs the side keyboard. I'm also trying to wait and see if a newer WP7 comes available through Sprint, just in case it has a few more upgrades....like the option to serve as a hot spot.

 

[failmatic]

I switched from the Pre and I don't like it more than the Pre.
I hardly ever used the landscape keyboard due to the face that i like to operate sms with one hand.
The Pre slide out keyboard feels better for it. I do find that Im much faster on the virtual keyboard with both hands than the physical landscape keyboard because of the auto-correct. On the Pre, I can slide open with one hand, type and slide close. Swipe up swipe up and im done.

Hardware and in terms of speed, this is much smoother than the Pre. Thinking about it makes me feel mad that sprint skip the Pre and the Pre 3.
In terms of software usability and fluidity, webos is much better but everybody knows that.

As a platform, I rather use WP Metro over Android. That might change once ICS comes out as they seem to borrowed heavily from everyone the best features. Plus the man behind webos designed that.

PS dont buy the Arrive and subject yourself to new two years. I got mine off craiglist for $100. Might want to save your upgrade for the next premium WP/android/ios coming out on sprint.