Back To the Nexus S 4G, GoodBye Palm Pre

I have gone back to my Nexus S 4g for two reasons, 1st, I like it and I missed it. The pre was great but there have been some apps updated that I have missed, features that I have not seen since I switched phones and over all apps that I like using, like Google Now. Palm built a great phone back when it was indeed palm, but that is gone.

2nd, I got a new job working at a Google Nexus call center! I figured having my palm phone doesn't really prepare me for that whole thing. I will go back to the palm phone sometime in the future, maybe it will be when they figure out Android 2.3, with calling and more features, course, then again, could I go back? Android 2.3 seems so long ago now even though I just reviewed phones with that OS on it, even though I have a phone that technically should still be on good old 2.3 Gingerbread! I know that it seems no one will ever put 4.0 or 4.1 on the palm pre, they can not even get 2.3 working solid, I hope to get a pre 2 or pre 3 in the future, when I have lots more disposable income.

So I am glad to be back with my Nexus S, I have my nexus 7, hoping to get a Galaxy Nexus!

My Week WIth A Palm Pre: Day 5 - 7

This is the wrap. I have hit a week plus a few days. I have decided that I will be keeping the phone for at least another week, the phone has awesome android styled features. I have talked about this all week, two posts, 7 days.

I have not had many problems, kind of odd because I thought I would! I thought I would crawl back to android! I thought I would be calling Sprint asking them to switch me back by now but I think it is the subtle similarities that I talked about earlier this week. The cards that you use, the length of the battery, the way that messenger works. Not only does the messenger send texts but also works with AOL and Gtalk and others. I only use GTalk and SMS/MMS, but it is awesome. The browser is lacking, if I decide to upgrade to webOS 2, I will indeed check the browser.

In a few weeks I will be back on my Nexus S, I will be back on Jelly Bean and I will using all my old apps again! Excited! A bit sad! When I do get back, i think i will attempt to put android 2.3 on the phone, some say WiFi is a bit wonky and that you can not make phone calls, that is why I am getting back to the nexus S first. I will of course be documenting this as well as my move to WebOS 2 if I decide to do that! I am hoping that I can also find my way into an HP Pre 3, but that is looking more difficult and a bit costly!

For now that is all, I have thoroughly given it a lot of crazy times, made calls, texts, sent instant messages, browsed the web, downloaded apps, attempted a bit of homebrew, failed. Looked over how to put a new version on it, looked at how to put Android on it. It has been a heck of a week with WebOS and I wish they were still around, however, that means Android would not be as nice. Take the good with the bad.

My Week with a Palm Pre: Day 3-4

So I am rounding up on day 3 and 4, yesterday was a bit drab with the phone, you don't always get to power through a day and get crap done, but here we are, end of day 4 and I have decided that it is still a cool phone. I am still taking in a lot of the features, I miss the 5 mp camera that a lot of phones come with, also found myself searching for the front camera that does not exist on this device, didn't think I missed it, didn't think I could miss it! I thought I never used it!

I am still thinking that I will be upgrading to WebOS version 2 and do another week of webOS but that probably will not be for a few weeks, I want to use this phone and get the most out of it before I potentially ruin it by bricking it. I do not think this will happen, there are instructions despite them being a bit old.

I still really like a lot of webOS features, this phone acts new despite being from 2009, it does not feel like an aging droid 1 or other phones from that era. It kind of acts fast, I finally see what people meant by it works really well with multitasking. Really well, I can either get rid of items or keep them stored in a card. This is sort of like the Android way to do it, but it is a tad different. I like it.

I know these write ups are not long, but this is an old extinct OS, and I just want to put a few things down to let people know what I think of something that clearly shows how Android will be, and kind of where it came from.

My Week With the Palm Pre: Day 2

So I am at day 2 of this device. A palm pre, a phone that is no longer supported. I have looked around the web and it turns out that not only can I get android on it (with no phone calling and no sound) but I can also get palm OS version 2! I have not done either and will not be doing either until after this week is over, maybe even a few weeks. Palm version 1.4.5 is nice enough for now. I have come to realize how much I like 4g service, whether it be LTE or wiMax it is quite nice to have, the palm pre has EV (Ev-Do), which is basically just 3g from what I can tell.

The apps I like just aren't there, yeah there is homebrew but I am having a few issues loading certain homebrew apps. I am still figuring it all out and getting it all working. I am excited to test it all. So for me the future holds some homebrew and upgrading the OS. The OS upgrade seems really cool, version 2 comes packed on the HP errrr Palm Pre 3, which is a phone I just don't have access to. Since this old phone can get version 2 of the OS I figured I would give it a shot. So far it seems a bit difficult to do so.  I need to run WebOS Doctor and another program or two, so far I am just getting all the downloads finished. I guess I will let you know how this all goes so that in a few weeks I can load it up and be ready to go!

I am still missing Google+ as an app and if I didn't have other phones to review, I would probably go back to my nexus s, but this little experiment is working quite nicely since I have other means.

REVIEW: The HP Veer 4G

Intro

I have wondered the "deal" is with WebOS for a while now. I have had friends who liked it a lot, also had people I follow on social networks who really liked it, many were reluctant to give it up, many didn't want to move on to Android as WebOS started to die. A lot of them were basically forced to as WebOS was not doing well and it wasn't being very supported, now we are really in too deep as they have cancelled all hardware and claim to support the software.

Looks

It looks kind of nice, a very clean round form factor. I like it a lot, many have liked it. It comes in white or black and I got white. It is shaped like.. well a round rock kind of, the perfect kind for skipping.  It is clean and smooth, the keyboard is quite nice if you ask me, even for being so dang small! It's set up in Qwerty mode, the buttons are really easy to press as they are raised. Many many people like how this device looks, I have only seen white but I have heard time and time again this week "if that was in black."

OS

The OS, as mentioned is WebOS. It was recently purchased by HP. Palm of course was the bigger part of that. The version I am running is 2.1. From what I read, Palm... HP whatever is quite fragmented, more so than Android is ways, this is one of those things that proves it. The Pre 3, which is no longer coming to America was set to run version 3, the cancelled tablet, (TouchPad - Review Coming) is also on version 3. Version 2 added a few things, one of them was tab stacking, and it is kind of a cool feature.

Imagery

Final Thoughts

I had some fun with the phone, no doubts there, I took it to work and gave it a good run. Many co workers wanted one or something like it, the size and form factor is a draw for many people, me included (although it'd be too hard to give up my 4.3 inch evo screen). WebOS is a thing of beauty, it makes me excited to get a touchpad and mess with the next iteration of the software, that is until stable Android is on it.

It really makes me wonder what failed with Palm/HP/WebOS. A lot of people like the devices, the form seems like something many like, the style and over all design is great too, it could be the pricing, the TouchPad and Pre I heard wasn't ideal for price. This one though, the Veer 4G seems nice. It is only one penny with a new contract. A PENNY!