Comments on: Cracked Pre screens—and other woes: A good buy for e-book-lovers?

By: Alan Wallcraft

Alan Wallcraft — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:08:32 +0000

jkOnTheRun has reviewed eReader under the PalmOS emulator and there are detailed installation instructions (and a review) of MobiPocket at http://prepoint.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/read-drmed-mobipocket-ebooks-on-palm-pre/

By: chris

chris — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:10:57 +0000

I’m very happy with my Pre and do intend to read ebooks on it. No hardware issues, love the keyboard (typing on it now), and find the claim that the lip of the kb is sharp especially strange. I bought it to replace my TX and find reading long articles on it very comfortable. I did use ereader during the trial period of Classic OS for the Pre in order to finish a book I’d been reading on the TX and even that was do-able if not ideal. I’ve found workaronds for the other classic apps I used, so decided against purchasing Classic. Anxious to see ereader fior Web OS though! For now any Fictionwise purchases are on hold, and I’m catching up on some p-reading. Any eta?

By: Montealan

Montealan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:10:05 +0000

I have been using the Pre since June 6th and find it an excellent device for not just texting and calls, but also for surfing the Web, checking email, setting appointments, etc.
I have not experienced any of the problems others have mentioned. In general it is actually enjoyable to use & I look forward to using it as a backup bookreader. I already own a Sony and Jetbook reader and have over 2000 ebooks on my computer.
To change the subject, I received an email survey from the History Book Club about how I felt about purchasing ebooks from them. I answered very positively. I always thought that ebooks would be perfect for a book of the month club, especially like Zooba.

By: Mags

Mags — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:52:03 +0000

I haven’t tried it, but I hear eReader at least works pretty well in Classic. I would rather wait for the WebOS eReader app. I don’t read regularly on my phone so it’s only a minor inconvenience not having books on it.

I also should add (since this post was more about hardware issues) that I LOVE the keyboard. I wasn’t sure I would like it, and when I actually held the phone in my hands for the first time I was certain I would have trouble with it (it looks really tiny and hard to use), but it’s really great. I rarely fat-thumb anything and can type pretty quickly on it with few errors. With my Treo, the learning curve of getting up to speed on the keyboard was about a month, but with this phone it was instantaneous. Shocking but true!

By: Christopher Davis

Christopher Davis — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:41:49 +0000

Has anyone tried running eReader and/or Mobipocket in the “Classic” PalmOS emulator?

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:33:48 +0000

Mags, big thanks for offering a Pre owner’s perspective. I’d love to hear from other buyers. Keep us posted via this comment area on your adventures with the Pre. Thanks. David

By: Mags

Mags — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:23:49 +0000

P.S. Looking forward to having eReader on the Pre. Not impressed with Shortcovers, which is already available. Though I prefer E Ink devices for most of my reading, I like to keep some emergency backup books on my phone.

By: Mags

Mags — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:20:05 +0000

I’m loving my Pre. No problems whatsoever. I bought it the day it came out; I am a longtime Palm user, and though the OS is new, it feels really familiar in a lot of ways. The PIM functionality is superior to the iPhone, though the calendar especially needs some work to be as good as the old Palm OS.

The homebrew stuff going on is interesting, though I haven’t rooted my phone and don’t plan to at this point. Once the SDK is released, I expect a big surge in the amount of apps available for WebOS. Do please keep in mind that it’s not just the phone being developed, but the operating system; already another less-well-specced (and presumably less expensive) candybar phone, the Eos, has been leaked/rumored. Palm is reportedly planning a line of devices using the OS. It’s similar to Android that way, though I don’t know whether they will license the OS to other manufacturers.

Some of the complaints I dare say are legitimate but I suspect there’s a great deal of FUD going around, too. A few vocal online Palm critics bought the phone on day one only to complain about stupid things (some of which have already been fixed in firmware upgrades) and return it with great ceremony, and have continued to bash the phone WHEN THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE ONE ANYMORE. Why someone would go to all the time and trouble to do something like that is just mind-boggling.