Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein: Pre Plus is sooo much better than the Droid!
March 19th, 2010 by Marc Flores 
If only. Maybe. What if. Someone should go and console Jon Rubinstein before he torments himself and his shareholders with more hypotheticals. According to the former-Apple-exec-now-Palm-CEO, if Verizon would have launched Palm’s devices before the Motorola Droid, it would be doing much better than the Droid now. Oh boy.
After announcing a horrible quarter and giving a pep talk to his employees, Rubinstein seems to be in that “what if” phase before the acceptance phase comes. Right now, only about half of the phones shipped by Palm are selling, so devices are beginning to pile up.
Now, the Pre Plus is a good device, but we wouldn’t go so far as to say it would do better than the Droid if it was released first. While webOS is slicker and more intuitive than Android, the Droid is faster and has access to many more apps. You also get free-turn-by-turn directions and a larger screen for surfing the Web.
So what do you think? Would the Pre have fared better if it arrived sooner on Big Red?
PC World via MobileCrunch
Our Related Content
- Former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein Leaves HP
- Video Hands On: HP TouchPad 4G for AT&T Sports Faster 1.5-GHz Processor
- Smart Phone Madness 2011 Final: HP Pre 3 vs. HTC Thunderbolt
From Other Sites
- Windows Phone, iOS, Android: Mobile OSes and Me! (GottaBeMobile)
- Do we need another mobile OS? Mozilla thinks so (jkOnTheRun)
- Open webOS Iris browser released: 40k Enyo downloads to-date (SlashGear)
Related Deals
- Dell XPS 15 Core i7 Quad-core Laptop w/ 1TB HDD $799.99 FREE SHIPPING (via LogicBUY)
- Nero BackItUp & Burn $26.82 (via LogicBUY)
- Symantec Norton 360 Version 6.0 (3 User) [download] $31.49 FREE SHIPPING (via LogicBUY)
- Spotmau PowerSuite Golden Edition 2012 [download] $48.97 (via LogicBUY)
- Norton Online Backup 25GB $9.99 FREE SHIPPING (via LogicBUY)
March 19th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
The Palm Pre was out well before I selected the Droid and which was out first had no bearng on my decision. For me, the Palm Pre was too small – both the display and the keyboard. A secondary issue was the number of applications available. If the iPhone was available on Verizon I probably would have gone that way – but where I live there is no AT&T service so Verizon is the only choice. But given the issues I have heard from AT&T users I would probably have gone with Verizon anyway.
March 28th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
I actually gave up my Palm Pre on Sprint for a Motorola Droid on Verizon. They’re both pretty good phones, but having used them both I’m really missing WebOS so I just bought a Palm Pre Plus on eBay.
Hardware-wise, Sprint’s Palm Pre was pretty weak. The slider was my main gripe, but since Palm gave the Plus a better slider I’m on board again. My main reason for leaving Sprint was the terrible customer service. The Droid is definitely better in terms of the screen, app selection and stock battery, but the Pre has a better keyboard and a vastly superior OS. When you put an extended battery on the Pre it’s no contest as far as I’m concerned. I’m probably going to keep my Droid as backup for when I’m traveling (I’ll admit, Google Navigation rocks, and Verizon wants me to pay a monthly fee for the navigator on the Pre- thanks a lot VZW, you cheapskates).
WebOS is easily the best mobile OS I’ve ever seen. Beats WinMo, Android and the iPhone’s OS hands-down. I haven’t used either of Nokia’s OSes though so maybe I’m missing something there.
March 28th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
By the way, the Droid is not faster than the Pre/Pre Plus. As far as processors are concerned they’re neck-and-neck along with the iPhone 3GS. Not sure where you got you information but their processors are all pretty much the same.