14 DAY TRIAL // Palm's Pre mobile phone is the company's flagship model for this year, yet it seems that the handset comes to the market with more problems than one would expect. Not only that the device has to face strong competition from Apple's new iPhone 3GS, but it seems that the quality it features is not the best that can be.
According to some of the latest surveys among users, the return rate is a little too high for the phone to brag about the quality it supposedly has. It seems that one consumer in three had to return the device at least once due to various issues the units came with. Some of the complaints around the web point towards dead pixels, large gaps in the case, or the tendency to shut down when sliding.
“I'm on my THIRD Pre. Over the last two weeks, I've noticed an increasing amount of play with the screen. I've also noticed that on the left side of the device the two sections are separated enough that I can almost see the innards. When I push them together, you can hear squeaking. On top of that, the device came with a loose power button that doesn't click nearly as firmly as that of other devices,” is what a customer states on Pre|Central.net forums.
Palm hasn't commented on the problems different users have found with their devices, and hasn't stated anything regarding the rate of returns of the Pre until now, though it should be. Considering the fact that the handset has been on the market only four weeks, the large number of complaints about its quality is not something that will help the sales, that's for sure.
“There are glitches here and there that need to be worked through,” is what Edward Snyder, an analyst at Charter Equity Research said recently to ABCnews.com. At the same time, he added that the success of the company was rather connected with the webOS, and not with the Pre. Moreover, it seems that the issues with the Pre were expected to surface, mainly due to the fact that the company was set to release the phone at a certain date.
Even if Palm's life is tied more to the webOS than to the Pre, the device still needs to impress to prove both itself and the platform successful. The complaints are also a result of the high expectations users had from the handset, it seems, yet Palm will still have to make a move in this regard, so that sales won't be affected too much by the glitches the Pre has.