GBTV #563 | Glympse, Palm Pre Arrives June 6, BD390 Blu-Ray Player, Solar Hybrid Mobile Phone
Posted on: May 19, 2009
Posted in: Video
Posted by: Cali Lewis
Shownotes:
I’m excited about the possibility of an app called Glympse . It allows you to share your real-time location with a selected person for a limited time. It’s perfect for when you’re part of a group attending a concert, or fair, or any large event where you might need to locate other people in your group. So far, it’s only for Android phones, but will be available for iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Palm.
We’ve all been waiting for the Pre. The official release date is June 6th in the US, and the price will be $199.99 after a rebate and contract. How many of you are going to be getting a Pre, and what phone will you give up to get the Pre? Leave a comment below!
The BD390 Blu-Ray Player with WiFi and DivX is very interesting to me. It will upscale standard DVDs to 1080p, gives you the option of watching DVDs in 24fps or 60fps, and has WiFi for streaming online content from CinemaNow, Netflix and YouTube.
Sharp is working on a Solar Hybrid Mobile Phone to give you a minute of talking time for every 10 minutes in the sun. At least it’s better than having a dead phone!
You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here.
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May 19th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I will buy Pre first day it is available. Unfortunately since I am in Canada it is not gonna be June 6 for me…
May 19th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I’m seriously considering the Pre as an iPhone replacement. I’ve been generally happy with the iPhone, but the horrible AT&T service has me looking for options. Both the Pre and some of the upcoming Android phones look promising, but I’m not sure I want to be first in line.
May 19th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I definitely want a Pre. Probably won’t get one right away cause my Sprint contract isn’t up until December. I’ll be dumping my Razr.
May 19th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Glympse sounds very interesting, but I wonder how good its granularity is. At the street fair, we were rarely more than 100 feet apart from each other, but still getting lost in the crowd (saved by the tall people, right John P ?). Working off GPS, it seems like it might be more useful across a slightly larger area. It’s an intriguing concept, though, and I look forward to it hitting the iPhone.
May 19th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Glypse looks awesome. They just have to make it crossplatform for all phones. And I’m w/ you on bluray, I’m a cheap bum, haha. But with bluray on netflix now, it’s worth it once the players get down in price if you aren’t a PS3′er. But again, I tend to rent, and own very few movies (well, haven’t purchased in a long time).
Now, for the Pre. It’s the first smartphone that has me dropping Verizon. The iPhone is great, but I need a keyboard. iPhone 3.0 will close the gap on the Pre’s pluses, but it’s not enough for me.
I’m on a family plan, so I’m taking everyone to sprint, and I’m taking the $300 termination fee bite. With the cost of the data plan, I’d make up that money over the 2yrs anyway. On top of that, we need two new phones anyway and don’t want to extend contracts. I’ve wasted enough on ebay replacements.
So, I’m excited. Hopefully I will get one, not sure how stock will be. I don’t want to wait for it online, want to play with it over the weekend release date =)
May 19th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I plan on getting a Pre, I’ll be giving up an older model of the Moto ROKR
May 19th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
I currently use an Instinct and am able to upgrade in August. So I plan to give the Pre the 2 months to clean up any flaws then upgrade to it.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I’m asking my boss to upgrade my Blackberry 7520 to the Pre as soon as possible.
May 19th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
A new GBTV is up: GBTV #563 | Glympse, Palm Pre Arrives June 6, BD390 Blu-Ray Player, Solar Hyb.. http://tinyurl.com/po3eas
May 19th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
I like the Pre and I’d love to have one. But not if I have to take Sprint as part of the package. I live in a rural area, and around here Sprint blows.
And don’t feel like the Lone Ranger on Blu-Ray. I have yet to see anything compelling enough to make me switch from “regular” DVDs, especially if I have to blow $300 on a new player. Although several nature series like “Planet Earth” and such do make me sometimes think about it. If I just had to go that way, I’d probably be one of the masses who buys a Playstation 3 for that reason.
Finally, and not that you look bad otherwise, but you look nice in glasses. Makes you look even more geeky :-)
May 20th, 2009 at 12:22 am
Watching GBTV #563 – http://tinyurl.com/po3eas
May 20th, 2009 at 12:37 am
I’m with Matt. My sister rails about being locked to ATT with her iPhone. Absolutely hates it and wishes she’d never heard of Apple.
I stayed away from iPhones after hearing her rant about it for months.
May 20th, 2009 at 6:19 am
I’d love an iPhone but I’m tired of AT&T. Their coverage is terrible outside of the city. As soon as a better plan/phone can be found and my contract is up I will switch. Luckily I didn’t purchase an iPhone.
I’m becoming very interested in home theater receivers as I acquire newer entertainment options. Affordable is important but it would be nice to find an audio/video receiver that would accept inputs from everything I have, connect to the internet for Netflix streaming, play Blu-Ray DVDs, and output all of my video signals through one HDMI cable.
May 20th, 2009 at 6:37 am
Seldom an “early adopter,” I’ll be keeping and eye and ear out as to how well the Pre does after it rolls-out and people start blogging and commenting on the device.
Honestly, I’m so happy with Skype on my Nokia N800, the Pre will have to really impress me before I am willing to give up my favorite VoIP and tablet PC.
There will always be a interest with me for an iPhone, but AT&T is so notoriously bad with its service, I don’t want a 2-year contract with the mobile CSP.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:47 am
I’ll get a Palm Pre as soon as it is available in Sweden, when ever that will be, hopefully very soon. The Palm Pre will replace my Nokia N73 and SE W960.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:34 am
I will be keeping my iPhone over the Pre. Although it may be something I change in the future if AT&T continues to be iffy in my area.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:14 am
I’m switching from a Palm Treo 650 and Verizon Wireless to Sprint and the Palm Pre. My wife is staying on Verizon Wireless with her phone. Sprint service is not the best in rural parts outside of Rochester, NY.
I’m looking forward to getting it on the first day, if I can. I talked to a Sprint rep today and he said that for a previous phone (Instinct?) they direct shipped them to the customer, which took a day or two. So I’m hoping that they have enough pre’s in stock, at least for me :-).
Cali, keep up the good work.
Thanks,
-Alexei
May 20th, 2009 at 11:54 am
I’m sticking with Verizon for the time being, which sadly means no Pre for me (or iPhone for that matter).
May 20th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
One more quick blurb on the Blu-Ray discussion… I view Blu-Ray as not a viable format, since now-a-days digital streaming is becoming very prevelant. Comcast, Direct TV, and Netflix to name a few are providing streaming services for many movies and shows of very reasonable quality (Comcast has lots of movies available in HD for example).
May 20th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Whew! :-o I thought I’d be the odd one out here, with my sentiments about the iPhone and AT&T. Among my friends, there is a lugubrious litany of lousy service with the CSP iPhone users are “… locked into the loo for two.” Recently another iPhone user tried to “pooh-pooh” a friend about his negative experiences with AT&T and my friend replied, “You’re only fooling yourself, not any of us.”
May 20th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
I want a Pre, but just not with Sprint. I still have half a year left on my current service with U.S. Cellular, and I’m hoping that after the exclusivity with Sprint is over that USCC would offer the Pre, because I’d certainly pick one up then. Here in Iowa AT&T has good coverage in the larger cities and along some of the major highways, but otherwise coverage is either partner or non-existent. I do a lot of traveling though much of eastern Iowa for work and USCC has pretty consistent coverage over almost the entire state, so good coverage is something I need. As long as AT&T and Apple are tied together an iPhone isn’t an option for me.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
The Palm Pre has to been the only phone to tempt me from my iPhone. But as I am a loyal Apple fan I doubt I will. And living in the UK I’m looking forward to the new OS 3.0 for my iphone. Its nice to see a leveled competitor to the iPhone ‘FINALLY’! I just hope that Apple push even harder for new tech in such a wicked product! Cali are you thinking of getting one?
CALI if I may ask. We have just moved into our new home. Its a 1 level bungalow, with great potential. I want to add a home sound-system. I want specifically wireless / Bluetooth speakers around our home! I love using my iTunes and Spotify as well. Any ideas?
May 21st, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I was considering the Pre until I found out that it will require an “Everything” plan. My wife and I are already on a Sprint family plan for voice only. Moving to an Everything plan would double our monthly cost even though I am the only one who wants data access. Even though there are data options (around $25 per month to add a data package to one phone), they don’t apply to the Pre (or the Instinct). So I guess it no Pre for me.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:41 am
I got mt BD, DVD and DivX need covered with a PS3.
Bought the 40GB version and upgraded last summer to 250 GB. It got one one the best upscaler in the business and process DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD and send it as PCM streams to a receiver. It also works as DLNA client to my FreeNAS box. The thing that really speaks for the PS3 is the processing power, even compressed audio sound great compared to my other units. Downsides: Big, do make some noise from the fan, crappy remote and wont take h264 files in a mov container. But it’s easy to convert and repackage without rendering the video part with QT Pro. One more thing, Sony do frequent updates to the OS.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:42 am
I so want an Android based phone, but they are not available in Sweden until this fall…
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:16 am
Sure I’ll buy a Pre as soon as possible. I own an iPhone and I don’t think I’m gonna switch, but compare them both and then decide whether my iPhone will go to my wife or the Pre. I’m not from the US but from Bulgaria, Europe and I hope it will be available worldwide somewhere about 2010… hehe… I’m just wishing.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Both my husband and I are planning on getting the Pre, we are already Sprint customers and had to up our plan when I got the Instint. I am not eligible for an upgrade until July, so I’ll have to stick it out with my instinct until then, however my husband will probably be getting his right away. (Although I’ll probably steal his for the month) Just hoping there is some sort of Visual Voice Mail, which Palm says “not in that way”
I must say, I’ve gotten caught up in the hype and am counting down the days until it is released.
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 am
I will be getting one for the wife right away .
May 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Cali, i am looking at the htc touch pro 2 or did i get the order wrong?!
i have a treo 755 which i purchased because of the folio announcement–fool me once! i would have kept the treo 650p even with it’s cracked chassis.
i am having a hard time cost justifying a smart phone anymore though…i can do a lot of good for other folks with the $70+ per month times 24-months plus the cost of the handset. i use the 755 as a phone organizer[without wireless--when i got it there was no support for gmail?!] & my ipod touch for wireless data on the cheap.
i am rooting for palm, still
May 23rd, 2009 at 11:44 pm
It will be another Zune vs iPod disaster. If you have money to throw away, Pre’s for you. I have seen the demo several times and … nothing… I am happy to see Palm (I own 4 generations of Palm devices) trying to stay in the game, but another iPhone replica will not do the trick.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
No Pre for me.
I’m too happy with my iPhone. With all I have invested (in time & money) in itunes and iphone apps, there just isn’t another phone that is impressive enough to make me switch. The only thing that could possibly interest me is a new iphone.
I have to say too that I don’t understand all the crying about AT&T. I had Verizon since the days when they were still GTE and I switched two years ago so I could get an iPhone. I’ve had no problem with their service. I get good connections where I live & work and everywhere else. I travel quite a bit and have no problem getting a good connection everywhere I’ve been. (Except one time when I was so far out in the wilderness there was no cell service of any kind.) Their customer service has been friendly and efficient too.
May 25th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Looking forward to seeing the pre. Was going to get one but I keep thinking what in the way of apps will be out for it and plus now its coming out for o2 over here that makes me edgey casue o2 has exclusive deals for iphone and pre. What happened to competition for everything. I am now really looking forward to the Samsung OmniaHD with 720p playback on the device and recording.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I have an iPhone and will be glad to switch to Pre… don’t get me wrong… the iPhone is (mostly) great. I am the type of person who will really use the multi-tasking capabilities of the Pre, love to get more for my monthly service $$, and since ATT service sucks at my home, and sprint is much better, it’s a no brainer.
Having the two phones available is really great; Options are important. I think it is important for Sprint that they keep exclusivity for a while since it’d be nice for them to survive as a company, but much sooner than iPhone does, I’m sure the Pre will be on multiple carriers (or at least similar devices like the Eos).
Different carriers have different good areas and bad areas… for Sonoma County, California, Sprint just happens to have good service, thus is a great bargin for us. ATT has much more dropped… or unusable calls, even with 2-3 bars on the iPhone. So while I won’t get in arguments about this service is better or that service is better… or that one provider should have the pre instead, I’m just glad I’d like to have Sprint, and they are getting the phone I most want to have (and possibly program apps for!)
May 26th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I plan to buy a Pre, but I will wait for a little while before taking the plunge. The Pre has gotten good reviews, but Palm has uniformly disappointed me recently. I haven’t been satisfied with any of the last three phones Palm has made. I currently attempt to use a Treo 800w. I have battery use issues, connection issues and design issues with the phone. It is not optimal.
I also want to see the Pre in the wild. While the reviews of it have been great, I want to see a real phone in the real hands of real people. Even reviewers have admitted that they have had very few opportunities to work with it for extended periods of time.
I want an iPhone. However, given the fact that I refuse to leave Sprint it is not really a possibility. It has been a long time since I had a phone that I loved. I sincerely hope the Pre will scratch my phone-nerd itch.
May 26th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I’ve been a Palm guy for years and still rely on my Palm TX for almost everything I do. I’d love to get a Pre but I won’t give up Verizon service. In the NY area, Verizon is far better than Sprint and AT&T (or I would have gone with the iPhone). While Verizon has service in the NJ Transit and auto tunnels under the Hudson River, the others have too many dead spots above ground.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
I plan on buying the Palm Pre on it’s release date. I will be replacing a nondescript unsmart Samsung phone