Palm Pre "Straight to Voicemail" Problem

My Soul for a WebOS Phone

NB: if you have no patience for tales of horror, skip to the solution…

I should have known. Doing ANYthing on full moon Halloween is a bad idea. But fate left me no choice – my Centro died a hideous death, from which no voodoo, no dread spell, could revive it. The siren song of Sprint’s Pre and the WebOS overpowered me… little did I know the TEN WEEKS of infernal torture I was destined to endure! But dear reader, do not despair, for there is a welcome end to this dark tale.

The Pre itself enslaved my soul from day one. WebOS proved both intuitive and addictive. The slick, elegant hardware sealed this deal with the Devil – to pry the precious device from my hands would take almost more than I could bear. And yet, it took but weeks for that to happen.

“Pre-mature”?

For despite its unholy grip on my desires, the Pre had a fatal flaw. Virtually every incoming call went straight to voicemail. People had to call me 6, 7, 8, even 10 times before getting through. My friends were ready to slay me (and nearly did on several occasions). Perhaps worse, I have no idea how many business calls and opportunities I missed. Those who could, simply resorted to text messaging me. My wonderful toy worked fabulously as everything but a cell phone. Add to this a miserable battery life, and it was a dealbreaker. “Get rid of it!” droned the chorus. Or worse, “Get a Blackberry already!” (An iPhone was out of the question, as I swore an eternal oath never to consort with the likes of Cingular again, whether under their own flag or another’s – They Who Shall Not Be Named).

Of course I contacted Sprint. I called support. I visited the store, the gentle staff of which I’m now on a first-name basis with. I talked to every possible department, and was bumped up to the “super-amazing fix-it team” or some such thing. Weeks of mysterious tests and examination dragged on to no avail. They visited the tower, bumped up the signal, reset the line, sacrificed feral cats. And still the issues continued without any improvement whatsoever. There was nothing to be done. It was time to abandon ship.

It was time to try out Android.

Android has fascinated me for several years already. I nearly joined up with some Steampunk developer types to produce some apps for the OS. I love that it’s Open Source, and did want to test it out, despite my attachment to Palm (I’ve had every PDA Phone Palm ever made). So I went with the Samsung Moment.

Nutshell review: Android is a truly powerful operating system. Scads of amazing apps. Clever “speed dial”. Dedicated community of fans. I can hardly wait to see how it evolves. Yet after one week I was more convinced than ever that I wanted the Pre back. Android simply did not work well for me as a phone. Too many clicks to do simple things. Too many things, period. Worse, I still had the same problem!!! Which suggested perhaps the problem was not the Pre after all…

The WebOS had won me over with the clarity and tactile qualities of the interface. No matter how much I wanted to wave the Android flag, there was no going back. The Pre had me. So I threw caution and good sense to the winds and swapped the Moment for another Pre. Perhaps, I fantasized, I just had a bad phone.

For both better and worse, the problem was not the phone.

So, three phones in, and I’m still unable to get calls reliably. WTF??? Nobody could figure it out. At least Sprint credited me for the time with hardly a peep of protest. Their customer service, contrary to expectations (and to my experiences with Cingular) has been gracious(!) and sympathetic. But their most sage wizards and powerful witches could do nothing against the gremlins that plagued my communications. Whatever would we do?

Et voila. The Solution.

The solution made me smack my head because of its obviousness. First came a series of updates to WebOS. The 3.5.0 update did little or nothing that I could see. But the 3.5.1 update made a huge difference. My completely untested belief is that battery life improved something around 30%. And it did seem that people’s calls got through somewhat more often. Lucifer’s grip loosened ever so slightly.

At the same time I decided to test my theory that Web apps were interfering with incoming calls. I signed off of instant messaging, and set all email accounts to check manually, rather than at scheduled intervals.

Apparently, that was it.

I can’t say I’m entirely happy with the solution. I can receive calls, and I do get to continue with this gorgeous, brilliantly designed smartphone which, despite the press, has plenty of great apps (though not nearly as many as its competitors have). I can check email, instant message etc. But only if I’m not expecting any important calls. That’s, how shall I put it? Weak. I’ve never used a Blackberry (gasp!) but my impression is this is not a problem for those devices. So, Palm, please step up! I want to see WebOS take hold and have a future.

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