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I contacted Palm today about being on my second Pre as there is a constant buzzing when on 2G calls which clearly comes from lack of proper protection for the speaker. Here is there response. Seriously Screw Palm! This is a widespread issue, my €40 Nokia phone can make a call over 2G however my €420 Palm Pre cant. wow

14:02 Me: hi
14:02 Agent: Thank you for contacting Palm Technical Support, how can I help you?
14:02 ME: There is a buzzing in the speaker when making calls over 2g
14:02 ME: on my GSM Pre
14:08 Agent: Could you give me one moment while I am working in your issue?
14:08 MEy: yes
14:08Agent: One more question, the other Pre had the same problem right? did you perform a reset?
14:08 ME: yes
It’s a hardware issue
14:09 Me: when making a voice call over 2g there is interferrence
14:09 Me: same as you would here when the phone is placed near a speaker
14:09 ME: this does not happen over 3G
as 3g opperates on a different frequencyand does not interfere with the speaker
i have spoken to other people with Pre’s and they have the same issue
it seems to be on every GSM PRe.
14:11 Agent: Pre was designed for 3G communications, that is why you are having issues with 2 G communications, It is a carrier issue.
14:12 ME: i can make calls no problem
14:12 ME: it’s a hardware issue
14:12 ME: 2g shoudlnt be interferring with the speaking on the phone
14:13 Agent: It is a matter of design rather than an issue.
14:13 ME: is Palm aware of this?
14:13 ME: Surely if I cannot make a call over 2g without interference on the line
14:14 ME: then it is palms fault
14:14 ME: every other phone i have is fine
14:15 Agent: Yes of course, because the Palm pre was designed to work exclusively with 3G networks.
14:16 ME: 3G coverage is not 100% so the pre is useless for calls outside of a 3g area
14:16 Agent: Is a carrier issue that cannot provide you a full 3G service.
14:16 ME: thank you for your asssistance
14:16 Agent: Is there anything else I can do for you today?
14:16 ME: however is it Palms fault for not testing the phone and sheilding it against 2g interferrence
14:16 ME: no thank you for your assistance
14:17 Agent: Thank you for contacting Palm Technical Support,have a nice day

Warnings: May permanently damage your Pre, adds sprint applications, set language as US English.

1. Download WebOS Doctor for Sprint here.
2. Turn off the Pre, connect the USB cable directly to your PC, start up WebOS Doctor.
3. Hold the volume up button and power button when turning on the Pre
4. Follow the WebOS Doctor steps.

Things I noted from the update.

You can finally delete Sim card contacts.

You can add SIM card contacts.

Turn data off

Fully list of updates in 1.2 here

The Pre launched in Ireland yesterday on the O2 network. I decided to pick one up for pre pay for €419. A full review will be coming soon just a quick few points to note so far.

• Activation requires data connection and uses your credit, this cannot use Wifi.
• Unlike the US version of the Pre, it is not possible to turn off data which means it’s almost impossible to stop the phone going online, O2 should really have thought of this before they launched the phone without a data plan on Pre Pay.
• Phone is sim locked and asks for a networking unlocking code when a SIM card from another network is inserted.

Some screenshot details from the GSM Palm Pre below.

One of the most frustrating things about a fresh OS is figuring out what to install first to get your up and running. Here are my list of essential apps

One Visit Windows update to get the latest updates and keep your computer safe & secure. Keep returning to this site until there are no more updates available.  http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Two of the first things you should install is antivirus I strongly recommend Nod32 as it has a small footprint and has very little slowdown on your machine. You can try it for 30 days free. http://www.eset.com/

Three Install firefox. Firefox is an essential add-on for any computer it provides much safer browsing over the default browser Microsoft’s internet explorer. You can also add many great extensions onto it to make it even more useful. Get it free now. http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Four PDF reader software. PDF is a format used widely across the internet for displaying documents which look the same regardless what platform the document is displayed on. Used for displaying bills, lecture notes, instruction manuals etc. Get this great lightweight and fast reader for free now. http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/

Five A video/audio player. This is a fantastic free player that plays almost every video and audio player around on the web eg MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DivX. An essential install to watch all those free video downloads. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Six Music software. With the amount of music that people have today keeping your music collection organised is essential. iTunes works great as a free music management software, best thing you don’t even need a iPod. Using iTunes you can also download music from the iTunes store now that most of the music there is now DRM and will work on almost any music player. iTunes can also be used as a podcasting client. http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Seven Adobe Flash. Flash is a plugin required by sites like youtube.com to play video. It is an essential install for any computer user planning on surfing the web. http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/