Palm Pre’s touchscreen – Scratching like a DJ

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

• AS147

  Oh c’mon stop this rubbish journalism.
  Show me one smartphone on the market that if I put it in my pocket with the average contents (keys, coins etc) it won’t get scratched.

  Well looked after my hiney !

• m4543v

  Well there are plenty of smartphones on the market that do not scratch like this from the iphone to the touch – pro to treos. There is even a vid of the Blackberry Storm on youtube with a guy TRYING to scratch the screen with a set of keys with no success!

  Point is, the Pre looks like it has cheap plastic. Sound operating system but they built the hardware on the cheap!

• ray

  Oh please, how many of these BS stories are you going to run?

• toorop

  The iPhone won’t scratch (I’m talking about the front glass display )

• jeromejuice

  wow, that pic is really sad, ive owned my iphone 3g for a couple months now and im proud to say i have never dropped it, sure the screen is constantly assaulted with fingerprints, but with a quick swipe of ur shirt, viola` ! clean. and scratches? what scratches? its unscratchable, other phones ive owned have screens that look like that one, but not my precious iphone. sorry pre, but iphone is where im goin to stay, i love it, and will marry it, and have lil iphone babies, ummm, well, perhaps ive gone too far…

• Alex

  Said phone owner forgot to mention he was wearing his steel chastity underwear.

• Nick

  Glass is naturally scratch resistant. Since the screen of the Pre that I’m typing on is not made of glass, I have to be a little more careful and use the free pouch that came with the phone. I had the same issue with my Sprint Touch and wish I had bought a screen protector a little earlier. The difference between the Pre and earlier Treos (not counting the Pro) is the flush and recessed screens, respectively.

  PS: The case that came with the Sprint Touch also fits the Pre.

• Nico

  Bullshit, you have to be completely stupid to end up with this result. The same thing would happen with an iPhone or any smartphone actually.

• adam

  Um no Nico, not any phone would have this happen, iPhones couldn’t be scratched with a brick, that’s the difference between quality and well .. the Pre.

  Look on youtube for “trying to scratch iPhone”, they even put it in a bag of change and shook it around constantly…

• jdoe

  That is BS the Iphone screen does scratch. I tried the so called testing with the keys and to my surprise on my iphone classic there is now fine scratches in three different places that can be seen when the phone is angled properly. These are especially distracting when trying to watch a movie. The 3g which my brother has did the same exact thing tiny scratches straight in the class and can be felt with a finger. Granted the screen is not plastic and will not ever get as bad as that pic of the Pre but do not put out false information about the “all powerful” iphone it just is not true.

• mxp

  lol mine scratched within 2hrs of purchase.. I was plugging in the changer when the mini-usb end of the charger lightly flicked the screen.. In 1.5 months might just see how many skips it will take into the atlantic. That skipping stone frame is just to tempting to pass up, and of course i’d love to test out the 7$ warranty aspect.

• 8B7T

  I bought a used iPod touch off my bro-in-law, and it has a protector over the touch sensitive area only, but not the rest — it’s one piece of glass. This thing is pretty beat up, scratched all around, including the outer bezel, HOWEVER, the glass is pretty much un-scathed. It’s a very resilient piece of glass. I keep it un-cased in my pocket, and don’t worry about it…

  Compared to what I just saw with the PRE, it’s a much more resiliant surface. I’m sure with the right screen protector, the PRE would be fine, but that doesn’t invalidate the claims of the iPhone having a better touch surface material.

• tomascco

  I had a Treo for four years and never received a scratch on the touch screen. I had my Pre a week and it’s marred for life. Same pocket, same stuff. The Pre’s finish seems more fragile than any other find I’ve ever had, and I’ve had quite a few in 10 years.

  And no, you don’t have to be stupid to get a scratch either, just live a normal life without being over-paranoid about your phone. I got the Pre to make life easier. I don’t need another infant to have to constantly fret over. Now that it’s scratched I quit fretting.

• emu

  I had my Pre 10 days and the screen cracked in my pocket. Didnt bang it, hit it, nothing, just the pressure of being in my pocket cracked it and now the entire screen doesnt work- absolute crap and I’d recommend anyone against it- cheap hardware.

• Josue M

  I have scratched my Pre twice by putting change in the same pocket. Force of habit. My Pearl was more resilient.

• Robre

  One of the best decisions Apple made was to have the glass screen. I have a 2-year old one and the glass is looking like new. But the home button shows a matte surface just from pressing it. Imagine what the screen would look like. Anybody who makes a touch-screen device using a plastic screen doesn’t know what he is doing.

• MPLSgirl

  I have a Pre on the way to me.. You people are scaring me!

• Watson

  I don’t know if these stories are true, but my Pre received a cracked screen sometime today while being in my hand texting or when I had it in my belt clip. It is starting to seem like a piece of trash.

• Robert Winslow

  Not only will the Pre scratch easy, but the Case that Palm sells (Leather) scratches the device.

  I gave up on this device I had 3 defects in the device, I decided the defects are a result of a design and as such I had no hope that returning for a new one would fix the problem.

  I warn everyone and anyone who cares to listen, stay away from this device until the next revision.

• Paul

  I just purchased a Pre from radioshack and they have a hard case and holster. The phone faces inward on the holster to protect it while the outside case protects the phone body. Add a screen protector and you’re good to go.

  As for the iphone being impossible to scratch, that’s crap. I own an Ipod Touch and take it to work in my pocket everyday. Two weeks ago I pulled it out to go online (wi-fi) and there were two scratches on the front. I had nothing but a pen in my pocket but now the screen has visible scratches that you can easily see from any direction and can even feel when touching it.

• isocuda

  First off, It’s a 1.0 product and Palm being a “small” company doesnt have the backing for quality control, it’ll take a few batches before lalt he kinks are worked out, this phone in the picture is clearly a first batch Mass production model, the very first issued left the factor witht he wrong forumlation in the plastic casing which lead to the spider cracking issue.

  Not to mention this is a 1.0 product, lets not forget the shit show Apple had, for such a “Big” company, nothings ever perfect

  SO comparing the iPhone to the pre is not only silly, but bullshit, I have scratched one from dropping my keys on it when i tossed them onto the table lightly, so enough with the yuppie, “OMG MY APPLE IS GOD” bullshit

  it’s a damn phone, after owning many business phones, I’ve learned scartched are normal, get over it and move on, and if the scartches are enough to distort the view of the screen, then pay the deductable and replace it.

  If your phone is brand new, yeah go buy a protector till it looses it’s “big drop virginity” after that who cares let it go freeballing out int he mobile world!

• Keisha

  I had my pre for a month and yes it is scratched. I am blessed however it is not the screen . I believe for the price it should be at least a one time courtesy repair for the pre

• FM

  I have had my pre for about a month. Just this past weekend I got my first fine scratch horizontally across the screen. I can see it clear as a bell when using any app with a light background. I have to stare at this for another 23 months now.

  I am pretty sure it was a lighter I had put in my pocket with it during a party. I am usually real careful. No sharp edges on the lighter but I can see how it would scratch it throughout the day. My fault for sure but I am certainly not happy that I have to pull this thing in and out of a pouch or have a dedicated pocket for it. I can only imagine what its going to look like by the time my contract is up.

  Does anyone know Palms policy on screen scratches. I have the warranty coverage.

• Aaron

  I have had the Pre for 3 months now. I babied it for the first month carrying it in the leather pouch and all. Then I miss placed it and decided it’s easier to use without the pouch. I left the original plastic on the screen though. After 2 more months still no scratches! I have dropped it probably 10 or so times, and had it with my keys and other stuff by accident quite a few times. After a party my phone ended up getting pretty tossed around and the plasic screen cover got ripped up, but still no scratches!. I just took it and got an invisable shield put on the screen yesterday though because I really am careless with my phone. I have the Ipod Touch also with a screen protector. The glass seems the better material if I had to choose, but trying to type with the onscreen keyboard gives you so many mis typed letters its almost impossible to use. Make an Iphone with a real keyboard, and bluetooth, and it would be a closer battle.

• Patrick

  Your new Pre will come with a plastic cover on the screen. Just leave it there and you’ll be good to go.

• Martin

  had for 3 months ,,not durable,,scratches ,,cracked case on 1 corner touch screen not fuctioning,,lot of probs,,mayb i have 1st gen. spider cracks evident..always roams.poor reception,drop calls 5 times a day.

• John

  Bought a palm Pre Plus on February 23rd at a radio shack through verizon. Corner above the slide out keyboard above the P key is cracking and you can see that the slider stop is located along right there, no scuffs or dings or scratches, used the case, but radio shack claims they would return it as a user abuse, verizon says too bad unless I want to pay the 89.99 insurance deductible, and palm’s one year warranty does not cover cracks in the case. Of course the one person who has one at the store never had a problem with his in 2 years. (pamlm pre non plus). anyone else had a problem like that? used the case they sold me, have a screen protector on it, and only carried it in an upper shirt pocket in the “microfiber/leather case” when its in said pocket. Nice of palm and verizon to do the right thing less than a month after its been bought.

• Tyler

  For one, the picture of that phone is insane. There is no way simply holding your phone in your pocket could do such to a phone, unless perhaps you leave your keys in there along with your phone. EVEN THEN, it should not look that bad. I’ve had my palm pre for quite some time, and it looks nothing close to that. If one is so concerned about the scratching GET A SCREEN PROTECTOR, problem solved. The pre is a great phone and I recommend it greatly.