Off-Grid Living with the Palm Pre

*Palm Pre Review submitted to EverythingPre.com and PreCentral.net. Feel free to re-post or use this article with proper attribution and a link... thanks*

This is my second review on off-grid living with the Palm Pre. My first review was written 3 days after I received the Pre on rollout day June 6th. As of Saturday the 20th I have now had the Palm Pre for 2 weeks. As I said in my first review, I am nowhere near the typical Pre user. My needs are unique and therefore my smartphone has to be unique as well. I live on a completely off-grid 40 acre ranch in Central Texas. We raise Pure Longhorn cattle, a milking Holstein, sheep, rabbits, chickens, and yellow blackmouth curr dogs. We are not anti-technology, but we examine every technology very closely to see if it will actually benefit our simple lifestyle. We live our lives very deliberately, and we know that most supposed "time-saving" technologies have actually created a society of slaves to the machines, and we seriously examine whether a device or technology is actually offering us any benefits or if it just becomes another toy to be serviced by its human slaves.

I did a lot of study and comparison shopping before I decided on the Pre. Again, my family lives completely off-grid. What power we do use comes from our small solar array, and we do occasionally run a generator. I am writing this on a small Acer laptop using wireless radio internet from the nearest small town. I am a writer, I edit a few fairly large websites, and I am an Agrarian blogger. I receive a lot of communications and correspondence from people all over the world, and I need to be able to constantly stay on top of my correspondence while still remaining free to work on my ranch and live the life I preach about and love. It had gotten to the point that I generally spent at least 5 and sometimes up to 8 hours a day in our small cabin on the internet. I needed a smartphone tool and not a toy. When you live on a ranch, you appreciate tools and you know tools have a purpose. I wasn't just out for the newest gadget, I have been looking for a way to accomplish very specific tasks in very specific ways. I needed a tool that would hold up to the rigors of what I do, and that would allow me to do things while I work on the ranch. I know that there are fanboys and tech geeks out there who couldn't wait to break down the Pre and analyze every line of code, etc. I know that there are folks who just want a great platform on which to run multiple apps and games. I basically needed a mobile internet, email, and texting tool that would also provide mountains of information at my fingertips - instantly. I'm not disparaging other phones or other people, but I needed a tool that would be able to respond to my very unique needs.

The Pre has been all that I could have asked for, and more. Here are some snippets of what I do with my phone...

*I am able to snap pictures as I work and immediately text or email them to interested parties.

*A couple of days ago I sold a heifer (a young cow that has not yet dropped a calf) to a friend halfway across the country, then he paid me via Paypal and I received payment and notification on my phone - all within a half an hour, and I never had to get on the laptop.

*I purchase goods and supplies, on online stores and on ebay, directly from my phone. And I can do this purchasing on regular websites, not just on special "mobile phone enabled" websites. None of this costs me any more money with the Sprint Everything Data program.

*I keep in constant contact with my family, the members of our agrarian community here, and many other people via text messaging and email.

*We live in tornado alley, and Central Texas is well known for severe weather, tornadoes, and flash floods. I am able to constantly monitor the weather, and even watch up to the minute detailed radar, wherever I am.

*Just the other day, a lady from our community was traveling three hours to Austin to go pick her son up at the airport. I was able to track his flight on my pre and provide her up to the minute updates as to his progress and his arrival time.

*We don't have a television, and we rarely watch it, but I am able to sit on my front porch in the summer evening breeze and watch The History Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and dozens of other stations - all via my Wi-Fi or the Sprint Network on Sprint Premier TV - right on my Palm Pre. I know my father's Iphone won't do that!

*I am able to keep up to date on news that affects my family, and that I need to feature or discuss on my websites and blogs. The Palm Pre also multitasks, so often I am doing all or many of the things I am mentioning here AT THE SAME TIME!

*I have often used the Sprint GPS and Locator features for finding the nearest gas (and lowest prices) in our area - since we have four towns near us, all in different directions. My wife has used the GPS services for finding flea markets and yard sales, and we have used it to find other addresses when we have to go to town. My wife and I also both have roadside assistance via the phone, which is great to know.

*I use the alarm to remind me of things I need to do, and I use the memos to write down sku numbers of fencing so I won't forget it before I get up to the register at Tractor Supply.

*I have been able to seamlessly sync with Itunes and pull down my music into the phone.

*I love the pull out keyboard, and I have to say that this is one of the great selling points to me with the phone. I am 6'3" and 235 lbs and I find the keyboard easy to use and I can type quite quickly on it.

*Oh!, and I use Pandora... almost every day. After a hard, hot day of work, I like to put on some Original Jazz Band, Jim Cullum Jazz Band radio, or Baroque music, or Jerry Jeff Walker, or even Fiddler on the Roof as I relax on the porch.

And here's another point... I live in Central Texas where it very well might be 104 degrees and high humidity. I might be soaked through to the bone with sweat, and I have yet to have had a single glitch or problem with the Pre. I did purchase the inexpensive replacement insurance in case I drop the Pre in a cattle tank, but I don't think I will need it. This is one tough phone. After I read all the complainers whining about the flip-open power door, I was worried. But seriously, that was just ridiculous. My main concern is that the dog will chew it up. I think only someone with serious ham hands would break this phone "accidentally".

Now, I probably don't use half of the utility of this phone. I don't know all the secret hacks and I have yet to play any real games on it. I am satisfied with the apps that are available, even if I am looking forward to what new stuff will be coming out in the future. I don't know how to jailbreak, nor do I know what a "clean ESN" is. I don't use the calendar, and I don't use all the fancy syncing features with Google or Facebook. I do Twitter (so check me out on Twitter: mbunker), but I am pretty knew at that.

Ok, so that is my review of the phone. Not much I would change about it. I hope to see some more Apps and some of the fixes that have been proposed/promised in upcoming updates, but I am completely pleased and happy with the phone. You Iphone fanboys, wipe the lotion off your hands and come on out here and work with me for a week and see how your phone holds up. You'll have to read a book while I'm watching cable TV on the Pre, but after the week we'll see which phone you would choose!

Michael Bunker

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MichaelBunker.com
BiblicalAgrarianism.com
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