5 Things I need on a Pre

I know I'm on the list for a Pre. I've been waiting since Day 1. I'm on an employee account and just have to wait until real customers have their Pre in their pockets. Of course, that doesn't stop me from going to the Sprint store and looking. Or downloading the SDK and playing with the emulator! It's actually pretty cool. I've even uninstalled it, reinstalled, logged in and restored my settings from Palm. It worked! But I have noticed a few things I didn't like.

See, I've got this HTC Touch Diamond running Windows Mobile 6.5. It's a pretty nice phone. It's got a lot of really good features. And when Iine things up, I notice it already has a lot of features the Pre does. Plus one the Pre doesn't have. It's already paid for.

• Change notification tones for new email, sms message

I have to admit it. I like to have my phone... in my pocket. I like to know when I've gotten an email. I also like to know when I've gotten an SMS. Emails are from work. SMS messages are from family.

• Notification when you've missed a phone call

I also like to take my phone out of my pocket and put it on my desk. I leave it there. Often. I wander off. I wonder if I've received a phone call, or email or even an SMS message! But I don't want to turn on the phone to do it. Can it not tell me with a simple blinking light?

• Multi-Selecting email or text messages for deletion

I get a lot of email. Some of them I delete. I know. I know. I should save them all. After all, Google is just aching to give me 8 no 10 gigabytes of storage. Those crazy folks in Mountain View are just aching to archive and analyze and index all my terribly useful email.

• Arrow Keys (for crying out loud)

I type pretty fast. I look at what I'm typing mostly. But occasionally I get stuck watching the keyboard. Then I look up and find out I've mispelled a word two lines above the cursor. Now I have to poke and poke and try to get the cursor up there... or backspace through two lines of already typed text! How about a quartet of arrow keys, huh?

• Applications for Blogging

Ok, this one is selfish. I blog from my phone. It's hard (given the problems with typing and all). But I do it. If something comes to me in the middle of traffic and I'd like to make sure I don't forget it. I can whip out my phone and start the MoBlog program, switch to Block Recognizer and type in a quick blog draft.

So there you have it. Just a few of the things I need to make a Pre work for me. Palm, are you listening?

EDIT: Oh yeah. There's actually six!

• File Storage/File Manager

I prefer to keep documents and files on my phone so I know where they are. I actually like the way Windows Mobile provides me with the ability to not only store files in a file system but also access files on a remote share. I hate connecting my phone to a laptop or desktop. The only reason I do it is to flash a new ROM. The rest of the time, I prefer to connect to shares over the WiFi and download my music, movies and files that way.