On topic: My old BB Pearl also had a case available, where the magnet in the case would make it auto go to a preset mode (silent, etc.) when in the case. It had removable memory as well. Yet more flash memory doesn't mind magnets evidence.
Off topic: The pre is an AMAZING smartphone. Internet was solid, touchscreen responsive and easy to use. The card system, where you could have as much open as ram would allow was great. Palm ENCOURAGES homebrew, and the community has truly stepped up to the plate.
But the battery is the single unforgivable. I'd take off charger at 9 am, leave it sitting next to me at the comp all day, nothing but checking it when the e-mail alert went off, and by 6 pm it'd be down to 15 percent or so, and ready for a charge. There is NO way I found to bump battery life, and that's just ridiculous in a place with decent reception. When I first got it in July, the batt would last me a good 4 hours before needing charged. Update came out, would go 8. Next update got it up to about 12, and last update didn't help at all. The phone radio has also been reported as underpowered, and I can see why, my pearl would have 2 bars where it has 1/0, and my gf's iphone 3gs the same. At least when I hold it it does. She doesn't answer half the time I call and it's not in her log, so maybe I'm just a sorcerer.
The touchstone is the greatest thing I've ever seen as far as cell accessories go, and I'll buy one in a HEARTBEAT for ANY phone I ever have which has a similar option available.
The Pre Plus and Pixi Plus have done away with the home button (silver button below the screeen) and I don't see how it'll be usable without that, it's like the alt+tab/escape button, I'd use it just about every time i touched the phone. I dunno how it's gonna work, but the bump in memory doesn't seem a good enough tradeoff. I'm not gonna be breaking contract with my eris, that's for damn sure at this point.
WebOS is very easy to use, but sense UI is even better as far as I'm concerned. The android's marketplace pwnz the palm app catalog, comparing apps across platforms, but to be fair android OS has had much longer for developers to learn it.
I was able to break contract since sprint changed the terms, giving me a 30 day window to cancel without an early termination fee, and got my eris. I absolutely LOVE it. If I hadn't been able to, I probably would've stuck with the pre until contract over, though not been especially happy until they figured out the battery issue. Once it was up to a day and a half or so I'd have been telling people to get it, but until then I'd have advised looking further.
Wow. I wrote a lot more than I expected.