I dunno how much consumers like AT&T nowadays. If I drive across town (Seattle) talking on the iPhone, I get 2-5 dropped calls. Seriously.

The apps are a "nice to have" in my book. If they nail phone, email, and web browsing (in that order), I'd jump.

Anyone have any experience with Sprint in terms of coverage/dropped calls?

FWIW, I've been on Sprint (by way of Helio) for 1.5 years in Northern NJ, and their voice service has been rock solid for me.

My top priorities are pretty much the same as yours (phone, email, web). Basically if the Pre has a great web browser I will most likely buy it.

Currently on Sprint with a palm centro and for me they have to nail (Phone, Streaming Radio, Web.).

I don't want an iPhone since I want a keyboard, hate apple apps on windows and AT&T sucks in Los Angeles.

The company I work for has an AT&T plan for blackberry and I can't even activate the phones from my desk and I notice employees talking outside the buiding due to the horrible coverage. I have sprint and am streaming radio at my desk as well as my entire 1 hour commute. I probably will get the Pre when it comes out.

I'm looking forward to someone doing some more dev on the PDA side of smartphones again.

The iPhone calendar is a toy compared to my old Treo DateBk5.

Seattle has a lot of dead spots on AT&T & T-Mobile and Verizon's EVDO network (last time I checked about a year ago) had a lot of dead spots as well (their EVDO is on a different band from the voice). Sprint's customer service has historically been terrible but their data network is really good, I've used them for EVDO for twoish years and usually get at least 1.5Mbps down / 500Kbps up wherever I am.

I was on Sprint for a long time, and am now on Verizon with whom they share. It's pretty much unbeatable. I got 3G coverage in random corn fields driving from Ohio to Cali. And anywhere even remotely civilized, never a dropped call or lack of blazing 3G.

I don't know anything at all about the merits of CDMA vs. GSM on a technical level, but as far as coverage in the USA it's not comparison.

The areas where I have experienced dropped calls or no service with Sprint all have very low population density. Examples: US54 between Dalhart, TX and Tucumcarin NM, Parker Dam area of AZ (move a little and the signal changes to 5 bars) and SE KS (Pleasanton, KS).

Driving from the beach to downtown in LA I drop calls on the 10 Freeway regularly. AT&T is terrible in Los Angeles.