As promised, here are my thoughts on the Palm Pre.
Things I really like about the Pre: it’s small (but not too small), and feels good in the hand; the touch screen is easy to use, and the slide out QWERTY keyboard makes typing a breeze; the camera is 3 megapixels and takes photos without interrupting to save; the headphone jack is a standard 3.5mm (so no need to buy a special adapter); WiFi lets me use my home wireless network (and the keyboard makes typing the password simple too); Palm’s webOS is intuitive, pretty, and runs smoothly; transferring data to and from the Pre works just like using a USB flash drive–drag and drop and you’re done; the app store is easy to navigate and use (some of the better apps include YouTube, Fandango, Where, GoogleMaps, Pandora, AmazonMP3, Sprint Navigation, PDF and document viewers).
Things I’m not crazy about: the high gloss finish on the front and back means the phone looks greasy after just a little touching; the slide out keyboard can feel a little flimsy, like it wouldn’t take much to accidentally break the back from the front; the app store, while easy to use, is grossly lacking in actual applications (as of yesterday, there were only about 15 or 20 apps to choose from) and is still only in beta; the accelerometer (which lets you change the screen orientation from landscape to portrait) only works for a few applications (the camera and web browsing), and not for everything (maybe I’m crazy, but I think it’d be nice to view the music player in landscape…).
Here’s a video review in case you want a more in-depth break down of the Pre.
Looks like a great phone. I got an LG Dare about two months ago now and I like it a lot too. With nearly all of the new phones out, its really hard to go wrong. I am so glad I live in a day and age where these gadgets exist. They are sooo wonderful.
They are wonderful. And yet, were I into singing killer-plant songs with a Rick Morranis flair, I’d be inclined to sing “that sure sounds like sarcasm to meeeeeeee”…
actually, no sarcasm intended at all. If I had the money I would splurge for an Iphone, its that awesome. When researching different phones before I bought the Dare, it was actually really awesome to see how many great looking and truly interesting phones were out there. Slowly but surely these things will become more all in one than ever before. Phone, Jukebox, Mobile Web, Mobile E-mail, and more, all in the touch of a hand? I really am awed by it.
Yeah, I think we’re not too far from personal portable computers (which I guess phones like the iPhone and Pre kind of are…). I also enjoyed researching my phone–I spent a lot of time on sites like Gizmodo and CNET. Yep. Technology is nifty.
[...] a computer to do things like read email, search the web, and buy/play music. While I was in fact able to do all those things, I was also very disappointed in the Pre. The big reason for my disappointment? [...]