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I love smartphones. I love any technology, but I particularly love a device that allows me to have access to everything I would on my home PC when I am out in the real world.
The biggest drawback to smarphones is their inability to multi-task and allow an easy transition from one application to another. That may not be a big deal if you are a casual user, but if you are a power user like myself, you are going to love what the Palm Pre can do!
I have never been the guy that just has to have the newest phone as soon as it comes out, but when it came to the Palm Pre, which I had been following for months up to its release date, I was one of those people in line at the Sprint Store on June 6. Let me tell you, I have not been disappointed.
What makes the Palm Pre stand out the most is the new WEBOS system developed by Palm. The key here is synergy. This phone automatically syncs all of your Google and Facebook contacts into your phone, and allows you to link multiple contacts in your phone to eliminate any duplicates appearing in your contact list.
The Pre also syncs with your Google Calendar. One issue I always had with my blackberry was that I do not use outlook on my PC. Because of that my only option to ensure that all of my Calendar entries were in my phone was to manually enter them. Now I can enter my appointments into my phone, or directly into my Google calendar and the two have synced in minutes. This also works with multiple calendars.
The other awesome feature is the "Card System". The card system allows you to shrink your screen and simply swipe your finger on the screen to move to another application. You can run as many as 9 cards with different apps at the same time before your phone starts to lag.
I mentioned the "swiping your finger" and this phone does in fact have a multi-touch screen that pretty much mimics the iphone. There was actually some talk that Apple might sue Palm since Apple has a patent pending on multi-touch. Luckily Palm pointed out that they have hundreds of patents, many of which you can find on the iphone. So as an added bonus you can sync your Palm Pre with your itunes! This is nice because you have 8GB of memory built into the phone.
The internet speed in pretty good. On Sprints EV network I get about 1.3 mgps. On wifi I have gotten as high as 6 mgps which is screaming fast!
I have not paired it with any Bluetooth device. I lost my last ear piece for the last time, but I have read and heard good reviews on easy pairing and good sound quality. The same goes for the phone itself. Calls are crystal clear on both sides.
The phone also comes with a 3 megapixel camera that has some pretty advanced imaging software running behind the scenes that renders some excellent photos.
Some drawbacks are the lack of applications that are available for the phone. But these I am confident will start coming soon as Palm has just recently released the developers pack for their WEBOS software.
There is also no way to change the notification sound for text messages and emails. You get the same slightly annoying muffled cowbell sound for both.
Battery life could be better, but overall once the newness has worn off and you don't use it just to use it, you can get a solid 8 hours or normal use out of it.
Now the obvious question is "sounds great, how does it compare to the iphone?". The answer is I have no idea. Honestly I doubt this phone will win over many iphone users. They are after all a culture all their own. But the Palm Pre is definitely a device that will put Palm back as a key player in the smartphone arena for a long time to come.
The cost for this phone breaks down like this:
599.00
-200 rebate
-100 Mail in rebate
I actually heard the price has just dropped to around $149.00 out the door. So if you are in the market for a new phone, check out the Palm Pre.