Review: Palm Pre

One of the most anticipated smartphones of the year has finally shipped – and it’s an amazing device.

Joining the Apple iPhone 3G and the T-Mobile G1 in a pool of phones that offer touchscreen control, easy mobile app downloads, built-in GPS, and cutting edge features, the Palm Pre has only a few minor problems, but its otherwise further proof that a smartphone revolution is in full force.

The device itself is not exactly innovative. The 135 gram phone has a slide-out Qwerty keyboard that feels a little thin, the sharp edge on the phone is mildly dangerous, and the plastic construction makes the phone feel a bit low-end compared to the G1, Samsung Instinct, and Nokia N97.

There’s a slight curve to the device, which makes it easy to place phone calls, but not as easy to type longer messages – since the keys don’t provide the same tactile feedback of a Blackberry.

The Palm Pre outclasses the competition with the webOS, where apps run on small cards that you can re-position horizontally on the screen, flip up to remove, and enlarge easily.

It just works, and the new interface is easier to use than even the iPhone because you always know which app is running. It’s also now possible to use the SMS app, copy text you receive, slide over to your e-mail, and paste the message while running an MP3 player, your contacts list, and the phone dialer at the same time.

The Pre does tend to run a bit slow when you run more than about five apps at once.

Other innovations abound. When you place a call and move the device up to your ear, the Pre disables the touchscreen so you can’t press any errant keys. There’s an accelerometer that senses when you are in portrait or landscape mode. The Pre has built-in 802.11g Wi-Fi, Blueooth with stereo AD2P support, and on-board GPS.

There’s both Google Maps with turn-by-turn directions and Sprint Navigator, which provides voice directions (but not the voice activation found on the G1).

Music playback sounds rich and clear, with 8GB of non-expandable storage. You can watch videos on the 480×320, 3.1-inch screen but not record movies with the built-in 3 megapixel camera. Photo quality is quite good, but there are no extra controls for white balance, digital zoom, or focus other than a simple flash.

Web browsing is quite impressive, matching what you see on the iPhone (and using the same Webkit engine). You can zoom in and out of a site with a pinch and spread of your fingers, and Javascript support means pages rendered accurately.

We also liked the messaging clients – you can view all text messages and IM chats with the same app, and the Pre pulls in contacts from Facebook, Microsoft Exchange, and Gmail and stores them in the same list. It’s a smart approach: you can just start typing a name with the keyboard and the Pre will show you all matching contacts.

The calendar app shows you appointments from Google Calendar and Microsoft Exchange, so it is very useful.

Palm offers only about 18 extra apps for the phone, such as the Pandora radio client and Where, a tool for finding location services that is available on most other smartphones.

There’s a third-part app called Classic that lets you run legacy Palm OS apps, and it worked flawlessly for several older games we tested and a task list manager – without the extra frills of a touch app designed specifically for the Pre. Palm includes a YouTube app, calculator, an MP3 download service from Amazon, a Doc and PDF viewer that supports Office 2007 docs and the latest PDF formats, and a task manager.

Overall, the Palm Pre is an exceptional device that shows serious promise – the card interface is easy to use, the touchscreen is responsive and accurate, and phone calls sounded clear.

The plastic construction is an issue, and app selection is minimal at present, but Palm has rebounded nicely and we expect the Palm Pre to attract a loyal following in the US as we wait for a UK version.

Written by John Brandon.

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