Palm Pre (8 GB) Smartphone
- Screen Size (Diagonal): 3.1 inch
- Installed Memory: 8 GB
- Operating System: Palm OS webOS
- Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB, WLAN, WiFi
- Performance: Tri Band
- Design: Mobile
- Overview
-
Reviews
- Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
Palm Pre, from a non-techie 30-something woman
Pros
Clear display, good sound quality, pic quality, notifications, intuitive contact management, integration w/twitter/facebook/AIM/google calendar
Cons
no video, few ringtones, 8GB, refuses to cook or do windows.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If you value smooth integration of contacts, various social networks, calendars, etc. all onto one phone, over video or ringtones, this is great!
I was looking for an upgrade from my now ancient "V" phone, and was considering Blackberry's Curve, the iPhone, and the Palm Pre. Ultimately I bought a Palm Pre, two days ago. I'm going to address the factors that were important to me, and why I am happy with my decision to get a Palm Pre.
Miscellaneous stuff hardly anyone talks about: No international mode but there is a wi-fi mode, so internationally you are still going to be able to use it to do a lot in free wifi spots. Also, super easy and fast to switch to airplane mode, which is also going to save battery life.
Keyboard:
I had been nervous about what I read about the sharp edge of the Pre and the tiny keys. I am a pianist and am very picky about keeping sharp edges away from my fingers! But I tried out several Pres and I couldn't cut myself on it if I tried! I find the typing easy too. I tried out an iPhone and had considerable difficulty with the keypad, but I like the raised and separated buttons on the Pre. I also love having a dedicated period key and the symbol key gives me access to all sorts of characters such as umlauts and accents, a consideration if you need to type in other languages, as I sometimes do.
Phone:
I have had no problems yet with Sprint coverage. I live in Brooklyn NY. Some people have complained about the volume on the pre. At first I thought the speakerphone was too quiet, until I realized I had not even turned it on yet. I do not have any problems with the volume. I like the ease with which it can be turned from ringer to vibrate to completely silent (without being off). The ringtone selection is disappointing but for me, that's not important. Honestly, my old V had a bunch of ringtones and I never got around to assigning people to groups and giving them special ringtones and what-not. I have not tried to see if I could upload my own music to it and and use it as ringtones.
Update on ringtones and music: I have had it a week and can upload music with no problem, and once you have some mp3s on there you can go to town assigning them as ringtones. Just be sure you choose an mp3 that starts loud enough at the beginning.
Display: Works in everything from bright sunlight to a dark room. Also, for those of you approaching or past 40, you'll be happy to know that the font size is generous and clear, and when browsing on the web you can zoom in pretty far. Again, zoom in too much and it will be hard to see much given the small display size...the machine is amazing but does not suspend the laws of physics. On my old LG "V" phone, I found it difficult to distinguish between 5 and 6, and 6 and 8. No such problems here.
Camera/video:
Takes surprisingly good pics for a camera phone, and is quick to get to that mode. For special occasions or serious photography, you should get a real camera. This does not take video, apparently, but if I had been into that I would have already bought a Flip or something like that. I can't imagine my friends really, truly wanting to receive video clips from me anyway, and most of them would have to pay to receive them, I think. Also, with the Pre you have to get an unlimited data plan, so you get unlimited picture sending and receiving, and they don't seem to be held hostage on something like Verizon PixPlace.
Contact management:
I did not try to do this with the iPhone or the Blackberry, but my various "contact" lists have been the bane of my existence. Nothing "talked" to each other properly, I had all kinds of out of date things, duplicates, a total nightmare!
Not anymore! Although I started with several disorganized "contact" lists in gmail and Palm desktop, I now have one, and it makes sense! Between facebook, gmail, and palm, I had well over 1000 separate listings so the device took a couple of hours to pull them all and organize them, but wow! Even though I started out with things literally in the wrong fields, like email where the name should be and the name where the phone should be, this device just fixed most of them, and where I had several partial entries ("profiles" in Pre-speak) for one person, it merged them. The Pre is conservative in its merging (it calls it "linking") and I have not had to manually separate any, although I still do have to combine a few, solely due to my own lack of organization.
I should also mention that I did not have to have any technical know-how to get these contacts in there. I didn't have to know any POP settings or iMap settings or turn off firewalls or know ports, none of that crud! When my phone was activated it asked me to assign an email account to it, and I just needed my username and password, and it sent me an email with links that took me through all of that step by step. Not that there were many steps, and I skipped ahead and already did some of it just by guessing.
Contacting my contacts:
Slick! Now I can go to my beautifully organized contact list and either scroll down (or just start typing their name and they pop up), and then if I poke on their phone number the phone application launches and I can just call them. Or I can poke their screen name and the IM launches. Or, I can poke their email and my email launches. I don't have to go to the application first and then find/enter the info. I can do it that way if I want, though!
Battery life:
I do not understand the criticisms on this one. People are complaining that the battery doesn't last all day if you keep it on and have several apps going most of the time. A netbook is about 100x larger and I don't know how much bigger the battery is, and it won't even do that! I think the battery life is reasonable considering what all the device is doing and how small and light it is.
Customer service: This phone means switching to Sprint for now, and I have to say I love that. Every single person in the Sprint store tried to help me, and they will transfer my old contacts/photos/etc. from my V to this phone for free, I just have to go in. Verizon charges you to do that even when you are staying with them and just upgrading phones. I would take into consideration how you are treated at your local store while shopping, as once you sign up with that service, that's the store you are going to have to keep going back to.
Miscellaneous stuff hardly anyone talks about: No international mode but there is a wi-fi mode, so internationally you are still going to be able to use it to do a lot in free wifi spots. Also, super easy and fast to switch to airplane mode, which is also going to save battery life.
Keyboard:
I had been nervous about what I read about the sharp edge of the Pre and the tiny keys. I am a pianist and am very picky about keeping sharp edges away from my fingers! But I tried out several Pres and I couldn't cut myself on it if I tried! I find the typing easy too. I tried out an iPhone and had considerable difficulty with the keypad, but I like the raised and separated buttons on the Pre. I also love having a dedicated period key and the symbol key gives me access to all sorts of characters such as umlauts and accents, a consideration if you need to type in other languages, as I sometimes do.
Phone:
I have had no problems yet with Sprint coverage. I live in Brooklyn NY. Some people have complained about the volume on the pre. At first I thought the speakerphone was too quiet, until I realized I had not even turned it on yet. I do not have any problems with the volume. I like the ease with which it can be turned from ringer to vibrate to completely silent (without being off). The ringtone selection is disappointing but for me, that's not important. Honestly, my old V had a bunch of ringtones and I never got around to assigning people to groups and giving them special ringtones and what-not. I have not tried to see if I could upload my own music to it and and use it as ringtones.
Update on ringtones and music: I have had it a week and can upload music with no problem, and once you have some mp3s on there you can go to town assigning them as ringtones. Just be sure you choose an mp3 that starts loud enough at the beginning.
Display: Works in everything from bright sunlight to a dark room. Also, for those of you approaching or past 40, you'll be happy to know that the font size is generous and clear, and when browsing on the web you can zoom in pretty far. Again, zoom in too much and it will be hard to see much given the small display size...the machine is amazing but does not suspend the laws of physics. On my old LG "V" phone, I found it difficult to distinguish between 5 and 6, and 6 and 8. No such problems here.
Camera/video:
Takes surprisingly good pics for a camera phone, and is quick to get to that mode. For special occasions or serious photography, you should get a real camera. This does not take video, apparently, but if I had been into that I would have already bought a Flip or something like that. I can't imagine my friends really, truly wanting to receive video clips from me anyway, and most of them would have to pay to receive them, I think. Also, with the Pre you have to get an unlimited data plan, so you get unlimited picture sending and receiving, and they don't seem to be held hostage on something like Verizon PixPlace.
Contact management:
I did not try to do this with the iPhone or the Blackberry, but my various "contact" lists have been the bane of my existence. Nothing "talked" to each other properly, I had all kinds of out of date things, duplicates, a total nightmare!
Not anymore! Although I started with several disorganized "contact" lists in gmail and Palm desktop, I now have one, and it makes sense! Between facebook, gmail, and palm, I had well over 1000 separate listings so the device took a couple of hours to pull them all and organize them, but wow! Even though I started out with things literally in the wrong fields, like email where the name should be and the name where the phone should be, this device just fixed most of them, and where I had several partial entries ("profiles" in Pre-speak) for one person, it merged them. The Pre is conservative in its merging (it calls it "linking") and I have not had to manually separate any, although I still do have to combine a few, solely due to my own lack of organization.
I should also mention that I did not have to have any technical know-how to get these contacts in there. I didn't have to know any POP settings or iMap settings or turn off firewalls or know ports, none of that crud! When my phone was activated it asked me to assign an email account to it, and I just needed my username and password, and it sent me an email with links that took me through all of that step by step. Not that there were many steps, and I skipped ahead and already did some of it just by guessing.
Contacting my contacts:
Slick! Now I can go to my beautifully organized contact list and either scroll down (or just start typing their name and they pop up), and then if I poke on their phone number the phone application launches and I can just call them. Or I can poke their screen name and the IM launches. Or, I can poke their email and my email launches. I don't have to go to the application first and then find/enter the info. I can do it that way if I want, though!
Battery life:
I do not understand the criticisms on this one. People are complaining that the battery doesn't last all day if you keep it on and have several apps going most of the time. A netbook is about 100x larger and I don't know how much bigger the battery is, and it won't even do that! I think the battery life is reasonable considering what all the device is doing and how small and light it is.
Customer service: This phone means switching to Sprint for now, and I have to say I love that. Every single person in the Sprint store tried to help me, and they will transfer my old contacts/photos/etc. from my V to this phone for free, I just have to go in. Verizon charges you to do that even when you are staying with them and just upgrading phones. I would take into consideration how you are treated at your local store while shopping, as once you sign up with that service, that's the store you are going to have to keep going back to.
