I’ve had my Palm Pre phone for a week now. Was it worth waiting in line the day it came out? Well, considering that the Pre is sold out almost everywhere right now, I would have to say yes.
Things I like:
- The multi-touch interface is very cool. I quickly adapted to using gestures and pinching to use the phone. It makes the phone very intuitive and easy to use.
- Multitasking works really well. My last phone could multi-task, but the Pre gets it right. It’s easy to see what you have running and switch between those programs.
- The hidden keyboard is very usable. Even though it’s smaller than my previous phone’s keyboard, I can type very well on it. I was actually quite surprised how usable it is for me.
- The web browser is fantastic. Being able to view full web pages like I would on my laptop is very cool. Most sites optimized for iPhones also work perfectly on the Pre. Flash isn’t supported (yet), but that’s yet to cause a problem for me.
- Online syncing works. Some people hate the way the Pre merges information from Google, AIM, and Facebook, but I like having it all in one place. However, I have not synced my Facebook account and I can see how that might be overwhelming to some. Syncing my Google contacts, email, and calendar seems to work flawlessly.
- The GPS is very accurate. Google Maps actually tracks me as I walk around my house. Several of the applications already make use of your location.
- The camera is 3 mp. It takes pretty decent pictures and even has a flash. Using the entire screen as a view finder makes it nicer to use than my Canon camera.
- The charging/data port is standard. Micro-USB is becoming the standard interface for mobile phones. It’s nice that I don’t need to use expensive Palm-branded cables for the Pre.
- It’s Linux. Knowing that the platform is built on open source is comforting. A development community has formed and they’ve already figured out how to root the device and access the command line.
- It’s Palm. My first PDA was a Palm III. I moved to other devices before the Treo came out, but it’s nice to come back to Palm. I’m rooting for them and hope the Pre can turn things around for the company
- It’s Sprint. They get a lot of bad press (especially when it comes to customer support), but I’ve been with them for about ten years and have always been happy. Sprint’s coverage is great in this area and their data plans are cheap compared to the other carriers.
Things I don’t like:
- It’s a new platform. WebOS is very much in its infancy and that means there’s not many applications available yet. Also, there’s not a whole lot you can customize yet.
- The email application is pretty basic. It gets the job done, but there’s no way to mark all messages as read or easily move messages to other folders.
- The music application is also basic. While it’s fine for listening to music, I mostly listen to podcasts. However, there’s no way yet to manage podcasts or listen at faster speeds.
- The built-in backup application is ambiguous. The phone’s data is automatically backed up daily to your Palm account. However, it’s unclear where that data goes and what does and doesn’t get backed up. I’m really not sure what I would lose if my phone was reset.
- Tethering is not supported (yet). I would like the option of getting my laptop online via the Pre if needed. It’s not clear of Palm/Sprint will eventually support this, but it’s just a matter of time before someone figures out a way to do it.
- There no way to manage files. You can connect the Pre to a computer as a USB mass storage device, but there’s no way to add/move/delete from the Pre itself. You can’t even save files from the web browser.
- There’s no video camera. I’m hoping this will be resolved with a future software update. I don’t take too many videos, but I’m sure there will be situations where I wish I could do it.
While there’s plenty that I don’t like, I think most of that will go away as the WebOS platform matures. There’s a lot of potential in the Pre and there’s already a development community forming around it. Hopefully more WebOS devices will follow over the next year or so.
