Palm Pre Review: Part 1
We know, we know. You wanted the review sooner. Well, you know what? It’s here now and we’ve busted through this handset like a Japanese tourist with an SLR in Times Square. So how does the Pre stack up against the competition? Can it contend with the top-of-line smartphones that are currently on the market? Will it end world hunger and bring Isaac Hayes back? Read on for the world’s first hands on review of the Palm Pre!
UPDATE: While we believe the OS the Palm Pre is running is the final retail OS, there’s still some stuff missing from it. Additionally, the hardware unit itself is 100% a retail unit, yet we weren’t able to test things like phone calling for obvious reasons (uh, you call this a review and you can’t test the damn phone?). We planned all along to actually do a more thorough review with a retail unit at release, just like we’re doing with the BlackBerry Tour 9630. But in the interest of being transparent, we figured we’d update this post and let you guys know that another entire review will be coming. Thanks!
Palm’s Mission:
Before we jump into the really, really good parts, we thought it was important to recap the “magic” that Palm has done its best to create. Announced at CES 2009, the Pre was instantly a media smash. At least in the tech world. Journalists, bloggers, consumers, prosumers, even corporate users all wet their pants with excitement in anticipation of the Palm Pre. In the midst of a recession that had slowed most of the tech world down to a crawl, the Pre was a shining beacon of light that represented the most exciting new mobile phone since the iPhone. The problem is, that was six months ago and the average person can’t pay attention to something for longer than 52 seconds. Dedicated Pre blogs and a small breed of new fanboys are still on fire of course, but that is hardly a sure sign of commercial success. The question is, has Palm been successful in creating hype with the average consumer? Here we are roughly 8 days away from the launch date and its looking like even if the answer to that question is yes, Palm and Sprint won’t have enough inventory to make the launch a success.
Screen:
The screen is where the Palm Pre shines. Selections take little to no effort and there’s that oh-so-magical water ripple effect when actually touching the display. It’s vibrant, rich and all around really clear. Like we said in our Pre-view (har, har), we’d rate it just behind the iPhone’s glass capacitive touch screen — it’s that close to being perfection. The size difference between the two is really noticeable however, with the Pre having a 3.1 inch display, but as you’ll read on later, this makes the device much more pocketable. Just know that as high as your hopes are for the Pre right now, the vibrant display is one area where you will most definitely not be let down.
Keyboard:
It’s really not good. My hands aren’t that big (I can type faster than you could ever dream on a BlackBerry, iPhone or E71) and my thumb literally takes up 3 or 4 keys on the keyboard. There’s less space in between each key than say, a BlackBerry Curve 8300 keyboard, and the texture takes some time to get used to. It’s a rubberized coating kind of like the Centro and Treo Pro, and while the keys are a bit harder (better), the coating could possibly get irritating as usage increases. It’s really such an important area that couldn’t afford to be messed with and we’ll admit it… we’re a little let down. You’re going after the big guns here, and this is kind of disappointing.
You can’t compete with RIM in the keyboard area and you can’t compete with Apple in the soft-keyboard area, so how are people going to enjoy using your product when the data entry isn’t perfection? It’s like buying a brand new Ferrari, but getting an Accord steering wheel. It’s not the end of the world, but it isn’t greatness.
Size:
The size of the handset itself is wonderful. Really no complaints. It’s fits perfectly in your hand and Palm did a great job blending an awesome touchscreen with a separate multi-touch gesture area, sliding design, and everything else together in this package. It’s a happy medium between something larger like a Sidekick and smaller like a BlackBerry Pearl. As far as portability, it fits perfectly in your pocket and some people will love that the phone is so compact when closed — it’s really crazy small.
Feel:
This is an important area when designing a phone. Besides working like you had hoped, you want people to feel like they are holding a quality product, especially when talking about such a high-end product. Well, forget a high-end product, how about the product that everyone is counting on turning your company around? To be honest, the device feels a little cheap. The edges of the bottom piece are sharp on the back of the screen and even worse, when sliding it up and down, the top part that houses the screen will sometimes catch on itself.
It feels good in your hand, but the actual build quality really leaves a lot to be desired. One of our friends that checked it out over here said it felt like a Fisher Price toy. We wouldn’t go that far, but it really seems to be constructed with lower-grade materials compared to other flagship phones. One of the things that might be throwing us off is that it just feels so light. It’s an odd thing to happen when you’re expecting to be heavier than you’d imagine. Normally heavier = higher quality, but we’ll have to put the Pre through our usual battery of tests to really determine what’s going on here. The takeaway should be that it’s really light, feels a tad less expensive than we would have liked, and not as polished as it could have been.
OS:
WebOS itself is off to a great start we think. Taking the hardware aspects of the Palm Pre completely out of the equation, it has a bunch of potential. Especially with being public version numero uno. It will be interesting to see how developers try to take advantage of the operating system, yet we can’t help but feel it’s going to be iPhone web apps all over again until Palm releases an SDK that lets everyone (not just special partners) access areas of the OS that are needed to create applications that aren’t just “fluff”. Granted Pre apps will be a whole lot better than iPhone web apps ever were; it’s disheartening to see something like this happen out of the gate though. They will never be able to compete with the Symbian, Android, BlackBerry and iPhone app stores and services like this. But don’t worry too much — we’re sure Palm will come around in due time and release an SDK that gives devs access to everything! It’s just not optimal out of the gate, that’s all.
Switching gears, Synergy is so cool in itself. Well, the concept part of it. We haven’t linked everything together yet, but we’re not sure if Palm’s got the right approach. I mean, I’d like my Facebook contacts in a Facebook application, not in my main contacts app mixed with my Exchange and personal contacts. Obviously you can just not link Facebook, but the point is that centralizing data isn’t the end-all answer to our problems. It’s just that we have to create and manage them in a clean and organized manner.
Hey, what about Universal Search? Well, it works ok. We guess. It’s great they added a Twitter option to it instead of just Google, Wikipedia, and Google Maps, but what good is it when it just launches the respective web page for anything not stored locally? We also wish this could be 3rd party customizable. Imagine being able to integrate your favorite services into the Universal Search card.
One thing we didn’t tell you in our Hands On was that during our first photo session, the device completely reset. Like, wiped clean reset. We had to go through the entire setup process and get the phone up and running. Since we didn’t use an account, we’re not sure how the backup/restore function works (we haven’t tested it yet is what we mean), but everything looks to be tied to a Palm account including IM services, etc. No word on whether or not this is the final shipping OS, though. We hope not.
Multimedia:
On the unit we received, Multimedia was unable to be explored. It simply linked to non-existent help files (just like the webOS SDK Emulator does). We’re pretty sure after 10 years Palm has learned how to make an MP3 player, though, so we’ll just give them this one at no charge.
Battery life:
To be really fair, we haven’t been able to really put this thing through the ringer in regards to battery life. When we first got it, it had a pretty low charge of around 30% and that lasted for about two and a half hours of us taking photos, going through different options, etc. Take that for what you will but we don’t see a problem with Palm’s quoted battery life and from other reports, the battery is a pretty decent at keeping you going throughout the day. It is obviously removable which will make a bunch of you either jealous or angries, but for the rest of us, a quick swaparoo means you won’t need to lug around a solar charger in your pants. *Gasp*
Browser:
The browser for the most part renders pages properly and pretty quickly. It took around 15-20 seconds to pull up BGR over Sprint’s EV-DO connection but navigating is a little bit of a problem. We found that zooming in and out didn’t produce a smooth effect, rather it simply increased the size of the page sort of how Internet Explorer zooms in. Panning around was crisp though and the browser was incredibly responsive. It hasn’t locked up on us a single time which is pretty impressive considering we beat it up quite a bit, and with plenty of other stuff running as well. Additionally, the accelerometer was absolutely positively instant. The Pre switches between portrait and landscape more than lightning fast, no question, and we can definitely see motion-controlled gaming playing a big role for this little guy. Granted, you know, that little SDK thing happens we talked about earlier…
Applications:
To be honest, there weren’t too many applications to explore here. The App Catalog was empty so we were left scrounging around anything that’s preloaded. Google Maps was something that will come with every unit so we checked that out first. It works really well. Loading was quick and the location feature and GPS integration was effortless (not just Google Maps but the GPS works really well on this handset).
We ventured deeper and deeper into webOS and you know what we found? The PDF Viewer! It actually is pretty solid but all the Document-related apps on here are viewing capable only, not editors. But that’s coming later with DataViz.
The Media application layout looks really clean as well, you know, before you click something and are taken to the ominous Help files that don’t exist yet. The YouTube application that you have all seen by now has an awesome layout and we could see it being used very frequently with no issues.
Conclusion:
Everyone’s expectation are set enormously high for this device and it really feels like the original iPhone launch again. Well, maybe not quite as insane but still. Palm has done a masterful job of crafting and molding the hype factor, but there seems to be an underlying issue. In being so secretive, they’ve let people’s imaginations run wild and expectations couldn’t possibly be higher.
The OS is great. There’s no ifs ands or buts; it’s really refreshing to see something that’s brand new with a UI unlike anything else out there. The only problem with this is, Palm’s never been a hardware company that anyone’s really cared about. They have been the furthest thing from innovative since circa-2003 — their hardware has always been second rate at best and it doesn’t seem to be changing now. Couple that with the nation’s underdog carrier at a $299 price-point (before rebate), and we’re not sure how many people are going to be lined up overnight, yet we’re pretty confident once people are able to play a real unit themselves, there will be more than a lot of happy Palm Pre customers.
Once the initial Pre launch is over and done with and all the hype, smoke and mirrors are clear though, we can see Palm being pretty successful moving forward. Hell, Palm has converted tons of people into raging Pre fanboys before they could even see the phone in person! Very Apple-esque. More carriers will get the Pre, more handsets will be released and WebOS could very well keep things interesting even if the hardware is lacking.
On May 29, 2009 @ 4:45 pm, Val Said:
@someone and co.
You must think the >10 million people who have iPhones have been completely duped, and that Apple’s marketing is the reason people (including BG) love the iPhone. Just how dumb do you think everyone is?
How fucking Biased are you? You need to chill a bit You attacking everyone else over and over and over again and asking why do they seem to have so much emotion involved in a phone not even out yet,but you have far more emotion involvged attacking it at every point and touting how greast the IPHONE is? huh huh HYPOCRITE to the extreme you say? You’ve spent 10 times as much time posting in here as anyone else attacking everyone and calling everyone else babie,but that just makes you the biggest little baby brat yourself GROW UP you twat!!
For sure! They’re dreaming if they think people are going to switch to Sprint for this.
I really want the iPhone but leaving verizon has too many drawbacks for me — total lack of coverage (no signal at all in my area) and everyone I know has VZ. I’m looking forward to having some options on Verizon soon.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BATTERY LIFE!!
Any indications of some ability to
- Drive an external display
- Master USB?
I’ve had an opportunity to have hands on with the Palm Pre and I disagree with the “cheap feel” description. Don’t worry folks the Palm Pre is one of the best phones released in quite a while. No one will be disappointed even a little!!
I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised with supply and demand. Palm has ramped up production for quite awhile now and Sprint will have a nice steady supply moving forward. For all you Sprint bashers… There going no where but up under Dan Hesse. It takes time to fix what another CEO screwed up.
I Listen to Mobility Podcast all the time and look forward to the new shows weekly. Feel better David!!
I’m New to this site as well and really like it! Good job guys!
Where’s EvilHomer when you need him?
Who is backpeddling now bitch? Where’s your complaints about the BG backpeddling with that lame ass “update” in the review saying “another review is coming”. Maybe the BG is just explaining himself, or, maybe, in your simplistic mind, he was backpeddling and got “owned” by this entire board. Thought you didn’t have respect for backpeddlers EvilHomer.
You are a fucking loser.
I owned a palm centro prior to purchasing an iphone. Aside from the keyboard size, and lackluster media playing capabilities, the centro was a nice phone. The OS itself was very nice, and the ability to install apps from almost anywhere totally blows the iphone away. I think Palm forgets that the focus needs to be on usability, and not size. I hope they do well with the pre. I wont get one as I am very satisfied with the iphone, but good luck to em.
BGR team, don’t forget to mention things about the sliding mechanism on the 2nd or later parts of the review.
The slide is also a very important aspect of build quality. If it’s not spring-loaded then it may very well become lose within just less than 6 months of constant usage.
No
You haven’t been checking the right websites. Phonenews had their review a week and a half ago.
man, i have no idea if this will live up to the hype. how many people are actually planning on getting this phone? Are people gonna camp out for this phone or what. I’m just wondering what people are planning on doing.
who is using my screenname? IamEvilHomer is the name i use on all blogs. Never been here though
is the battery removable?
The fact that Pre can sync with Itunes is a strategic move by Palm. By the time Apple decides to do something about it, either legally or through software restriction in iTunes, Pre will be out there in the masses and Apple wouldn’t dare to appear as a devil in the eyes of consumers. SMART…
bad keyboard
cheap plasticky build construction
synergy sync chaos
random reset (sound familiar Treo owners ?)
poor web browser zoom controls
why would i get this over a bberry or iphone ?
six months after purchase people are going to pissed holding this piece of crap (esp after Dell buys the Palm)
You guys are silly!
My geek credentials: Pocket PC Phone (haha remember that!?), Nextel BBerry 7520, Nextel BBerry 7100i, Sprint BBerry Curve 8330, Sprint Palm Pre.
Everyone is mad at BG for getting SOMETHING out in a hurry. There are a few key points that you are failing to realize…
1. Tech Blogs are the NEW wave of journalism… this means that BREAKING news is only good when it’s breaking. Every minute that goes buy without reporting, some of the spark is lost from the story. You can tell by the few typos that BG and team stayed up all night trying to squeeze as much as they could out of the phone to write something, anything for us phone geeks.
2. BG is not an Apple Fanboy! He types with a friggin BBERRY! He is just a phone geek like the rest of us, but he’s one who can appreciate more than one device. You all act like he’s talking about yo mamas when he mentions a flaw in the device the you call baby. Chill, and enjoy the features of OPP (other people’s phones).
I’m obviously getting a PRE, but only because my Curve was stolen and I’m taking the opportunity to get a potentially awesome phone. I appreciate the notes about the drawbacks, so that I can go in with realistic expectations.
Oh BTW… my neighbor is a Sales Floor Mgr. @ a Best Buy here in AZ and she said that her store is getting 4 units. I guess many of the other 300 stores getting the Pre are only getting 1 or 2 for launch day. The sprint store “advocates” around here are saying that they’ll have more than the instinct (more than 40) per store, but obviously more demand. One guy even said they were getting 60-70. I’m not going to say which one because I don’t want anyone to steal my spot on line!
PZG out.
While I am intrigued by the Palm Pre I am also hesitant about investing in a first release product. It’s that old saying, “Never buy a car when it’s the first model year”. I do hope that Palm has a successful launch but I fear the limited quantities, the Sprint effect, and the first release issues may keep the enthusiasm tempered.
I just got off the phone with one of my nearby BB stores and they are only getting in 5. Wow, not cool…that means that I will have to camp out at like 5 am. Which I an crazy enough to do, but geez I hope it dont rain…
“One of the things that might be throwing us off is that it just feels so light.”
That’s one of the biggest selling points for me! I refuse to own and lug around wtih me something as massive as an iPhone.
I want a palm pre!
iPhone user here. I’m not a fan of the keyboard on the iPhone, so am looking into the Pre.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first review to say the keyboard was substandard. For a feature that should set it apart from the iPhone Palm seemed to have dropped the ball on this one.
Guess I’ll have to wait and see what’s unveiled at wwdc, instead of lining up early for the Pre.
I had a Treo pro, and the only thing I did like about it was the keys. Still gave it back & went back to my 755P for every other thing the Pro didn’t do for me. So if the Pre has the same coating on the keys, I’ll love it.
About your thumb/hand size, and your difficulty with it. I’m sure with very little acclimation time it would be second nature. I have large hands, I can cover the the entire keyboard with 2/3 of the top joint of both thumbs of my 755, yet I can fly on that keyboard. I have tried everything out there in the past 6 months (even tried an iPhone for a month), and I definitely do not like virtual keyboards. So thank you for your review on the Pre, solidifies my decision in getting it when it becomes available to me.
And if someone were to give me a 612 Scaglietti with an Accord steering wheel, I’d be in it and driving away before you could blink.
Interesting no branding is visible on this Pre, is this any indication, positive or negative as it relates to the retail version?
I see it as it is… Palm’s fame will be short lived. As the article points out – hardware – cheapish – plastic – light. Software – not enough to stimulate sales against the iPhone, at lunch and will be to far of an uphill battle to remotely catch up to the iPhone, symbian, and blackberry over the next year. Plain and simple, Palm the company hasn’t learned and will be passed over for other devices that are ready and work now – with the acception of a few die hard Palm loyalists that haven’t realized their still living in the past.
@mrfixit8312
There is definitely Sprint branding on the hardware. When the phone is slid up, the back is a mirror finish with a Sprint logo on it for all to see while you talk on it.