Palm Pre Review

The Palm Pre is by far the most talked about and anticipated phone of 2009. The major reason behind its buzz is the fact that this is the phone that is supposed to save Palm Inc. So does it live up to the hype and is webOS (its operating system) all that its made out to be? © ZiaTech.com

DESIGN:

Design wise the Palm Pre speaks sexiness. The device would remind you of a clam shell (the literal one). Starting off the features is a beautiful 3.1 inch multitouch touchscreen. The display boasts 24-bit colors at 320×480 resolution. Unlike many other multitouch touchscreen devices, the Palm Pre features a full QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard takes major design cues from the Centro and although it is small it is a bit bigger then that of the Centro. Usability wise, I find the keyboard to be quite useful and while it is a bit cramped, typing on it is not impossible. The only downside is the lack of a virtual keyboard which would be nice to have instead of having to slide out the keyboard for every time text input is required.

The phone features a built-in GPS radio as well as a 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field. Ambient light sensors as well as accelerometer and proximity sensor are all included.

Concerning wireless technology, my review unit was a CDMA version which runs on the Sprint network. A GSM version is slated to be released in Europe by years end. 3G EVDO Rev A is included as well as WiFi 802.11b/g with WPA, WPA2 and WEP authentication. Bluetooth makes the list with 2.1 + EDR and A2DP stereo support.

Internal memory is set at 8GB with a 2.0 Hi-Speed microUSB connector. Unfortunately there is no way to expand the memory of the device.

PERFORMANCE:

The Palm Pre carries a mighty punch for such a small device. Even though it is a bit smaller then the iPhone, it carries the same internal specs. In my tests I found the web browser to be on par with the iPhone. It was snappy with little lag and the pinch and double tap fingure gestures worked beautifully.

Camera quality was excellent and beat that of many of the Palm Pre’s rivals. Unfortunately, it lacks video recording support at the moment so that is a strike against it. However it makes up for this with its multitasking features. Palm says as many as 12 cards can be opened at once without serious system lag, I was able to bring up as many as 16 at times before I was notified to close some to free up RAM.

Call quality is also good and is better then that of the iPhone. The phone features multimedia capabilities like YouTube, Music and video player as well as picture viewer. Overall they are very good but still lack the refine of the iPhone.

The Palm Pre is one of the few phones that live up to its hype. Although we have been hearing of iPhone killers ever since the iPhone debut back in 2006, few have come even close to matching the performance power of the iPhone. Fortunately the Palm Pre does hit the mark square on, and while I will stop short of saying its an iPhone killer, it does improve on a lot of areas and is the best alternative to the iPhone.

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