While the Palm Pre is certainly one of the best smartphones available – the question everyone wants to answer is: can it kill the iPhone?
Or, short of outright death and dismemberment, can it at least capture some iPhone glory?
The short answer is: not in a blue moon, but then the truth is Palm doesn't necessarily mean for the Pre to be a personal entertainment device.
As we'll see, the Pre has the makings of a truly powerful business communicator. In fact, peek under the hood, there's a Texas Instruments OMAP 3430 processor, 8GB of internal memory, 802.11g Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth with A2DP stereo.
Computer-like
What you'll discover is a capable mobile computer that supports multi-tasking, contact sync across multiple web services, and push email that could lead to swift adoption at companies both large and small, filling the void left by the popular Palm Treo from years ago.
The real challenge then is that Palm needs to revive its lagging developer community – which is almost non-existent.
While Apple continues to sell MacBooks and iPhones to the college kids and trendy/smart/cool-types, the reality with those who take computing more seriously is that the iPhone is a limited device – despite the fact that there are some 50,000 apps available for it.
It doesn't multi-task apps (at least, not yet), only barely supports enterprise-class email, and has a clunky soft keyboard for typing longer messages. The Palm Pre has a true hardware keyboard and is designed to keep pace with big business in very tangible ways.
It's a powerful smartphone that occasionally acts like a powerful computer – and shows amazing promise.
Chats and text messages are combined into one view, making it easy to track down conversations with both business and personal contacts.
CALENDAR: The calendar also syncs up web services nicely, adding both Gmail and Microsoft Outlook meetings in one view
GPS: Google Maps taps into the GPS on the Palm Pre, of course, but doesn't support turn-by-turn voice nav
FRIENDS: Contacts from Facebook and Gmail get nicely combined – which is great unless you do not manage your contacts well
EMAIL: Once you type an email into the Palm Pre, it recognises your Webmail service and starts syncing your mail.
See all Palm Pre deals:
All deals | Pay monthly | Pay as you Go | SIM free
Your comments (7) Click to add a new comment
thomson78
May 7th 2010
7. Hi,
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amymartin
March 31st 2010
6. I'm thinking about getting an iPhone to replace my Nokia 63 cell phone. I'm on the fence though because I'm not convinced that upgrading from one to the other is all that worth the money. Should I stick with the <a href="http://www.Dozenmobile.com">cell phone</a> or go iPhone?
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scotty6kids
January 10th 2010
5. I got this phone on launch day as an additional handset on my o2 account. I already had the iPhone 3G and my wife has the 3Gs. This phone was hailed as one of the first phone to really challenge the iPhone and on paper it does just that. Unfortunately that is where the good stuff ends and this phone really does have poor battery life, the menu is very sluggish and the choice of applications is just rubbish. I know that when the iPhone launched its apps there was only a handful however that is not a valid argument as Palm already know that the iPhone had an established and rapidly growing app store and they have done pretty much bugger all to compete.
The lack of video camera is not a really problem as its more of a novelty rather than an essential.
Keyboard is not that bad however it would do so much better if it had an onscreen keboard. You can install one yourself however that does require some "tinkering" with the phone and installing homebrew code which is sometimes fround upon.
Overall it looks like, had promise but ultimately it has been let down by awful battery life and the feeling that its all bark and no bite.
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lordgeezer
December 12th 2009
4. I got my Pre last Monday and apart from the usual sit down and get used to it 20 mins, I think it is brilliant. Hold it next to the other "Smart" phones and it looks good and works in a very simple way. In terms of quality of case etc, I compared it to my Blackberry Pearl... Not much difference including the type of plastic used.....Its like an Apple I Phone..But not everyone will yawn when you get it out ot show them...
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pablo
November 25th 2009
3. Palm forgot [or are incompetent] to load the right settings/application to get the information off the ms Exchange software and on to the Palm. Blog or forum it if you dont believe me. This is a massive downfall as I have MS exchange and even with that it needs an enormous brain IT guy to fix the trail and destruction this leaves.
4 hours on the phone to Geek squad - who couldnt sort it. Hours of my time on the forums and all because Palm cant load the right software on the phone.
This has put a MAJOR downer on this purchase. And left me with post-purchase trauma like no other.
We all love a new gadget but this experience is the worst it can get. Great product ruined by stupid incompetence that renders it near useless.
p.s. sim to sim transfers dont work anymore.
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carlossantana
October 31st 2009
2. I got a Palm Pre in a O2 store in London. I was expecting a much better experience from a phone that have an average ownership cost of £700.-. Among an unstable/beta operating system and standard applications I would like to mention that:
- The phone’s plastic case is cheap and fragile. Even more, the entire phone looks (and is) fragile. I would like to see how many if these palm pre phone will be around in a year time.
- The standard microUSB port for both data transfer and charging needs you to open a plastic flap on the phone every time that you need to plug it to your PC. This flap is very cheap and it has the impression that it would last days attached to the phone. Therefore, think about adding a Touchstone Wireless Charger (another £40?)
- The phone stopped from working a day before I got it. When I slider closed the keyboard, the screen whet blank and the phone was not responding any longer.
Conclusion: I return it after 24hs and got another phone (not a palm pre this time). I have to say that the current Palm pre is a nice phone. But, there's no doubt that there's plenty of room for improvement in the webOS and its devices. My independent advice is: Wait for the next Palm Pre version.
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irwinhugh
October 29th 2009
1. Purchased the Palm Pre from O2 store after explaining my requirements but when I tried to sync with my MS Outlook it failed to connect. The sales person was absolutely convinced that it would but when I spoke to the O2 techie in Scotland, he eventually confessed that I needed to purchase another package from a 'carrier' who would decode the info and forward it to the phone from my ISP. This rendered the 'fantastic' (sic) Palm useless for me and I ended up buying a Blackbury instead. Sooooo much more efficient and user friendly. So, my view is that Palm need to sort our 1. the connectivity without people having to have/obtain MS exchange and the outlets need to train their staff, properly.
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