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The Palm Pre Plus comes with all the connectivity options that you'd expect from the modern smartphone. Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, HSDPA at 7.2Mbps, GSM, GPRS, Edge and integrated GPS, which works extremely well in Google Maps.
We shouldn't forget Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, but the handset we tested really struggled to discover other devices, and we were unable to make a connection.
The mobile broadband on the O2 network was very good in the areas we tested the device around London, never struggling for a connection, and it's pretty fast, too. Setting up Wi-Fi is straightforward and the Palm Pre Plus maintains signal very well.
The web OS browser is good. Pages load quickly and appear in full on the screen, but a quick double-tap on an area of the page zooms in nicely.
You can also pinch-to-zoom in and out of the page, although that doesn't reformat the page and text as well as it does on Android or iPhone and it doesn't have the speed or fluidity of those operating systems either.
The capacitive touchscreen is excellent in general, though, and allows you to be more accurate than on some Android phones like the HTC Hero.
Simply starting to type, within the browser, brings up the URL bar and offers Google and Wikipedia search as well as previous web history, while swiping the gesture panel to the left will take you back a page.
The application card system enables you to have multiple web pages open as application cards on the Home screen without having to work solely within the browser app.
Bookmarks, history and preferences can be accessed from the tab at the top-left corner of the touchscreen, but again, this leaves a very small surface area to make contact with and it's not something we always nailed first time.
We'd hoped to see Flash player installed in version 1.4.1 but that's still lacking at the time of writing, so no viewing BBC iPlayer content, and no plethora of web videos. But hey, it's not like Palm fans need to worry, the company doesn't want to bury Flash under a pile of rubble like some. It'll be here sooner rather than later.
