Palm Pre Review
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Let’s take a step back two years. The cellular world was about to enter a transitional period, with the world anticipating the release of the iPhone and R&D departments at the major manufacturers working furiously to put out something that could hold its own. The iPhone has gone on to unprecedented success, and while there have been some formidable competitors (HTC and Samsung come to mind) no one has truly captured the ease of use and wow factor like Apple did. All the while Palm, a company that brought true innovation to the mobile space so many years ago, is on the brink of collapse.
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Software is not the only calling card of the Pre though; Palm has paid a lot of attention to the design of the Pre as well. In fact, inconspicuously placed in the packing material you’ll find “No detail is small.” It features a now common large, touchscreen display. Uncommon, however, is its multi-touch technology, and unprecedented is a multi-touch with a hardware keyboard (unofficial G1 hacking notwithstanding.) The portrait keyboard holds true to Palm’s long philosophy of one-handed use, and the touch gestures have been brought below the screen to enhance this philosophy. All in all Apple has never seen a competitor like this, and, though it took two years, the mighty iPhone may finally be dethroned.
Design:
The Palm Pre feels wonderful in the hand; there are no two ways about it. Inspired by a polished river stone, the Pre is full of curves. It fits comfortably and ergonomically in your palm, which is in sharp contrast to the iPhone’s wide, boxy design. The Pre is much thicker, but doesn’t feel as thick as it is.
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The Palm Pre is thicker than the iPhone | ||
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You can compare the Palm Pre with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.
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The slide-out QWERTY keyboard | |
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The gesture area bellow the screen |
The hardware buttons are very scarce. On the front you simply find a home button, on the left a volume rocker and in the top right corner a power button. A thankful carryover from the Treo is a vibrate switch on the top, next to the 3.5mm headset jack. The right side also houses a microUSB charging and data port, interestingly enough on the top half of the slide rather than the bottom. The back has a single, large speaker and the 3.2 megapixel camera with an LED flash.
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Left | Right |
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Top | Back |
The slide mechanism is hefty, but not too much so. While it feels great, we’re seeing some isolated reports of loose slides. One of the only gripes we have is that, when slid open, the now exposed edges of the Pre are a bit sharp. Not enough so that we wouldn’t use it, but we wouldn’t mind Palm grinding it down just a touch.
Palm has done an amazing job with the design of the Pre. It is arguably the most comfortable device we’ve ever held, much moreso than the iPhone. We wouldn’t mind seeing it slim down a bit and loose a small amount of weight, but we’re stretching to find things right now. As we’ve come to expect from high end devices it fingerprints like crazy, and the plastic screen and housing is a bit harder to wipe clean than the iPhone’s glass panel, but again we’re stretching here. We’re having a hard time thinking of a phone we’d rather carry than the Pre, and there certainly isn’t one that has a full QWERTY.
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45 Comments
1. AVCOC posted on 20 Oct 2010, 01:55 1 0
9.9!!!! thats too high,the palm pre is a good phone but not that good to be the highest rated one!
6. legionsreturn (unregistered) posted on 12 Jun 2009, 19:18 0 0
Well what do you expect when phonearena accepts cash for good reviews?
8. secondcor517 posted on 12 Jun 2009, 20:28 0 0
i was thinking the same thing legion.... how much did they make from this review.
10. mr. anderson posted on 12 Jun 2009, 21:19 0 0
first off, how stupid are you two? secondly, everyone knows sprint doesnt have the money to pay for anything much less reviews! im a vzw user, but have used my friends pre extensively. i assume you guys have not, because the score is well deserved. this is a game changer, plain and simple.
11. legionsreturn (unregistered) posted on 13 Jun 2009, 08:51 0 0
So how much did you charge for that score? Im just curious, it must have cost all of 20 bucks!
2. legionsreturn (unregistered) posted on 12 Jun 2009, 13:27 0 0
Oh come on! Reallly? Are you really that mallible in the face of corporate sponsorship? We already knew objectivity is a joke to you people but youve really outdone yourselves this time. Guess all you have to do to get a good review on phonearena is pay for it.
3. metalpoet posted on 12 Jun 2009, 15:13 0 0
as a representatitve of verizon i must admit that sprint and palm did a really good job with the release of the pre and i truly hope it shuts up the iphone users!
4. Kiltlifter posted on 12 Jun 2009, 16:35 0 0
I agree... iPhone users are the worst.. has anyone seen the South Park episode where Kyle's dad gets a "hybrid" and then moves to San Francisco and there is a "smug" storm? Everyone I know thinks they are superior and so incredibly hi-tech just because they own it, even though none of them use it for anything more than they would an ipod touch. Let's just hope that Pre users don't fall into the same line of "Smug"... otherwise George Clooney's speech from the Oscars could make a supercell that would wipe out all of what is left of sprint's network... (if you don't get this comment just watch the episode).
28. ser3nitynow posted on 16 Jun 2009, 20:35 0 0
HAHAHA so true... By the way that episode is hysterical.
30. legionsreturn (unregistered) posted on 17 Jun 2009, 01:07 0 0
Southpark is indeed enjoyable.
5. LGVX1993 posted on 12 Jun 2009, 17:17 0 0
Not trying to be an ass but if you average up the scores you get an 8.9. There probably is some different way of calculating the total score though.
13. McMillian posted on 13 Jun 2009, 10:57 0 0
Phone Arena is ignorant and they don't make any since. they obviously choose favorites when it comes to phones and their OS. Don't get me wrong I think the Pre looks like a great phone but I think Phone Arena completely over hyped the Pre in this review.
14. LGVX1993 posted on 13 Jun 2009, 11:43 0 0
After about a while theyll be wanting to change some of this stuff. Any phone that ive had I loved for about a month or two and i got tired of it. One more thing, wouldnt the Pre be a little complicated for the Average Joe?
15. legionsreturn (unregistered) posted on 13 Jun 2009, 15:15 0 0
I got a good laugh out of the average joe reccomendation, this was review obviously a foregone conclusion paid for by the corporate interests that birthed this phone.
23. martycota posted on 15 Jun 2009, 10:20 0 0
Wow, seriously, are you all iphone users bashing the review?! The phone has recieved generally positive reviews from all major reviewers and just because PhoneArena's is super high doesn't mean they were bought off?! Should I say that they were bought off by Apple for giving the Touch Pro a lower score then many sites just because they say that after the diamond it felt old?! And seriously, for average joe, this is probably the best smart phone out there. It offers an easy to use interface and is a smart phone unlike most smart phones that are blackberry or window which offer very little in user friendly handling.!!! Average Joe doesn't always have to be about having the dumbest phone out there, they obviously rated it based on how easy it is to use for a smart phone that offers just about everything, or will offer soon enough!!! Read the reviews before asking Steve Jobs what kind of demeaning comments you can post on the competition's reviews. Yes the iPhone might be a great phone, but it is in no way a smart phone and if you read the review you can see how the phone deserves quite a high rating on its own merits...
25. LGVX1993 posted on 15 Jun 2009, 14:29 0 0
i dont know about everyone else but im not an iphone user and never have been and probably never will be. As you can probably tell by my name im with Verizon. I read the review from here and other websites and i know this is a good phone. I was just saying that the unweighted average of scores is 8.94 to be exact not 9.9. And also WebOS looks a little too complicated to me so i don't think it would be for the average joe. I also never said that average joe had to have the most basic phone around. I just wouldn't see one with a smart phone.
26. mr. anderson posted on 15 Jun 2009, 19:51 0 0
if webos is too complicated for you i dont know what to tell you man. have you taken an iq test lately?
27. LGVX1993 posted on 16 Jun 2009, 05:16 0 0
no but im not stupid ciz i have 5 honors classes in school. The whole gesture bar is a little unnecessary to me.
38. sprntfanboi02 posted on 29 Jun 2009, 19:04 0 0
i was going to take your post seriously but then you used since instead of sense....really? are you serious?
