Palm Pre Plus for AT&T Review

Introduction:

Almost close to its one year official launch anniversary, the US market is now witnessing its very first official GSM webOS smartphone with AT&T's Palm Pre Plus. And now that Palm's world has solidified ever so much since HP's buyout, it seems like a good time for a webOS-powered handset, as we can expect a significantly better support for the platform. However, the Palm Pre Plus for AT&T is almost identical to the one Verizon's been offering, while the long wait may look to sour webOS's arrival on the lineup of the second largest carrier in the country. It'll also be interesting to see how AT&T and Palm will market the device in the wake of their rush of upcoming Android devices and eventual unveiling of the fourth generation iPhone. The biggest concern right now seems to be the initial $149.99 on-contract cost, which may be viewed as over-bloated in the wake of Verizon's hasty drop, but AT&T is thankfully packing for free the Touchstone charging dock for a limited time.

The package contains:
•    Palm Pre Plus
•    Wall Charger
•    microUSB cable
•    3.5mm stereo headset
•    Carrying Pouch
•    User Guide

Design:

Aside from the re-branded AT&T logo found on the mirror surface behind the display, the smartphone is an exact facsimile to the Verizon variant. We still adore the clean look of the device that radiates like a polished stone as it clearly doesn't seem too bulky when compared to other high-end touchscreen devices out there. Construction remains to be the same as there is no wiggle to the touchscreen when it's opened up versus some of the reports witnessed with Sprint's version. Of course the glossy piano black finish of the device accentuates its appeal, but it is extremely prone to finger prints and smudges. Finally, the same soft touch matte rear cover is found with this one as it works ingeniously with the Touchstone for some wireless induction charging.



You can compare the Palm Pre Plus with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Continuing with the same trend as before, the 3.1” touchscreen with 320 x 480 pixels resolution is absolutely gorgeous thanks to its support for 16.7 millions colors that gracefully captures the essence of vivid colors. Thankfully, the display is bright, crisp, and detailed enough to work well outdoors in even direct sunlight. Accompanying your touches with a ripple-like water effect, the touchscreen is quite responsive as we had no issues with it recognizing our presses. The clean look of the surface stands out even more thanks to the inconspicuous gesture area that perfectly glows and moves for certain notifications.

The feel and placement of the other buttons on the phone and microUSB port are exactly where we found them with the Verizon Palm Pre Plus while the 3-megapixel camera with flash and speaker phone are found on the rear. You can remove the back cover by simply pressing the latch on the bottom of the phone to give you access to the battery. Finally, the Palm Pre Plus is loaded with the same 16GB of internal storage as we've seen previously.




Typing away on the 4-row QWERTY keyboard can still prove to be difficult for individuals with larger fingers, but the better tactile response is an improvement over the original one on Sprint. There really isn't anything different with this one and Verizon's as the layout and color of the keys are identical.