Verizon Pre 2 Review

Introduction:

When we first reviewed Verizon’s Palm Pre Plus last year, it was in the middle of Android’s rise to fame, and now a year later with the Pre 2 launch, there is little to no fanfare surrounding it. Timing is everything, and the Palm Pre 2 couldn’t have come out at a worse time. With Verizon’s 4G LTE Android devices right around the corner, and the HP Pre 3 already being shown at trade-shows, the Verizon Palm Pre 2 is in a very tight spot. Still, for those who are true webOS fans, the Palm Pre 2 does offer some benefits over the Pre Plus, such as a faster processor, more RAM, higher resolution camera, and updated software with webOS 2.0. But is this enough to peak customer’s interests with so many other choices available?

Included in the retail box is the Palm Pre 2 smartphone, 1150mAh battery, wall charger with detachable microUSB cable, and wired pair of 3.5mm earbuds.

Design:

Last year’s design of the Palm Pre Plus was innovated, but a year later is has become boring to see it used again on the Pre 2. It would have been nice to see some design changes to the exterior of the phone, but there are almost none. The Pre 2 retains the oval and rounded shape, which does make it comfortable to hold, and continues to use the soft-touch coating on the sides and back. The only visual change is found with its front side, which is now flat.



You can compare the Palm Pre 2 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The capacitive touchscreen display on the front remains the same size at 3.1” and with a resolution of 320x480 pixels. It continues to work well with vibrant colors and clear text, though a larger display would have been a nice upgrade here.


Along the side of the Pre 2 are the volume rocker, power/lock button, 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB port, and a sliding lever that acts to silence the phone’s ringer and alerts. Located on the back is an updated 5MP camera with LED flash and speaker. The battery cover includes the ability to work with the optional touchstone charging dock (sold separately). There is also 16GB of internal memory available to use user, which is the same amount that was on the Pre Plus, and no memory card slot.



Unfortunately, there has been no change to the 4-row QWERTY keyboard, as it is laid out the same as on the Pre Plus. The individual keys are glossy and have a plastic feel to them, but are still small and close together that we have to use our fingertips or nails when typing. We feel that the keyboards on the Motorola DROID 2 and DROID Pro are laid out better and easier to use with bigger hands.