One listener's reaction to the Palm Pre

[Help Desk listener Rich of Liberty Township, OH purchased a much-talked-about Palm Pre last weekend. Here’s his first impression:]

So far so good ... but a bit of a learning curve on the Palm Pre; I'm not the best person to ask about initial impressions since I don't do 'change.' well ... an age thing perhaps? After many years of Palm OS devices, making a PDA/smartphone change is going to be challenging. (BTW, heard Palm may have sold 150,000 Pre's this weekend and media believed they could have sold twice as many if they had the inventory? Rumors were than outlets like Best Buy only had a few units per store and wouldn't release inventory numbers to customers ahead of time ... ouch!)

On the plus side, one could not asks for a more elegant smartphone. It has a near perfect (although smallish) screen comparable to the iPhone. The bluetooth pairing is a vast improvement over the Treo/Centro models, in my opinon. The WiFi as been the biggest surprise for me since I didn't really think it was that big of a deal, but it works seamlessly in switching from cell 3G network to broadband. The new Web OS, backbone of the phone, uses the Internet to pass data to and from apps and to synchronize using this wireless connectivity. Fast broadband connections are best, EVDO 3G better and slow cell connections the worse (mine did a first day 70+MB systems update in a few minutes -- glad to have WiFi).

GPS has been another surprise and works great with Google Maps or Sprint Navigation software -- both included. The Palm Pre even fit into my Treo windshield holder for traveling and reads very well in the bright sunlight on about 40% brightness. (see link - but don't laugh at the packing skin still protecting my screen).

Perhaps the major reason I opted for the Pre over the iPhone was the slideout physical keyboard since I couldn't type very well on the iPhone or my daughter's iTouch. Nevertheless, the keyboard is small and they made a few key changes from the Treo/Centro models ... again learning curve. I miss the 4-way navigation for mistakes (must use the touchscreen) and would have enjoyed a roller ball option like the Blackberries, but no room.

And although I teased about the iPhones need for additional apps and the crazy stuff at the app store... I found after downloading a few for the Pre (and that's about what are available currently) that I'll be eating crow. The downloadable Pandora music apps is fantastic as is the Accuweather app which uses the GPS locator. Having the ability to 'flick' through the hour by hour forecast is really neat as are the radar images. Its also apparent that every news organization will be looking at the NYTimes app which feeds their content in an easy to read way -- it works well and loads into a single "flick-able card." I didn't see a Slingplayer apps just yet to run my home TV, but Sprint TV did a great job of streaming programming ... no uStream for MUB livecasts either, but they say it is in the works with Adobe and a Flash player. YouTube mobile encoded videos run well though. I haven't tried syncing my iTunes yet, but it is suppose to work well.

The biggest improvement and lead over the iPhone as I see it is in in running multiple applications ... something we do all the time on our computers. Traditional Palm OS would run one at a time (as does the iPhone), but with the "card" method I was able to run 9 apps cards before running out of memory. It was great to have my Pre mounted in my car running the GPS and talking on the bluetooth headset at the same time; a huge improvement over the Palm OS. Now if I could only find a way to rig a Touchstone-like 'induction charger' on my windshield mount I'd be ready to hit the road. (Touchstone is a magnetic mount that sticks the Pre on a desk puck that charges the phone without wires. The only 'port' not covered on my Pre is the 3.5mm headset jack which reduces pocket lint in the mini USB slot)

Negatives:

• Running multiple apps shortens battery life, but a spare can be carried and put in for long trips.
• No SD cards ... stuck with 8GB internal memory
• Design crazy graphical apps waste screen space with fancy icon requiring more scrolling than I would like, but they look nice.
• Camera takes good photos for cellphone, but no zoom and flash is worthless
• No video or audio recording currently. Palm OS had both.
• Super sharp screen is great but pushes aging eyes to the limits by cramming a lot on a page ... thankfully the pinch-zoom and rotating of the page to landscape view works well.
• :-)

Enough to give you something to talk about!

[Thanks, Rich!]