The Palm Pre. It's not just a phone, it's a myth, an idea, possibly a legacy... and a really, really long time coming. It's almost impossible to believe, but the crew at Engadget has been talking about a Linux-based Palm phone since way back in 2004. Through the now-distant years that followed, we were speculating, pontificating, and wishfully-thinking about a new device from a company that we'd come to expect innovation from. But we waited. And waited. And waited. We waited so long, in fact, that we actually penned a lengthy open letter to Palm, pleading for...
Palm Pre
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Reception and call quality
42 ratings | 13 comments
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43 ratings | 22 comments
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Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.)
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The Pre's software was the best thing on the market for about two days until iPhone 3.0 came out. It's fast, intuitive and easy to use without any training. But the hardware feels cheap, and the physical keys are so small that it doesn't seem to add much to usability. Overall I'm... Read the full review →
15 people find this review helpful
I own an iPod Touch (referred to as the iTouch frequently for ease of writing) and have friends (and co-workers) with iPhones so I can make a decent comparison. I owned an older Blackberry for 2 weeks (it wasn't for me) and manage 2 of them as a network administrator being my primary... Read the full review →
15 people find this review helpful
I bought the original iPhone the day it came out; the iPhone 3G the day it came out...the day the iPhone 3GS came out - I bought a Palm Pre - here's why: I am a huge Apple fanboy, I'll be the first to admit it; however, while the iPhone is superb at being a media player, I just have to be... Read the full review →
8 people find this review helpful
Being in an area of the country that currently is not covered by AT&T nor T-Mobile, the Palm Pre's only real competition are Windows Mobile devices and Blackberries. Compared to the devices that are available in my area there is no competition the Palm Pre wins hands down. Pros: • WebOS is... Read the full review →
6 people find this review helpful
When Palm announced the Pre at CES, I could have sworn that this would be the iPhone killer. Multitasking, physical QWERTY keyboard, and a sleeker design all pointed to the Pre as the iPhone's successor. Its navigation swipe gestures (up to minimize or to summon the launcher, forward and back... Read the full review →
5 people find this review helpful
Summary says it all. I've put this phone through its paces, both through use as a business device and a programmer's toy (root woot!). Although a bit laggy at times, the device holds its own against my demand for the web, social media, linux programming, and office doc use. The... Read the full review →
3 people find this review helpful
what i like most about the pre is that it's not an iphone clone. palm clearly has a different pov/philosophy than apple. the card system is a great metaphor and palm has implemented it superbly. it really is so incredibly easy to use. the only things missing that i think the pre needs is visual... Read the full review →
3 people find this review helpful
The Palm Pre is a real competitor to the Iphone. No one has been able to create an ellegiant experience as the Iphone until now. The palm pre and the WebOS operating system is as ellegiant and probably more fuctional then the Iphone. The multitalking is what makes this phone stand out. You can... Read the full review →
3 people find this review helpful
From its foundation in 1992 to being acquired by U.S. Robotics (which in turn was acquired by 3Com), and finally becoming publicly traded in 2000, Palm has quite an interesting history. Palm’s innovation in hand held devices has given it a memorable past, but the company seemed comfortable lagging... Read the full review →
3 people find this review helpful
I got the Pre on launch day and was impressed by how smooth it was, in just a few minutes of use. I had seen several videos building up to the launch, but until you use it for yourself, you remain skeptical. I gave the Pre a pretty high rating at 9.4 and there is a reason. WebOS is the real star and... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
I've become a big fan of WebOS and the Pre. Whenever I got back to using my iPod touch I try to use gestures to navigate around and get frustrated by the lack of multitasking. The apps that have come out so far are pretty simple but the situation is slowly improving. Synergy is nice although it... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
The day I unboxed my Pre, I was wowed with some of its features. Aside from the iPhone, no other device had shown me a satisfying mobile web experience. The Pre came through on that like a champ. Pages load quickly, they look nice, and navigation is completely intuitve. Getting contacts onto a new... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
I've had a Pre for three weeks as of this writing and it is the best phone I've ever owned' I used a Palm Treo 755p as my every day device for 2 years and have been waiting for the new Palm OS since the death of Cobalt. I used WM5 on my old T-Mobile MDA and tried the Treo 800w but... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
The Pre is a remarkable phone and I am definitely glad with my purchase. It does a great job of multitasking (although a bit slow at times), and is a pretty solid phone. However, I like to talk about the bad before I talk about the good. The bad: First, the Palm Pre is a phone, and out of everything... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
I'll start by saying I've been a crazed Pre follower since back when then announced int in January. It was a long wait and a lot of speculation, but the Pre was worth it. To start off, the phone is beautiful. Sleek and reasonably thin for a QWERTY slider,the Pre not only looks great, but... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
-The phone itself is great, I get great coverage here in NY and fast EVDO browsing. - Photos are a little rough around the edge at this point, it take a second or two for images to clear up. - The SDK itself is the real problem, it hasn't been released so only a limited amount of apps. - The... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
The longer I have this Pre, the more I realize that this wonderful device is a long-term contender. A bit about me: 1. I've been a Palm man since 1996, never looked back... and most recently came from a Centro. 2. I've been an Apple Mac man since 1986, never looked back, been there through... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
I have had the Pre since a week after it came out and I can say that coming from my old HTC Mogul on Sprint this is way faster than Windows Mobile. The current version 1.0.4 of WebOS isn't quite perfect I admit; but it has all the features I want/need and the OS is pretty snappy and quick. The... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
Love the phone, the apps keep coming and it keeps building speed! Watch out Apple, Palms coming for you! Slick user interface, multitasking (wheres that Apple?) and blazing speed! The features keep coming and the phone just keeps getting better! The best part about this phone has to be the ability... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
For two struggling companies (Sprint and Palm), the Palm Pre with its WebOS is a very strong product offering that even the big boys at AT&T, Verizon, Apple and Blackberry should keep an eye on. From the moment I got it, I was impressed. The box is one of the coolest I've seen, with an... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
I was once a Palm Pre user. Setting my trusty iPhone aside I forced myself to accept a device that is both similar to the iPhone and yet unfamiliar. Holding a Palm Pre feels good like an iPhone, but less solid. The gestures involved for unlocking the Pre, scrolling through menus, deleting... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
I've used an iPhone and iPhone 3GS previous to this, and I can say I like the Palm Pre a lot better, for all the reasons in the summary. It is super easy to hack, modify, tweak, and make apps for, and the app catalog is already well over 1000 apps, and it's growing rapidly. Love this... Read the full review →
2 people find this review helpful
Back in June 2009 when the Pre was released, it was a decent phone with a brand new operating system, in alpha stages some might say. But the main advantages were the small size and the great OS. The multitasking was THE best feature on any smartphone. The major issue at the time (and for several... Read the full review →
1 person found this review helpful
I like this phone a lot, but there are a lot of handcuffs as well. I wish there was a speedier processor and more RAM. I think that future WebOS devices will be amazing; this was a solid gen1 device. Read the full review →
1 person found this review helpful
If you are looking for a phone that is heavy on the business side (i.e., email, contacts, calendar, web browsing) and not as much emphasis on the personal side (i.e., MP3/Podcast/Movie player) then this is a truly amazing phone. It's not that the personal aspects aren't good, they are, but... Read the full review →
1 person found this review helpful