Phone Review: Palm Reviews

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Palm Pixi Plus and Palm Pre Plus Review

Posted quangtao Tuesday, February 2, 2010 0 Comment

What's hot: Palm's webOS is a pleasure to use, Verizon's strong network is a plus.

What's not: Both could be a tad more responsive, the Pre Plus outshines the Pixi Plus.

Reviewed January 20, 2010 by Lisa Gade, Editor in Chief

They're back, this time on Verizon and with a "Plus" tacked to the end of their names. Though nearly identical to the Sprint versions, the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi, the Verizon versions add a few tweaks while keeping the contract price the same as Sprint's models. The Pixi Plus gains WiFi 802.11b/g and the Pre Plus doubles the Pre's storage to 16 gigs. Both models will be available on Verizon on January 25, 2010 and the Pixi Plus will sell for $99 with contract while the Pre Plus will sell for $149.

Our review of these two will be brief because honestly, you've read it all before in our Palm Pre review and Palm Pixi review. There's very little difference between the Sprint and Verizon versions beyond carrier customizations (e.g.: Sprint's products have Sprint Navigation while Verizon's version has VZ Navigator) and the increase in storage for the Pre and added WiFi for the Pixi. Our feeling is the same when it comes to picking between the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus: it's really worth the extra $50 to get the Pre Plus. It has a larger, higher resolution display that's noticeably more vibrant and bright, it has a better QWERTY keyboard and it can also play 3D games that the Pixi Plus can't.

Verizon's got another value-added for both the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus: Mobile HotSpot. This free downloadable application basically turns your webOS Palm smartphone into a MiFi. Run the app, create either an open or WPA/WPA2 WiFi network and turn on the HotSpot feature. Your Palm becomes its own WiFi network and it shares its EV-DO Rev. A connection with your notebook, PC or other WiFi enabled device. Gone are the torturous tethering setups over Bluetooth and USB. If you wish to use the Mobile HotSpot feature, you'll have to pay an additional $40 a month on top of the the Pre and Pixi $29.99/month unlimited data plan.

Palm's application store is now a reasonably lively place, and you can download free and paid apps directly to the phone. While the selection isn't as overwhelming as the iTunes store nor as robust as the Android Market, there are some good apps now including various weather programs, AP News, the New York Times webOS app and even good quality 3D games like Need for Speed for the Pre. If you wish to purchase applications, you'll do so using a credit card and your Palm's App Catalog program since there's currently no billing through the carrier. Many apps are 99 cents to $4.99, while tier one games like Need for Speed cost $9.99. Overall, there's quite a lot of fluff in the nascent App Catalog, but there are enough useful titles to keep one entertained and productive. Palm includes an Office suite so you don't need to purchase that.

Palm's Synergy is alive and well on the Verizon versions of these phones, and we still love its impossibly solid ability to sync PIM data from multiple sources without creating a bucket of duplicates or munged contacts. The Pre Plus and Pixi Plus can sync to Google, MS Exchange, Facebook, LinkedIn and Yahoo and it can handle POP3 and IMAP email too. Palm's webOS phones don't sync over USB or Bluetooth to your desktop computer-- it's all cloud syncing. But they do notoriously sync music via iTunes (though Apple frequently breaks syncing with iTunes updates).

After some time away from webOS, we have to say it's great to dive back in: it's a thoroughly modern and attractive operating system that handles multi-tasking with aplomb yet manages to be stable. It's not as customizable as Android and it doesn't have the huge ecosystem of applications that the iPhone does, but it's very visually appealing, powerful yet easy to learn.

Palm Pre Plus

While the Sprint version has a gloss back, the Verizon version opts for a soft touch finish that's less slippery and doesn't get mucky with fingerprints. We still like webOS and the Pre's decent speed even when multi-tasking, though it's a bit slower than the iPhone 3GS and faster Android phones like the Motorola Droid and Nexus One.

The 3.1" capacitive display is bright and so colorful you could mistake it for an AMOLED screen. The 320 x 480 resolution is the same as the iPhone's, and significantly lower than the Droid's and the HTC Imagio. But Palm's webOS is fresh, fun and easy to use, so hardware isn't everything. And the Pre's impressive 600MHz ARM Cortex A8 CPU is modern and among the faster smartphone CPUs. WebOS multi-tasks (take that, iPhone) and it's incredibly easy to switch between applications: just tap the illuminated touch bar below the screen to minimize an app. Throw its window up toward the top edge of the display to quit the program.

The smartphone comes with the usual webOS applications including a YouTube Player, Google Maps, a photo viewer, capable webkit web browser, memos, music and video players and PIM applications. The Pre Plus ships with VZ Navigator, Verizon's $9.99/month navigation and spoken directions application that works with the Pre Plus' GPS.

The Pre Plus has Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, a 3 megapixel fixed focus camera with a small LED flash, and a slide-down QWERTY keyboard with tiny, rubbery keys that aren't among the best for serious typing.

Palm Pixi Plus

The Pixi Plus is a lot like its big brother the Pre Plus, but it doesn't do most things as well. It has a smaller 2.63" capacitive touch screen that runs at a slightly lower 320 x 400 pixel resolution. Its display isn't as bright and vibrant as the Pre's, and finger control is slightly more difficult since the on-screen targets are smaller. The Pixi Plus carries the same list of features as the Pre Plus: WiFi 802.11b/g with Mobile HotSpot support, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, a GPS that works with Google Maps and VZ Navigator and a 3.5mm stereo headset jack. The Pixi Plus has a lower resolution 2 megapixel camera with a small LED flash and a fixed focus lens. Rather than the Pre's Cortex A8 CPU, the Pixi runs on a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7627 CPU. Though their clock speeds are the same, the Pre Plus is noticeably faster and has support for high quality 3D games which aren't available for the Pixi Plus. The Pixi Plus does run more responsively than the Sprint version did with the original firmware. Unfortunately, we no longer have the Sprint Pixi in house to compare them with the newest firmware.

Like the Pre Plus, the Pixi has tiny, rubbery keys. But the Pixi's are even smaller and the keyboard rows are straight rather than curved in a more ergonomic smile configuration.

The Pixi Plus targets folks who are upgrading from the once very popular Palm Centro, and it sports a modern version of the Centro form factor. If you like QWERTY bar phones and prefer a thinner phone, the Pixi gains points against the Pre Plus. But in all other respects, from display quality and speed to camera quality and QWERTY keyboard, the Pre Plus is the better phone. It's a fun and affordable smartphone, but as we noted in our review of the Sprint version, the Pre is the Pixi's biggest enemy.

Video Review

Here's our 7 minute video review of the Palm Pixi Plus and Palm Pre Plus:

Conclusion

Both the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi Plus are fun, modern and enjoyable smartphones. Combined with Verizon's strong network and EV-DO Rev. A fast data, these phones are definitely worth a good, long look. Palm's webOS is capable and multi-tasks well, but we'd say its simple and non-customizable UI is best suited to smartphone novices and those who don't want to spend hours, days or weeks customizing their smartphone. If you're a power user who likes to tweak and have a customizable desktop, or craves a higher resolution display to better view web pages and MS Office documents, Verizon's Droid duo and their HTC Windows Mobile phones might be a better choice. But then, it's great to have choice, isn't it? And between the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, if you can afford the $50 additional, you know which we'd pick.

What about the Sprint vs. Verizon versions? Honestly, the phones are so close that we can't say the Plus phones are a really signficant improvement. We'd wager that WiFi on the Pixi Plus is a lot more important to most of you than the increased storage capacitity on the Pre Plus. What it comes down to here is choosing the carrier that suits you best in terms of service, features and price. Again, it's great to have choice.

Price: Palm Pre Plus is $149 after rebate with a 2 year contract. The Palm Pixi Plus is $99 after rebate with a 2 year contract.

Websites: www.verizonwireless.com, www.palm.com

Specs:

Palm Pre Plus:

Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable.
Performance: ARM Cortex-A8 (TI OMAP 3430), 600MHz CPU, 16 gigs flash storage built-in.
Size: 3.9 x 2.3 x 0.67 inches. Weight: 4.76 ounces.
Phone: CDMA dual band digital 800/1900MHz with EVDO Rev. A.
Camera: 3 MP with LED flash. Takes photos but not video.
Audio: Built in speaker, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Stereo headset included. Can play MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCLEP and WAV files. Video player can play MPEG H.263 and H.264 formats.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP Bluetooth stereo profile.
Software: Palm Web OS 1.0.2. Messaging (SMS, Google Talk and AIM), web browser, email, photo viewer, video player, tasks, memos, music player, Google Maps, YouTube player, Amazon MP3, Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, Nascar mobile, calculator, MS Office document viewer, PDF viewer, clock and App Catalog.
Expansion: None. Micro USB connector.

Palm Pixi Plus:

Display: 320 x 400 pixel capacitive display, 18 bit color. Screen size diagonally: 2.63". Resolution: 240 x 320. Has an accelerometer, ambient light sensor and proximity sensor.
Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1150 mAh. Claimed talk time: up to 5 hours.
Performance: Qualcomm MSM7627 600 MHz processor (dual core with 400MHz modem core). 256 megs RAM. 8 gigs flash storage.
Size: 4.4 x 2.2 x 0.4 inches. Weight: 3.26 ounces.
Phone: CDMA dual band digital 800/1900MHz with EV-DO Rev. A for fast data and fallback to 1xRTT.
Camera: 2.0 MP with LED flash (shoots photos only).
GPS: Has GPS that works with Sprint Navigation and Google Maps.
Audio: Built in speakers, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Has ringer silencer switch.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo.
Software: Palm web OS. Messaging (SMS, Google Talk and AIM), web browser, email, photo viewer, video player, tasks, memos, music player, Google Maps, YouTube player, Amazon MP3, Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, Nascar mobile, calculator, MS Office document viewer, PDF viewer, clock and App Catalog.
Expansion slot: None.
( Author : Lisa Gade, Source : mobiletechreview )

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Palm Pixi Review

Posted quangtao Monday, February 1, 2010 0 Comment

What's hot: Small and pocketable QWERTY smartphone, fresh OS.

What's not: Sluggish at times, keyboard is trying.

Reviewed December 23, 2009 by Lisa Gade, Editor in Chief

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times: no I'm not talking about the French Revolution but rather the mobile phone OS revolution. When the Palm Pre, Palm's first new webOS smartphone hit the market this year it caused a big splash because everyone loves a new phone OS and because Palm has a history of making intuitive and fun products. The Pre has sexy hardware and the OS, though at launch lacking third party application support, was indeed very cool. That gives the Palm Pixi, the company's second webOS device a big intro. And it raises expectations greatly, which is a challenge for a budget segment phone like the Pixi. The unassuming name gives it away: this is a little, friendly guy who doesn't want to go up against the big boys like the iPhone 3GS, HTC Touch Pro2 or the HTC Hero. He's a Centro replacement, complete with budget build, impossibly rubbery and tiny QWERTY keyboard and a low-pain price tag.

If you've got a Pre, the Pixi likely isn't for you. In fact, if you've got 50 bucks to spare, you might be better off with the Pre since it's got a more attractive design (assuming you don't mind sliders), a better display and faster performance. That's the other bit of hard times for the Pixi: it's close enough in price to its more capable older brother that the Pre competes with it. Sprint offers the Pre at a very low price, likely to try and steal away potential iPhone customers while the Pixi is priced as the Centro was at launch: $99. If you are a Centro owner looking to upgrade and you really dig that Centro form factor and lower price, the Pixi is certainly worth a look. Palm's webOS is much more modern, fun and powerful while still being easy to use. WebOS doesn't have the gazillions of applications that the old (very old) Palm OS does, but now that Palm's app store is up and running, there are enough useful apps to keep basic smartphone users happy.

Specs at a Glance

The 3.69 ounce Pixi has a QWERTY hardware keyboard, a 2.63" capacitive multi-touch display, a 600MHz CPU, 8 gigs of flash storage, a GPS, Bluetooth and EV-DO Rev. A. There is no WiFi nor a microSD card slot. Nonetheless, that sounds like a capable device for the price. For an additional $70 you can get Palm's neat Touchstone charger with a special phone back that has a stippled texture (required for use with the Touchstone). But we wonder how many folks will spend $70 on an optional accessory for a $99 phone. Still, if you hate plugging in the charger, the Touchstone is appealing: simply lay the phone on its back on the stone and it charges.

The optional Touchstone.

The back cover for the optional Touchstone charger.

Design

The Palm Pixi is a close relative to the Centro (one of Palm's most popular smartphones). It's a QWERTY bar that's great for those who hate sliders and fear the possible breaking of moving parts. The rubbery back feels great in hand and the phone fits easily enough in a pocket. The keyboard is tedious: the keys are simply teeny-tiny and they feel like a child's toy with each being a bubble of soft plastic.

The phone's front face is glossy and attractive. The back is curved and modern. It doesn't look like an expensive phone but it looks like a cool phone and is a good update from the Centro's basic form. There are hardware volume buttons and a ring silencer slider on the right and a power button up top. That's it for mechanical buttons. Like the Pre, the Centro has a touch sensitive control just below the display that lights up whenever it's available for use. This white bar handles most everything that an old-fashioned phone's d-pad and enter key would: moving back and forth between browser and application windows and returning to the desktop. Simple and easy. Need to wake up the phone? Briefly press the power button then slide the on-screen unlock icon. Also simple and standard among touch screen phones.

The Pixi's 320 x 400 pixel display is lower resolution than the Pre's (320 x 480) and more closely matches what you'd see on a solid feature phone. That's OK but the 2.63" capacitive LCD is too small for finger touch and multi-touch isn't the easiest to use with so little screen real estate. The Pixi's screen is bright but it doesn't look quite as sharp and colorful as the Pre's.

Video Review

Here's our 8 minute video review of the Palm Pixi:

Phone and Internet

The Pixi is a dual band digital Sprint phone (they have the exclusive for now). It has EV-DO Rev. A for fast data with fallback to 1xRTT. Call quality is good with clear and full voice on both incoming and outgoing ends. Volume is good enough to make a call from a big box store and the phone doesn't transmit a lot of background noise. Reception is also good, with the Pixi pulling in a slightly stronger signal than average among Sprint phones. There's no voice dialing and no speed dial but it has smart dialing (type in a few characters of a contact's name to bring them up for dialing and texting).

Web browsing is good thanks to webOS' capable webkit browser (the iPhone also uses webkit). The display is too low resolution compared to today's smartphones like the Pre, Hero and Droid, but it's the affordable (less feature-rich) smartphone so don't expect it to keep up. That means more scrolling and zooming to view desktop layout web pages. That said, it's quite good and if you're upgrading from the Centro, you'll be floored because the Pixi's browser is that much better. Most full HTML sites render well, and Sprint's EV-DO. Rev. A supplies a fast connection to the web.

Email is strong on webOS and the Pixi can handle MS Exchange, POP3 and IMAP email well. Palm's Synergy means that you can sync to multiple sources-- Facebook and multiple Exchange accounts for your contacts and not be overrun with duplicates. Very, very nice.

Performance

The Palm Pixi has an impressive dual core Qualcomm CPU running at 600MHz (the other core handles modem functions and runs at 400MHz). There's also graphics hardware acceleration on board yet the Pixi feels slow compared to the Palm Pre. Granted the Pre uses a different CPU but the clock speeds are the same-- leaving us to wonder if Qualcomm's CPU is lacking or if the folks at Palm have some more bugs to squash and optimizations to create. Rumor has it that Palm will release an OS update for the Pixi in January 2010 that will speed up the smartphone. The Pixi isn't always slow, but it bogs down randomly and just long enough to convince you to tap or swipe a second time when you didn't really need to. That of course, leads to piling on an unwanted task that further slows down whatever it was you were actually trying to do in the first place. The Pixi isn't a pig, but it reminds us at times of laggy older Windows Mobile phones rather than the spritely Pre and iPhone.

Camera and GPS

The Pixi is good for getting you where you need to go, and it can show you tempting places you didn't know about before, courtesy of Google Maps. Sprint Navigation is on board for spoken turn-by-turn directions too (Sprint Nav, powered by TeleNav is included with Sprint's Everything plans). The GPS worked well in our tests, keeping up with our location on the road and providing cogent directions.

The camera on the other hand, is by no means impressive. It's only 2 megapixels-- which would have been exciting 4 years ago, but now puts it squarely at the bottom of the camera phone barrel. It takes OK photos by 2MP standards and the tiny LED flash helps little for dark shots. The camera doesn't shoot video (really).

Conclusion

The Palm Pixi is an affordable, fun and intuitive smartphone. We still like webOS quite a lot, though the Pixi's hardware doesn't show it off as well as the $50 more expensive Palm Pre. If you're upgrading from a Centro there's a lot to like, including the much more modern OS with multitasking, a good GPS, and support for Sprint's myriad services like Sprint TV and NFL Mobile. We're not in love with the keyboard, but we weren't a fan of the Centro's either. It's tiny and the keys are gummy bubble affairs that seem toy-like. The phone is good looking, feels great in hand and seems sturdy though the plastic front face may be prone to scratching. Now that apps are appearing on the Palm App Catalog, you can have fun downloading free and paid apps directly to the Pixi, and though the selection can't compete with iTunes and the Android Marketplace, it's a good start. The Pixi is prone to sluggishness despite the fast CPU, and we hope that Palm can fix this with a firmware update.

Pro: Fresh, modern and intuitive OS. Looks good and feels good in the hand. Full suite of Sprint applications and services. Very good webkit web browser. Awesome cloud-syncing capabilities with MS Exchange, Facebook, Google and more.
Con: Sluggish at times. Not a good choice for those who want USB syncing to desktop PIM applications like Outlook. No WiFi. Display is a bit small for capacitive multi-touch and the resolution is relatively low.

Websites: www.sprint.com, www.palm.com

Price: $99 with a 2 year contract.

Specs:

Display: 320 x 400 pixel capacitive display, 18 bit color. Screen size diagonally: 2.63". Resolution: 240 x 320. Has an accelerometer, ambient light sensor and proximity sensor.
Battery: Lithium

Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1150 mAh. Claimed talk time: up to 5 hours.
Performance: Qualcomm MSM7627 600 MHz processor (dual core with 400MHz modem core). 256 megs RAM. 8 gigs flash storage.
Size: 4.4 x 2.2 x 0.4 inches. Weight: 3.26 ounces.
Phone: CDMA dual band digital 800/1900MHz with EV-DO Rev. A for fast data and fallback to 1xRTT.
Camera: 2.0 MP with LED flash (shoots photos only).
GPS: Has GPS that works with Sprint Navigation and Google Maps.
Audio: Built in speakers, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Has ringer silencer switch.
Networking: Integrated Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo.
Software: Palm web OS. Messaging (SMS, Google Talk and AIM), web browser, email, photo viewer, video player, tasks, memos, music player, Google Maps, YouTube player, Amazon MP3, Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, Nascar mobile, calculator, MS Office document viewer, PDF viewer, clock and App Catalog.
Expansion slot: None.
( Author : Lisa Gade, Source : mobiletechreview )

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Palm Pre Review

Posted quangtao 0 Comment

What's hot: Lovely new OS, fantastic looking capacitive touch screen, attractive, pocketable.

What's not: No local syncing, keyboard is so-so, fingerprint magnet.

Reviewed June 5, 2009 by Lisa Gade, Editor in Chief

After 6 months of hype and eager anticipation that didn't quite reach iPhone-level hysteria, the Palm Pre is finally here. Currently exclusive to Sprint in the US (it's also available in Canada on Bell), the Pre is the first iPhone contender that's actually in the same league. Not that the Pre copies the iPhone's design or software (though in fact it makes a few minor borrowings from Mac OS X), but it's that fresh, innovative and fun. Using the Pre isn't quite like anything else, yet it's easy enough to master in 30 minutes. Palm, once at the forefront of handheld development, has made the comeback of the century. No, the Pre isn't perfect, but it's excellent in terms of hardware and software.

There are limitations here, just as there were in the first two iPhone operating system releases and in Google's Android 1.x release on the HTC G1. Like Android, the Pre is cloud-sync driven. That means it can sync to Exchange, Google services and Facebook but not desktop Outlook or the Mac OS X PIM applications. That's a bit strange for a phone that targets consumers rather than corporate types-- consumers largely aren't the cutting edge, livin' large online types that keep all their contacts, calendar and tasks on those services. Yes, there's an initial data import feature where you can import your desktop Outlook and Palm Desktop data (remember Palm Desktop?) once, but thereafter no more local syncing for you. For those of you who do sync to MS Exchange, Google and Facebook-- enjoy! In fact thanks to Palm's "Synergy" you can sync to all three and it manages to merge them all into your contacts, calendar and etc. without creating a duplicate nightmare.

Palm pulled off a bit of magic when it comes to media syncing: iTunes thinks the Pre is an iPod! Plug in the Pre and it asks you if you want to use mass storage mode, media sync mode or just charge. Select media sync and iTunes says "hello new iPod". You can sync music, photos and video but not PIM info. It's really no different than using an iPod as far as iTunes is concerned except there's no iPhone app sync (they're not compatible) or PIM syncing. Note: you can't use the phone or text when the Pre is in mass storage or media sync modes.

The flush power button, lock slider and 3.5mm stereo jack.

There's a music player on board with support for MP3, WAV and iTunes unprotected tunes (AAC, AAC+). The player has sort by playlist, artist, title and genre features, and with 8 gigs of storage, you can keep a healthy music library on the Pre. There is no expansion card slot however, just like the iPhone, so 8 gigs is all you've got to work with. Sound through the rear-firing speaker is murky and not very loud, so use the included stereo earbuds, your own 3.5mm headphones or an A2DP Bluetooth headset, all of which sounded a great deal better in our tests.

Should you detest iTunes, you can mount the Pre using the included USB cable as a mass storage device (like a USB flash drive) and copy tunes manually to the phone. There's also an Amazon MP3 store icon on the phone, so you can shop in an Apple-free environment.

The volume controls on the Pre's left side.

The Pre has 3G in the form of EVDO Rev. A for fast data, and indeed web pages and emails downloaded quickly over the Sprint connection. There's a YouTube player that also worked well over EVDO Rev. A, though videos aren't quite as sharp as they are in the HTC Touch Pro 2's YouTube player. Video fills the Pre's most excellent 3.1" capacitive display. The display is very sharp, bright and color saturated. It's on equal footing with the iPhone in terms of sharpness, but is a bit more color-vibrant (that may change if the 3rd generation iPhone ships with an OLED display as rumored). The Pre has an ambient light sensor that adjusts brightness, and it's generously bright at the expense of battery life (the Pre lasts at most a day on a charge with moderate use). There's an accelerometer than works only in selected apps such as the web browser, photo viewer and video player. A proximity sensor turns off the display when in a call so you don't accidentally cheek-dial or hang up on an unloved one.

The Pre is a shiny, pretty black stone of sorts. While it doesn't look like expensive goods, it does look very cool and attractive. If you opt for the optional Touchstone charger, you must use its included matte black back which 1) doesn't grab fingerprints like a maniac, 2) doesn't lend itself to slippery flying Pre syndrome. The Touchstone plugs into the wall charger and USB cable included with the Pre. Put on the matte back, lay the Pre's back against the sloped Touchstone and voila, it charges. The Touchstone angles the Pre perfectly for use and video playback. The Pre sleeps and turns itself into an attractive desk clock when it's on the Touchstone charger-- hit the power button or touch the on-screen lock and slide your finger up the display to wake it.

Call quality is decent but not stellar. The phone's DSP works hard to reduce ambient noise when calling from a noisy place but when that DSP kicks in, it also reduces outgoing voice quality (don't worry, voice remains intelligible). In quiet places outgoing voice is clearer, though background noises will sneak in. Call volume is average through the phone's earpiece, and the speakerphone isn't terribly loud. The phone works with Bluetooth headsets, and overall voice quality was good and volume loud with a variety of headsets including the Jawbone 2 and Plantronics Discovery 925. The large on-screen dialer is easy to use and you can smartdial via the keyboard (type in a few letters of a contact's name to bring up matches and dial). Palm includes a selection of ringtones and you can add your own MP3 ringtones. There's a vibrate function, call history and one-touch voicemail access.

Sprint includes all their popular services including Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV and Nascar mobile. They sell the phone with their Everything plans, and the cheapest $70/month plan includes 450 anytime minutes, unlimited data (tethering not included), Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation and text messaging. They also offer Everything plans with more minutes and unlimited minutes for higher monthly fees.

Sprint TV worked well on the Pre, better than average among Sprint phones. We tested on-demand movies (for $5.99/flick you can stream popular movies to the phone), and a variety of channels. Video quality was good and audio was mostly in sync. The player uses the entire screen, though there are black bars if the aspect ratio of the media doesn't match the Pre's display dimensions. The Sprint apps integrated well with Pre's unique touch user interface thanks to some good software work.

The Pre's GPS has good reception and works well with the included Google Maps as well as Sprint Navigation. Sprint's program is optimized to integrate well with the Pre's user interface and it provides good spoken turn-by-turn directions, maps and POIs. Re-routing sometimes gave the Pre a case of the stutters, especially if we wandered from the prescribed route when taking a trip where there were several ways to reach the destination. The speaker was loud and clear enough to be heard in a quiet sedan, but it might be a little low for a sports car, large truck or car full of hooting children.

The Pre's software is distinctly new, though the initial view of all installed applications isn't so different from the iPhone or Android. There's a grid of icons and you slide your finger right and left to switch between pages of icons (sometimes it's better to not mess with what works). It uses a card metaphor to represent running applications. Tap on an icon to launch a program and once you're done with it, press the hardware belly button below the display to turn it into a card that takes up just a portion of the display and is translucent. Flick the card up to close the application. The Pre, like most smartphones except the iPhone, multitasks, so several applications can run concurrently. If memory gets low, the Pre automatically starts to kill applications (which happens with around 10 running). The desktop backgrounds are beautiful and are similar to those included with Mac OS X (you can install your own too). Likewise, there's a launcher bar at the bottom that's very similar to Apple's dock. By default the bar is populated with icons for the phone dialer, contacts, email, calendar and one that opens the full palette of program icons. You can remove an icon and replace it with another (press and hold the app icon in the icon palette until you see a water ripple effect, then drag it to the bar). You must first remove an icon from the bar before doing this since 5 icons is the max (you can't remove the icon that opens up the full programs palette).

How do you enter text? Like the 1.x releases of Android, you use the slide-down keyboard since there's no on-screen keyboard. The keyboard is small and has rubbery little keys with a modest dose of tactile feedback. It's not a texter's dream but it's better than nothing. The Pre has an arc-like curve when the keyboard is deployed, making it feel good in the hand and keeping the display angled slightly toward you.

What about those of you who need to get a little work done? Palm and Sprint target prosumers and consumers with the Pre, and aim the Treo Pro at business users. That said, there are MS Office and PDF viewers (no editing, just like the iPhone). And there's support for every email type extant: MS Exchange, IMAP, POP3 and popular web-based and cloud solutions like Google Mail, Mobile Me and more. Email works well on the Pre, with sharp rendering and good download speeds--we like.

The Pre app store is still in beta, so don't expect to see an iPhone-like or even BlackBerry App World-like selection of programs. In fact, there are just an handful of applications at launch, including a New York Times reader that looks similar to the one available for the iPhone, Pandora, AccuWeather (looks like a near exact clone of HTC's TouchFLO 3d weather panel) and a few others. It's easy to peruse available applications using the App Catalog program and likewise easy to download and install them.

The web browser is excellent and reminds us of Safari on the iPhone and Opera Mobile 9.5 on Windows Mobile to a lesser extent. You start with a page overview and can zoom in using a tap or pinch. The screen is a bit small at 3.1" for a legible page overview, so the iPhone and HTC's Touch Pro2 have the advantage there. There's no Flash support in the browser but it handles most everything else well, including Javascript, tables, frames and multiple windows. Good job, Palm. The browser saves bookmarks as thumbnails, and you can navigate forward and back using the touch sensitive strip below the display. The Pre has WiFi for even faster connection speeds (though Sprint's EVDO service is very fast if you've got 50% signal or better). In our tests, range was average for a smartphone and connections were reliable and fast.

The camera isn't going to wow Nokia N series owners: there's no autofocus, a weak LED flash and no camera controls. Likewise, like the first version iPhone and Android phone, it can't shoot video. But it does use very good image processing software that provides very natural colors and excellent exposure, though noise is above average.

Conclusion

A most excellent start from Palm with their first new Web OS smartphone. The hardware is attractive and the Pre looks great, feels great (albeit slippery and fingerprint-y) and is smaller than the iPhone and many other touch screen smartphones. The phone is intuitive, fun and generally responsive, though there are occasional minor slowdowns. The capacitive touch screen is not only beautiful but easy to control and the Pre has all the bells and whistles of a smartphone except local syncing: email with Exchange support, GPS, top notch web browser, WiFi and Bluetooth. If you're a Sprint user and have been hankering for something truly different and fun, the Pre is a go.

Pro: Excellent capacitive touch screen that's vibrant. The OS is easy and fun to use with lots of eye candy. The Pre is very attractive, feels great in the hand and is relatively small for a smartphone. Good cloud syncing options and excellent email support. Great web browser, good GPS and Sprint Navigation is solid. Sprint's Everything plan means you can use all the Pre's pre-installed services without fear of charges and hidden costs.

Con: Keyboard isn't great, there are feature holes like no video camera, no on-screen keyboard and just about no 3rd party applications at launch. Fingerprint magnet to the max and slippery, though the Touchstone back cover helps (if you plan to buy that accessory). No direct local syncing to desktop applications like Outlook or Mac OS X PIM apps. The phone occasionally gets sluggish, signaling time for a reboot. No voice dialing.

Price: $199 with 2 year contract after rebate

Websites: http://www.palm.com/, http://www.sprint.com/

Specs:

Display: 24K color capacitive touch screen. Screen size diagonally: 3.1". Resolution: 320 x 480, supports both portrait and landscape modes in certain applications (has accelerometer). Has proximity and ambient light sensors.
Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable.
Performance: TI OMAP 3430, 600MHz CPU, 8 gigs flash storage built-in.
Size: 3.9 x 2.3 x 0.67 inches. Weight: 4.76 ounces.
Phone: CDMA dual band digital 800/1900MHz with EVDO Rev. A.
Camera: 3 MP with LED flash. Takes photos but not video.
Audio: Built in speaker, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Stereo headset included. Can play MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCLEP and WAV files. Video player can play MPEG H.263 and H.264 formats.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP Bluetooth stereo profile.
Software: Palm Web OS 1.0.2. Messaging (SMS, Google Talk and AIM), web browser, email, photo viewer, video player, tasks, memos, music player, Google Maps, YouTube player, Amazon MP3, Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, Nascar mobile, calculator, MS Office document viewer, PDF viewer, clock and App Catalog.
Expansion: None. Micro USB connector.
( Author : Lisa Gade , Source : mobiletechreview )

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