Palm Pre (CDMA)
Phone Scoop Review
Jun 3, 2009 by Eric M. Zeman
Palm hopes the Pre can bring it back from the brink of extinction. Based on what Phone Scoop sees, Palm's chances of salvation are pretty good. The Pre is a solid phone, even if it makes a few mistakes. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Awesome phone
Coming from a HTC touch which is the same size as this phone made it very easy to adjust to the Pre. This phone like others before and other after it is not for everyone, no phone is. This phone keeps getting better the more i use it the more features i discover. This is way better than Win Mobile. This is not and iphone beater it's in a class of it's own, but I like this better also Sprint and their plans. This is really good for 1.0 now 1.2 OS.
pro
Shape & Size
Screen
OS
Keyboard
Reception
Sound quality
Apps
Browser
Synergy
Cons
Battery life but i fix that
If you happen to get this phone I highly recommend Precentral.net. There you will find tips, how to, fixes, news, cheaper accessories etc, no issues with my phone so far.
iPhone without the apps...
The Palm Pre is the iPhone without the apps-it's no surpise since a few of their execs who were in charge of developing this phone were former Apple Execs. Hopefully in time the Pre will have the apps the iPhone has. The web browser is definitely on a par with the iPhone-I can log into all my brokerage and bank accounts. The ability to perform multiple tasks at once is something no other smart phone can currently perform. The keyboard, a lot of reviews state it is too small however I find nothing wrong with the size-I'm able to type fine or better than the virtual keyboard the iPhone has. Not a bad start for the Palm Pre I must say. I think the exclusive with AT&T for the iPhone certainly hurts them since if the iPhone were available already on Sprint's network I would have the iPhone instead of the Palm Pre. Thank GOD however that Palm developed the Pre for Sprint since it is a very capable alternative to the iPhone.
Pre? Pre-us?
I wasn't one of those people who wanted this phone immediately after seeing a review. In fact, I hadn't seen or heard anything about this phone until Thursday, the day before it was released. (No, I don't live under a rock. I'm taking 15 credits of classes during summer session, that's 8 weeks long, btw.) Anyway, so I managed to catch the unboxing on youtube.com by Noah from Phonedog and it looked like a phone I wanted.
So on Sunday, I went down to the mall and picked one on. My initial reaction to this phone was; "Oh wow! Neat!" but after using it non-stop for almost 12 hours I have to say this phone is definitely in a class of its own.
I'm coming to this phone from a Palm Treo 800w and prior to that I had the Blackberry Curve and before that the Samsung Instinct. I'm, unfortunately, a very critical person when it comes to something like a phone and tend to change phones more often than my socks.
The Palm Pre is compacts for a smart phone, fairly lightweight. It is kind of 'plasticky', which seems to be a common complaint but I find that it adds to it. Rubberized phones tend to collect dust, fuzzies and airporn particles. Especially if you put them in your jeans pocket.
The display is beautiful and barely lags when using. It has a quick response time and decent processing power, something my Treo 800w lacked.
Applications load fairly quick and you can have multiple applications running in the background and it doesn't slow it down at all, which is amazing.
There's already and update down for WebOS, which is good. It means Palm's staying on top of the game with providing updates for their phones. Maybe we'll be lucky and they can provide some software that can use the camera as a video recorder. Its an unneeded accessory, but it would to the phone's greatness.
The keyboard is usable, it needs work but I think after a few days of use I'll be able to use it as quickly as I could the Treo's.
Overall? A great phone.
Palm pre amazing so far!
First of all, I am a sale associate at The Shack(Formerly radio shack). I have seen hundreds of phones pass through over the years. I used to be with verizon before they screwed me over so I switched to at&t for the BB curve 8900. Although the curve was solid, it was kinda slow and the Internet had issues(defective). I just recently switched to spring for the palm pre.
So far, the phone has been AMAZINGLY fast, and the multitasking is great. After owning a BB the key board is not an issue. The wifi runs almost as fast as my home computer, 3x faster then my BB. Unlimited data is great, and i've only roamed once. SPrint's network is FAST, and although they have alot of roaming, as long as i can call idk.
I was able to put 2 people on hold, surf the Internet, text someone back, then answer 2 other questions.
Pro
Fast internet, wifi and fell
resolution is great for youtube
amazing multitasking
call clarity is great
coverage is better then verizon(sprint pro)
camera is great
Web OS is a great operating system
Able to customize the bottom bar
If an app freezes, u can close it, w/o
restarting the phone
Cons
Battery life is kinda bad just like most touchscreen smart phones
not alot of apps quite yet, they are coming
No video camera, will be fixed with updates
Cannot expand memory, possible future model fix
Slider does feel a little cheap, but no issues yet.
Overall I gave this phone a 5 star, and so far I truly believe it deserves it. Granted I have only owned 5 phones, I have trouble shooted, sold, and thrown out hundreds
Great Phone
This is a great device. Excellent display and browser and once you get past its slight learning curve the device is very easy to use.
People that give this negative reviews crack me up.
"IT SHOULD HAVE 16 GB!!!!!"
1gig=12-14 hours of music, now times that by 8. What it amounts to is quite a bit of information that you can carry around in your phone. Will some people use it all up? Maybe. But AT&T sells a far greater amount of 8gig iphones than they do the 16gig model. I do wish that there was a SD slot but at the same time I can understand why they didn't. 8 gigs on a cell is a very good amount of memory.
I love moving through the different screens for true multi-tasking. Listening to Pandora while responding back to emails is great and the kind of features you won't find on any other phone. Blackberries or otherwise. Palm needed to hit a homerun with this phone and I certainly believe they have. The software updates that will allow for flash, that will allow you to edit which contacts are imported in from facebook, gmail..etc will only make this phone even better. The great thing is that those are being worked on even as I type this. A very, very solid launch for both Palm and Sprint.
Get the Palm Pre, its great smartphone
I have had the Pre since day 1 (7 months now) and switched from a 2G iPhone on AT&T. In my area the signal strength is not great for ATT and Sprint, but Verizon had no smartphone that was even close in June, 09. I looked at a Droid yesterday and it is too big and heavy for me since I have had the Pre. Sprint sent an Airave free of charge and no monthly fee to help with my signal strength at my house. The Pre does what I want so easily like calender, calling, internet that it was a step up for me from my iPhone. It is a smaller device, same weight and easier to hold. The charging method (induction puck)is a big plus. I sync with Google calender which I like and the synergy search is so natural to use. There are many apps now, and Palm is adding them daily. The keypad is very easy to use and I make less tying errors than I did on the iPhone. My Pre has not had any problems with the screen or the slider and as I read that some people had an issue, I never did. The battery life is fine and the early OS caused it to run down, but that is fixed. I like WebOS and the card system. The updates for my Pre have been regular. There is a patch available to let you now if you missed a call or email, the led flashes, something that I dislike about my other phone. Free included Sprint Navigation is as good as my Garmin 260, so my wife has the Garmin and I use Sprint's.
Pros:
Physical feel of phone is great
Good phone, I can hear well and others have no problem hearing me.
Synergy search and card WebOS is intuitive
Cons:
Could be lighter in weight
Sprint could have a better signal strength in some areas
Palm Pre better then iphone
First off this phone is the best phone I have ever used. I've had both iphones touch pro g1 blackberry storm. This phone beats them all. The os is amazing love the keyboard its a little small but with my big fingers I can fly on this device. The camera is awesome you can send mms really quickly on this thing as well my only small con is the battery life could be a little better but hey it still last longer then my iphone did great job palm welcome back.
GREAT PHONE!!!
What a great phone, Kudos to Palm. I have had many palms, PDS and even an iPhone and I have to say this phone is better than any phone I ever had even the iPhone. The only thing that is lacking is appts, but come on, we all know that when the iPhone first came out did not had any appts ether, so lest just wait some time and who knows Palm may even have more appts for it.
It's a most have Phone!!!!
Grate Phone Love My Pre
And I am A Mac User As A Former Iphone & Storm User I Gotta Give It To Palm You Get Best Of Both Worlds The Touch Screen & QWERTY Keypad As For Only 8Gb The Storm Come With 1GB On Board As You All Know Plus 8GB Memory 9GB and That was Like 24 Hr Of Video And Over 500 Songs Plus I Download A App That Use to Load All My Apps On my 8GB SD To Free Up The 1GB On The Phone And That Was More Memory Then I Needed So i Am Very Happy With The 8GB My Pre Has Plus With The App Store Under Way And Updates To Give The Pre Video Recording & Flash Player Would Just Add To The Pre I Guess If Your A iPhone Are A BB Guy/Gal Its Up To You It All Comes Down To What YOU LIKE As For Me Its Sprint And $99.99 Everything Plan And The Pre
