Palm Pre (Unlocked Multilingual) (QWERTZ, Multi-Lingual, Unlocked, 8GB)

Before you read any more reviews or make any more decisions about this phone, Google: "Palm Pre Screen Cracking". I have a palm pre and low build quality is a very legitimate concern with this phone. This is not an iPhone, the iPhone uses diamond finished glass with a stainless steel back for a build quality that I'm beginning to view as unrivalled. The outer casing of this phone is made entirely of THIN plastic. People have been rough with their Pre's - treating them like £30 phones or iPhones and completely smashed the display on day 1. Its not just a case of getting a new case (hehe!), if you begin a crack on the front of the phone that makes its way to the display then its going to cost a fortune for a new display. I am not a bitter troll, my Pre is absolutely immaculate!

Now that all that seriousness is dispensed with - if you treat this phone like a babies head then you've got a cracking phone on your hands (hehe more puns!). Wifi/3G work really well, I leave my wifi network at home to seamlessly get 3G on the way to work and stroll back onto the work Wifi network. Google maps loads in seconds with my current location centered. The phone upgrades its firmware by itself via Wifi. With very little effort I had the latest OS, GTalk, Facebook, Hotmail and even synched my Google calendar with my facebook Calendar. This is not a niche, hard to use phone for configuration addicts - it works straight out of the box. The browser is better than the iPhone browser IMHO. The app store is small but sufficient for a cheaper niche device. There are some familiar apps in the app-store, spirit level, weather, flixster (movie times), apps by major newspapers and enough radio apps to get you by.

The keyboard is small, you can't go crazy and start typing like mad, you can get a rythm going that's faster than T9 because you don't spend all day trying to add brand names to the T9 dictionary.

The negatives about this phone are big and obvious, decide whether you still want it after knowing them, it is the cheapest device on the market that does bluetooth/Wifi/GPS/3G to an acceptable standard:
*Low Battery Life - 1150mAH Battery on a smartphone? I didn't stop playing with it all afternoon and the battery lasted 10 hours but that did include a patch to the latest version, installing endless apps, virtually constant Wifi, a 20 minute phone call etc. Battery life is no worse than the Samsung Tocco - which had an 1850mAh battery (in mine) and gave the same battery life.
*There is no turn by turn satnav yet and major companies haven't indicated plans for one.
*There is no virtual keyboard yet.
*The app store is smaller than iPhone/Android. You will not notice much difference until you hunt for spotify, sat nav and paper toss, and a decent RSS reader. The App Store is beta and all free atm, this will improve after Easter.
*Nightmare to get to the micro USB, open the latch and leave it open. People have cracked the case just getting to the latch for the first time.

I will be keeping my Pre. Its good value and I can live with the catches for the pleasure of having a very competent phone that does everything I want.

I can't recommend buying a Pre unless you are a very conscientious person that really cares for such devices. Seriously people have smashed the screen just keeping it in their pocket with keys then had massive troubles getting refunds out of their carriers.

I moved to a Pre from a Treo 650. I was a bit apprehensive about losing the desktop sync, but the Web OS works like a dream, integrating all my e-mail accounts, Facebook and chat accounts. I use Google Mail's calendar now, and that downloads contacts and events to the device without being asked to (and vice-versa). I wondered if I would use the multi-tasking but within a few days I couldn't do without it.

If you are upgrading from an older Palm device you need version 6.2.2 of Palm OS. I had big problems upgrading to this until I installed it on a new machine on which an older version of Palm OS had not been run. I was then able to synchronize my Treo with 6.2.2 before uploading all the contacts etc to Web OS and back down to the Pre. It may be more fragile than an IPhone, but I bought a leather case that seems to offer good protection. It is smaller and lighter than the Treo, and much easier to travel with. Setting up e-mail accounts was simplicity itself, and having one screen that displays messages from all accounts is very useful. Battery life could be better, and plugging in the charge-lead is not as easy as one would like, especially when the phone is in the case (and you have to slide open the keyboard to plug in the lead). The applications on offer are limited, and I have not dared yet try the program that claims to allow you to use old Palm applications (which means that I am still running PasswordsPlus on Palm OS). I hope that the applications on offer increase substantially and soon - a good GPS application should be a top priority for Palm. But I would go back to the Treo (or sideways to an IPhone).

It really does feel like a quantum leap from a Treo.

]Device itself

The device itself is no different from the USA model. Featuring only the volume keys on the side, the front button, power switch and silence button.

Hardware

The quality of the device is subpar. It is not built to last to be frank. My device was "faulty" when I first got it. The problem is that the phone slider results in the phone moving side to side when closed and opened! This is known as the "oreo" effect. That however isnt the only problem, when the phone is closed you can see the edges dont line up, its a sloppy finish. Some areas around the keyboard CREAK too.

Whilst this phone is pretty cheap in the USA, Canada etc, this phone is the same price as the Iphone 3G in the UK. So it is not a cheap device to buy. O2 provide a two year warranty, and I highly recommend the insurance if you do want the Palm Pre.

O2 will provide you with 14 day cooling off period, so if there is a problem RETURN IT, within 30 days you have can return the device for another Palm Pre. After 30 days tough luck is the general stance unless you have insurance.

Keyboard, I personally like it, however after some use the keys don't feel tactile anymore, just feel flat!

Battery life is pretty bad, so bad infact that I really don't want to use it as my primary phone, until they improve it via firmware updates. Basically you sent an alarm before going to bed with 60% battery, and it will have died before your 7am alarm!

WebOS

Running on 1.3.1 the device is fast. Initially we in the UK got some really old school firmware, which resulted in the phone being sluggish and difficult to use. As well as the fact that you couldn't transfer contacts via Vcards. The new firmware is good, but a large number of features are still absent or poorly executed.
Currently the phone can't seem to update the time when you go aboard, this is a basic feature that most phones for the last 10 years have had! You go aboard and the phone tells you to manually update the time!

Contacts: The idea of pulling all your contacts from Gmail, facebook is great! However I really don't need to have the email address of some company I contacted years ago! Also there is poor support for hotmail, yahoo! (yahoo was supposed to be available with the new firmware, but was pulled from the GSM update). Hotmail isn't officially supported so you have to use the manual settings found online. Also when you want to quickly check a number you won't, for some reason it feels as though the contacts are not stored on the device but on the "cloud" so there is a delay, sometimes a few seconds before the contacts appear. Which is way too long (talking 5,6 seconds). Also YOUR number is not stored anywhere on the device, unlike every Sony Ericsson (just press the volume key), iphone (in the contacts), etc.

Also there is NO BLUETOOTH file send option for contacts or pictures etc. You can not receive files either. And NO FILE manager.

Camera: No options to do anything, just point and shoot like a teen watching porn! no video or autofocus either.

App store: With the new firmware 1.3.1 the GSM lot went from 100 apps to about 20 something. They are all useless! apps like to judge lighting conditions etc. NO PAID apps either.

Calendar: The calendar is nice but poorly done here too, for some reason it doesn't automatically download people's birthdays from any accounts, and no facebook events will appear UNLESS you accept them via facebook on your pc.
Also chat features for yahoo, hotmail etc are not available, and there are NO apps for this. Including Skype. So you won't be able to use any of them with the Palm Pre.

Browser: Its great, websites all open smoothly, however scrolling through one quickly the device will show you the checker pattern, indicating you have to wait. Which isnt good seeing as how this device uses the same hardware as the iphone 3GS.

Email: I said somewhere, but its poor. If your only using Gmail then its great, but if you were using Gmail and google services then you should really be buying a Android device! For things like hotmail, yahoo etc there is NO FOLDER SUPPORT! and you dont get JUNK MAIL folder! so basically a new friend sends you an email, goes to junk mail, you cant check it with the inbuilt email app, you need to go to m.hotmail.com to check the junk mail. There is no folder support, so if i make a folder called "work" it wont appear on the device when syncing/setting up.

Multitasking: it's great, until you open a few apps, then the phone comes really slow!

Homebrew
It's pretty cool, however most of the applications and patches are those that Palm should really have addressed, not the community. Like the Mp3 player, the fact that palm included a player that you couldn't fast forward etc is just shameful. The fact that I can't set an alarm for say 7.24am ( only in increments of 5), the same for the calendar times,

Conclusion
I really like the software, it's nice, feels light and easy to use, however it's a half baked device.
Bottom line, it is not worth it! Remember this device will end up costing you at least £700 over the contract, and it's priced the same as the iphone, which more apps, better built quality and is more mature software wise.
Unless Palm come out with revisions to the hardware and really put some effort behind the WebOS it's just not worth buying or even looking into. Right now it feels more of a side project for Palm that their pride and joy! In terms of development, they haven't figured out how to use ALL the hardware, which is pretty bad. Much like an automotive manufacturer including air conditioning, but not knowing how to get the knobs to work!

Also in the UK you get a FREE touchstone charger! which is cool. Had the device been priced alot cheaper then i think most of the issues you could overlook, but at a premium price and £90 upfront for the phone (depending on which contract you want) it can not be overlooked.