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Palm Pre: My first impressions

Posted in Palm on July 7, 2009 at 4:04 pm

It is really an iPhone killer out there? After three years or so trying, it’s probably fair to say that there won’t be a single iPhone killer – the Apple wonder just has too much momentum going, especially with the wealth of Apps available for it.

So while I immediately spoilt my own thunder, having finally played with a Pre first hand, if only for a few minutes, there’s no doubt that it will gain a lot of fans when it does eventually make it over here.

It actually impressed as soon as I picked it up off its very cool charging base – ‘the Touchstone’ – onto which the devices snaps via a magnet and charges is through the case – just by contact.

The actually phone is a smaller, rounder affair than the iPhone, and has deliberately been designed in this pebble-like manner so that it’s easy to hold in the hand.

Round the edges it’s got an on/off button and a headphone socket a USB port at the top and not much else. Round the back there’s a speakerphone. The screen is bright and clear, even though it’s a conventional LED and not a OLED screen, as sported by some newer Samsungs. The resolution of 320 x 480 is fine for the size of the screen (3.1inches) though. I was a little surprised to hear though that it only has 8GB of built in memory and no expansion slot – perhaps Palm will take a leaf out of Apple’s book and offer larger capacity versions too.

The Web OS is definitely the most impressive part of the phone though. The Pre is the first phone to support full multi-touch in the same manner as the iPhone, and zooming in and around photos worked very nicely. Gesture support is great, and works from the bezel around the screen, not just on it – thus by swiping backwards underneath takes you to a previous menu. Swiping open apps off, or cards, off the top of the screen closes them down, which is neat.

My favourite feature was swiping upwards from the bezel, which brings up a ribbon of icons, showing apps that you can switch to and it’s done with a really swish animation. When you move to your app, the one you’re in doesn’t shut down, aka’ the iPhone. Seeing the Pre’s multi-tasking in action actually made the iPhone nestling in my pocket suddenly seem rather old.

In fact, if multi-tasking doesn’t come to the iPhone next year, I’m off, and I suspect a great number of others will be too.

Moving round the phone, applications and images all seemed smooth, without any lagging issues.

The ‘Synergy’ feature was impressive, as it beings contact information from a number of different sources into one view – so for example, Facebook data is pulled into the contact, taking their profile image and other relevant data – so if they’ve got a Facebook picture, you’ll have their picture right there, which saves you having to do it. That’s neat.

The messaging page is also impressive, letting you select multiple methods of contacting people from one screen, such as GTalk, or SMS. I also like the calendar feature – which compresses down unfilled time sports so you can more easily see what’s happening on one screen.

All in all, it’s looks like a very, very nice phone indeed. The multi-tasking is its most impressive feature, and being able to easily switch been running apps in an elegant fashion is great. Though it’s also its Achilles heel, as it’s said to be responsible for the poor battery life.

All in all, I want to get my hands on one of these to see if it’s good enough to make me want to part with my iPhone. It might even leave me with a decision to make. Though no iPhones will be harmed in the making of it.