Palm Pre UK Review

[peacemf]

Just a quick phone history, I’ve owned the following phones:

Motorola Startac, Nokia 7600, Nokia 8800, SE K750i, K800, K810i, K850i, Iphone 3G and some others.

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.

Edited December 21, 2009 by peacemf

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

The fact that I can?t set an alarm for say 7.24am ( only in increments of 5), the same for the calendar times,

WOW!!!!!

[forster]

Glad I didnt get one now, nice review.

[Vice]

By your review I'd say the phone was rushed to market. Definitely sounds unfinished.

[The_Wizard]

The fact that I can?t set an alarm for say 7.24am ( only in increments of 5), the same for the calendar times,

WOW!!!!!

+1 I'm really surprised any modern phone wouldn't be able to set an alarm for any time.

[AbandonedTrolley]

I was more worried about the battery life! Geeez that sounds horrendous.

Will stick with my HTC for a while yet then.

[Nicholas P.]

Thanks for the review.

Shame.. I was expecting Palm to be better than this. :(

[Rob Veteran]

The Palm Pre could be ridiculously good. Instead it's just 'all right', which is a shame given some of the neat innovations in the UI.

[Bhav]

Good review.

Jeez...sounds like a horrible phone :s

[StandingInAlley]

wow! what a pos phone. Thank God, i didn't pick one from eBay. I thought Palm Pre on Sprint got pretty good reviews and people were happy with it. Have you updated your phone to 1.3.5 btw ?

[peacemf]

wow! what a pos phone. Thank God, i didn't pick one from eBay. I thought Palm Pre on Sprint got pretty good reviews and people were happy with it. Have you updated your phone to 1.3.5 btw ?

not available in europe :) , much like most apps in the app catalog :(

its supposed to be out in jan, but we'll see...

its a minor update really, still no video recording or any proper apps blah blah blah.

[Zoom7000]

Personally, I just couldn't get on with the weird look of the phone. But that's just my opinion. As for webOS, just can't get on with that either! :p