Features:  

The Palm Pre is an attractive package that is dominated by its 3.1-inch, diagonal measure, touch screen. Yes, that’s a bit smaller than that of the trend setting Apple iPhone 3GS but its 320x480 HVGA resolution provides a superior image. The screen features multitouch technology so you can pinch and pull images to zoom in or out. Applications, in the form of cards, can be easily scrolled or flicked out of the way to close them and email can be deleted simply by swiping it from left to right.

Unlike many touch screens, a virtual keyboard isn’t an option so the phone slides open giving access to a physical keyboard. In general we’re in favor of such keyboards for typing but this one is something of a disappointment, particularly because it’s too cramped.

Our favorite aspect of the Palm Pre is the webOS and the way it allows for integrating applications with the web and in particular, a system called Synergy. This Palm exclusive allows for the sharing of information between such applications as MS Outlook, Facebook, Google and Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo! Mail and LinkedIn. Contact information in one application is shared so that all your data can be available in one consolidated place – though there is an option to keep it separate if you prefer. This makes searching for information quick and thorough independent of the application in which it may be stored. It also allows for switching a conversation from application to another seamlessly. For example, a conversation can be started using AIM and then changed to text messaging in a single, continuous display.

The other top feature is the Pre’s ability to multitask. Open applications display as a Deck of Cards that you can scroll through to interact with the one you want and simply tap it. There’s no need to close one application to use another one as is required with the iPhone and many others. When you are ready to close an application, just flick the card and it’s gone. It’s not the only multitasking multimedia phones – BlackBerries do it nicely – but the user interface is makes it particularly practical.

The Palm Pre has a pretty basic 3.0-megapixel camera which includes a flash. It lacks video recording capability at this time but a software upgrade may become available to remedy that. While we’re mentioning shortfalls of this generally excellent phone, we’ll take the time to mention that the battery life is rather disappointing. It also lacks a memory expansion capability. Though it has a pretty substantial 4GB of onboard memory that can be eaten up quickly when taking advantage of the multitasking capabilities and it doesn’t leave much storage for tunes.

The Palm Pre has a built-in GPS receiver, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity including stereo. It also has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a very good media player. The interface isn’t up to the standards set by the iPhone’s built-in iPod but by other standards it stands up well.

Expert Reviews:  

Reviewers are pleased and enthusiastic about the Palm Pre. The user interface and multitasking capabilities garner the lion’s share of praise. Criticism is also pretty consistently focused around rather slow loading of applications and some general sluggishness. Battery life and lack of expandable memory also has taken their share of knocks. Overall, however, the Pre is seen as a very welcome return of Palm as one of the best multimedia phones available and a device that should be just the first of several excellent mulitmedia phones based on Palm webOS. Competitors are going to have to pay attention to what Palm is doing.

Applications for multimedia phones have also become a major issue and, as of now, the Palm Pre App Catalog is in its infancy at best. Many applications that were written for the old PalmOS will run on the Pre with the addition of a third-party application called Classic, from MotionApps. It sells for about $30.

It’s impossible to talk about new multimedia phones without comparing them to the Apple iPhone 3GS. While the Palm Pre doesn’t unseat the iPhone as the king of the hill for overall appeal, it surpasses it in several important areas. Its innovative interactivity between disparate phone based data bases and web based services is likely to serve as a model for multimedia phones to come. The Palm Pre is among the best multimedia phones currently available for all but the most demanding of business power users.