Comments on: Five of my favorite things about the Palm Pre

CNET editor Bonnie Cha lists her top five reasons for loving the Palm Pre.

[sgrmba]

1-Multitasking: My #1 feature also. I love having my key apps running and just scrolling through them.
2-Web browsing: My #2 feature. Pages present quickly and the browser is very friendly to use.
3-Speed: In my area AT&T is Edge and painfully slow. Sprint, which is in the process of still upgrading the network here, isn't 3G yet either but wow is everything about this connection faster. I can't wait to see what happens when the upgrade my location.
4-Screen resolution: Everything is so sharp and so clear and deep making this phone the easiest on my eyes yet. When I show people web pages with images or pictures, they are astounded by the resolution and clarity. They keep commenting on how great the picture is.
5-Tie between Call quality and the Camera: A smartphone should still function as a phone and this one has really good call quality. People haven't realized I had them on speakerphone until I told them. I am new to Sprint so I don't know why but I could make phone calls when there were no bars or 1 bar with no problems. As long as there was no X where bars should be, I could call. The camera is a tie - excellent pics, little shutter lag, flash is helpful in illuminating just enough.

[shalero]

Ok.... anyone saying the love the keyboard on the pre is on the payroll of Palm.
They are the most uncomfortable keys to use

[Thranx]

if it's anything like the keyboard on the 800w or 700w ... I'm sure great. They're by far the best phone keyboards I've used.

[slapppy]

I meant to post this as a reply for you. Palm did their best, but they should have raised the bar higher. The iPhone 3G S and ecosystem is just too much. Mind you that the ecosystem is not standing still either, its going to go bonanza with the Dock Connector API for developers. The few favorite things listed for the Pre is nothing much really.

Optical Grade Glass Oleophobic Coating Screen - NOT PLASTIC
CPU/GPU same as the pre
Open GL/ES 2.0 Optimized by iPhone OS
iTunes seamless integration
Movies
Video PodCast
Audio PodCast
TV Shows
Music
Music Videos
iTunes University
iTunes Latino
50 thousand apps and growing fast
REAL High End 3D accelerated Games
High End Applications
Dock Connector API and I can't wait to see the 3rd party hardware stuff coming this summer. This alone pushes the iPhone way beyond the wanna bees.
BT API
MobileMe with Locate me and Remote Wipe
Apps open and switch instantly now
Superior battery life by a huge margin
Video Recording ( Widescreen ) and Instant Editing right on the iPhone, Instant Share to YoutTube, MobileMe and eMail
Instantly share pictures to MobileMe Gallery
It's an iPod!!
Safari with AI, Multi-Touch controls
Real Cut, Copy & Paste. Yeah even non editable text can be copied.
Voice Memos
Voice Control and yeah not just English, Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (China), Chinese (Taiwan), Dutch, English (UK), English (U.S.), Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), Germanm, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish,, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), Swedish
MMS with full copy and paste
Real Universal Global Search
Keyboard with the best predictive intelligence yet. Has 40 international layouts and growing. Nice to have a virtual keyboard to easily add languages.
Dictionary supports international languages also
Character recognition so you can write in Chinese characters!
Digital compass ( hikers/bikers/campers ) will love this
Tethering
Nike + iPod
Parental Control
Autofocus and selectable Focus on the Camera!
Photo and Video Geotagging
AGPS

[seven7dust]

@slappy
wow! chill out !
this is a plam pre appreciation article so why post iphone stuff ?
the iphone is great but the palm pre is aimed at different users !
like those that want a keyboard and multi-tasking along with all elegance of the iphone O.S

[pjhenry1216]

@shalero: some people like it. i have the iphone 3g. if i could magically have the pre keyboard, i'd definitely consider it.

@slappy: many of your "features" are all part of the same thing. plus, why do people think this is an article about what the iphone doesn't have? Get over yourselves. The world doesn't revolve around you. Other phones may appeal to people more than the iPhone. Its not the end of the world.

[homercles82]

Slappy where did you copy that from?

[slapppy]

@homercles82

Apple iPhone page. It's all there.

[kyle2dotcom]

@shalero

It's not the greatest, but you would be surprised of easy it is to use (and I've never owned a centro or treo pro).

The keys seem really small and cramped, but I used to have an iPhone 1st Gen and I would say it's much easier to type with then the iPhone when held vertically. Which at the time was the only way to text.

[triforce747]

most of what you said is totally subjective, just to let you know.

[ajr65]

This is a really great phone ..Sounds like someone better change their review of the Palm Pre Bonnie....

[wmurch3]

I don't own a Pre but I have had a chance to handle one at Best Buy and right off the bat I was impressed with just how good it felt in my hand. It fits perfectly in your palm (no pun intended). Everything about it just oozed sexiness. I like the curvaceousness and having owned a Centro for a year now - I had no problem typing on the keyboard. As much as I enjoy reading all the comments from the insecure iphone crowd - the palm just feels better in the hand as a phone.

[Proud_Geek]

Wow. You need a girlfriend. :)

[hamedhemmati]

I have to say I am totally impressed by Pre's outlook. I have it synced with my exchange server and it works much better than any other phone I have synced with exchange. It takes 5 to 7 seconds to receive an email and 2 to 3 seconds to send one.
On top of that I see an option that I have never seen on any phone or should I say even desktop version of outlook and that is syncing with multiple exchange accounts. My other exchange server is in production so I can't test the second account yet but the option is there. If it can truly use it's synergy and sync with multiple exchange accounts and color code them just like with other accounts then that would put this phone way ahead of any other phone regardless of screen and hard drive size.

[hamedhemmati]

I can now confirm that Pre can sync with multiple Exchange accounts without a hitch. It worked awesome and it color coded the calendar events.

[ace10134]

My WinMo recieves emails within 2 seconds of my PC getting it. I wonder how well the Pre will compare overall to WinMo, so I'm gonna get a 30-day trial of the Pre and do all the comparisons I can think of.

[edfaulkner]

Just curious, did you write this article before Apple's Keynote this week? Seems like iPhone caught up to your #1, 3 & 5. Already there on 4. #2 sounds like personal preference (as does your aversion to non-physical keyboard).

I think I love my iPhone because of the overall user experience which includes integration in with iTunes and the App store. It all works very well, and is robust. Hopefully Palm can capture that experience for users of the Pre.

[ecruben]

Incorrect; 3.0 DEFINITELY does not support multitasking!!!

[adrollz]

I don't think this was in anyway a comparison between pre and iphone... it was just the list of 5 things Bonnie likes about pre... and btw i own an iphone too n hate to break it to u but iphone does not currently and doesn't even plan to offer multi-tasking anytime soon... I find the notifications pretty lame... I do find iPhone's camera of pretty decent quality but also find G1's camera of the decent quality so cannot really compare it to pre till I have used it... n GPS that iPhone will be offering will be through TomTom which will charge you money to download the app at the least to use the service whereas it's free with the Pre (I got my fingers crossed that AT&T doesn't find a way to charge monthly for GPS)

I cant wait for my contract to end so that I can retire my iPhone and ridculous AT&Ts service for a Pre and superior Sprint's service (at least in my dc metro area)

[websterphreaky]

AppleTard Troll ..... how's life in Fantasy Land??

The iPhoon is a gimmicky gadget that sucks as a real mobile phone and the lagging sales PROVE IT.

[ckh1272]

"by websterphreaky June 9, 2009 8:10 PM PDT
AppleTard Troll ..... how's life in Fantasy Land??

The iPhoon is a gimmicky gadget that sucks as a real mobile phone and the lagging sales PROVE IT."

Ummm...yeah. I am going to ask you to move all of you stuff from the basement and onto the freeway, mmkay. So, if you could just go ahead and do that, that would be great.

[pjhenry1216]

Until I see the iPhone 3GS camera quality in person, I'm gonna have to say the Pre's will be hard to beat. It's honestly on par with a standalone digital camera except I don't believe it has the focusing capabilities the 3GS will have. However, the speed absolutely smokes the 3G. The quality blows the 3G out of the water. The 3GS will have to have an amazing improvement in quality and speed to be comparable. But yea, just having video will be an advantage that goes to the 3GS.

[trekbowler]

You're telling me that the iPhone pulls all your facebook friends and adds them to your contact list, adds their email addresses, birthdays, phone numbers, pictures and links this profile to your LinkedIn profile, gmail profile, etc all without lifting a finger? I must of missed that at the conference.

Also, there was no mention of multitasking for previous models or new models. Probably have to wait until the iPhone 4G before that becomes a reality. My Pre also integrates perfectly with my music iTunes which is a great equilizer for Palm.

FYI - I am not an Apple hater. I own two Macbooks (one air, one regular) and use my iPod religiously, but the iPhone never appealed to me due to its over-simplified UI. It was revolutionary in its approach to minimizing the clicks needed to run a program and they are completely responsible for pushing cell-makers in the right direction, but the phone never felt like more than a glorified gameboy with phone capabilities. I hope Apple does better with their 4G iPhones.

Apple Fan & Pre User,
Jason

[bankerdanny]

adrollz, for non iPhone users (like myself with a Blackberry) GPS costs $10/month extra. Given that at least I get unlimited text messages with my data package and my wife doesn't get any with her iPhone, it seems unlikely that ATT will allow Apple to offer voice direction GPS for just the cost of the App.

[DrtyDogg]

@edfaulkner: This article is not a iPhone/Pre comparison.

[jhootska]

@trekbowler..

Thank you. Finally someone else is trying to educate these zombies about the uselessness and how overrated the Iphone is.. After you get bored with the 50,000 useless apps you realize you locked yourself into a $60 a month more expensive plan than sprint on a slower far inferior network for a hyped up ipod that can make calls.. wow.. with all the money you save on the plan with the pre you can go out and buy an ipod and a gameboy.anyone with any knowledge in tech can see the pre is better . i almost gave up my winmo phone for the iphone then i realized (after playing with my friends) it doesnt hold a candle to my winmo pocket pc phone. Skyfire and opera web on mine is better. i would have just been buyibg it for the stupid apps that you use once and then never use again. not worth $60 extra a month.. having to give up multitasking and FREE GPS!! Im glad you Zombie fanboys are happy with your iphone but for those who want a phone that really preforms stay away and save some cash.. fanboys stay off pre blogs and play with your gameboys.. i mean stupid useless app catalog.. Sorry Ms. Cha, i just get so frustrated with the ignorance.

[LosingAlllSanity]

You know the best thing about my palm pre, that has a huge advantage over the iphone? The $600+ a year i save by having unlimited everything with sprint rather than AT&T!!!!! Not to mention, i can drag and drop whatever i want onto my pre, as if it were an external hard drive.

[helio9000]

The iPhone 3.0 is not even close on #1 and nearly all the reviews show the Pre has a faster browser.

[myDrpC]

Nice job, Bonnie :)

Don't think I could have put it better, so I won't add anything to your list.
As stated before, the potential of WebOS is limit-less and I believe your list of things you don't like -
(I hope you catch some of the stuff we wrote on your other articles, please...)

Will be seen by Palm ( or please forward to them) to help evolve this OS to a higher level.
Wow, what are we going to think when we get the HTC Touch PRO 2 ?

After the PRE, it's hard to wonder if the enhanced Touch FLO 3D will be enough to toss the PRE.
Thou, this is turning out to be the best year for smart phones.

You go girl, Bonnie. It's your cup of tea!
Tata for now...

[ace10134]

idk, the Touch Pro 2 might be pretty awesome. That phone is making me second-guess buying a Pre. Ahh idk which I should gettt. Btw, WinMo 6.5 is pretty good, I have it on my phone.

[rdupuy11]

I just have one gripe.

In all the web, not a single Palm Pre story has been headlined with 'WebOS wobbles, but it don't fall down."

Dang it, don't make us wait for it any longer. You all are slipping.

[vara411]

Huh??

[trekbowler]

Very clever. Thumbs up :-)

[Proud_Geek]

I don't get it...

[typeA911]

I don't know about the Pre, but I been useing my Palm since I was 5yrs. old.

[CraigBoudreaux]

You realize, that could make you 18 now and you'd still be talking about a technology product.

[bimmin]

I actually haven't liked web browsing on my Palm Pre. No matter what I always have to resize the page i'm looking at. *pinch* *pinch*. On my old PalmOS phone I only stuck to mobile version websites because regular websites never rendered right in that browser and small screen. Now on the palm pre mobile websites are WAY too small. Most things look too small and I have to zoom in.

[jmoriconi]

Bimmin, have you tried double-tapping the content area of a page? That will make the browser's zoom snap to the width of the page element you tap, and even center it for your convenience. It usually gets the zoom right, but when it doesn't (blame the web developers for that, not the pre) it is still close enough that only minimal pinching is needed.

[HANDJOBBY]

ok, i'm not trying to knock you down, bimmin. i understand your gripe, but really, it's kind of petty. too many people take too many things for granted. people have been wanting a full internet browser experience on a phone, and when they get it, someone has to go and make a mountain of an ant hill (no, not a mole hill, because it's really THAT small of an issue).

no, the Palm Pre isn't perfect. it doesn't have video recording. it doesn't support flash. blah blah blah...but what it does well, it does REALLY well. i'd be saying the same thing if i waited for the 3GS, but i decided to go with the Pre, and i love it.

[Dr_Garcia]

hey Bonnie, how do you like viewing websites in the landscape mode and having to type new website addresses sideways on the pull out keyboard?

[dellibedaboss]

If you are trying to poke some fun at the physical keyvoard... I'd soo rather have THIS phone and its keyboard over the virtual one of iPhones'. I just cant get with it, one main reason I skipped the notion of even considereing it.

So what I gotta make a quick flip to type the address. I hardly even type addresses, thats what my bookmarks are for.

[seven7dust]

Yes that one of the big advantages of a touchscreen keyboard adaptability
Another think with the physical keyboard you can use the phone with
One hand
But with the iPhone's jailbroken t9 keyboard
Ins handed typing is awesome

Other than that the palm pre is a great phone
Hopefully someone creates a t9 keyboard for the device

[bonnie.cha]

Dr_Garcia,

I don't like it, and that's something I'll address in my follow-up post. However, I'll still take the physical keyboard over a soft keyboard-only option any day.

[ace10134]

Rotating the device takes less than a second for the screen to rotate, which is faster than your iPhone, so flipping the device is just fine for me.

Oh and can you flip your iPhone upside down and it rotates so someone in front of you can see the web page? I don't think so!

[HANDJOBBY]

exactly. i love to cook (yes, this is going somewhere) and one thing you learn very quickly is that you never OVERdo things. always leave room for a margin of error that can be fixed. Palm and/or a third party developer can EASILY add a virtual keyboard to use with the very responsive touchscreen of the Pre, and voila...options.

[HANDJOBBY]

@ace10134

hahahahaha!!! it's completely useless when you think about it, but when i read your post about the upside-down rotating screen, i HAD to try it. i was like NO WAAAY! that is so cool!!! i geeked out a little.

[ace10134]

@HANDJOBBY

lol it is so useless. Just about as useless as the non-working Exchange on the phone.

[Kupferg]

Other then what you already mentioned...
1) Multi-search capability. Start typing anywhere and the Pre instantly returns results from all areas of the phone and gives you options to send your search to Google or Wikipedia.
2) Intelligent directory services. I'm just coming up with terminology as I go. LOL If you place music on the device, it automatically shows up in your Music app, and categorized appropriately. You place photos on the device and it goes to the Photo app, and not only goes there, but folders show up as their own album in addition to everything added to a single all photos album.
3) 3.5mm jack
4) Auto mute on music/videos if a call comes in or you initiate one.
5) Pandora integration
6) The instant flip of the view when browsing the web. If I recall correctly the iphone takes a few seconds to go from vertical to horizontal and back.
7) The way you can drag the menu bar onto the screen without having to leave an app.
8) Voice Navigation
9) Adding contacts to the Launcher
10) Gesture controls are one of the coolest features ever.
11) The fact that anything I run into as a negative, is far from being a show stopper. I can't wait to read what you have to say on this topic. :)

Palm seems to have thought of everything. So far it seems that any time I think of something I want to do, this phone is capable of doing it, or connects you to someplace that can.

Apple needs to come up with something fresh. Sorry but adding MMS is not considered a new feature and certainly not worthy of a long awaited announcement. As for Windows Mobile...good luck, you'll need it!

[Kupferg]

Bluetooth EDR with A2DP.
Awesome sound quality.
Speaker phone that is actually usable.

And of course...Inductive charging. I want my Touchstone!

[ace10134]

Windows Mobile does everything the Pre does, and you can make it look exactly how you want. Right now, I'm debating if the Pre beats my WinMo phone or not. Btw, WinMo 6.5 is pretty slick.

[Kupferg]

Sorry, I'll have to disagree. If you've actually spent some time with a Pre there is no way you would have made that statement. WM does not even come close to what Pre can do. I've used Windows Mobile devices in many different flavors over the past 8 years or so and there is no chance what so ever that it's abysmal memory management (just to name one major flaw) will ever compete with any phone. I take it you don't get tired of hitting reset a couple times a day? :P And I played with 6.5 on my Mogul and while it is finally moving in the direction it should have 5 years ago, it's still a few days late and many dollars short of where mobile phones are today. You can't even customize the home screen. I flashed the factory ROM after 2 days of 6.5 horror.! If 6.5 is any indication of what WM7 will be then I will never use WM devices again. In fact the only thing that made me excited about WM before I jumped ship after all these years was SPB Mobile Shell 3. MIcrosoft needs to get their act together to stay in this race. First, listen to what consumers want (Thank you Palm!!!), second, build an interface that is current. Failing those 2 criteria,which go hand in hand, they should either buy SPB or get out of the mobile phone industry. Have you spent 30 minutes with a Pre and then tried to use the WM again? I have...it's not possible. ;)

[ace10134]

I disagree. You haven't used Windows Mobile 6.5 then! You can customize the home screen just like in previous WinMo versions. And last time I heard of the Mogol was like 2 years ago. That's a pretty old phone, so of course it's not gonna have as much memory as the Pre.

And I have the Pre right now, it's burning a hole in my leg as it charges! WinMo is a shining star compared to Pre, but I look for functonality first, so you might be looking for something different.

[paapDOTnet]

I love all the features you pointed out plus here's a few I'd add to that list to make a Top 10. (I realize some of these are just subsets of webOS or Synergy mentioned earlier but worth pointing out separately.)

*Notifications
I love how the instant notifications are handled for emails, IMs and SMS messages including the ability to quickly access them while keeping your existing app up in a separate card (multitasking on webOS rocks).

*iTunes
We have a couple iPods in the house (and a couple Zunes) and the ability to just plug the Pre in and have it sync with iTunes just like it's an iPod works flawlessly.

*Conversations
Building a thread combining texts and IMs in a conversation format in a nice display format (like Digsby) is nicely done. (Palm - I eagerly await Yahoo's addition to Synergy...)

*Gestures
The launcher swipe, back swipe and ability to quickly move or throw away 'cards' is awesome. (I'm sure those gestures have more official names but you get the idea.)

*Keyboard
One of the iPods in the house I mentioned earlier is a touch. I have nothing against Apple products. I appreciate the engineering but I really do not like typing on a piece of glass. Some of the early reviews came out negatively on the keyboard but I really love it. The rubbery feel of the keys works well for me and I do not have the smallest hands. A very pleasant surprise.

Don't just believe what you read, go give all these things a try!

[paapDOTnet]

...and how did I miss universal search?!?!

[ace10134]

I wish it would sync with the Zune :( But even WinMo phones don't' sync Zune Pass music, lol.

[Norseman]

I haven't actually held a Pre yet, but it seems to me that having the speaker on the back of the unit would be a minus. I like the speaker on the bottom of the iPhone, 'cause the sound kind of reflects off the hand and toward the person holding the phone. Could anyone who has a Pre comment on how having the rear speaker works? Thanks.

[jmoriconi]

My hand usually doesn't cover the speaker then I hold the Pre. Now that you mention it, the speaker placement almost seems clever for that. I have, however, covered it with my hand intentionally just to muffle it, and while it takes a hit in dB output it still sounds clear and perhaps even a bit less tinny (not to imply that it sounds tinny moreso than any other phone I've heard).

[CraigBoudreaux]

The Centro has a speaker on the back, and I've really enjoyed the speakerphone on it. In the car, I rarely need my bluetooth, I just lay the phone on the seat next to me. In the house, I find it's even louder if you place it on a hard surface.

[pjhenry1216]

I hate the placement of the speaker. When I'm doing anything in landscape mode that may have sound, I might as well note hear it as my hand is covering it. The same occurs 50% of the time if I'm holding the phone portrait wise and typing on the keyboard on the bottom as most of my hand will be covering it.

The speaker placement of the iPhone is actually idiotic if you ask me.

[fonefanatic]

Bonnie,

I am amazed that you actually talked good about another phone other than the Iphone. You stated that you do not own the Iphone. However I have been following you for some time since the pre was annouced and it seems to me that you are a Apple fan lady. Anyway glad to see you talk about another phone in a good lite. IK have bought the pre and considering a switch from verizon just because this phone is so Awsome. PS the sprint coverage in my area seems just as good as verizon

[myles taylor]

Maybe Bonnie is just an objective reviewer and actually reviews a product based on it's merits.

[Proud_Geek]

"...Talked good" ????
"talked GOOD"????!???

OMG someone shoot me now...

[FormerPCwonk]

Palm's a great company, but the Pre is dead in the water. "Land of the Lost" won't fall off the map as quickly as that phone will. We're going to go ahead and give the Pre the first annual "Instinct" award as the Sprint phone that sold a few units its first weekend but i quickly forgotten because, ultimately, all the people that care about post on CNET, which makes the number pretty darn small and almost universally male. Basically the same demographic that were in line for "Land of the Lost." This is not without irony, since after this week's Apple announcements, every Sprint store is its own Land of the Lost.

[jmoriconi]

As the Dude would say, "Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man..."

[myles taylor]

Could you back this up? I saw a very attractive young female at the mall on Monday with a Pre. What makes you think the Pre will be forgotten so quickly? It's a pretty cool phone.

FYI, I have an iPhone and love it, but I admire the Pre and think it's a worthy competitor.

[bankerdanny]

If Palm can't get its head out of its a** and release the final SDK so developers can really get to work then you may be right. But I don't think you are.

The iPhone is a terrific product beautiful to look at and exceptionally well executed. My seriously tech challenged wife really likes hers. If what you want is a handheld multimedia/game device with a pretty good phone built in then the iPhone is king. The reason I don't have one is that Apple's DRM policies **** me off. My wife can only import music from her Macbook Pro or my Windows XP machine, she can't mix and match, which forces me to have to rip CD's to both our computers. That's just lame. On the other hand, nobody else offers the libraryof TV shows and movies that iTunes does.

Palm needs to find a partner (Real or maybe Amazon) that can offer music and video downloads at least close to as comprensive as Apple. I would love a Phapsody to go app (I subscribe now for my Zen mp3 player) if Real would work out a way to get similar video content as iTunes.

[DrtyDogg]

Doesn't the Pre come with an Amazon MP3 app?

[bhartman35]

@bankerdanny:

"Palm needs to find a partner (Real or maybe Amazon) that can offer music and video downloads at least close to as comprensive as Apple."

Actually, Amazon already has their MP3 store native on Pre. You can't get Amazon's Unbox service on it, from what I understand, but I can't say I'm shocked by that. 8GB (minus whatever your other apps and data take up) isn't going to get you terribly far with movie downloads.

I think we'll have to wait for a 16GB Pre, at least, before video downloads from Amazon or some other online service happen.

[bankerdanny]

Bhartman, I was referring mostly to TV and movie downloads, 90+% of which are controlle by Apple. No iPod? No Office episodes on your phone/music player for you.

I can't believe that Apple has been allowed to have this market completely to itself for so long.

[AppleSuxLeo]

I like the way you can seamlessly continue an IM conversation on SMS.
Also love the way you can type out an email while listening to Pandora.
And the camera has essentially no shutter lag. Very rare indeed.

[seven7dust]

the camera thing surprised me no end
I always been a critic of cell phone cameras mainly due to the lag
even the so called 8 mega pixel cameras always had that one second lag
plus turning flash on and off is so easy
palm really out did themselves on the camera !

[Dan7637]

a product from a company gasping for life

1. people knock the iphone for poor battery life (although i have survived a day of web browsing on 3G), dont you think that this multitasking will lower the battery life and really tax the system

2. iPhone can integrate your calendars, email accounts as well

3. iPhone 3G S will have 3 megapixel camera w video as well with editing capabilities and direct uuploading to youtube, etc- thats not on pre

4. iPhone's safari browser is easier to use and better interface, plus the slow speeds are the network's fault not Apple's

5. How are you going to focus on the road and look at a tiny screen for directions, plus TomTom will have an app for turn by turn directions as well



3.

[cnetpre]

Don't be fooled by the idea that a mobile Operating System designed to perform multitasking (Palm Pre) requires more power and would drain the battery faster than a mobile OS that's not designed to perform true multitasking like the iPhone. Most likely, it may reduce the overall performance but it will not draw more current from the battery just because you're now running more than 5 apps at the same time. But from the majority of evaluations, response time while multitasking is still amazingly fast.

iPhone doesn't include built-in flash. On many occasions, cell phone cameras are useless indoors and in dim areas. The built-in flash makes the Palm Pre's camera more practical than the iPhone. Why would you want to edit photos on your cell phone when you could transfer them onto a computer using better, faster, and more sophisticated editing tools? The Palm Pre will become an additional or new platform for software developers; it wouldn't be difficult for the same folks who designed the photo editing functionality for the iPhone to expand their audience though the development of the same software under Palm Pre.

The built in GPS turn-by-turn navigation on the Palm Pre is one of the primary reasons and a big plus for me. I've seen how well this works for others using their cell phones w/ optional GPS navigation software accessories. Just prop the cell phone onto a cell phone holder in your car and you'll be impressed with just how your cell talks to you with turn-by-turn directions. I'm looking forward for this built-in feature already included with the Palm Pre; not an optional software accessory that has yet to be developed for the iPhone.

[Jive Turkey]

Defensive fanboi jealousy...*sigh*
1. What correlation is there between multitasking and battery-life? Have you actually used a Pre? Or even one of the dozens of WM devices that have been multi-tasking for years with fine battery-life?
2. I'm not even going to bother with this one. You clearly don't even know what Synergy does if you think it's the same as the iPhone.
3, 4, 5. OMG your arguments don't even make sense. I give up.

[tgwagen]

Oh Yeah? Oh Yeah? well, My Dad can Beat up Your Dad! so poo on you! " GROW UP !"

[ozoneocean]

It will have this and it will have that? Whatever man, this is about people using an actual product, not some "announced" upgrade. I'm sure the iphone4 will have built in sex-toys and a matter transporter, but people haven't got their hands on it yet so it doesn't matter, does it?

[pjhenry1216]

1) You didn't do your research. The Pre can utilize power much better because its graphics is handled on the main processor. Therefore requiring much less power for most tasks. true, it may not be able to play as many games, but honestly, I don't want my iPhone (yes i have a 3G) for games. Its fine to kill time, but I will never use it other than to kill a few minutes here or there. In any case, I'd take multitasking over battery any day anyway. It'd be nice if I could use pandora and do virtually anything else with my phone at the same time.
2) thats all well and good, but it doesn't do it to the extent the Pre does. The Pre integrates social networks etc all into calendars and what not.
3) Thats fine. I still want to compare picture quality though. Also, I'd prefer to edit on a PC or some other more suited environment than the phone itself. Notice how even cameras don't give you that much editing power. Its because its not the right environment. It's one of those features that sound great, but won't get used much.
4) Opinion. Thanks.
5) The GPS on the 3G sucks ass. I'd take a real GPS over it any day. If you want to use the 3G GPS, you'll need a companion to read it while you drive because there's no way it will always be accurate enough to not require human interpretation ("we're actually on the road going right next to this one, so i'll tell you what you actually have to do").

Plus... this article isn't "Things the Pre Does Better than the iPhone"

Stop trying to make yourself feel better about your iPhone. I own a 3G and I'm not complaining about this article. I'm actually interested about the Pre. Why does EVERYTHING phone related have to somehow come back to the iPhone? Stop trying to justify your purchase. Some people will be happier with the Pre than the iPhone. Deal with it.

[homercles82]

#5 is funny. So the iphones 1/4" bigger screen makes it better to do directions?

[bankerdanny]

Homer, I have to say that when I tested the Pre the other day the first thing I noticed was how much smaller the screen seemed than my wife's iPhone.

[dellibedaboss]

Yes, loser w/ the iPhone... 3.0 DEFINITELY desn't offer the COOL multitasking abilities of the Pr?, which is one of the greatest features. Synergy as well. The combined messaging is sooo awesome!
The camera's great, the OS is really fast, very, very few lags (just dont have 5 web browsers open at once! lol) In addition to that, the browser is very very fast for this mbile network, so I'm very pleased.

Apple has had its iPhone for years now, and just releasing its THIRD installment. Still doesn't come close to this phone. Yeah it got more apps, but the SDK hasnt even been released for this yet. It'll be so easy to make apps, Palm's app store will probably trump Apple's by year's end!

There are a few features lacking or suffering, but nothing to downgrade the 'awe'-factor of this phone. I feel that it's a phone on a new, higher pedestal than any other phone out today. I'm just sooo glad I was lucky enought to pick this up on release day Great review Bonnie!

[seven7dust]

Wow slow down with the hate
If it wasn't for the iPhone
you woudnt have all these new palm pre's and g1s
Apple kicked every single
Company on the rear when they released the iPhone
And forced other companies to catch up
And it has taken this long for them to finally do so
Like you said the iPhone is
Still ahead in some areas and palm is ahead in some areas
I'm a fan of the pre too but apple is aiming it's product at different users
Just like rim aims for buisness users
There's room for everyone in this industry
The palm pre is by no means a better device than the iphone
it's just aimed at a different set of people


I
The laggards like microsoft that are going down

[myles taylor]

While I agree that the Pre is a great phone and a worthy competitor, you took things too far.

For one thing, to say "Apple has had its iPhone for years now, and just releasing its THIRD installment. Still doesn't come close to this phone." is pointless, since a technology advances. The fact that it's in it's third installment means nothing. Pre couldn't have released this phone in 2007 or they would have. Also, you can't compare the Pre, which has been released, to the 3GS which hasn't been yet. Wait a week and then diss it after it comes out.

As for the App store trumping Apple's, I seriously doubt that. Apple has the advantage of having a huge iPod Touch base which is where the majority of the App downloads come from and that's what is going to keep any App store from beating Apple's.

[jpf321]

How about 1-handed operation? .. I have been a treo(650 & 700 all PalmOS) user for about 5yrs .. I love how I can do just about everything except speed type with one hand .. I'm following the news about the Pre .. but until I'm convinced of suitable 1-hand use that most corporate powerusers require, I'm not going to enjoy the phone. Thanks!

[hamedhemmati]

I can use mine with one hand just as well as I used to with my 755p. It took some time to get hang of how to open the slide with one hand but I can say for sure everything can be done with one hand except for pinching to zoom in. I use my thumb for the gesture movements and it works just fine.

[seven7dust]

thx to the gestures and the size the pre it's probably the first touchscreen phone that can be used with one hand
for everything other than messaging and keyboard functions
I really do hope some one makes a t9 touchscreen keyboard for the pre
for one handed use like sending of a quick message while doing something else
hopefully soon !