prereview

The Palm Pre is here. After a long, long time, Palm finally has a credible product out in the market that is entirely their own. No more hiding behind Windows Mobile and a 5-year old second hand operating system, the Palm Pre is set to make or break Palm, which was once the leader in smartphones and mobile computing.

In an incident not at all Palm’s fault, the Pre actually sparked a bit of a brouhaha in the netcasting (podcasting …) world. Veteran old media / new media statesman Leo Laporte blew up on Mike Arrington, when Arrington questioned Leo’s integrity for having a review unit of the Pre. But that’s not the news.

Let’s do a quick recap of the initial reviews of the Palm Pre smartphone.

Great look and superb feel. Well-conceived OS with multitasking and instant notification. Multitasking puts a big suck on the battery. Puny
(Steven Levy, Wired)

The OS is great. There’s no ifs ands or buts; it’s really refreshing to see something that’s brand new with a UI unlike anything else out there — the hardware is lacking.
(The Boy Genius)

To put it simply, the Pre is a great phone, and we don’t feel any hesitation saying that — what Palm has done is not only a major feat for a company of its size (and its dire position), and we think it’s an important step in the evolution of mobile computing. Just like the iPhone’s notches up the ladder, and the G1′s contributions, the Pre moves the game forward in a very real way.
(Joshua Topolsky, Engadget)

I find the Pre to feel rather solid in the hand and folks will be surprised how small it is. I am impressed with the browser experience and the speed on the Sprint 3G network — definitely faster than the iPhone, T-Mobile G1 and BlackBerry Storm.
(Early impressions by Kevin C. Tofel & James Kendrick, jkOnTheRun)

Palm has hit a home run with the Pre — the merging of the software and the hardware is as close to seamless as I’ve ever seen on a device.
(Dieter Bohn, Precentral)

The Pre may have hardware that’s worse than the G1/G2, but the whole package—the software and the hardware—isn’t bad. It’s good. It’s different. That’s something we can get behind.
(Jason Chen, Gizmodo)

Overall, the Palm Pre is without a doubt one of the finest examples of a next-generation smartphone – one that pushes the boundaries of your imagination and takes it to a Wireless 2.0 world filled with exciting new possibilities. The Pre is a device that allows you not only to Think Different but to Think Very, Very Different…
(Andrew, Treonauts)
Here are some more reviews from “the usual suspects”:

• NYT – David Pogue
• USA Today – Ed Baig
• WSJ – Walt Mossberg

• Time – Josh Quittner
• Newsweek – Dan Lyons
• PC Magazine – Sascha Segan
• Laptop – Mark Spoonauer
• SlashGear and MyPre – Vincent Nguyen
• PC World – Ginny Mies

Of course, news of the Palm Pre is slightly overshadowed in anticipation of that other phone which is supposedly due to be announced on Monday, with rumours still going fast and furious at the last minute. We’ll just have to see what happens on Monday.

In the meantime, welcome, Palm Pre. Welcome back, Palm.

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Filed under: Mobile News

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