If anyone has cared to read this, here's what I think of the Palm Pre so far:
1. Hardware
I love the pebble design. The shape reminds me very much of the Motorola PEBL, if anyone remembers it at all. At first, the design felt a tad bit flimsy, but after getting used to it in a few hours, I haven't much to complain about. Sometimes, I do have to play around to get the micro USB door open.
The slider opens with real ease. Anyone who has used a slider phone can say with confidence that the slider on the Pre isn't very hard to get used to. I can easily access the keyboard with only the flick of a thumb (left or right).
The one big difference from the iPhone, that has been noted several times over is the removable battery door. I like it. But for those who have tried to open it can attest to what I'm about to say. It scares me when I'm opening the battery door. I feel like I'm about to break that tiny pieces on either side that latch the door to the body. It worries me that I might pull too hard and break it, no matter how gentle I am. That's just a fear, though.
The power, and volume rocker buttons have perfect protrusions. These buttons come out to just the right height to access them with real ease and not having to look when pressing on them. The mic leaves a tiny hole right in front of the device that is somewhat distracting but I don't complain about it much. It kinda looks like a burst pimple to me (sorry if I just made you throw up).
Gizmodo, in their review, said that the edge on the Pre was so sharp that it could cut through cheese. I haven't tried it. I don't want to smell chess when I'm on a phone call with someone. I did run my fingers through it for a while and felt that it wasn't THAT sharp. I guess it can cut through cheese, but it's not going to penetrate my, or anyone else's, skin.
"Card view button" After getting accustomed to phone a little bit, I realized that there isn't a need for this little button. If anyone else has noticed, when you're in an application and do a "flick up" gesture that starts in the gesture area, the card view comes up, thus making this button vestigial.
Now for the part a lot of Pre users have been complaining about - the battery. Yes, it's a really disappointing battery in terms of battery life. I'm still optimistic and leaning towards the wish that there is a software/firmware update to fix this, even if by a little bit. Palm has worked really hard to make something truly revolutionary, and they've succeeded. I'm sure they're investing more time and ideas into what should do about the battery life.
The camera. The Pre has an amazing camera that produces crisp, sharp images at 3 megapixels. I love the camera. I would love to see more features on the software side, however. Will talk more about it in the next section.
2. Software
WebOS. I love it. I love what Palm has done with the interface using cards, flick gestures, etc. Synergy is good. I wouldn't go to the extent of calling it excellent, because, as many of you may noted, it needs work like any other program in its infancy. I'm upset that Google Talk accounts cannot be removed. I also had problems with syncing my accounts. I added a few friends on facebook, and Google, and when I hit sync accounts, it did notify me that the phone was syncing accounts but it was in vain. (I am not certain if this is the case with everyone or anyone else at all.) After a reset, it did recover my contacts from its automatic updates.
I absolutely love the non-intrusive notifications Palm came up with. Little icons on the bottom right corner that don't distract you very much, but they certainly make sure you see they're down there.
SMS/Chat. I like how they've set up the SMS/Chat and how you can flow from one mode to the other. It's almost too perfect. However, one thing it lacks is character count. Agreed that it automatically splits up messages into 160 character messages and does show you that it is doing so; this phone is made for a social bug. Twitter is where the social life is at right now. I tweet quite a lot. And for everyone who uses twitter, we know that the there's a limit of 140 characters. Granted there are apps (and certainly will be a lot more) for twitter, sometimes I just like texting a short tweet opposed to opening an app. I would really like to see a system update for character count sometime in the near future. If they don't, I'm certainly not shunning the phone. It would just be a nice addition.
Web Browser. The browser is a half-blood. I wish there were a preference pane that asked you if you wanted it to run as a mobile browser or a full scale one. Because if a website has a mobile version, the browser is sometimes redirected to mobile site and at other times the full site. I don't know if anyone has noticed this, or it's just me with weird settings. The browser definitely needs refinement. I've also noticed that the clippings for bookmarks don't show up right. I was trying to bookmark a few pages and the picture associated with it always shows up as the top left corner of the website. I guess it's a bug/glitch that Palm has already recognized and are working to fix it.
Camera. The camera is really, really nice. It takes photographs VERY quickly. I can manage to snap about 4 pictures in a second. I'm thoroughly impressed. I wish it could do more though. Mostly add effects, frames, and the usual. I understand that it would take a bit more memory to run, but honestly, when you're in a place that you have time to take pictures, you aren't really doing other things on the phone. At least an option would be nice.
App Catalog. Can't say much just yet. Only quirk I have as of now is that Palm released while still in Beta. They should have worked on it just a bit longer and made the SDK available to a lot more developers to have a ton of apps ready by launch. That's a major deal breaker for a lot of people who want things NOW. I guess that's one thing Sprint can't say - "Tons of apps. NOW." It wasn't a deal breaker for me because I know it takes a lot of time, energy, effort, and development to get things working just right. As of now, it only has 26 apps.
That's all the time I have for right now. I will most certainly review every feature in more detail (if I get a good response on this review; or, I might do it anyways). Please feel free to criticize, oppose, support, rate my very general review. Honestly, the Palm Pre is the only phone/smartphone (so far) I've cared enough to write my opinion about.
