Back in October, I decided to make the jump and get a Smart Phone. Plenty of people had them, and from what I saw, I was impressed with the capability. I decided to get the Palm Pre, mostly based off of some web videos I had seen of it, and I like slide type phones.
The phone for the most part I am satisfied with. The response on it is good, I am able to navigate around the interface fairly well. I find it pretty intuitive, and was able to get it figured out rather quickly without needing to reference a manual. The keyboard seems pretty good to me, and I am able to type out my messages without to many typos. I guess with the keyboard though, is that it is not useful if you are in landscape mode on the phone, but that is the design of the phone, and really no way around that without changing the design of the phone. Also I guess a complaint I have is that there is no way presently to record Video, which I think is a limitation for a phone in this generation. There are some hacks to get it to record video, but nothing official.
I have updated my Phone to OS 1.3.5.1, though I had a complaint about the previous release of the OS as it was unable to keep time accurately. I was pretty bugged about that, but when I updated to the latest it fixed that bug with the previous release. Out of the Box the phone kept time, but that one update did not. It was a very good thing it was fixed, as I think if it was not, would have been a huge disatisfier for me, as I don’t wear a watch, but use my phone to check the time.
The standard apps on the phone seem decent enough, the browser seems adequate, and the Bell 3g network seems ok when I am in a good location. It has a GPS in the phone so it can track your location, and you can use google maps on the phone. I am not sure if I would ever use it in replacement for a proper GPS, but I can see where in a pinch it could be used. It took a little bit to get the mail setup, but that really was not the phone, but me making sure I used the proper mail servers to send and receive email. The wireless was also easy to setup. Navigating between the open applications are nice as well.
A few complaints I have. The charger I don’t really care for, it is hard to access on the side, and the cover looks very fragile. I am sure this is by design so that they can sell the Touchstone charger. That charger looks innovative, just bugs me that it is additional cost, and pricey to boot. I guess these days, what should a person expect. I was intrigued by the charger, but I really doubt if I will ever buy it.
My Other complaint is my biggest complaint, the Apps available for this phone suck. They are located in the app catalog, but so far, all that is available to me is free applications, with the majority not being very appealing. Since I am in Canada, I am on Bell for this phone, so I can only guess there is no way yet for people in Canada to purchase the paid apps. I think what makes these phones really special, are the applications, and so far, I feel that Palm is way behind Apple iPhone and the Android based phones. I got an email the other day for some new games on the Palm Pre, I went and checked the App Catalog, and still the same free apps and none of the ones advertised. There are a few that are nice, like an AccuRadio which allows you to pick certain genre channels of Music. The AccuWeather app seems to have good forecasts and details also. I also have some more interesting but simple ones like a Bubble Level or a Flashlight, but beyond that, nothing that really prompts me to download and try. The games on the Palm Pre are pitiful. So far only have had access to the free ones, and they might be ok for a few plays, but none have any long lasting appeal. They do have something called Homebrew application on some websites, but requires a person to install software onto your phone to access these Apps. I am sure it is something I could do, but at this point, I really not wanting to do that. Maybe in a few months time I might try, and see if I can get more out of this phone. All I can say is I really hope that Bell and Palm can get to a point where some of these paid apps are available on the phone.
Right now, though the phone does as advertised, I am thinking once I get to a year, I might try a different phone and drop the Palm Pre. I just get the feeling it might never be main player in terms of Smart Phones. At this point in time, when October roles around, I might decide to go with an Android based phone if I don’t really see any changes with the Palm Pre in terms of apps.
Tags: Palm Pre
