Thursday, June 11, 2009

Palm Pre Review - Part I - Hardware

So I received my Palm Pre on Monday and I have had about a week to get used to the new device and play around with it. I will say in general I am very pleased. It is a very worthy upgrade form my older Treo 700p. I will split this up into two reviews to make it a bit easier to read. Hardware first as this is an easier topic to cover.

Hardware

Palm got the hardware right this time and it has been a long time in coming! The pre includes bluetooth, Wifi, a real head phone jack (bye bye, silly head phone adapter which I hated). The Wifi quickly discovered my home network and let me log in through the secure connection. I haven't tested a public wifi service yet but it should work fine. A final test would be a hotel/private network, one that requires you to go to a web page and accept their terms and conditions. I also haven't tested the bluetooth connection. I have read that it supports a number of profiles (wireless headset, hands free, etc.) which if it works will be an improvement over the Treo which was very limited.

The first thing I noticed about the pre is that it is small. It is about half as thick as my older Treo the same width and a bit shorter. If I line the pre up with the top of the Treo I can read the last 2 rows of keys on the Treo keyboard. The pre exterior is a glossy plastic which seems to be a fingerprint magnet. The fingerprints don't interfere with the screen view but I have found myself constantly wiping the pre down. Fortunately the suede case it comes with also does a fair job at wiping the pre down. A positive and negative feature of the included case is that it is grippy, which means it won't slip out of your pocket (or off a flat surface like the dash of your car). Of course trying to fish it out of a pocket quickly is a challenge. I think a bluetooth headset would be a plus here.

The shape of the pre is a bit odd. It is fairly symmetrical, except for the speaker at the top and home button bottom center center. I sometimes find that I am holding the pre upside down when I first pick it up. I will probably get use to the look but the speaker and "home" button make it tough to immediately determine the top/bottom.

The home button doesn't appear to turn the device on, which will take some getting use to. It may be that I am used to using the button on my iPod Touch, or just that the home button is the first thing you see when you pick it up. It would be nice if this button activated the device. Since the button is raised above the face of the screen there may be a concern that you could inadvertently turn the pre on with the home button. I have had a few friends ask to see the pre and they have all tried to turn it on with the home button. I find the most common method I use to turn the screen on is sliding the screen up to expose the keyboard.

Alternately to turn the screen on you can press the power button on the top right of the case. I have found that pressing the power button with the keyboard exposed is a bit challenging. Not usually an issue unless the pre shuts it self down due to inactivity. While it is extended the back of the screen is another fingerprint collection point. There is a silence switch right next to the power button similar to the Treo which is great for meetings, movies, etc.

The pre is a bit smaller than my iPod touch but again this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The screen is smaller, this is most noticeable in the web browswer, however, the smaller device makes it muct easier to hold and carry. The pre is very comfortable in one hand. I find one hand operation of my ipod, especially for typing, difficult. Typing on the pre keyboard is fine. Again the keyboard is a bit smaller than the treo but they keys are soft which is a nice touch. my thumbs are big enough that I couldn't use them for the treo keyboard either. I generally used my thumbnails. I found after an e-mail or two my thumbnails would be sore. Not to mention that my nails would slip off the treo keys. I find my thumbs to be useless for my touch keyboard and I hunt and peck with my index finger. The soft keys are easy on the thumb nails and prevent slipping. I can type much faster on the pre than on my ipod. I also find myself making far fewer errors on the pre than on the ipod keyboard.

The only small annoyance is a few keys have changed. The changes all seem to be for the better, however, after 4+ years of the treo key placement I have to get use to the new "@" location. Oh and shift is no longer required for "@" or "," (but 0 requires the number key). Once I get used to the new layout I will like it.

Another hardware win from viewpoint is the inclusion of an industry standard connection. The pre had a micro USB port for connecting to the computer and charging. I really can't stand any device that has it's own proprietary connection. Standards based interfaces are the only way to go.

It did take me a but to discover where the micro USB port was located. I find that the port cover, while nice, is difficult to get off (at first I though I was going to break something). I have to slide the phone open to get my thumbnail under it enough to flick it out. The cover has gotten easier to get off over time. I have a touchstone charger on order (maybe another review) which should allow me to eliminate the need to access the USB port on a daily basis.

I have mentioned the screen sliding to expose the keyboard. This operation is smooth and quick. It isn't so quick that I feel the device will jump out of my hand. but you know when it is open and when it is closed. There are also external volume buttons that allow you to turn the ringer volume up and down. Or the speaker (call, or music) volume when you are on a call.

Finally I have only used the camera twice and the pictures seem to be good. Time will tell how the camera responds to different situations, low light, landscapes etc. But it is a camera on the back of my phone so I don't plan on taking portraits with it. I generally use the camera to update facebook, or this blog with silly snapshots. I have to believe it will be as good or better than my treo camera.

The Software segment should follow in a few days.

EDIT - 06/18/2009 I forgot to include a section on battery life. I guess forgetting to include it should be a good sign. It seems like I will get about a day out of my pre under moderate use. That probably doesn't sounds good, but in honesty I think that is a fair expectation. I am not using the pre in a battery friendly mode. I have Gmail set to get e-mail "as it arrives" so this could be a large factor in battery power. I have location services on, again more battery, I stay logged into google chat, which keeps a connection to the chat servers going all the time. I do have bluetooth turned off, so I probably get some time back there. You name it I am probably using it to drain my battery... so in the long run i don't think a full day is so bad. I am sure if I needed to save battery I could turn off location, chat, e-mail, and more.. but where would the fun in that be :-)

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