Palm’s Pre, Plussed: The Technologizer Review
The second pass on the Pre isn't a whole new phone--but it's still one of the best smartphones to date.By Harry McCracken | Monday, March 1, 2010 at 1:28 pm
The Apps
WebOS may be an outstanding platform, but any OS is only as good as the applications that run on it. Palm’s OS has gotten off to a sluggish start in terms of sheer number of third-party software: The Pre Plus’s App Catalog store currently offers a little over 1500 programs. That’s approximately one percent as many as are in Apple’s iPhone App Store and five percent as are available for Android.
I judged the apps available for the Pre Plus mostly by searching for them and downloading them as my needs and desires demanded. WebOS has Facebook (albeit a much more basic version than is available on the iPhone). It’s got Foursquare and Evernote. Slacker, my favorite Internet radio service, hit WebOS last month. Twee doesn’t rival the iPhone Twitter-client masterwork Tweetie, but it’s at least as good as any Twitter client I’ve found for Android. Google’s Web-based Google Voice client only sort of worked–I couldn’t play back voicemail–but then I discovered that I like a third-party Google Voice client called gDial Pro better than Google’s own program for Android. A bunch of 3D games have recently become available for the Pre and Pre Plus; I tried EA’s Monopoly and found it identical to the iPhone version. (Except for the price: It’s $6.99 on Palm’s phones and $4.99 on the iPhone.)
In short, the App Catalog doesn’t remotely rival the bountiful supply of outstanding apps available for the iPhone, but it’s not an unmitigated disaster, either. And it feels closer to Android in terms of availability of good stuff than the raw numbers suggest. The biggest gaps are in arcane-but-useful areas. With the iPhone, for instance, you can choose from multiple apps designed to help you ride your way through Disneyland and Disney World without waiting too long in line. WebOS, doesn’t even have one such program.
One usability quibble: I don’t understand why the App Catalog returns search results sorted by rating rather than name–which frequently leaves the app you searched for somewhere other than at the top of the list:
The Future
Finally, there’s the question of Palm itself. It’s a smallish outfit competing against giants like Apple and Google, and its faces its share of challenges. Should phone shoppers ponder the state of the company as they consider buying a Pre Plus?
Sure, because the Web OS platform needs a critical mass of handset sales to thrive: The more phones that Palm sells, the more incentive developers have to get excited. The arrival of WebOS devices on Verizon is good news in this regard. So will be their arrival on AT&T later this year. More WebOS phones would help, too–I don’t want Palm to dump the Pre and Pixi models for a more iPhone-like design, but a full-touch keyboardless model with a higher-resolution screen would be a nice addition to the lineup.
Among tech pundits, predicting doom and gloom for Palm is a national pastime of long standing. (Here’s one typical story declaring it to be toast. It dates from early 2003, before the company made phones at all.) I’m not going to make any predictions here about the fate of the company and its products, but I do know this: I very much want WebOS and WebOS phones to do well in the marketplace. Palm has one of the best mobile operating systems on the planet, and it’s making some nice phones.
The Pre Plus isn’t perfect, but there’s an awful lot of fresh thinking packed inside its diminutive case. It’s one of the handful of phones I’d suggest as a contender to almost anyone who’s in the market for a new smartphone.
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Memo to Palm Says:
March 19th, 2010 at 7:52 pm[…] In WebOS, Palm has one of the best mobile operating systems on the planet–the basis of some very nice phones. But almost all the recent news for the company has been bleak. Engadget, which wrote a famous open […]
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Life With Droid: The Good, the Bad, and the Bizarre Says:
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:02 am[…] note: I also spent some time with a Verizon Pre Plus that Palm loaned me, and mostly enjoyed the experience. If I didn’t want an Android phone […]
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Android 2.2 Features Wi-Fi Tethering Says:
May 13th, 2010 at 2:43 pm[…] until every smartphone doubles as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. (It’s one of the best features on Verizon’s version of the Palm Pre Plus, where it doesn’t cost anything extra–but I’d happily pay for it.) This sounds […]
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Palm’s Pre 2 Looks Nice. But at This Point, WebOS Needs More Than Nice Says:
October 19th, 2010 at 12:07 pm[…] that knocks my socks off tends to go on to do well. One notable exception, however, has been the Palm Pre–I continue to think that it’s one of the best phones on the market (thanks mainly to […]
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And That’s What You Missed on Technologizer Says:
December 31st, 2010 at 12:35 pm[…] really liked Palm’s Pre Plus (and am still sorry it hasn’t found more […]
March 1st, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Nice article. I was hoping you would’ve written more about the new 1.4 update. I’ve had the update only 3 days now and it’s made a huge difference in productivity! It’s significantly faster on opening apps. I’m glad you mentioned that the Pre is a “One Hand” navigating phone. You can’t do that on a Droid, Nexus or iPhone. Great point. It was a great phone 9 months ago, now I feel that it’s currently the “great-est” smart phone now.
March 1st, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Thanks! 1.4 sounds nice–hope that it shows up on Verizon soon.
March 1st, 2010 at 4:58 pm
1.4 came out for Verizon on Sun Feb 28. Press “U” to get the “update” app on your phone and then press the “update” app. It will ask if you want to manually download 1.4 (or wait for the server to upload automatically)
March 1st, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Excellent article. The Palm Pre truly is a powerful smartphone now that it is complete with a Video/Audio/Editor recorder and allows you to upload your feeds directly into YouTube and Facebook. Palm Pre Plus has the best multitasking mobile operating system with owning the record in running the highest number of apps at the same time (50). As well as having the Adobe Flash 10 compatibility, 3D Hardware accelerated games and the Wireless Internet Router functionality. But it doesn’t end there. There’s a frenzy of Palm Pre app development going on in the App Catalog as more and more developers jumping in the bandwagon and are cranking up as many apps as they can to cash in on some of the 1 million dollar Palm webOS contest prizes. I’m no exception, so if you could reply or share some of your thoughts on apps you would like to see and use on your Palm Pre, I’m game.
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:49 am
Excellent article unbiased opinion. I have had the Pre with Sprint since December and love it. The new 1.4 update is awesome, love the video recording I cannot wait until flash comes out. I would like to see a bit better Q&A on the Pre for Sprint. In my opinion Palm rivals the Iphone, but, not in apps. Again great article. THanks
March 2nd, 2010 at 10:48 am
I am an iPhone early adopter since first generation, and bought it on launch date. I bought the 3G version and my contract is up in June. I must say I’m ready to make the switch to the Palm Pre. I just hope that Palm Pre gets a better reputation because its WebOS operating system is great! The Apps will come. Apple having that much now is partly because it started 2 years earlier. A lot of apps can be developed in two years, so to compare how many there are for the iPhone vs. the Pre is false. Hoping for Palm Pre on AT&T to push through in May, then I can swich and use my iPhone like an iPod Touch.. all is well, I can still use my apps.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
Really nice review. Detailed and very informative. Hope to have read more of your reviews. Really great! Keep it up! Best Semi-Pro Digital SLR Cameras