The GSM Palm Pre - early impressions
The Palm Pre is being slowly launched around the world by Palm. Unfortunately, Palm doesn’t intend to launch the GSM version in my region till sometime next year. I however managed to get a GSM Palm Pre (unlocked from O2 Germany) via Expansys and these are my early impressions:
The good:
Very nice interface, slick multi-tasking and great notifications especially email notifications.
Synergy for contacts and calendar nicely done.
Contacts search is not too bad for my 6900+ contacts
Wifi works well and 3G speeds are good. I clocked 900 kbps via 3G/HSDPA with my carrier. One can leave on Wifi and it will seamlessly connect when a hotspot is available.
Real keyboard beats typing on software keyboards like the iPhone anytime.
Motion Apps Classic allows you to run old PalmOS apps, and even supports Hotsync in the latest version (and WebOS 1.2 onwards) - will post more on PalmOS medical application compatibility in future blog posts.
There’s a very active Homebrew and hacker community with interesting stuff being developed all the time. This phone is very tweakable without the need for “jailbreaking” unlike the iPhone
WebOS is a very promising programming platform which has great potential
Stable OS. Hardly any crashes so far.
Very cool touchstone wireless charging option
The bad:
The microusb port cover is difficult to open and feels flimsy. I guess Palm wants you to buy touchstones!
The sliding keyboard being a moving part is a concern. There are reports of the now infamous “Oreo” effect. I hope this won’t affect my unit over time.
The keyboard is not backlit and requires a nightlight to use in the dark.
Some sluggishness in the UI. May be fixed in future OS updates. Better perhaps if the GPU is supported too.
Calendar app is pretty useless as it is - I prefer using Google calendar!
Email app does not support compressed wav format attachments which is essential in my work since I rely on voice emails (I have found a useful workaround and will post the solution later)
Ringtones a bit soft. Unable to customise individual ringtones for callers, or even ringtones for known/unknown callers.
No facebook app (yet) - coming soon
No flash (yet) - coming soon
Skimpy app store but if you combine with homebrew, it’s growing fast.
The ugly:
Dismal battery life. The 1150 mA stock battery is too light. I am getting 15%/hour power drain with 3G and push email on and this means I need a recharge every 6 hours.
If one doesn’t need constant data connection then it should be fine for a regular day’s use.
With my Treo Pro, I was charging while at work on the desk anyway, so I am used to constant charging to keep my device’s battery topped up whenever possible. I think the touchstone is a convenient, albeit a little pricey, option to keep it charged.
The other obvious solution is of course to get a larger capacity battery and there are options ranging from about 1400 mA onwards.
Aside from the weak battery my overall impression is that this is a very usable PDA Phone with a marvellous new OS which holds tremendous promise. I hope Palm is successful in launching WebOS devices worldwide for indeed this is one device which makes Windows mobile and the iPhone OS’s look pretty stale by comparison (OK you can flame me in the comments!)
Tags: GSM, Palm, Palm Pre
i think the future is the bluetooth installations...
Oh God, can’t believe the backlit keyboard was left out by Palm :p
What? No backlit keyboard?
Please don’t lump Winmo and iPhone in one sentence if the word stability is in play. iPhone is far stabler than Winmo… Hehehehe
Thanks for the comment. There was a typo and the word in the last line should read “stale” and not “stable”
My Bad - the keyboard is backlit. Mistake deleted. It is controlled by the screen brightness control which I had turned turn way low to conserve juice. If one turns it up, then the keyboard lights up.
There’s a hack to unlink the uncontrols for the kb brightness:
http://discussion.treocentral.com/homebrew-apps/196412-brightness-unlinked.html
Hi palmdoc - how do you deal with the QWERTZ keyboard? Do you know of a reliable way to change Z to Y?
I have no problems adapting to the QWERTZ keyboard, especially as a two-thumb typist. Just have to train myself to hit the Y at the bottom left. Z is rarely used anyway.
There is a hack from webos-internals if one wants to remap the keys.
Hi palmdoc
Any problem getting ur pre to work on local carriers (I assume u r Malaysian)? I’ve waited a looooong time for the pre and was extremely disappointed when word got out that palm has no plan to launch the pre in this part of the world. If the O2 version from Expansys works here, I’m gonna get myself one tomorrow!
Thanks
Hi MH. Tested working (phone and data) with Maxis, Digi and Celcom.
YESSSSS!!!! Thanks palmdoc! Am definitely getting one now…!
palmdoc
just a follow up on my last question. Do u have any problem (ie, restricted from)downloading the OS updates, either via wifi or 3G? What about purchasing or downloading from the Apps catalog?
I read that the german O2 version of the pre requires a hack (rebel simcard) to get it working on Italian network. Do u have to do anything of the sort to get it to work on digi, celcom, or maxis?
thanks
You do not need the Rebel Sim. Just pop in the normal sim card and it should work.
Prior to os 1.3.1 the App Catalogue was accessible but you could only access free apps. Today was the day of OS 1.3.1 update (the firmware update prefers wifi but can be done via 3g) and the App Catalogue is down - I suspect some changes are in store for the App Catalogue which is still in Beta. We hope paid apps will be accessible soon.
Thanks. U have been a great help.
It seems Palm has locked out users from the App Catalog if you have activated it on a non-O2 SIM. I have complained and they are “looking into it”. If you can, get it initially activated on an O2 Sim card.
hmmm… that would be difficult to do if I’m going to get it from Expansys… I hope that after Palm has “look into it”, they will get rid of that restriction… Maybe, I’ll hold off on the purchase until this is resolved… Thanks..
Palmdoc
I’ve bought in a GSM Pre from Expansys as well, but seems no internet data connection after use, how do you tweak to activate the data setting ? btw, i am using maxis. thanks.
Does the phone recognise the Maxis network? Do you have data enabled with Maxis?