Palm Pre review: A pebble in your hand

19 December 2009
It's not like we didn't tell you. And hey, it's not like we're on time either. But we guess better late than sorry goes both ways. Once a popular (mostly stateside) PDA and smartphone maker, Palm were going full blast from safe to sorry. So, did they try to put the brakes?...

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  • D
  • AnonD-655782
  • t}V
  • 25 Mar 2017

I want to repair my phone. Touch pad is not working so want to change it. please suggest where can I get a new touch pad for this phone? or suggest another suitable touch pad.

    • o
    • oky garis
    • txx
    • 15 Mar 2010

    i like the concept of palm.....

    its a fresh phone with fresh UI

      • H
      • HELP!
      • LyH
      • 22 Jan 2010

      PLIZ! can someone help me with this decision?
      which one do you think is better?
      -Palm pre plus
      -Nokia N900
      -HTC Hero

      ok, i don't need a lot of settings, i love the keyboards but hate blackberry, and don't like nokia E72 interface, so my number one option is the Palm pre plus, but i have a doubt because of the bad comments about the build quality and the qwerty keyboard, but i think palm pre plus keyboard is better , and also it has the touchstone back cover so it wont scratch, like a lot the 16 Gb, besides nokia has the double, also like the double of ram and the cam corder feature, 3d games, etc.
      second option it would be Nokia N900 because it has a lot of features, and the keyboard looks marvelous!, and third HTC Hero i like the android interface it is easier to make a phonecall or send a message because of the favorites, and i think the pre doesnt have that feature.
      but i want to know which one do you recomend me? and why, You are the ones that are using them
      so THANKS A LOT!

        • G
        • Gooch
        • mJr
        • 08 Jan 2010

        Ed, 08 Jan 2010GSM Arena, thanks for finally reviewing this phone. I h... moreits lost the centre button, nothing else

          • E
          • Ed
          • nEL
          • 08 Jan 2010

          GSM Arena, thanks for finally reviewing this phone.

          I had an e-mail this morning From Sprint in the US advertising a Palm Pre 'Plus' with double the memory (8GB up to 16GB?) and a 'redesign'

          Any idea what the 'redesign' is?

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • 3pc
            • 06 Jan 2010

            The phone is really nice and I quite like it. It does what it says. But the battery life is really rubbish. It is just unusable with all the features on. It just drains the power. I am taking mine back to get a blackberry. At least I know where I stand with one of them.

              • e
              • eli
              • YgC
              • 05 Jan 2010

              have this phone
              best way u can describe it is "incomplete"
              everything about this phone is incomplete like:
              design
              quality of materials used
              the gesture area
              the slider
              the battery life
              the way it sits and fits in our hand
              no video recording
              no zoom
              use as a phone

              fitting in your hand, just overall ergonomics of the phone
              not sure what the engineers were thinking but definitely not an western designers, smells like indian or chinese to me, as appeal to the user was not paramount, just a race to make a nice web browser

              the main purpose of this phone is to be a phone and it is just simply horrendous, it FAILS in that task with extremely well.

              the only good this about this phone:???? only one
              -- the internet browser --

              thats it. if you are getting this phone for any other reason don't, its simply tough and uncomfortable to handle or not really thought out or in other words incomplete.

              if nokia acquires palm , it will be for its browser only. thats it. nothing else on this phone can compete with nokia, in any department, or any other manufacturer like hts, samsung,
              again except the browser.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • ibe
                • 28 Dec 2009

                Anonymous, 21 Dec 2009to me pre seems like the underdog that u want to win. pal... more"to me pre seems like the underdog that u want to win."

                Prob was this underdog went out to flog WebOS thinking it had bigger shoes neglecting the importance of ergonomics and physical designs,IF they had really prioritized what or how WebOS should be in the 1st place.The Pre was already half dead in the water when press releases finally revealed the portrait slide QWERTY,a poorly thought out orientation that added to the hefty look.And that's secondary compared to this list:- "No video calls over the 3G network,No memory card slot,Glossy plastics look cheap, love fingerprints,Camera has no auto focus… nor any settings at all, disappointing image quality,No video recording unless hacked,Web browser lacks Flash support, but it's on its way,No DivX/XviD video playback support,No Bluetooth file transfers,App Catalog available in a limited number of countries,Small and fiddly QWERTY keyboard keys,No smart dialing...."....It's not the kind of "cons" list you'd want to bring along the carrier exclusive route but that's what they did it's unbelievable and it's unlike the same Palm.Inc that we would have hoped to put up a respectable fight to the likes of newbies aka Apple (not newbies anymore that's for sure) and Google but we're way past that now.I dunno about that thing you've said about Nokia buying Palm,it could be a double edged sword.Nokia themselves seems pretty confused and I'm beginning to feel rather annoyed at Nokia's way of product planning.Stick to the same older chips,stick a capacitive screen here and there and slap N series prices.Hope that people won't notice kind of crap.Already they have Maemo while figuring out what to do with Symbian,are they that ballsy enough to just kill WebOS entirely post acquisition?That's just insane.Particularly when even Maemo's diehard fanbois will find it hard to argue on WebOS' own potential sliced and diced.

                  • w
                  • will jakeman
                  • M3s
                  • 26 Dec 2009

                  i have this phone and although its good, it aint as good as htc hero

                    • :
                    • :P
                    • Pvb
                    • 21 Dec 2009

                    Finally, Thanks GSMarena!. I was hoping for the realese of this review last week, and then I though it will never go out, but then i just asked, what if it do?, and now that is finally out i can't read it because i have to go :S

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • 0Bh
                      • 21 Dec 2009

                      Deepak B, 21 Dec 2009lolz... the best time for the review of palm pre was in dec... moreBecause it is out for ages in USA (CDMA version). In Europe it's a new one. Ask Palm why, not GSMArena. The GSM Pre can be considered as a fresh phone.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • p7K
                        • 21 Dec 2009

                        WTF? This stupid thing of not installing video recording on those uber expensive phones. The iPhone is hated by most cell phone experts (like me) because they lack major features, but Palm want to save themselves without video recording and with no voice call. This is why nokia is the best. That's not to say that only nokia does full featured devices, because so does samsung and lg and se...

                          • D
                          • Deepak B
                          • ut$
                          • 21 Dec 2009

                          lolz... the best time for the review of palm pre was in december 2010. why review it now when its already out ages ago???!!!!!

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • Acp
                            • 21 Dec 2009

                            to me pre seems like the underdog that u want to win.
                            palm once the king of smartphones (then windows mobile happened to them lol) and they got overtaken by the competition. before they go bankrupt they release a phone which does hv limited hardware but the OS is fantastic for business users. they hv multi-tasking, synergy, ease of use, and willingness to not give up. they were 1 of the 1st if not d 1st to release a multitouch phone in america after iphone. they provided itunes syncing for a few versions of itunes (apple just only updates itunes to prevent palm syncs) and 1 of the v few which offer those gestures previously only available on concepts and prototypes. that said i hope they do get bought over by nokia so the benefits can be passed down to the consumer: palms innovation (yes apple copied a few of palms patents which is why they cant sue palm for the multitouch and other resemblences), economies of scale (provided by nokia) reducing cost of production, and broader range of markets covered (by nokia).

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • 4mD
                              • 21 Dec 2009

                              i juss think if you're getting an expensive device that is sought after by many...it should have features that have been around for yrs that ppl still find handy...people compromise too much sometimes when buying handsets...like, "oh yeh i cud do without that, and that...oh hey, that too"...not considering when it could actually be important...but whatever, to each his own

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • M3s
                                • 21 Dec 2009

                                I have to say that I have a Pre myself and i absolutly love it, granted the hardware isnt where it should be but WebOS more than makes up for the hardware shortcomings. WebOS is an amazing platform, people seem to be comparing it rather unfairly to the iPhone however, remember the iPhone has had the best part of a 2 year headstart on the Pre, and WebOS and with how quickly Palm are moving i have no doubt WebOS will be class leading before long. The one gripe i have against the Pre though is the fact that EU Pre users cant buy apps from the App Catalog only free ones (thats supposed to be changing soon though that said)

                                Also id advise every Pre owner to check out the Homebrew scene, Palm are entirely encouraging the community and some very simple (but essential) patches for WebOS have been made. Homebrew is one of the most interesting things about WebOS IMO

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • mCS
                                  • 21 Dec 2009

                                  needs more thought as the bluetooth is crap, no proper video support and updates are not a help. Gonna get mine tomorrow! lol

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 4mD
                                    • 21 Dec 2009

                                    y was there any hype at all over this phone? people should be ashamed...it's like an iphone 2g with multitasking...too bad the 3gs is the current i-phone...but i mean seriously...as the guy in here said, this phone supports nothing but an eye candy OS...so what...functionality > eye candy anyday of the week...i dunno y americans love it so much

                                      • B
                                      • Barmalei
                                      • jT4
                                      • 21 Dec 2009

                                      Ugly, ugly, ugly.
                                      The design alone will cost Palm a lot of potential customers.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • Uij
                                        • 20 Dec 2009

                                        it was a disappointment cause of the way Palm Launched it

                                        i've still never seen or heard of the Pre, not one poster or anything and i would probably buy one

                                        and by a years wait it looks like Palm dont care about letting all the markets get WebOS in any form

                                        too bad everyones moved on