Earlier today, one of our readers emailed us with a link to his review of the Palm Pre. Since his review was posted as a comment on another site I decided to republish here because I think it deserves its own post. I want to thank Tom for sending this in!
Palm Pre Subjective Test:
I have had the good fortune to do a “subjective” test, back to back, of the iPhone and the due to be released, Palm Pre. I am in the market for a new phone and went to the Apple store, here in Las Vegas, for a test drive. I spent about 45 minutes with a unit and then went to a local AT& T store to test another unit running on the AT& T network (the Apple store unit only ran on WiFi). About ½ hour after the AT&T store test I was by pure luck, able to test the Palm Pre. I was asked to, under no circumstance, disclose where I got to test the unit. My views here are purely subjective.
The iPhone is a gem and just about everything I’d heard about it was correct. I was impressed. However, based on my rather limited experience with both devices I would have to conclude that the Palm Pre is superior. I base this “only” on a set of issues I had to have addressed.
The first issue was speed. I surf the net, Google etc.…I’m a news hound. The Palm Pre was running on the Sprint network. I went to a number of web sites….The Washington Post is my favorite test. The Pre was not just faster, it was (subjectively) significantly faster. It was faster then the WiFi iPhone and much faster then the network iPhone. Searching on Google was, again, significantly faster on the Pre then on the iPhone. I went on YouTube and the results were the same - the Pre was much snappier.
The second issue was the sharpness of the screen itself. The iPhone has a very sharp screen, and is slightly larger. The Pre screen, however, was in my opinion “sharper” then the iPhone screen and text was easier to read. I have poor eyesight so the screen is critical for me. Again, I can only say that the Pre screen was the best I’ve ever seen.
The third issue was the ability to enter data, i.e - typing. I ran a number of similar tests using selected sentences and e-mail addresses etc. on both units.In my opinion, if you need to enter data quickly, the Pre is the unit to get. I don’t have large fingers so my tests might not be the same as someone else, but I got “significantly” fewer errors typing on the Pre keyboard then I did on the iPhone. I don’t want to get into the what is better, screen entry or keypad, argument, but the speed and accuracy of the Pre was much better then on the iPhone for me.
The forth issue was ergonomics. Which phone just felt better to handle and use. The iPhone is thinner and flat. The Pre is much more rounded, kind of like a bar of soap, but not exactly. I found that the Pre fit into my pocket better, more like a standard flip cell phone. Because of it’s rounder shape I found that the Pre was easier to one hand then the iPhone. I thought the slide out keypad would be an issue but it wasn’t, it works very, very well. Both phones felt substantial. The specs indicate that the iPhone is slightly lighter, but the Pre actually felt the lightest and this may be due to the iPhone being hooked up to the counter display.
Lastly, there are a number of off hand subjective observations I’d like to make. The Pre “seems” less clumsy then the iPhone. Everything seems snappy and well thought out. My ears believe the speaker on the Pre is superior to the iPhone. However, that may be due to different levels of noise at various locations. Still, the speaker on the Pre “seemed” clearer. The gestures on both units are very good, but the Pre seemed “tighter” i.e. more accurate then the iPhone. I suspect with practice both units would be good, but I feel that the Pre, out of the box, is a bit more user friendly.
That’s it, I really didn’t get into any in depth testing of many apps. The apps I did test on the Pre were excellent, e-mail, browser etc. I did not get a chance to make a phone call on either unit so I cannot address that issue. Ergonomically, the Pre “seems” a bit easier to use as a phone - again, more like a standard flip phone. I understand that there will be a new iPhone coming this summer that may address some of these issues, but as it stands right now, I believe the Pre is, on the points I have listed, superior.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t wait for the launch of the Palm Pre! Thanks for the review; sounds great. The Palm Pre is going to be a huge hit - - so much potential for apps too.
Now prove to me that the review is genuine and the tester is not on the palm/sprint payroll and i may find it more credible
JJ….it’s true…I did the review. I don’t have a dog in this fight…I just want to get the best smartphone for myself. If I’m in error on any points that I’ve made, then I’ve only hurt myself. I’m fairly certain any and every potential buyer will make their own decisions before making this investment. I also had a follow up comment to someone who wrote in about the test. Here it is:
jca666us makes a very valid point in saying that comparing a new Pre to last year’s iPhone may not give the full picture. I agree with that; a new iPhone will be coming out this summer and will, without a doubt, be equipped with a new chipset / cpu with higher clock speeds. This, along with AT& T eventually enhancing their network, should resolve the speed issues. It can also be assumed that Apple will be adding some new features and enhancing older features of the iPhone. My “subjective” review of both units was only covering what I considered to be “fundamental” issues / features of these two smartphones. One fundamental, the speed issue, will most certainly be addressed with the new iPhone. It is the other two “fundamental” design / execution issues that stood out with me in my review. The first issue is the phone itself. One must assume that most people buy a phone / smartphone to, first and foremost, use the….phone. This is one area that I believe Apple made a conscious design compromise. Placing a flat and relatively wide object against the face to talk would probably not be any phone engineers first design option. I was impressed with the execution of this issue on the Pre. While the Pre is about the same width as the iPhone, it is shorter and with rounded features. I tried, repeatedly, taking both units in and out of my pocket and holding them to my ear. The first thing I noticed was that I could tell on the Pre which end was up, front and back, just by the feel….not every time, but most of the time. The iPhone, on the other hand, felt the same; up or down, front or back. More an up and down issue then a front in back, because the iPhone back is somewhat curved. This may be a small issue, and some people may feel it’s a moot point, however, if you take your phone out of your pocket or purse many times a day, it could be an issue. Second, the shape of the Pre makes it feel more comfortable to hold, and more comfortable to place against my ear. The iPhone, as I stated before, is a flat surface, and I was not completely comfortable holding it against my ear. The Pre felt better in my pocket then the iPhone. Again, it appears to me that Palm studied the ergonomics of this issue in depth. The second fundamental issue differentiating the two phones is “data entry”. I took some printed material with me to test enter into both units. The iPhone uses an elegant and very well executed touch screen keyboard. My first impression was that it was a knockout. I believe there is a reason that the Blackberry Storm tries (not well executed) to give some tactile response to their on screen keyboard. Humans, by nature, are used to feeling something in their fingers and thumbs when an action is taken, i.e. typing. For this reason, no desktop mouse designer would ever leave out the “click”. With the iPhone I had no sense of “feel” in the keyboard. I had to stare intensely at it to get any kind of accuracy. Good typing speed was, for me, very difficult. I suspect that with practice, I could get more proficient with it. For me, entering information into the Pre was much, much easier and more accurate. Yes, the keyboard is small; but it took me very little time to get pretty comfortable with it. Each key gave me tactile feedback….I could close my eyes and still know my thumbs were touching ..something. When I closed my eyes using the iPhone keyboard…well. Of course nobody is going to close their eyes, but it does mean that you can focus a bit more on what you are typing then where your fingers / thumbs are on the keyboard. If you do a lot of text messaging, e-mails and blogging then this could be a real issue. I strongly suspect that any future “objective” speed and accuracy test / review of the two phones will bear this out.
It is these two “fundamental” issues that I just talked about that cannot, I believe, be adequately addressed by Apple in the current design of the iPhone. I don’t believe it is accurate to call these design issues “flaws”. They are, I believe, conscious design decisions / compromises Apple felt were needed to differentiate their product from anything else on the market. I believe that Palm has studied the iPhone’s superb visual / viewing experience and added the necessary, but lacking, phone and typing ergonomics. While time and the market will determine who got it right, I believe the consumer is the ultimate winner.
I’m very excited for the Pre and I thank you for your review.
I’ve only had 2 touch screen phones(Instinct and HTC Touch Pro). So far i’m very happy with my touch pro and i know i will be even happier with the Pre since i do A LOT of websurfing my self. However I do have to admit that every time i would ‘play’ with the display/demo phones they are always ‘quick’ and ‘responsive’. As time goes by and more and more data is being stored onto the phones, the phones begin to lag a bit and its not so responsive anymore. I am hoping this Pre is able to keep up with me and my music downloads and remain consistently responsive.
The physical keyboard verses the on screen keyboard issue, i.e., the Pre vs. the iPhone, is probably going to be a moot point. This is really nothing more then a software issue. If Palm is not already working on or contracted out to have this software developed, you can be almost 100% sure there are a number of third party, after market software houses working on this as of this posting. This type of application is not terribly complex. How the on screen keyboard application looks and performs will depend on whether or not Palm wants to do it in-house or just let the market provide the solution. It would be roughly the same for an aftermarket barcode / software application. Apple could, of course, equalize this by offering a physical keyboard, but this does not appear to be in the offering for the immediate future.
After I got the email from Sprint earlier stating the Pre will be released, I promptly called my local Sprint store. I’m going to be in there first thing tomorrow morning checking out the phone. I already know I want it without even getting my hands on it. Yes, I’m a bit biased, and yes, the iPhone is nice, but I need a qwerty keyboard that’s not touchscreen and a lot of the other specs that the Palm Pre offers.
I was one of the lucky people to receive the email from the Palm Pre premiere party in DC yesterday, June 5th. I didn’t know if the line would be tremendously long, so I got there many hours early. Not only was I the first there, but no one was there. But the people definitely did come. Let’s just say that I walked out of the store with $437 worth of Pre stuff. I have the touchstone - which I love. The phone is amazing. I’ve played with the I-phone, the Storm, and now, the Pre and in my opinion, the Pre is the sharpest indeed. Now, I’ve never been a fan of the on screen keypad, but it is something that I wish I could have on this phone because of the delicacy of the keypad. I just fear that I may be too rough and break it. That probably won’t happen, but its a thought. All in all though, you want to get this phone. I’m listening to Pandora - the free music radio station right now. I’ve been on every website you can think of. I’m just having a great time. I’m also extremely glad that I don’t have to stand on a line to get a Pre today. It’s worth the wait though.
got mine!!! my WONDERFUL hubby didnt want me there by myself & my 8 yr old did NOT want to get up at 5 am & go, so he went by himself. I was surprised cuz he told me Monday he was soooo sick of hearing me talk about that effin phone!! lol - he got there at 6am there were 2 cars in the lot but nobody in line.
at 7:30 i told him to go start the line - sure enough a few more people followed. Our BB had 10 & I (technically my husband) was first in line.
BB rep came out at 9 and gave “line tix” and started the paperwork.
The first one they tried to activate was defective so sorry to the person who was #10 and didnt get a pre!!
I got mine and will be playing with it for the rest of the day (at least)!!!! Talk more at http://www.PalmPreForum.org see ya there.
Looks like Palm has lost it’s Mojo!
No SDK and hardly any press coverage on drop-day.
I have had mine for 2 weeks. Just love it! Had the Blackberry Curve before. Don’t miss anything about the Blackberry.
Does anyone know about the battery life of the Pre. My HTC diamond battery sucks and if I don’t leave it pulled in all day, it is dead by the time I get home.
I had a Pre during the first weeks available. I’ve had a smartphone since the mid 90’s. All Palm products, no less. In my experience, Palm has cut too many corners for the smartphone power user. The biggest unpublicized drawback is that you backup all you personal data to a server somewhere, and not to your computer. Let me say that again. THE PALM PRE BACKS UP YOUR DATA TO A SERVER, NOT YOUR COMPUTER.
Strike two was the inconvenience of not having a stylus, compounded by the lack of buttons to control the cursor. Try going to the first character of a memo, in particular. This aggravated me to no end, because for years, my palm device was my computer.
I make lots of docs on my phone and I need to manipulate text just like a on a pc. Cutting and pasting text is a button pushing nightmare, because the tip of your finger on the touchscreen isn’t accurate enough.
The Pre is fast. Very fast. YouTube is a dream. I didn’t keep it long enough to download any music but I’m sure it does well for music also.
The problems I found may not hinder anyone else, because if you don’t mind whoever looking at your backups, and you aren’t too serious about documents and such, the Pre would work just fine, especially if it were your first smartphone.
In closing, I personally think the Pre is better suited for entertainment than business, and after a week of normal use, it crashed and
froze, prompting me to return it and re-activate my Treo750….strike three