This post is “From the Vault”, a collection of old writings. The images are long-since lost to history, but enjoy this throwback!

Way back in 2000, I bought my first handheld computer: a Palm IIIxe personal digital assistant with a 160×160 grayscale screen and 16MB of memory. It had fairly limited connectivity (this was before WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular radios were ubiquitious in mobile devices); I remember purchasing a bluky 28.8kbps modem add-on for it so I could dial in to America Online and check my email if I was near a phone jack! Before long, Windows Mobile had emerged on the scene (although it was called “Pocket PC” back then) with its fancy devices. They had color screens, large (for the time) amounts of memory, and faster processors than their Palm bretheren, and it wasn’t long before I had switched.

As the years went by the standalone PDA faded from the public eye, replaced by the “smartphone” (the Handspring Treo was one of the first to become extremely popular). Palm as a company also slowly faded from the public eye, its devices hampered by an aging OS platform and dated hardware (they eventually switched to Windows Mobile).

Fast forward to CES 2009: Palm announces a new smartphone running its fabled “Palm OS 2,” now dubbed WebOS. Sporting a slick interface, brand new Texas Instruments processor architecture, and some very cool cloud-based syncing technologies, the buzz generated was (I would say) on par with that on Apple’s iPhone announcements. As of this morning I’m holding one in my hands! So far, it’s been nothing short of awesome.

Hardware and Build Quality

The first thing out of my mouth when I opened the box up (nice Apple-esque packaging, Palm!) was “Wow, it’s so tiny!” Compared to my gargantuan HTC Kaiser, the Pre is slim and svelte. I seem to remember reading that a stone worn smooth by a river was the inspiration for the design; the actual handset isn’t too far off. It looks an awful lot like a pebble,  fits really well in your hand, and feels just right in the weight department. The build quality is excellent (for an all-plastic body), although you’ll likely find the iPhone (being made of metal and glass) a bit sturdier. As far as external controls go, on the left side you’ve got a volume rocker switch. On the front, a chrome center button and the keyboard (which I’ll get to in a moment). I only have a few complaints with the industrial design:

  • The sliding mechanism that covers the keyboard is tough to open. Because I’m pushing the top of the unit up but grasping the edge in one hand, I’m fighting myself to work the slider.
  • There’s an exposed bottom edge sharp enough to cut cheese (thanks Gizmodo). Depending on how you hold the Pre while you type, this may be a non-issue.
  • Guys, could you have made it any more difficult to remove the MicroUSB cover on the right side of the phone?

“But what about the keyboard?” you ask? The Pre’s keyboard has the tiniest keys I have ever used on a smartphone (I’m told Centro and BlackBerry Curve users have similarly sized keys). I’m used to the much larger keys on handsets like the Sidekick and the BlackBerry Bold, so I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like typing on the Pre. I work a bit more slowly, but I’ve noticed I make fewer mistakes. The actual keys are hard, but they have some sort of gummy gel-like coat on top that helps your fingers “stick” to them. All in all, it’s not the best, but it’s workable.

The camera is a 3.2 megapixel, LED flash, no autofocus job. It takes okay photos.

Interface and UI

Clean and vibrant, the WebOS UI revolves around a concept Palm is calling “Cards.” WebOS supports actual, honest-to-goodness multitasking, so when ever you press the chrome button on the front, you get a screen that shows each running application in a small rectangle (a live preview, by the way). Flicking back and froth switches between cards, tapping one pulls it to the forefront (so you can work in it), and flicking one up and off the screen closes the application. It’s actually kind of fun to use. Palm needs to do some work in the memory management department though. I got a nasty error message when I had six apps open and tried to launch another.

The actual “interface” portion will be intimately familiar to anyone who has ever used an iPhone or a Palm OS device. You’ll feel right at home with fat, finger-friendly icons and a very iPhone-ish set of UI controls.

The other half of WebOS revolves around gestures. You might have noticed, but there are no “Back” buttons in WebOS applications; to go back a level in an application’s hierarchy, you drag your finger from right to left across a small black strip under the display. Similarly-themed gestures (that work a lot like the iPhone’s) are available for zooming (pinch) and scanning through items (quick flicks up, down, left, or right). Flicking from bottom to top pulls up the Launcher, which is used to open applications. A small qualm here: there’s a “quick launch” bar the opens up with the Card interface (the one you use to switch between apps), but it only holds 4 items. I wouldn’t mind a fifth!

As far as responsiveness goes, the Pre isn’t lightning fast, but it won’t have you tapping your foot waiting for applications to load. It does a good job of showing you little progress indicators when it’s busy trying to perform a task. Because the processor the Pre is using is brand-new, I’m going to predict that future software updates will speed things up a bit. In any case, transitions are smooth and there’s little lag to be felt.

Synergy, Contacts, and Mail

Synergy is Palm’s contact synchronization and linking technology. The basic gist is that you can pull in contacts from multiple sources (Gmail, Facebook, and Exchange right now), and the Pre will combine information from all of those sources in to one contact. For example, I have my Gmail and Facebook contacts synced to my Pre right now. It’s pulling all of the pictures and address data from Facebook, but the email addresses and telephone numbers from Gmail. Needless to say, it works extremely well (and has the added benefit of always keeping your contact information up to date)! My only complaint is that the process is all-inclusive; you can’t pick who gets synced over from a source you add. It brings over everyone. Yes, Facebook users, that means every person you’ve ever friended. GMail users, this includes everyone in your contact list, not just the “My Contacts” section. Do a little manual cleanup beforehand and you’ll thank yourself later.

What I like best about the Contacts application is its integration with the rest of the system. Tap someone’s address and see it mapped out on Google Maps. Tap a number, it dials. Tap an email address, it fires up the Mail application. It’s small touches like this that make the Pre a joy to use.

Messaging and Mail have some cool features; the Pre will aggregate conversations you’ve had with a particular person, pulling in SMS, email, MMS, chat, and phone calls in to a sort of “all in one” view. This makes it easy to view correspondence you’ve had with someone. Mail will set up separate folders for your Gmail labels (and supports both labeling and starring of messages). Other than that, it’s fairly basic.

Browsing and Other Preloaded Applications

The Pre’s browser is based on Webkit (just like Safari on the iPhone), and runs at a good clip. In my brief tests, it loaded pages a full 2-3 seconds faster over Wifi than my iPod touch. The browser supports the same zooming and panning features that the iPhone does, and the word on the street is that Flash support is coming as well. Besides the Browser and PIM apps, the Pre comes loaded with a bunch of other nifty applications:

  • Photos (seemed to handle the standard gauntlet of PNG, JPG, GIF, and BMPs I threw at it)
  • Music (which syncs with iTunes, anything that’s not DRMed at least)
  • Videos (haven’t had a chance to check this out yet)
  • A cool Memos application that automatically titles your notes for you
  • Google Maps (a solid, speedy implementation that’s faster than the iPhone’s at rendering map tiles)
  • A Calculator (morphs into Scientific version when viewed in landscape)
  • Office 2007 and PDF viewing support
  • Sprint Navigation (which I haven’t tried yet)

There’s an application store as well, but it’s pretty sparse at the moment. Of the available applications, Tweed (a Twitter client), Pandora (of internet radio fame), and Fandango (for movies) are the most solid of the bunch.

Touchstone Charger

While not a part of the standard Pre package, I thought it would be interesting to touch on their inductive charger, the Touchstone. A combination of a replacement back cover for the phone and something that vaguely resembles a hockey puck, the Touchstone allows you to charge the Pre wirelessly. A few magnets help properly align the phone on the puck, and there’s a mid-tack restickable adhesive on Touchstone’s bottom that allows you to position it virtually anywhere. The back of the Pre gets a bit warm charging this way, and the Touchstone charges the phone more slowly than a straight cable. However, it’s all worth it to not have to pry open the ridiculously-difficult-to-open MicroUSB port door on the side of the phone.

I really hope inductive charging takes off; being able to just toss your devices on a charging pad would be nothing short of incredible!

Conclusions

I’ll echo what some other reviewers have said: the Pre is a superb effort by Palm. Especially for a generation one product, I think this is one of the best smartphones I have ever used. Nothing has come close in terms of ease of use (the Cards metaphor works really well in this context), and the Synergy technology that aggregates your contact information (with some minor caveats) works really well. All carriers should have the Pre sometime next year.