Seldom has a handset been more eagerly anticipated. Heralded as the phone whose appearance would finally induce evangelical iPhoneys to acknowledge the existence of a higher deity, the Palm Pre was hyped inescapably to the heavens.
But, despite being launched some months ago in America, the Pre has only just arrived on these shores.
Even so, with much being required from those of whom much is expected, the experts have leapt with all the alacrity of lemmings to judgement.
“First impressions,” Trusted Reviews enthusiastically reports, “are very positive, as this is one seriously cute device.”
What’s more, PC Pro pronounces, “the Pre boasts all the hardware you'd expect, with quad-band GSM, HSDPA data speeds, a GPS radio, 802.11bg Wi-Fi, 8GB of storage for your photos and music files, a 3.5mm headphone jack, plus a decent 3.1-megapixel camera, complete with LED flash although,” they add, “there's oddly no ability to shoot video.”
“Overall, the Pre looks sleek and stylish, matching the sparse buttons of the iPhone and HTC Hero,”Techradar concludes.
However, says PC Pro, “this much-hyped phone isn't without its weaknesses.”
“The Pre is a pleasure to use,” concurs Cnet, “as long as you can handle its teeny, tiny, slide-out keyboard.”
It is, confirms Knowyourmobile, “a rather delicate device compared with some of the heavy duty sliding handsets we’ve thumbed recently.”
“There's a distinct wobble to the slide mechanism,” Trusted Reviews explains, “not so much that it makes us think it might fall apart, but just enough that it further mars the feeling of quality.”
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Nor will users necessarily find typing a pleasure.
Cnet is not alone in believing “typing on the extra-small physical keyboard may be problematic for some.” Consequently they “suggest giving the keyboard a try before taking the Pre home, especially if you have big fingers or you bite your nails.”
“In a hands-on comparison between the Blackberry 8900 and the Palm Pre, it was no contest,” Techradar declares. “We could type circles around the Pre because the keys on the 8900 are just big enough and separated from each other such that you can type much faster.”
“The dinky keyboard is the price paid for one of the Palm Pre’s main aspirations,’ IT Pro argues in mitigation, “to be a thoroughly business-capable smartphone that’s still desirable.”
Certainly Cnet accepts the Pre can boast “a beautiful, responsive touchscreen.” Knowyourmobile agrees “the screen looks great.”
“Luscious” is the adjective IT Pro employs, “with a bright image and vivid colours.” And “as it has fewer inches and the same resolution compared to an iPhone, the pixel density on the Pre is greater, giving the impression of a sharper image.”
PC Pro also thinks the touchscreen “fantastic” and, “since it's capacitive, you only need brush it with the tip of your finger to press a button, or lightly caress its surface to drag icons to and fro.”
“The Pre's multi-touch functionality is wonderfully smooth,” Cnet concedes. “It's in the same league as that of the multi-touch pioneer, the iPhone.”
“However, there are a couple of issues with the Pre's interface,” Trusted Reviews warns, and “while it is certainly slick, it can sometimes leave you quite confused.”
Quite, says PC Pro, “WebOS may look slick in the demos, but in use we encountered frequent stuttering and a lot of pauses. When it works, it works very well, but when it doesn't it's teeth-gnashingly annoying.
“And,” PC Pro continues, “these aren't early glitches, soon to be ironed out; the Pre has been out for some time in the US and any problems ought to have been sorted months ago.”
Similarly, although IT Pro “had no problems synchronising Gmail accounts with the Palm Pre, and while Microsoft Exchange is also supported and works, users over the pond have reported residual issues.” It is, they say, “small feature holes like this that hold us back from recommending the Palm Pre without reservations.”
Even so, PC Pro admits, “the core applications themselves all work fantastically well” and unlike the iPhone, Knowyourmobile points out, “the Pre lets you have lots of apps open at once and skip between them more-or-less at will.”
Fortunately, says Techradar, “The Palm Pre is an amazing web device.” Trusted Reviews considers it “as good as any other we've seen, rendering pages quickly and accurately and there's support for the all important pinch zooming.”
In the words of PC Pro, “browsing the web - that all-important activity - is a joy.”
Less impressive is the camera, which “being only 3-megapixels and lacking autofocus, isn't exactly setting new standards for picture quality,” advises Trusted Reviews. IT Pro also considers the camera “lacklustre”, while Knowyourmobile has to concede “you’re never going to get anything particularly impressive out of it.”
PC Pro “particularly like the integration between social networking, email and contacts apps.” As Cnet explains, “the Pre uses Palm's Synergy application, which means that it will pull in contact info from Facebook and Gmail, and appointments from Google Calendar and Outlook, and stick them all together. Unfortunately, Synergy doesn't yet support Twitter, MySpace or any of the host of other social-networking efforts, although Palm has promised us an imminent update that will include LinkedIn.”
In so far as call quality is concerned Techradar thinks “the Palm Pre is a better voice device than the iPhone and is actually one of the better smartphones for making phone calls.”
Conversely, says PC Pro, “battery life from the 1,200mAh cell is underwhelming.” Cnet confirms “the Pre drains its battery like nobody's business” and, Trusted Reviews adds, “even when the phone's relatively idle it still seems to drain surprisingly quickly.”
Summing up, Trusted Reviews considers the Pre to be “a very nice smartphone that leaves little to be desired in terms of features and its WebOS is one of the best operating systems on the market.”
Cnet also proclaims the Pre “a lovely, intuitive and fast phone that's a pleasure to poke. Its touchscreen user interface is exemplary.”
Knowyourmobile is not quite so sure, confessing “the Pre isn't quite the supreme smartphone we hoped it would be, but it's a strong and perfectly respectable alternative to an Android handset or the iPhone.” However, “it doesn’t manage to eclipse either and it comes with its own learning curve.”
IT Pro agrees “the Pre doesn’t knock Android devices and iPhones into a cocked hat, but it is a contender.” PC Pro remains “unconvincedby the Palm Pre.” And Techradar is of the opinion “the Apple iPhone is still a better device.”
“Unfortunately,” concludes Cnet, it’s “when you decide it's time to go off-piste and hit the App Catalog that things come crashing to a brutal and sudden halt. There are a few decent apps on there, but mostly there's just the sound of rolling tumbleweeds, especially when you compare it to the monstrously packed Apple App Store or the burgeoning Android Market.”
In other words the Pre is a good phone, but by no means perfect. The lack of apps may not improve its chances and, with a tariff that matches the iPhone, it is by no means inexpensive.
The real problem though may well be the hype. Expectations were so great the reality was certain to disappoint.
Resolve the interface problems, provide a virtual keyboard, improve the camera, add apps and lower the price, and the Pre could yet prove a real winner.