We just had a chance to play around with the new
Palm Pre Plus (and
Palm Pixi Plus), and we must say -- they've made some solid improvements to these devices. We're going to focus on the Pre, since it's really had the bulk of the changes. Firstly, it's now a Verizon branded (and bound) phone, which should bump the status of the device in many people's minds. The company has also improved the action of the slider mechanism, which is now way, way snappier, and clicks into and out of place with a confidence-stoking solidness. Palm has also changed the keyboard a bit, getting rid of the orange coloring, and revamping the action of the keys, making them far clickier (and maybe a bit more raised). The feel is closer to the Pixi, and that's a really good thing. Of course, they've added an additional 8GB of storage, making the internal capacity 16GB, and Palm is going full steam ahead with gaming on the device thanks to its PDK. Check the video and gallery below for the full story.
Update: Video is up!
posted January 7th 2010 3:28PM
Alright. I'm pretty much locked in to getting this when I get my new every two.
16GB internal storage, mobile hotspot, better keyboard? webOS? Yeah, I'll take this over the droid.
@Cam
Ditto.
@Cam Freakin' sweet phone.
And I'm guessing the build quality issues people had are gone too.
This is great. Just great.
Rubinstein, I love you.
@Cam
If the screen were bigger and the resolution higher I might agree.
Also, having used both keyboards, amazingly, the Droid keyboard is better.
I have a Droid and aside from playing Sonic the Hedgehog in an emulator, I NEVER EVER use the physical keyboard, 'cause it's not colemak.
My main question when it comes to the Pre Plus is-- what's the screen resolution?
@ethana2
320x480, but hey at least you could play some modern 3D games instead of sonic on an emulator
@Cam samez
@Flowah - The resolution is very high, and the graphics extremely sharp. The colors are simply stunning! You would only need greater resolution if you got a bigger screen. The form factor of this phone is perfect - it can easily fit in your pocket. Not everyone wants to carry a big phone.
@Cam
Agreed I'll take these phones over any of the garbage overhyped Android ones.
Unfortunately I need a 1GHz proccessor, so I will have to go with the Nexus One (when it comes to verizon). I wish it had a hardware based keyboard, though.
@Musturd why do u need 1ghz in a phone?
@ethana2 Droid's keyboard is unusable compared to the Pre ones, sorry about that (which does not mean that the Droid is not a kick ass device).
@Cam I traded my (Sprint) Pre in for a Moto Droid on VZW. If the Pre had been like this (better slider, more storage and video editing) I would probably stuck with the Pre. The Pre Plus seems like what the Pre should have been.
@jarobusa
Because he yearns for 12 hours of battery life.
@schnozberry 12 hours? That's good by today's standards...
@Goona
First off please don't compare the Verizon Droid to the entire market of Android based phones out there on the market plus all the new ones due out this year.
My Samsung Moment is one sweet phone and just like the new Palm Pre the 2nd generation of it will just be that much better. It is packing everything the Pre has available, plus a much higher resolution AMOLED screen, faster processor, better keyboard, Visual Voice-mail, a nice 3.2 megapixel camera with flash and many other features. The stock battery in both phones stink to put it politely. I purchased a 2nd battery and a dual battery charging cradle. After being out for several hours I get home and swap them out and I'm good to go for the rest of the evening. The other nice thing about the cradle is my phone stands up neatly on the desk making everything easily viewable.
Now take my phone and make it 2nd generation like the new Pre, add internal memory 8-16 + GB, one up Palm and give it an external Micro-SD card, add a better GPU if your big into games on a phone which I could personally care less about and you have a phone that pretty much smokes anything Palm has done with their new 2nd release of their phone.
I am happy for Palm and their competing with this 2nd generation of the Pre, but it's not going to really be that much different then the original one minus some much needed improvements. I'm also not saying that my phone is perfect either, I wish they would have thought out a few things better.......but that's what making a 2nd generation of our phones is all about after-all, it's to make the consumer spend more $$ for what should have been that way on the phone in the 1st place lol... =)
Happy New Year to everyone, may it be safe and prosperous !!
P.S.... For Palm to make the release of the new phone a Verizon exclusive is also absolutely lame, even if it's just for the 1st 6-8 months, especially since the device originally came out on the Sprint network. If it was not for all the loyal Sprint customers who kept them afloat buying a phone that was not truly ready to come to market when it was first released Palm would have already been out of business at this time. Now that Palm has made a little operating cash they have forgot those who got them there in the first place.
Wait so this device already has Flash 10.1 in the browser?
@Guru101010: The browser already has plugin capability. Some newer flash content shows a lego block (or something like that) where it should be. They did that with 1.3.1 I think.
Now its time to fill those lego blocks with plugins.
@Guru101010 Coming in Feb as an update, but beta in App Catalog soon (prob by the 25th)
@Ruben Aaah, the jigsaw puzzle piece of shame!
Stop telling me these things! It's making the wait that much more intolerable.
@Leindurstit
DRAGON!!!!!!!!!!!
@Leindurstit Cool pic!!!
I'm really sad about this, because it looks almost perfect, but I can't afford verizon.
How does the lack of the button thingamabob (sorry, I don't remember what it's actually called) affect usage?
I'm kind of interested in the Pre, but if the lack of the button has a severe impact on usage, then I'll pass.
@BigJayDogg3
I assume it'll work as it does on the Pixi, and as far as I've heard no one has complained about the lack of a physic button on the Pixi.
@BigJayDogg3 The button doesn't do anything more than minimize an app when you are in it. The same thing can be accomplished by flicking upwards in the gesture area. Many people who own a Pre now don't even use the button at all.
@BigJayDogg3
The button is unnecessary with the gesture system (which is great, btw). I assume they originally put it there so iPhone converts wouldn't be confused.
@BigJayDogg3
The real question is, with the center button gone. Will there still be blink notifications?
@BigJayDogg3
Biggest improvement will probably be in durability. Lots of reports that cracks started and propagated around that button.
@BigJayDogg3 it has not effect on usage. I've got the Pre right now and NEVER use the button. The only thing do use it for is to have an LED notification of new messages. Other than that, it is useless.
@crazyazn23 Yeah there will be; the LED is in there as you can see in picture 14 of 17. It's a little white bar
@togurt Agreed. I haven't used the button in months. In fact, the only way I really use it is to figure out that it's "the bottom" of the phone when I'm fumbling around for it @ night. Too bad I'm on Sprint, but their service is good, price is low & they'll probably get the Pre Plus in 6-8 months...
@crazyazn23
All the patch accomplished was making the LED beneath the center key light up, I'm sure the gesture area will light up still; even with the absence of the button.
@BigJayDogg3
Odd, I use the button all the time. It is a quick shortcut to minimize your app, so you can maneuver easily to the other open apps. Also, the gesture only goes back one step, so if you are in the browser it only goes back to the last page. You would have to gesture multiple times if you are deep within a webpage. It makes no sense people would want to swipe 8 times or more versus one button click?
Also, some times an application just hangs there, so the gesture is delayed or don't work, but the button forces it to end.
@Mopo You gesture up to go into card view and gesture left to go back...gesturing up is exactly the same result as pressing the button
@Judah Rosenthal
No, they'll probably get the pre2 in 6-8 months, just like verizon and AT&T
I expect that the pre2 will be more powerful, metal construction, and will be on all networks, but sprint (being palm's favorite) will get a slight discount on price.
@Bacchus1976 Actually, the cracks propagate around the usb port on the side. I know, cuz that's what happened to mine. I don't care though. I love this phone so friggin' much.
@togurt
Ditto. I own an OG Pre and rarely use that button. I only use it because I know its there, and it must get lonely, so I tap it once in a while. But yes, no one will miss the button; I just wish they would have found a better use for it (since it would be the only button available when the Pre is closed). Would have been nice to keep it and use it to turn on the screen (a la the iphone). Using the top button to turn on the phone's screen is not ideal, but I'll live with it. Duplicate functionality is not always looked upon favorably, but imho I believe it would have been nice to keep (speaking as if this is the trend Palm will take for future webOS phones that will not come with a center button).
@Mopo The back gesture will eventually get you out to card view, but if you flick up from the gesture area to the screen instead, it will back out to card view from wherever you are in your app (exactly like the button). Doing the same gesture again in card view will bring up the launcher.
When the Pre was released, I found this method flawed (and still do) I think that the center button should do exactly what it does now (leave and enter the selected app card) while the "flick up" gesture should bring up the launcher no matter if you are in an app or not, without going to card view. Drag up would still bring up the wave launcher. Then you also wouldn't have to have a dedicated launcher button on the quick launch bar.
It seems more logical to do it this way. Example: you are in the web app and you want to send a text, but the messaging app is not open yet. Now you would have to either hit the button or flick up. Then flick up again or tap the launcher icon. Then open messaging. (3 steps) This is how it should be: you are in web, flick up to bring up launcher, locate and tap messaging. Done. (2 steps)
Quick survey: How many people use the dedicated launcher icon in the quick launch tray? How many people open launcher while in an app by dragging up the wave launcher and using the launcher icon?
@crazyazn23
There's still a little LED underneath there, but when its off, it looks completely glossy. As of now, it only blinks when you minimize an app.
Is Sprint going to get this refresh as well?
@a5ehren
no
Nor wil AT&T.
But it's still not clear how AT&T is involved here - Palm didn't mention them.
@a5ehren The same way people got the Original Palm Pre to work on Verizon.... I'm betting people will be able to get this to work on Sprint.
I'm glad I waited before jumping on the Palm Pre bandwagon. I really loved the phone when it first came out, and then as time went on I realized it wasn't that great of a phone - yet. I know Palm needed to push the Pre out the door, but I felt like they really rushed it. Palm commented on how they've been updating very often, and that tells me two things: they're serious about supporting the phone, and that they had a lot of stuff in the pipeline but couldn't finish it before launch day.
Come Feb with webOS 1.4, the Pre will finally be caught up on the OS end with video recording, flash support, 3D gaming, etc. Throw on the double RAM and storage space, and better build quality of the Pre Plus, I'm sold.
@DrDr
Sprint isn't getting these refreshes at all? If not then that really sucks. They really need to get the updated versions of these phones.
I wish they'd redesign it a bit more like the pixi, with a larger screen and without a keyboard haha.
@Dasaii i was just thinking about that to lol, virtual keyboard
But can it still cut cheese?
@lookitsron Wait what?