Palm’s new Smartphone, the Pre, is a sensation
I have owned this phone for 16 hours now, and have logged less than 45 minutes using the phone. But already, i can tell you this phone is a sensation, and will become a significant factor in the Smartphone business – especially at Palm, Sprint, Apple, Research and Motion, and AT&T.
Palm's new Pre Smartphone
Only in Silicon Valley
Had an interesting June 6th. After camping out at the Sprint store and being one of only 41 people (out of over 100 in line) to get a Pre, I went to Orchard Valley Coffee in Campbell, and sat on a bench outdoors to sip on a cup of coffee.
I had been setting down with the new Pre for maybe 30 seconds, when a guy walks up and inquires “is that the new Pre?” As i began to visit with him about it, it slowly became apparent that he was one of the Palm engineers that had developed the phone. He was modest about the Pre but quite informative about the development process. We ended up chatting for nearly an hour. So I lucked out and ended up with a crisp “power user tour-de-force” of the Pre.
Surprising enough that happened, at that time, but even more surprising was what happened later in the day (per below). The same day, in the evening at a restaurant in Los Gatos, it happened again – i was ordering dinner at the counter and my server noticed the Pre; he said “that fellow over there is one of the designers of the Pre”. Again it was a senior Palm Engineering team member. I went over to visit and ended up getting another a rapid-fire education on the Pre’s OS, Gestures, and more answers about the phone’s mechanics, apps store universe, etc I grilled him about his current employer, past employer, and what is the real story with Palm.
Twas the night before Pre at Sprint
Those two visits gave me a better appreciation of the new team at Palm built and led by Ed Colligan, Roger MacNamee, Jon Rubenstein, who have put together and executed an amazing turnaround product for PALM.
How the Pre is different
First, the Pre is pleasingly SMALL, with a rounded, almost egg-like form factor, so you can put it into your jeans or khakis ‘inner pocket” and still have a pocket left; no holster or geek-pack required. The screen is great – bright vibrant and crisp.
The keyboard is very small, which was my main concern. But it is small in a good way – you can still thumb-type quickly at 30+ WPM on it; yet the thumb-travel isn’t as far as say, on a blackberry, which actually speeds things up without decreasing accuracy. Sometimes, smaller is BETTER – and that is the amazing fact here. The keys are a bit “sticky”, and that works out ok in this case. Hard to describe, but somehow it seems to make typing on the keyboard more accurate than conventional “mini-chiclet” keyboards.
The Pre’s Operating System is elegantly designed, fast, and stable. You can toggle between multiple open apps (something the iPhone can’t do) without even using a second hand; open and close apps, jump between them, minimize and maximize, all after barely moving a single thumb. The Pre comes loaded with many apps, including some free “Sprint Television” channels – including the NASCAR channel – but also has an Apps store per the iPhone and Android G1. I downloaded a Twitter App. It was the smoothest ‘download and install’ sequence i’ve seen on any phone; I was Tweeting within 45 seconds. There are more apps available. I don’t share the concern I’ve heard about “not enough apps”; the Pre will catch up soon enough.
The Pre has innovated in many ways, for example with their innovative ‘Gestures’ area below the display. Apple put much of their energy into “not having a keyboard” and did create some very cool, patented screen keyboard technology enhancements that make an iPhone keyboard “almost usable” for business email. But then, they put an auto-word correcter in the iPhone OS which can’t be disabled. It has a tendancy to alter some of your intended words in your emails, into other, less appropriate words. Apple did not even provide a BlueTooth API to enable aftermarket mini-keyboards. Undoubtably, the iPhone was a breakthrough product. But it has now been exceeded in some important ways by the Pre.
Why I felt compelled to review the Pre
I have a long history first with PDA’s, then with SmartPhones - as documented on my signature line on TreoCentral.com (below). And I worked on developing telephones and speakerphones at Bell Labs from 1979 to 1986, and I hold a patent on Lucent’s speakerphone station set voice switch ( http://Google.com/patents/stevebell ). As the Treo’s evolved I ended up owning 9 of them, installing as many as 50 add-on applications at one time.
Back in 2004 I conducted a survey at TreoCentral.com about the performance and quality of the Treo phone (radio), in an effort to impress upon Palm the need to improve the phone hardware performance of the original Treo’s (that issue eventually it became a class-action suit). So of course, I’m very interested in Palm’s “hail Mary play” with the new Pre, which debuted this morning in a Nationwide launch.
Partial history of Steve’s smartphones and pda’s, from his signature line at TreoCentral.com
Sharp Zaurus>HP200LX>Cassiopeia E-10>Palm Pilot 1000/5000>iPaq 3600>HP 360/620LX>Palm III, IIIx>Diamond Mako>Palm V>Palm Vx>Psion 5Mx>iPaq 3630,3670>Samsung i300>Sony Clie NX70>Kyocera 7135>Sony PEG T50>Samsung i330>Treo300>Samsung i500>Sony NZ90>Sony SJ33>Rim 7230>Sprint Treo 600>Treo 600>iPaq H4355 PPC>iPod + Sprint Treo 600>Sony Clie NX-73, Th55>Sanyo 8200>Treo 650>Tungsten T5+BB 7290>iPhone 2G>iPhone 3G>AT&T BB Curve>AT&T BB Storm>BB Bold>Sprint Curve>Sprint/Palm Pre (6/6/09)
Catching the Pre Launch
I “pitched camp” the night before Pre launched (June 5 2009) at the local Sprint store (Campbell, CA — the closest store to Los Gatos) along with about 25 other locals, and was one of first on my block to buy a Palm Pre at 8:00am on Saturday June 6. I wrote this review before looking at any other Pre reviews. I did see one a few days ago which was generally favorable but critized the keyboard and screen as too small; but I have not read anything else, so I went into writing this review “in neutral”.
My initial overall impressions of the Pre
I have only owned my Pre for 5 hours, so this is preliminary. But I can already say with confidence that this is the an impressive Smartphone. I like it better than my Blackberry Curve, which previously held that distinction. It has a BEAUTIFUL screen; the keyboard is a vertical slider, which prevents “accidental telephone calls” (Blackberries have to be locked, since the keyboard is always exposed). The operating system is brilliant; you can navigate between open apps very quickly and easily.
My GMail setup went smoothly without a hitch; and the phone imported all of my Google Calendar and Phonebook entries without a hitch. The 3M pixel camera produces sensational photos; the voice quality of incoming and outgoing calls is great; and it even comes with two free, ‘Sprint TV’ live TV channels (including the NASCAR channel)! The mechanical look and feel or “build quality” of this phone is very satisfying. My only concern was that the keyboard might be too small; but it is not, in fact I’m liking typing on the Pre, better than typing on either the RIMM Bold or Curve, already! And this phone can be carried in a jeans pocket easily, it is so small.
Negatives with the Pre
The only critique i have so far is minor: the USB port on the right side of the phone has an incredibly flimsy plastic cover, which is bound to break soon. But if it did, no big problem. Compared to the dozens and dozens of positive discoveries, that is a minor. And Palm had made that little thing somewhat irrelevant with their excellent “magnetic induction” charging accessory, which is a story in itself (more on that in my second post). For some users, the keyboard may be a bit too small.
I heard from others in line at Sprint that battery life is going to be an issue, so I purchased a car charger and the slick, magnetically-couple base charging station. I will report in on that after a day or two of use. But today i realized that the back does come off the phone rather easily, allowing swapping of batteries. I don’t know if Palm is selling batteries yet, but if not i’m sure they’ll be available soon. Lithium Ions last a long time after being pre-charged (their “internal resistance” is low). So you could charge a second battery, and carry it for back-up.
I have no biases and am perfectly willing to find major flaws with this phone. I’d even return it if it didn’t grow on me. The Blackberries and iPhones and Androids and Symbians and Samsungs Nokias HTC’s Motorolas etc are also excellent, cutting edge devices. I switch to them as quickly as one becomes interesting. So the Pre is now just another moving target, with a lot of phones chasing it, from my perspective. That is a really excellent situations for consumers!
Why I decided to give Sprint another chance
In the past, i left Sprint because of problems with their customer service and billing. But I believe that under the leadership of Dan Hesse, they are making a huge effort to turn that around – a successful effort. You may be interested in my rationale for returning to Sprint, as I explained in comments on Henry Blodget’s BusinessInsider site ( http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-the-palm-pre-will-bomb-2009-6 ):
I think Henry is correct in that Palm is at a major disadvantage starting from having to almost “start from scratch” this late in the (platform) game. However, I disagree that the Pre is inferior to the iPhone. There are many millions of business users like myself who have abandoned the iPhone because of its horrific onscreen keyboard. Most of us are using Blackberry Curves and are frustrated by the lack of a good device on a good carrier. Verizon has the awesome coverage footprint, but no good smartphones! The Storm’s on-screen keyboard is problematic for me, even harder to use than the iPhones (a lot of people love it, but it’s not for me). The Bold is only sold by AT&T, and dropped around 50% of my calls, likely due to AT&T’s embryonic 3G infrastructure. I have read that there is at least one class-action lawsuit in the works, charging false advertising; will edit in more info as I research that.
Here’s why i just came back to Sprint from AT&T a week ago. AT&T appears to have serious problems with their 3G network; many calls are dropped. I have verified this by speaking with other AT&T users, and have heard it discussed at recent industry conferences. And the Bold is still a bit buggy; RIMM will work that out but I wasn’t happy with it. As for Sprint as a carrier, I like what Dan Hesse is doing to turn around customer service, and (try to) roll out the 4G WiMax nationwide, through their partnership with Clearwire (now branded as the “Clear” service, and rolling out in Boise, Portland, Las Vegas, Baltimore, etc).
Second, and more importantly did you know that Sprint has a FREE ROAMING AGREEMENT with Verizon? And you get unlimited voice+data for $99.95/mo. So they have the best coverage possible, screaming fast 3G, and will even sell you an unlimited, “all you can eat” 3G USB stick for $30/mo extra. The other carriers cap you at 5G per month then really nail you.
Disclosure
By way of disclosure, I do not currently have any personal or business affiliations, stock holdings/investments, or reasons for favoring or disfavoring (aka biases) with Palm, Sprint, Research in Motion, or Apple Computer. They are all interesting, innovative high tech companies which I admire and follow. But I am just “calling them as I see them” here, in order to provide objective, timely insights and analysis on the rapidly-changing Smartphone market.