The flagship of Palm Pre Plus Reviews is finally available after more than a year of waiting. The Palm Pre Plus is animated by a brilliant operating system and takes advantage of a design and an attractive price. Sufficient for their place on the sector of smartphones? Response in this test of the Palm pre Plus.
Back on the course of the Palm pre. Presented to the European press in early February 2009 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Palm Pre Plus Smartphone Touchscreen phone us was packed.
Was his design in the shape of roller, the presence of a capacitive screen multi-touch while it was not yet the standard, the Palm Pre paying also on a brilliant operating system and accessories trends as this charger wireless induction technology.
At this time, the iPhone 3GS was not yet exit and supply in the level of the Google Phone was limited essentially to the HTC Dream G1 and HTC Magic, the road to success seemed any drawn for the Californian constructor.
But everything is very fast in mobility. If in 2009 Pre was innovative and took advantage of the lack of serious rivals, the situation is completely different to its hexagonal release scheduled for May 11 in boutiques SFR. The sector of smartphones is now very cluttered with many products with common qualities. Include recent HTC Desire and HTC Legend above all, the latter will also be a competitor for the Pre…
Brilliant interface
Strong point of the Palm pre Plus Apps is without doubt its Web OS interface. Capitalizing on good ergonomic ideas, Web OS is bluffing for simplicity, the navigation pane or multitasking are well implemented and the set is simple to use. At startup, a tutorial just explain the basic actions.
In practice the Web OS home a bar way dock Apple allowing you to access the basic functions that are phone, contacts, messages, calendar management and application shortcuts.
At any time, it is possible to take advantage of this launch bar by sliding his finger of the sensitive surface beneath the screen, to the top. To make a return, you drag your finger on the sensitive surface of right to the left and to remove a component, simply drag it to the top. Ergonomics is instinctive closer experience under iPhone OS.
Multitasking is also interesting by providing the ability to manage multiple applications/components simultaneously by using the sensitive surface on the screen or showing the bar management.
Function Synergy, particularly innovative at the presentation of Web OS early 2009, it is much less now. Competition to widely invested in the convergence of information and all mobile platforms and manufacturers now have identical solutions.
However, the aggregation of different info such as contacts calendars and thoughtfulness of Outlook, Facebook message, Twitter in a single component facilitates using. We also appreciate the opportunity to update its Palm Pre Plus “over the air” and automatically. Here again, the ease of use is present.
Buy an app, to get the CB
Like any good smartphone, the Palm pre has its booth for downloading application. Batisé App Catalog, it is not to be ashamed at the level of ergonomics with an Android Market or even an App Store. There are conventional classifications by categories, news, popular applications, appli headings, Search tab.
This Market is little provided of course, but Web OS operates judiciously standards appreciated by developers such as the CSS, XHTML or javascript. Overall there are major applications on the App Catalog. Note that some iPhone OS app could easily be laid on Web OS and that the Californian manufacturer could provide tools to simplify these portages.
If the management of standard format is a good thing for software evolution of Palm Meadows more and its Web OS, yet should be that the economic model is attractive to the developer for the utilisateur…
The redistribution of income is identical to the other platforms, 70% to the developer, 30 for the constructor but Palm has chosen a few convenient payment solution. There where iPhone OS and Android build on simplified with iTunes or Paypal payment solutions, to purchase an application on the Palm pre, it will take each time out his credit card!
A curious choice, impinges on the Act of purchase in contrast to the more “transparent” solutions offered by the competition where the purchase is almost not.
Deficiencies in the design and not easily exploitable keyboard
The Palm Pre Plus price and specifications is properly equipped. Are found the classic HSDPA, Wi – Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, accelerometer, proximity sensor and light, taken jack, 3 megapixel autofocus sensor supported by Flash, micro USB. Unfortunately, in the absence of slot for memory card, you cannot rely on the 16 GB of internal memory.
First note on the network, the Palm pre Plus equipment sometimes has difficulty in hooking the 3 G and the user is often found in EDGE even in GPRS (in SFR, including directly from GPRS to 3 G / 3 G + and lacks a WAN EDGE also than its two hexagonal competitors). It remains to hope whether here non-hardware and software problem.
Palm pre Plus advance of advantageous finishes, plastic quality that is crisp not, impression of strength, no problem on this side there. However, most pre seemed quite heavy and thick, 135 g for a mobile that hosts a 3.1 inches screen, it is too much. For comparison, this is the same weight as an HTC Desire that takes advantage of a screen of 3.7 inches.
The origin of this overweight is obviously looking at the integration of a mechanical full QWERTY keyboard. Las, this keyboard is not easily exploitable if the keys are well spaced, they are also too small. In addition, no virtual keyboard therefore impossible to make seizures when the pre is in landscape mode.
Despite significant weight, which suggest that the meadow is equipped with a beautiful battery, touch of the Californian does shines not on endurance. A day of use, it is not catastrophic, but in the current standards for a smartphone simply.
Damage, because screen 3.1 inches with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels of the pre Plus is comfortable despite its small size, the multi-point (multi-touch or two fingers zoom) is well managed, the restitution of colours is correct. Web navigation is rather comfortable, the addition of Flash 10.1 this summer will be more, and the multimedia part is fairly complete.
Difficult to remove the spirit that if Palm pre was released a year earlier in France it would have been booked. Its intuitive interface, its true multitasking well thought out and effective, its multi-touch screen and studied design are the Palm pre plus an attractive terminal. Unfortunately, the payment system will limit the Act of purchasing application, mechanical keyboard is not the most practical and autonomy seems a bit fair to us. Damage, but the qualities of the interface are not everything.
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