Part one of my Palm Pre review can be found here.

What really sets the Pre apart isn’t the construction of the phone, the QWERTY keyboard, the Touchstone or anything like that. It’s WebOS. A marvel of an operating system that allows for multitasking and provides the most computer-like experience I’ve ever seen on a phone.

It’s in the cards…

Navigating through WebOS is done through cards. Apps are all launched into cards. When you launch the email app, it launches into a card. It’s the same thing with any other App, from the calendar, to messaging, Internet, contacts and more.

With the cards, Palm allows true multitasking that just isn’t found on the iPhone (or any other phone for that matter). You can have plenty of cards open at the same time, and system performance is still crisp. The multitasking is accomplished by either swiping up to zoom out from the currently selected card, or by hitting the home button. From there, you slide back and forth to the application you want. This even works while you’re talking on the phone, so if you need to check the weather, reference an email, shoot someone an text message or IM, or do any other thing on the phone you can. Most often, I find myself on the web when I get a text message or an email. On my old phone, that would have been disastrous. I’d have to quit the app, go check to see if it’s important and then come back. Now, I don’t have to worry about that because the Pre is limited to doing one thing at a time.

I can’t say enough about the card system, it’s fantastic.

Here are your menus…

You’ve got to launch some apps, if you’re planning on using the cards. The menu system on the Pre will be familiar to anyone who’s ever seen an iPod Touch or iPhone menu. You’ve got your programs with big icon, tap to launch. It’s pretty simple.

One nice thing about the Pre’s menu is that it’s scrollable. I could have five rows on one page (perhaps more, I haven’t tried to push it) and that’s not including the home launch bar. For me, this just allows more cramming of my favorite apps onto one page.

To get from page to page, all you need to do is swipe. If you look at the screenshots, the | right above the bottom set of icons lets you know how many pages there are. If I have 3 pages of apps and I’m on the middle page, there will be one | on each side, as shown. There will be two ||’s on a side if I’m on the furthest page over.

You can move the icons around on the phone by holding on to it and then sliding it to where you want. This even applies to the dock icons, which I have replaced with my four most used. I chose email because it’s a must for me; contacts because I found it preferable to look at contacts than the phone that was there; internet because it’s my most launched app on the phone and messaging because I if I have a QWERTY keyboard, I’m going to want to use it.

When you hit the menu button, it only shows you the quick launch bar, which you can then punch the full menu, or just launch one of those.

The fastest way to actually launch an app that’s not on your main page is to actually to use the keyboard. WebOS is actually pretty impressive in that respect. If I hit “C” it will bring up every application that has a C in it’s name, but it also recognizes that “C” is also 8 on the dialer. Global search is a huge feature for the Pre, with it you can find almost anything that’s on your phone. Global Search also brings up an option for Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia and Twitter if there’s nothing on your phone that fits the search parameter. You can also just punch in a URL from the Global Search and it will launch the browser and go to it. It’s a fantastic feature for the phone.

If you run into problems, or are wondering about how to do something there’s a help menu. It actually comes with videos that give you the step by step process of how to do something on the phone.

Feel free to browse…

Move over Mobile Safari. I have a new favorite web browser. The WebOS browser is amazing. Just like Mobile Safari, it delivers the real internet, not some mobile version that’s watered down and crappy. It also does so with some impressive rendering speed. It’s a multitouch interface just like on the iPhone. Pinch to zoom in, spread your fingers to zoom out. Double tap on a column of text and that column will fill the width of the screen. Want a wider view? Just rotate your phone, the switch is a snap, in fact I’d say it’s actually more snappy than the Mobile Safari browser I’ve used on my iPod Touch (I can’t say whether it’s faster than the iPhone 3GS, as I haven’t tested one).

The bookmarking system is pretty nice on the Pre too. Every bookmark has a title, URL and picture associated with it. This picture is actually a snapshot of the webpage that you can change yourself. So if you don’t like what you’re seeing as the preview, just change it. You can rearrange the bookmarks with simple dragging and dropping.

The order of bookmarks on the list is also the order they’ll appear in for the splash start page when you launch the browser. You can’t actually drag and drop from that original splash screen, so you’ll have to do it from the bookmark list to rearrange them.

The WebOS browser actually rotates while you’re in card mode if you rotate the phone, the accelerometer kicks in and rotates the browser.

WebOS lacks one key feature in the world of browsers (Mobile Safari lacks it as well), there’s no Flash support right now. This means, even though you’re browsing “the real Internet” some websites just won’t work or features will be disabled. It’s a work in progress, but it’s not out yet which is a bummer. Still, the browser is fantastic and I get way more use out of it than I ever thought I’d use on my cell phone.

You’ve got mail…

Email on the Pre is fantastic. It’s safe to say the WebOS email and browser are easily two of the greatest aspects of the phone. I’ve added both my personal Gmail account and the Microsoft Exchange Server work account that I have without a hitch. There’s actually push Gmail on the Pre, which means the second I get an email on the server, I will have it on my phone as well.

Setup was a breeze. I thought I was going to have some trouble trying to set up the security settings for the work email, but the process was really painless. Seeing as I have push email enabled, I’ve actually started setting up rules and filters for my Gmail account so that every message I get doesn’t sound the alarm on my phone. This used to be a problem on my old phone because I couldn’t see my labels but on the Pre, they’re all there. In fact, I can actually assign specific labels as favorites, which give them primary real estate in the favorites tab. You can setup favorites for each account you have connected. Each Inbox defaults to a favorite, but you can remove that and only assign the ones you one.

Attachments also show up in the emails, and thanks to the Document and PDF viewers, most everything is readable. I’ve opened Word documents, Excel Spreadsheets and PDFs all without a problem.

There are memos and there are tasks…

The Palm Pre has a nice Task and Memo system as well. Memos are pretty straight forward. You tap to start a new one, and then you can just start typing. There are four different note colors, and they look like sticky notes when they’re sitting on the menu. It’s a nice little feature that I’ve actually used quite a bit to log my workout and eating regimens. Using the notes a lot also helped speed up my typing skills on the Pre.

The Task app is also pretty nice. It syncs with Exchange (for those that are interested). You can list off things to do, and when you’re done just check them off. Tasks can be grouped into categories (for instance, the screenshot above is for “Write Pre Review.” Each task can be expanded upon by changing its priority, assigning a due date and giving it some notes.

These are the people in your neighborhood…

The contact list is made to be easy for finding things in massive amounts of data. This would be particularly useful if you wanted to import all of your Facebook friends (which I didn’t) and Google contacts on top of your normal contacts. Palm calls it “Synergy.” I call it daring. If you’re importing the hundreds of contacts from your Facebook account, you’re going to need the features of the Palm Pre’s contact system.

Just like Global Search, all you have to do is start typing, and it narrows the search for your contact. Now before I pruned my Google contacts (which hadn’t been touched since I opened my Gmail back in 2005) it imported literally hundreds of contacts from every email I had ever sent. Now, that wasn’t going to be how I operated, thankfully you can just delete the account attached and try again. I pruned my contact list, updated info with phone numbers and email accounts and re-imported. When the Pre imports contacts, it actually merges the multiple lists you have in your phone into one account. It will recognize that Gene Schuler in my phone is the same Gene Schuler in my contact list, and make them one. For the people that have a picture in the Google contacts, it even imports that.

It’s a pretty sweet feature. Now, I didn’t want to prune my Facebook friends, so I didn’t import the list. There’s room for improvement there. I should be able to import a specific group from Facebook (now that Facebook has made grouping much easier), but there isn’t for now. It’s not terribly disappointing though, because if there’s a contact I wanted from Facebook, it’s probably already in my phone.

Get in touch with someone…

Once you import contacts, communication on the Pre is fantastic. The Pre combines instant messages, SMS and MMS messages into one dialog. This makes it fantastic for the Pre user, because I can send a message in GoogleTalk or AIM, then shoot over a text message and all of it ends up in the same spot.

The phone is pretty standard fare. (Do you find it as funny as I do that the “phone” part of the cell phone review is THIS FAR IN?) You will not find visual voicemail on the Pre, but it’s an omission that doesn’t really affect me all that much. I generally answer my phone, and thus there’s no real voicemail glut I have to worry about. While it’s a great feature when you have it, as I did on the Instinct, the fact that it’s missing hasn’t bothered me all that much.

The iPhone may have been a “revolutionary” Internet communications device when Steve Jobs originally announced it, but Palm has shown just how much ground can be made up in a short amount of time. With the hardware keyboard, the fluid messaging system and even the Twitter aspects I’ll get to in a moment, the Pre is a step above.

Make an appointment… then check the weather…

I’ve never been good with remembering things. Really. I was told as a child that I would forget my head if it wasn’t attached to my body, and as an adult, I’m pretty sure I agree with the statement. The Pre’s calendar kind of helps me with that. In the same way that the contact list can take in information from many different sources, the calendar does the same thing. Right now, I have 4 different calendar’s synced with the Pre (My Google calendar, the Google calendar with shared events for the family, my WoodTV exchange calendar and the Palm Profile Calendar). Each has a different color on the Pre. In the screen shots, you can see the differentiation and how it shows up on the weekly view. You can set a start time and end time for your day (it defaults to 9-5).

Because the Pre syncs with Google, you can get reminders on your phone, or reminders sent to you via email (which in turn would alert you on your phone. Is the Pre’s calendar going to change the world? Probably not, but it certainly helps make my days a bit more organized. I don’t have a screen shot of this, but it actually scrunches your day view if you have an open time period between events. This is done so that you can see everything and then in between events it says how much time you have free.

There are several ways to get there…

Because the Pre is required to come on a variation of a nice data plan for Sprint, that also means it comes with the fantastic Sprint Navigation. I loved it on the Samsung Instinct, and it’s much improved on the Pre. It actually pops up a psuedo 3-d map when you’re traveling to your destination.

I must admit though, at first I couldn’t figure out how to find the Trip & Traffic Summary. After having found it, by merely tapping the screen, I now feel like an idiot. I was trying to hit the menu button and all sorts of other things, but a simple tap brings up the options. Trip & Traffic Summary is there, as well as the search along route function which is especially useful for finding restaurants, hotels, (redacted), and other things. The GPS gets you to where you need to go. In my testing so far, the GPS ha’s only lost my signal once but was re-acquired almost instantly.

If your partial to Google Maps… well, there’s an app for that on the Pre too.

The Pre’s version of Google Maps comes with everything you’d expect. A GPS dot signals your location. You can get directions, check satellite view, show traffic and the other usual things associated with Google Maps. In that regard it’s just another great option, though my use of it is rare because I prefer the Sprint Navigation app.

Take a picture while you’re there.

When you buy a digital camera at a store, I’ll throw down a guarantee that it has a flash. So why do so many cell phones today not have flashes for their cameras? My old Instinct lacked a flash. Even though new iPhone 3GS lacks a flash. Why? Is it so hard, costly or big to include a tiny LED to light up my world? A flash should be standard. Luckily, the Pre’s camera has a flash. It also has a 3.2MP sensor which is pretty fantastic to look at.

Above, there are a pair of pictures of the flowers outside my townhouse. Both are taken on the Pre, one in direct sunlight, the other in the shade. As a beginner photographer at best, the Pre takes fine pictures to me. Of the pictures I’ve seen linked on Twitter, users seem to be pretty happy with the quality they’re getting out of their cell phone. I know the pictures I’ve taken have been good enough. The Pre is not going to replace my Canon camera, but it’s certainly good enough to snap a picture and send it back for woodtv.com.

Managing your photos is quite easy on the Pre too. It breaks up the pictures into a couple of different sections automatically. All images, Photo roll (pictures you’ve taken), Messaging (pictures received in MMS or email), screencaptures (screenshots I’ve taken while using the phone), and Wallpapers are the default options. Each is simply a directory on the phone when you plug it into a PC. It makes for easy management of the content on the phone.

As for browsing pictures, it’s pretty quick to pop up a list of thumbnails. You select one and it displays full screen, rotate the phone and it rotates with you. The multitouch works here too, allowing you to zoom in or out and switch between pictures with a flick of the finger.

Let the world know what you are doing…

Twitter is all the rage these days. It’s become essential for the newsroom and I’ve found it’s actually a pretty easy way to pickup on news. I’ve found following my favorite websites and writers is actually easier than going to the actual site. Because I’m so fond of Twitter, I’ve got to have an app on my phone. Enter Tweed and Spaz. (I’ll get to the lack of applications a bit later). Tweed has a higher rating and more downloads, so I tried it out first and wasn’t disappointed. It gives me everything I want. Twitter is searchable. I can sort by Trending Topics, Favorite, Direct Messages, Mentions, my Tweets and bookmarks. Sending out a tweet is easy and I can even let it access my GPS and attach a location in a TinyURL for my coords on Google Maps. I haven’t used many mobile Twitter applications, but I find Tweed does everything I want it to do. It may not be TweetDeck (my new favorite desktop app that just spawned an iPhone app) but it’s definitely reliable for the Pre.

Also, because I don’t have to shut it down (but even when I do) it notifies me when I have new direct messages, mentions or tweets. Tweed is another fantastic way that the Pre connects me with the rest of the Web.

Entertain Me…

The Palm Pre has a lot more to share… and so do I, read on in part 3.  Or you can go back, to part 1.

Tags: Gadgets, Not Made Of Wood, Palm, Pre, review