Palm Pre Plus user reviews (AT&T)

4.0 stars

"Great, fun, easy little phone" on August 12, 2010 by ljmacl

Pros: Small size, QWERTY, call quality, easy to learn and use, WebOS, built in help, screen resolution, wi-fi, app selection, keeping apps open at same time with "cards", runs quickly, back of phone is not shiny- won't scratch, touch screen very responsive

Cons: key board (but I knew that going in) 2 minor things: not a separate sound for text messages, charger that comes with it.

Summary: I love this phone. It definitely is perfect for a first time smart phone user. I probably would not recommend it for someone that texts a ton. I do text, but not as much as my 20 and 17 year old daughters. (My 17 year old has the Motorola Backflip which has a large QWERTY key board and touch screen and can still do Web stuff and she likes her phone) I was more interested in call quality (We no longer have a land line) and I definitely think it is very good there. I had trouble understanding people on my old phone.
I like the small size.
It seems to take good pics and the flash is nice to have.
Putting my ICal info and contacts from various sources on it was a breeze.
You get little notices on the bottom of the screen if you have incoming stuff even if you don't have Facebook, e-mail etc open. If you don't care about it you just swoosh off to the side.
If you order your Palm Pre Plus off AT&T's web site make sure to add the Touchstone charger to your order (it doesn't add it automatically). You get it FREE with purchase of the Pre (worth $69.00). Not sure how long this dealio is going till, though. The Touchstone charger is awesome. I keep it on my kitchen desk and pop the Pre on it when I get home. I'm glad I was able to get the Touchstone charger, 'cuz I felt that when I was putting the original charger into the phone I was gonna break something. The charger part that goes into the phone seemed fragile compared to others I have dealt with (Backflip, my old phone, husbands Blackberry's).
I've seen people diss the battery life and I can't really comment on that. Palm gives you suggestions on extending battery life. I've always been good about charging my phones. Since I haven't tested GPS and such and have been close to home since I've had the phone I may have not fully pushed the limits on the battery yet. Overstock.com has Palm Pre Plus kits (car charger and other stuff) for $5 so I ordered one.
I love how the card system works. Everything runs so smoothly. Getting on the web is fast. Pinch to zoom is very useful. This screen may be small for heavy duty web users, but it's fine for me. I was e-mailed a PDF quote and it opened very quickly. I used the pinch to zoom to get a better look at the finally numbers.
On one review someone complained about cut and paste. You definitely can do it. Maybe it's better on other phones, don't know. I had no problem. I only had a little problem in getting the cursor at the very beginning of a document. It requires a well aimed touch.
Turning on and off Wi-fi is easy and quick to do, same with Bluetooth.

Updated on Aug 20, 2010

Update: Give full 5 star rating. Pre and WebOS are amazing. If you think the phone doesn't do something you want, there is probably a patch/ap for it. I.E. I felt the available ring/message tones were to quiet. I went on the Preware site and voila! there was a patch so that now I have louder ring tones. I mentioned that it may be difficult to text alot, but I got used to it. Also, there is a patch that puts a virtual keyboard on the screen. It's like having an IPhone, but better. This is the ultimate geek phone because of all the customization you can do to it with Preware. You don't have to be a geek to use it though.One thing I'm a little bummed about though. Syncing my ICal (calendar on Mac) to the Pre. I had looked on Palm's site prior to purchasing the phone to make sure I could use ICal with the Pre which indicated I could. Well that is not fully true. There is a one time data transfer, but it doesn't keep it up to date. I ended up having to purchase called the Missing Sync.

Updated on Sep 5, 2010

Latest finding. You can move your cursor in text easily. Just touch the screen, press & hold the option button then you can drag the cursor to where ever you want. Yay. Regarding battery issues. The more things you connect to i.e. yahoo e-mail, facebook etc the more your battery has to work 'cuz it wants to keep things updated. Also, one building I work in I noticed my phone battery life was terrible. This building is notorious for bad cell reception (and there is no wi-fi connection). I believe the problem is that the phone just kept on trying to find a cell so it could keep updated. I've decided to unsync my Yahoo e-mail and Facebook accounts with the phone. I can still go on my e-mail account and Facebook they will just not be continually updated and show new e-mails and such at the bottom of the screen of my phone. That's fine with me. Also, Palm Pre Kit I got from Overstock.com is awesome.

4.5 stars

"webOS. Intuitive, simple, and customizable" on July 13, 2010 by volsari

Pros: Patches. Themes. Betaware
Upgradeable battery
webOS- intuitive and multitasking

Cons: Processor and RAM could be better
Accelerometer can be slow

Summary: I have experience with the Palm Pre on Sprint, and eagerly awaited a GSM version. The hardward upgrades with the Palm Pre Plus on ATT are much appreciated, although I was pretty happy with my old Palm Pre. It is nice to have twice the available storage. The card style interface is really a plus and let's you easily change between programs. I can be streaming a baseball game, have a website open, and work on a document all at the same time! It is true that the Apps Store isn't nearly as big as Apple or Android, but the apps are pretty and work. The slide interface is another webOS innovation. To delete files, web history, or anything, you just slide the file to the right or left and it reveals a Delete option. NICE!
WebOS is really just a mobile version of Linux. If you are familiar with Linux, you will know what packages are. There is a Homebrew App "Preware" that lets you fully customize your Palm Pre, changing it to look and act the way you want it to. These patches and themes are well supported and update along with the phone when you receive an OS update from Palm. This is my favorite part of webOS.
Screen is beautiful, camera takes great pictures. There are a few minor complaints about the smoothness of the accelerometer and the quickness of the GPS, but I have never had a computer that worked smoothly 100% of the time! In the year I have had the device it has never froze up on me. Stalled for a minute once or twice, but nothing that it didn't end up clearing up by giving it a second.
I can't wait for a larger screen. That just me. Some people don't like large phones. And I'm happy with this one as it is. Oh, and as for the battery. This is the first and only accessory that I bought. An extended Seidio battery with cover. I can use the phone all day all the way (GPS, WiFi, Internet, Streaming) and still have over 30% battery when I get home from work. These phones aren't expensive to buy, and it is a good $60 investment, if battery power is your issue.
I personally haven't had any of the hardware issues that others complain about. I love the physical keyboard. There is a patch for a soft keyboard if you like that option. Again, there are patches for everything. Some people like some things and don't like other things, so there will never be a perfect OS that will please everyone out of the box. Just remember that this is what you want to do when you get this phone, because it is the only one that LEGALLY lets you change it to what YOU want and need it to do. Learn how to use it. Customize it. Then be the envy of your spouse and friends who followed the crowd.

4.0 stars

"Excellent phone with some small flaws" on December 26, 2010 by nmhemming

Pros: - OS is simple & fun to use
- Doesn't contain too many customization options
- Screen quality
- clean, high-quality looking applications
- Stock apps are polished / easy to use
- Free touchstone charger
- Music application
- Physical keyboard

Cons: - slide out keyboard "loosens" up quicker than expected
- Web browser loads as you scroll; there is some definite lag
- No stock apps such as stopwatch & voice recorder
- Average Call quality
- App store is underdeveloped
- Lacks compatibility

Summary: This is an excellent phone - I definitely prefer the Pre Plus to my previous Android device. The OS and design is very polished, and the Pre is very easy (and fun) to use. The presence of an easy-to-use physical keyboard definitely helps. Still, the browser is out-of-date, and the phone has several other annoying flaws. Although they are minor, they do add up to keep the Pre Plus from receiving 5 stars.

5.0 stars

"Great phone, easy and fun to use." on July 14, 2010 by wingedwulf

Pros: Easy to use touch screen. The operating system is fun and intuitive. QWERTY keyboard. 16 gigs of storage.

Cons: As a former blackberry user I sometimes get annoyed that I have to slide the keyboard out to type.

Summary: This is my first touch screen phone, and it is extremely easy to use. A cursor appears onscreen where you touch so you can see exactly where you are touching. Basically this phone is small, but surprisingly powerful. I wasn't really looking for a phone with a lot of games, but I was surprised to find tons of free gamesw. the most expensive games are only 2.50 or 3.50, I have seen only one for 5.00. That said, the app catalog is extensive and very affordable. So far I enjoy every aspect of this phone, from texting and emailing with the physical keyboard, to throwing cards off the screen to close programs. I would reccomend this phone to anyone.