Wise Startup Blog

It looks like Palm has finally distributed the Pre out to various media outlets and after the earliest review by Boy Genius things were not looking good, especially for touch-typist. Well, apparently Engadget, Gizmodo, and the NYTimes have different opinions on the phone.

Palm Pre Review Roundup

There have been 3 major reviews by the authorities to be when it comes to gadgets, and here’s how they stacked up:

Engadget
Amazing phone for Sprint, probably not worth switching carriers since Verizon and AT&T are expected to receive WebOS phones very soon.

Gizmodo
They are bored with the iPhone and the Pre provides something exciting and new (to showoff to your friends) but sadly the hardware feels flimsy and less than stellar. So I’d say the ultimate test would be to hold one in your hand (and watch out for the bottom of the keyboard, it’s SHARP!).

NYTimes
“Verizon Wireless has announced that it will carry the Pre ‘in the next six months or so’,” essentially giving anyone the green light on this phone in 6 months. The app store right now is weak (so was Apple’s with the iPhone 1.0). The Pre is not as simple as the iPhone, meaning it has all of these great features that Grandma might not be able to handle.

Boy Genius Report
The most glaring point they made in this review was the keyboard. Each key is occupied by a single thumb making touch-typing a nightmare. They were fully impressed with the software, but for a hardware keyboard, more was expected.

Are You Getting a Pre?

That being said, until you see it and handle it for yourself, it’s hard to give it a fair evaluation. I plan to check out a Pre at some point, but the only problem is I’m not really sure who’s carrying stock, as I’ve heard rumors that only certain stores are keeping them in stock which is pretty worrisome.

I’m on AT&T and with the new iPhone coming out soon, I’m pretty much out of the picture for the phone, but I’m interested to hear if any of you plan to switch carriers for the phone.