Palm has remained pretty silent of late. The reason for the quietness? It was cooking up the latest so-called 'iPhone killer' in the form of the Palm Pre. US users got the new handset first, back in June, whereas poor UK users had to wait until Friday last week.
So after many rumours, some of which turned out to be true and some of which were completely made up, the Palm Pre is here to make its mark on the mobile world, offering something solid for businesses and consumers alike. But will it punch the iPhone's lights out in the process?
Read on to find out.
Looks
Most reviewers spend a lot of time ascertaining just how different the handset in question looks to the iPhone. Interestingly, straight out of the box, it's actually quite uncanny how similar the Pre and iPhone are. They could almost be from the same family. OK, maybe distant relatives.
Palm has clearly tried not to just serve up another iPhone wannabe like so many other manufacturers, but there are distinct similarities between the two, in addition to obvious differences.
Both put large screens centre stage and prefer the minimalist approach when it comes to hard keys. Each features just a small rectangle above the display and a round, home button at the bottom. The latter is a more polished silver affair on the Pre, which gives it a slight one-upmanship in the class stakes design-wise. To the untrained eye, that is all you see, whereas next to the home button you'll find touch sensitivity in residence, which comes to life when swiping apps into and out of play.
The Pre's display is quite curved. It almost feels as if the items on the screen have been laid on a tablecloth and stretched over the surface. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it does take a bit of getting used to. Our reviewer described the Pre's display as "luscious, with a bright image and vivid colours." We'd have to agree.
