I’ve been following lots of the Palm Pre coverage across the web, leading up to its launch this Saturday. I’ve watched a lot of the demo videos, checked out interesting findings from its user guide, and read some of the early reviews of it.
jkOnTheRun has a great roundup post up today, which sums up the early reviews as indicating a ‘Stellar 1.0’ release. Here are just a couple quick excerpts that back this up:
David Pogue (NYT): “All right, then: the Pre is a spectacular achievement. Zero to 60 in one version.”
Engadget: “To put it simply, the Pre is a great phone, and we don’t feel any hesitation saying that. Is it a perfect phone? Hell no. Does its OS need work? Definitely. But are any of the detracting factors here big enough to not recommend it? Absolutely not.”
As an iPhone fan I’m glad to see the Pre getting near rave reviews. When the Pre was first announced I had a feeling it might end up being the first ‘real’ challenger to the iPhone – at least from the ideas and interface and user experience side of things. I have the impression that Palm and Sprint both have enormous hurdles to deal with at the business end of things, but ideas-wise, this still seems to me like the first smartphone that might really give the iPhone a run for its money.
And I think that’s great news for iPhone users. It’s about time Apple had a real challenger in this area, rather than just poor imitations everywhere you look.
The fact that the Pre even has some places where it apparently trumps the iPhone – like background apps for just one obvious example – is also a good thing I believe. Hopefully, this provides some – big – extra incentive to Apple to keep improving the iPhone.
In fact, knowing how ruthless and market-savvy Apple are, hopefully they’ve got a few things up their sleeve to reveal at WWDC next Monday – in iPhone hardware and OS terms – that will really help to ‘welcome’ the Pre and step up their fledgling rivalry. 
What do you all think of the Pre? Tempted to switch? Worthy iPhone rival?
Check out jkOnTheRun’s post HERE for lots more detail on all the big early Pre reviews …
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It is a worthy rival, but I think most people (including myself) will be waiting to hear Apple's keynote before heading out to buy the Pre.
I just want a good and accurate comparison of the V3 iPhone and the Pre first.
Pre is cool, and has an option as a cheaper alternative for the iPhone (considering price of the phone and operator plan). Even if it cost the same but it's not linked to an expensive plan, I think the Pre will have a huge success.
–edu
Tory – I think worthy rival seems an apt phrase at this point, with some big IFs in terms of whether Palm / Sprint can give it the support it needs to be that. I hope we'll get some good comparison at the WWDC keynote.
Eduardo – I think the Pre has great potential for sure …
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