Pre 3 for AT&T review

It is a review of a phone that was never actually released to the general public on AT&T. Despite the unfortunateness of the prior statement, we felt obligated to run this device during the wringer as a last farewell to Palm, the Pre line and webOS on consumer devices.

Man, what a peculiar, labyrinthine life this device has had. European carriers didn’t even want the Pre 2 , and for whatever reason, those folks were the only ones to even get the Pre 3. Excluding this guy, for sure. This guy, as you’ve probably gleaned, is one among just a handful of AT&T Pre 3 handsets to make it out of the factory unscathed, and we couldn’t be happier to be putting it during the paces. Well… shall we be happier, but that might require Meg Whitman undoing Leo’s departing shot in the course of the webOS heart.

All that aside, it has been a wierd few days with the overall webOS-based phone, and in a feeling, the overall phone that’ll ever have Palm’s DNA running through its circuitry. Not even two months ago, HP was telling developers to get their Pre 3 app submissions in for approval, and a trifling four weeks ago, an analogous company affirmed that this very phone wouldn’t ever arrive on US shores. , despite that whole ” being announced for AT&T ” thing. Seems, some of those units actually did pass the requisite QA tests, and if you have got the proper connections (or a brief enough trigger finger on eBay), it’s also possible to land yourself what’ll undoubtedly go down as probably the most highly well-known pieces of Palm / webOS history. But must you? Discover after the break.

Hardware

Remember the 3 Pre 2 3 ? How’s in regards to the 4 Veer 4G 4 ? If you are even remotely conversant in either, you’re intimately acquainted with the Pre 3. Mainly, the third incarnation of the Pre is similar to the variant that came before it, save for the lack of a millimeter within the thickness department and the addition of some with reference to height / width. The latter two, for sure, were required to make room for the three.6-inch (800 x 480) display, that is unquestionably probably the most biggest improvements here when compared with the unit’s predecessor. Overall, however, the Pre 3 is shockingly comparable to the Pre 2, and in far too some ways, the unique Pre.

Shortly after Palm’s comeback began on that 5 fateful January day 5 in 2009, we immediately started to question the Pre’s ability to polish within the same way webOS could. Put simply, the software has always outclassed the hardware, and a similar may well be said here. The Pre 3 — while solid within the hand, quick on its feet and soothing to touch — is all but totally with out innovation. Granted, it isn’t that we expected things to transform — in fact, the Droid Incredible 2 isn’t a dramatic departure from the 1st one — but nothing about this hardware may be seen as immediately superior to what is already in the marketplace.

The keyboard, as an example, is exceedingly cramped, and we found ourselves hopeful for 2 a virtual counterpart 2 on a couple of occasion. The buttons themselves, though delightfully sticky, lacked any appreciable travel or impact, making the training curve for touch typists quite steep. In truth, we found ourselves surprised at how little room we had for 2 thumbs — though the Veer 4G’s keyboard is markedly smaller, this one’s not sufficiently big to make a noticeable impact in comfort or precision. Palm aficionados probably won’t mind, but those coming over from a BlackBerry or one of the vital many virtual options could easily find themselves in a displeasing situation.

It isn’t all bad news, though. The rounded, soft-textured back is gorgeous to hang, and it manages to both stick firmly whilst in-hand while sliding effortlessly out of one’s pocket. It is the better of both worlds. The rear casing, however, proved to be quite the bear when time came for removal — thankfully, you most likely won’t be tasked with any such thing too often after the initial SIM insertion is complete. The standard micro-USB socket was a welcome change from the Veer’s magnetic abomination, and the stock 3.5mm headphone jack was well-positioned for everyday listening. It’s worth noting, however, that HP doesn’t toss in any earbuds, so it’s on you to produce the missing link.

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Similar to that of the Pre 2, the sides listed here are curvaceous and clean, with a superb volume rocker, mute switch and tool button rounding things out. Around back, there’s a completely lackluster 5 megapixel EDoF camera (which manages 720p movie captures), an LED flash, a chromed HP logo, a non-chromed AT&T moniker and a rear speaker for alerts and ringtones. The WVGA capacitive touchpanel is flanked by a gesture area below it, which permits folks to swipe back and forth within webOS — again, like the Veer 4G and Pre 2 before it.

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All things considered, the Pre 3 is a joy to carry and touch, and it’s equipped with a subtle flair that makes it darn near impossible to depart alone for any extended time period. Perhaps it is the gliding mechanism that brings the keyboard to life, or perhaps it is the want to see webOS on a smartphone panel with a decent resolution. In a method, we would like the Pre 3 were slimmer, longer and wider — if only to offer a slightly bigger screen and a substantially larger keyboard. HP stuck to its guns here by just barely polishing the Pre 2′s form factor, and in a worldwide dominated by sleekness, churning out a 3rd (or fourth, in the event you toss within the Veer) pebble while trying to grab even a sliver of market share never did feel just like the best approach.

Display / audio / connectivity

Let’s go ahead and get this out of how: the three.6-inch WVGA touchpanel is the proper display yet on a Pre. Colors pop from edge to edge, viewing angles are on par with any Super AMOLED Plus display we have seen and sharpness is excellent. Granted, cramming an 800 x 480 pixel matrix onto a display this diminutive amps up the pixel density, but still — there is not any bad-mouthin’ this guy. The touch sensitivity was largely on point, though we did encounter a number of instances where presses were visually recognized, but didn’t actually do anything. Hard to assume that a 1.4GHz Snapdragon isn’t powerful enough to regulate webOS, but we definitely needed to re-tap commands on a stronger-than-average basis.

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The gesture area beneath the panel is equal to it ever was, though we did notice slightly insensitivity every now and then. We also couldn’t help but eager for a button or two on both sides of the center gesture area — sure, we’re spoiled by the house, menu, search and back buttons which have become commonplace on Android handsets, but maintaining with the Joneses should probably apply to greater than just lake houses and motorcars. We also found it frustrating that we couldn’t activate the display with an extended-press at the gesture pad; reaching for the facility button is awkward at best (the placement, that’s), and sliding the keyboard out wasn’t always preferred.

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Audio-wise, the Pre 3 measured as much as some other modern-day smartphone with regards to ease-of-use and sound quality. Mercifully, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack right up top (hear that, Veer?), and while audiophiles won’t get 3 Cowon 3 -like precision here, the common city commuter could be very pleased with the quantity range and overall output. It is also worth stating that the built-in external speaker at the Pre 3 is definitely above average, creating a quick YouTube showing a delightful experience for all involved — even aurally.

We had no qualms whatsoever connecting to local WiFi networks, but we won’t help but point this out — webOS should provide help to look for and attach to a network straight away, before setup truly begins. Instead, you’re forced to get your SIM settings situated before your phone will fully load webOS, that is completely unnecessary. Enabling a WiFi connection right off the bat would hasten that whole process, anyway. Neither here nor there at this point, but still — seems an obvious oversight.

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As for AT&T service? Solid, in case you can believe it. We roamed around our usual haunts to check out both data and voice services, and the telephone had no issues whatsoever with either. Snagging an HSPA+ signal was a breeze, and while pages didn’t render quite as quickly in webOS as they do in Safari or on our Galaxy S II, it was brisk enough that each one however the sticklers in attendance wouldn’t notice. Voice quality was particularly fantastic, with the earpiece speaker being astonishingly loud while maintaining clarity and keeping distortion to a minimum. We even have to offer Palm props for nailing the decision design — after months of using gargantuan Android phones, having something like this makes us remember when phones actually fit upside your head. The Pre 3 is completely anti-Sidetalkin’, and if we did not have to have faith in an undersized keyboard, we’d be strangely okay with that.

Camera

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The 5 megapixel EDoF camera at the rear of the Pre 3 is maybe the foremost shameful a part of the full ordeal. Very like the Veer 4G, the camera this is just outright lousy. Colors are lifeless, bokeh isn’t even within the dictionary and grain is impossible to bypass. It’s good for capturing splotches of hues that vaguely remind you of something you probably did on your life — instead of that, it’s very forgettable.

As for videos? They don’t seem to be quite “terrible,” as was the case with the Veer, though you want to certainly do better — even for 720p. Jelly-vision is in full effect, and while colors were admittedly more vibrant than on photos, it’s still not superior (or maybe on par) with the contest.

webOS and function

Our test unit shipped with webOS 2.2.0 onboard, and we’re guessing HP doesn’t have any future updates within the pipeline (shocker, we all know). It is a single point higher than the version found at the Veer, but there really are no fundamental changes included. Just Type works well, the e-mail app still doesn’t support threaded messaging, Synergy is accurate (for the foremost part), Gmail syncs are still just as sporadic as ever, and the App Catalog remains depressingly barren. The base line? There is no difference when using webOS here than at the Veer, but not less than it is a wee bit quicker, and we have more pixels to work with. We’re throwing intentional emphasis at the “wee,” though, as multiple applications — Maps, Messaging and Mail, chiefly — still took two to 3 seconds to load up whenever. That’s pretty poor for a phone with a 1.4GHz chip and 512MB of memory, but we’re guessing the few remaining webOS engineers did not have plenty of motivation to optimize things as things were winding down.

Fact is, the Pre 3 runs webOS pretty much as good as any phone in HP’s lineup, but that’s just not more than enough. webOS looks as beautiful as ever, but it surely still feels hamstrung — even after 2.5 years — by underpowered hardware. For as elegant because the calendar is, the built-in mail app is a terrible excuse for one, and Gmail syncs were as irregular because the ’86 Dolphins. Still, the OS finally had room to stretch its legs attributable to the heightened screen resolution, and we still found the promise of webOS growing into something special as real as ever — it is a genuine shame that the parenting was so dreadful.

As for battery life? The bolstered 1,230mAh battery (in comparison to 1,150mAh within the Pre 2) enabled us to get a superb day’s use before needing to charge up. That’s a 7:00AM unplug, quite a lot of texts, around an hour of voice calls, countless browsing sessions and a plethora of notifications. By 9:00PM, though, we were all the way down to around ten percent of remaining life, so heavy users would’ve obviously need to keep an AC outlet nearby. ‘Course, it isn’t like you’re actually going to purchase the sort of and use it as your daily (right?), but there’s the score regardless.

Wrap-up

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The cruel reality is that this: in spite of the fact that HP would’ve gone ahead with the Pre 3′s launch on AT&T, moving ‘em would’ve been tough. The corporate showed minimal interest in moving the TouchPad (well, until they showed 6 nothing but 6 interest in moving the TouchPad), and trying to hawk a tired, understated design for an on-contract price that aligns with the iPhone 4 and a vertible plethora of tremendous Android phones would’ve probably resulted in much more tears. HP stepped it up with the Pre 3′s processor and panel, but almost everything else feels like it was directly 7 ripped 7 from a phone that first launched over two years ago. If you are the underdog, those variety of tactics don’t do anything to further your cause.

webOS 2.2, just like the pre-NoDo build of Windows Phone 7, is just too far behind Android and iOS in too many basic aspects. No threaded email app? Unreliable syncs? A stagnant app market? Middle-of-the-road hardware options? Not exactly an excellent list of accolades. But for all of its faults, the Pre 3 still wins big on charm. It’s cute, it is a darling to hang, the decision quality is phenomenal and we never did have enough cards open for it to politely ask that we close a pair. But without a long-term dev support, company support or emotional support bundled in, it’s impossible to recommend the AT&T Pre 3 to anyone outside of collectors and Palm loyalists. It will become a troublesome (and costly) endevour to locate one, or even then, you’re probably at an advantage financially to simply keep it sealed up within the box.

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‘Tis a shame, too. The Pre 3 resides proof that Palm had it in ‘em, but perfect storm of misfortunes kept both the OS and the associated hardware from developing into something that may steal market share from the established leaders. And with that, the AT&T Pre 3 floats off to affix the 8 Foleo 8 in a spot where bottom lines don’t matter, recessions haven’t any reach and gadgets are appreciated for what they’re — not what they are not.

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This post is tagged: final farewell, incarnation, labyrinthine life, meg whitman, millimeter, submissions, trigger finger