New Gadget!

I did it... I went and picked up a Palm Pre. This is what my new friend looks like:

I have so many good things to say about this phone, so I'll start off with the short list of what I don't like, starting with the camera. It's got zero customization with the shots (i.e., no zoom, no predetermined brightness or that "burst" feature that takes several shots rapidly in a row). Also, the camera is only a 3 megapixel device, which is a bit behind the times for a phone that has so much fabulousness about it. Still, the camera is much, much better than the one in my old Palm Treo 700wx. (So I am still somewhat happy in the end, LOL.) The only other problem is the lack of customization for menus - I do so much text messaging and it's not a main menu item. BUT, I'm sure there's a hack or third-party software that will let me customize to my heart's content, I just haven't looked. Yet.

So what's good? The Palm Pre has a Web OS, which eliminates much of the proprietary junk from Blackberry and Windows. Google has some pieces integrated, so if you use Gmail or Google Talk, you're gonna like this phone. Facebook also has itself integrated as well, i.e., an app to post your mobile photos, and a mobile version of Facebook is a pre-loaded bookmark. Overall setup was a breeze. The fact that there is this amazing touch screen for applications, but I still get a qwerty keyboard for my texting/email/Facebook needs. I got used to the touch screen very quickly, this phone is very user-friendly. The menus are simple and there isn't a lot of clutter on this phone!

Here's the deal maker - Palm figured out how to trick iTunes into believing the Palm Pre is an iPod. All you do is this: connect the phone to your PC, choose "Media Sync" when prompted, and iTunes opens automatically saying it's found an iPod. Badabing! Sync a playlist to it, and your ready to listen to your music (8 GB of storage for the Pre - not quite the 32 GB the new iPhone offers, but hey). You like ringtones? All you need to do is choose one of the songs you just copied over from iTunes, and it makes it into a ringtone. Done. Sweet, eh?

I love this phone. LOVE this phone.