The Goat's Palm Pre Preview

PedroTheGoat · 03:05 PM

SORRY GUYS, LET ME CLARIFY THAT THIS IS MORE OF A PREVIEW THAN A REVIEW. I ONLY GOT TO PLAY WITH IT FOR ABOUT AN HOUR. MODS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MODIFY TITLE SO THE GOAT DOESN'T GET HIT WITH STICKS!

So, my local franchise store gave me a call today and told me they had the Pre in store. I worked next door to the store manager for a long time so he was kind enough to give me a call. The Goat of course was there within 5 minutes. I had the opportunity to play with the phone for a good hour. Another cool thing is that this particular franchise store has a pre-order list and we are guaranteed one on launch. They will receive 20 Pre's and only 10 people were on this list so far. (Me at the top of course) So the Goat is a happy critter.

Anyways, here's my review.

The look and feel: The phone feels solid and great. You can not even imagine how nice this critter feels. Go ahead and throw the "Fisher Price" stuff out the window. It is light, and made of plastic, but it defiantly does not feel like a child's toy. It fits great in the hand and has a great ergonomic feel to it. The slider felt solid when sliding open and closed. I am coming from a Blackberry 8330, so maybe I am a tad bit behind things as far as the "feel" goes. It has a much better feel in the hand than the iPhone from what I can tell, it feels marvelous compared to my Blackberry.

The keyboard: So I went ahead and delved into the memo and typed away on it. Let me qualify the size of my hands also, I'm a 6"2 Goat that weighs about 185 lbs and I have VERY large hands. From bartending and playing many video games in my time, I have fairly good hand-eye coordination. The keyboard worked just fine for me, and I'm coming from a Blackberry, (Which is considered to have a wonderful keyboard). Now, my fat thumbs DID hit the bottom of the screen on the top row. After a bit of adjustment with my thumbnails I got over that really quickly. There is no "Double Space period" like on the Blackberry. Luckily, there is a dedicated period key that works wonderfully. After only about 1 minute I was able to type just as fast as on my Blackberry. The keyboard's tactile sensation is not bad at all. They are "tacky", but that is not necessarily a bad thing. There is no question that you've hit a key. Don't let Boy Genius get you down as far as the keyboard goes. It is really not bad at all. The Goat does wish his thumbs didn't hit the bottom of the slider, but it is not a deal breaker and is easy to correct.

Battery: So of course I was not able to actually use the thing for a whole day, so I can't personally attest for how long the battery last. I did happen to have a very long conversation with the store manager about it though. He told me that battery did happen to be an issue. He said it HAS gotten him through the day with heavy use, but to not expect more than a day with moderate use. He told me that he turned "Location Based" function to "Ask me before use" to save battery. And of course, like any phone... Do not use Wi Fi unless you are around it and turn off Bluetooth when not connected. He said it is not going to be a dealbreaker, but it won't hold up as well as a Blackberry or his Touch Pro throughout the day. So if you're expecting to go more than a day, bring a backup battery. I did not think to take the back off and scope out the insides of it though. (Sorry) When I started using the phone the battery was at 29%, it got down to 23% 45minutes later. (Heavy Use)

Screen: WOWOWOWOWIE! Bright, crisp, gorgeous. My fat thumbs were able to hit everything I wanted with no issues as at. Pinch to zoom works flawlessly. The "sploosh" graphic when you hit something is very cool. I watched a bit of "Disney Channel" on Sprint TV, it loaded fast with almost no hiccups as far as the stream itself goes. The EVDO network in Kerrville is not crowded at all though. So that may be a contributing factor to the great quality. The accelerometer is FAST, faster than the iPhone dare the Goat say. Being able to look at web pages from any angle is VERY nice.

WebOS: So cool. No crashes at all throughout the hour I played with it. I had 10 cards open, (Nothing too intensive though) and I saw no slow down. It's easy to navigate, our learning curve will not be steep at all my friends.
: )

Browser: Another WOWOWOWOWIE! FAST! Precentral loaded as fast as it did on my netbook! (Dieter, if you check your hits, you may see my Pre tag hit your site) Everything loaded JUST like you would see it on your desktop, with the exception of flash of course. I visited Palm.com, Precentral, ESPN mobile, and BGR. BGR was the most complicated page, it took less than 10 seconds to load. PreCentral took about 6 seconds. AMAZING, the accelerometer works beautifully with the browser. The Pre's browser IS faster than the iPhone's. Like the Goat said before, the network in Kerrville is not clogged at all though, so that may be a huge factor. All data was done through network and not with Wi Fi. The Browser was the most impressive thing on the phone.

Camera: Didn't delve too far into this one. I did snap a couple of pics and noticed that they looked A LOT better than my Blackberry's. That's not saying much though. It looked really nice though.

Contacts: The manager was not able to sync his Facebook contacts yet. So I can't really go too far into this one either. The contacts screen was really beautiful though... Sorry, that's all I got.

Media: The demo video on the phone was beautiful, the speaker worked really well, (It was LOUD without too much distortion) Other than that, he didn't have songs on the phone yet. So I didn't get the chance to check that out either.

Sorry guys, The Goat has to get ready for work. I OF COURSE am not foolish enough to write this review without a picture. It was taken with my Blackberry... So the quality is horrible. Here you go though,

It says. "PedroTheGoat's Pre Test"

Guys, we will NOT be disappointed!!!

dcoaster · 05/30/2009, 02:50 PM

Excellent review!

Rebelatheart · 05/30/2009, 02:53 PM

Thanks alot. Cant wait to get the phone. 1 more week!

preman2be913 · 05/30/2009, 02:53 PM

OMG THE GOAT RULES!!! Congrats big guy

05/30/2009, 02:55 PM

YAY PEDRO! I knew the goat would come through.

linh.nguyen · 05/30/2009, 02:55 PM

argh, my local sprint store is clueless.. and I live near DC.. you'd think this would be a market to get right.

they told me the waitlist was online, and they didn't know how to get it, and 600k ppl were on it. sigh.

Gerorne · 05/30/2009, 02:56 PM

600,000 long wait list? haha... good luck.

Xyg · 05/30/2009, 02:59 PM

It's a preview

. Thanks for that!

linh.nguyen · 05/30/2009, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerorne

600,000 long wait list? haha... good luck.

I'm pretty sure that was a bogus number, or maybe the number of people who signed up who were "interested." they said only invited folks could buy the pre, and no one else. pretty absurd

Grim · 05/30/2009, 02:59 PM

¡Muchas Gracias, Pedro!

Gerorne · 05/30/2009, 03:02 PM

Edit: Nevemind... just ignore this.

WizardHowl · 05/30/2009, 03:03 PM

Thanks! for the review!

PedroTheGoat · 05/30/2009, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerorne

True. (Waits to see if people will jump down your throat for labeling this as a review, when you clearly didn't have time to "even test it out as a phone or have it long enough to test out the battery" and all those other things people mentioned.)

I may deserve it. Let me edit to avoid people hitting me with sticks.

Gerorne · 05/30/2009, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PedroTheGoat

I may deserve it. Let me edit to avoid people hitting me with sticks.

I guess I edited too late... didn't want to bother... but well. Maybe I helped you out. =P

urabcsr · 05/30/2009, 03:05 PM

If it's good enough for the Goat, it's good enough for me.

jhoff80 · 05/30/2009, 03:06 PM

The funny thing is, this short preview has more objective fact than BGR did, from the 45 minutes of playing taking the battery from 29% to 23%, and timing how long websites took to load.

05/30/2009, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhoff80

The funny thing is, this short preview has more objective fact than BGR did, from the 45 minutes of playing taking the battery from 29% to 23%, and timing how long websites took to load.

Well, Pedro is known for being the man, er....the Goat, around these parts.

cookgoose34 · 05/30/2009, 03:15 PM

very good review for only having it for an hour i could imagine if you had it for 4 days .

taharka · 05/30/2009, 03:21 PM

Taharka has left some grain on his front lawn for the Goat. Thanks for the preview.

preman2be913 · 05/30/2009, 03:22 PM

Goat... Now that you actually got your paws on one...

are the withdrawals worse than the waiting was? lol

05/30/2009, 02:48 PM	#1 (permalink)
PedroTheGoat Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Kerrville, Tx Posts: 680 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 89 Thanked 191 Times in 39 Posts	The Goat's Palm Pre Preview SORRY GUYS, LET ME CLARIFY THAT THIS IS MORE OF A PREVIEW THAN A REVIEW. I ONLY GOT TO PLAY WITH IT FOR ABOUT AN HOUR. MODS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MODIFY TITLE SO THE GOAT DOESN'T GET HIT WITH STICKS! So, my local franchise store gave me a call today and told me they had the Pre in store. I worked next door to the store manager for a long time so he was kind enough to give me a call. The Goat of course was there within 5 minutes. I had the opportunity to play with the phone for a good hour. Another cool thing is that this particular franchise store has a pre-order list and we are guaranteed one on launch. They will receive 20 Pre's and only 10 people were on this list so far. (Me at the top of course) So the Goat is a happy critter. Anyways, here's my review. The look and feel: The phone feels solid and great. You can not even imagine how nice this critter feels. Go ahead and throw the "Fisher Price" stuff out the window. It is light, and made of plastic, but it defiantly does not feel like a child's toy. It fits great in the hand and has a great ergonomic feel to it. The slider felt solid when sliding open and closed. I am coming from a Blackberry 8330, so maybe I am a tad bit behind things as far as the "feel" goes. It has a much better feel in the hand than the iPhone from what I can tell, it feels marvelous compared to my Blackberry. The keyboard: So I went ahead and delved into the memo and typed away on it. Let me qualify the size of my hands also, I'm a 6"2 Goat that weighs about 185 lbs and I have VERY large hands. From bartending and playing many video games in my time, I have fairly good hand-eye coordination. The keyboard worked just fine for me, and I'm coming from a Blackberry, (Which is considered to have a wonderful keyboard). Now, my fat thumbs DID hit the bottom of the screen on the top row. After a bit of adjustment with my thumbnails I got over that really quickly. There is no "Double Space period" like on the Blackberry. Luckily, there is a dedicated period key that works wonderfully. After only about 1 minute I was able to type just as fast as on my Blackberry. The keyboard's tactile sensation is not bad at all. They are "tacky", but that is not necessarily a bad thing. There is no question that you've hit a key. Don't let Boy Genius get you down as far as the keyboard goes. It is really not bad at all. The Goat does wish his thumbs didn't hit the bottom of the slider, but it is not a deal breaker and is easy to correct. Battery: So of course I was not able to actually use the thing for a whole day, so I can't personally attest for how long the battery last. I did happen to have a very long conversation with the store manager about it though. He told me that battery did happen to be an issue. He said it HAS gotten him through the day with heavy use, but to not expect more than a day with moderate use. He told me that he turned "Location Based" function to "Ask me before use" to save battery. And of course, like any phone... Do not use Wi Fi unless you are around it and turn off Bluetooth when not connected. He said it is not going to be a dealbreaker, but it won't hold up as well as a Blackberry or his Touch Pro throughout the day. So if you're expecting to go more than a day, bring a backup battery. I did not think to take the back off and scope out the insides of it though. (Sorry) When I started using the phone the battery was at 29%, it got down to 23% 45minutes later. (Heavy Use) Screen: WOWOWOWOWIE! Bright, crisp, gorgeous. My fat thumbs were able to hit everything I wanted with no issues as at. Pinch to zoom works flawlessly. The "sploosh" graphic when you hit something is very cool. I watched a bit of "Disney Channel" on Sprint TV, it loaded fast with almost no hiccups as far as the stream itself goes. The EVDO network in Kerrville is not crowded at all though. So that may be a contributing factor to the great quality. The accelerometer is FAST, faster than the iPhone dare the Goat say. Being able to look at web pages from any angle is VERY nice. WebOS: So cool. No crashes at all throughout the hour I played with it. I had 10 cards open, (Nothing too intensive though) and I saw no slow down. It's easy to navigate, our learning curve will not be steep at all my friends. : ) Browser: Another WOWOWOWOWIE! FAST! Precentral loaded as fast as it did on my netbook! (Dieter, if you check your hits, you may see my Pre tag hit your site) Everything loaded JUST like you would see it on your desktop, with the exception of flash of course. I visited Palm.com, Precentral, ESPN mobile, and BGR. BGR was the most complicated page, it took less than 10 seconds to load. PreCentral took about 6 seconds. AMAZING, the accelerometer works beautifully with the browser. The Pre's browser IS faster than the iPhone's. Like the Goat said before, the network in Kerrville is not clogged at all though, so that may be a huge factor. All data was done through network and not with Wi Fi. The Browser was the most impressive thing on the phone. Camera: Didn't delve too far into this one. I did snap a couple of pics and noticed that they looked A LOT better than my Blackberry's. That's not saying much though. It looked really nice though. Contacts: The manager was not able to sync his Facebook contacts yet. So I can't really go too far into this one either. The contacts screen was really beautiful though... Sorry, that's all I got. Media: The demo video on the phone was beautiful, the speaker worked really well, (It was LOUD without too much distortion) Other than that, he didn't have songs on the phone yet. So I didn't get the chance to check that out either. Sorry guys, The Goat has to get ready for work. I OF COURSE am not foolish enough to write this review without a picture. It was taken with my Blackberry... So the quality is horrible. Here you go though, It says. "PedroTheGoat's Pre Test" Guys, we will NOT be disappointed!!! __________________ -Goatin' Ain't Easy- Last edited by PedroTheGoat; 05/30/2009 at 03:05 PM. Reason: Because it is more of a PREVIEW.
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05/30/2009, 02:50 PM	#2 (permalink)
dcoaster Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 375 Likes Received: 1 Thanks: 26 Thanked 43 Times in 23 Posts	Excellent review!
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 02:53 PM	#3 (permalink)
Rebelatheart Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 23 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 1 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Thanks alot. Cant wait to get the phone. 1 more week!
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 02:53 PM	#4 (permalink)
preman2be913 Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 370 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 102 Thanked 47 Times in 29 Posts	OMG THE GOAT RULES!!! Congrats big guy
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 02:55 PM	#5 (permalink)
joelpalm Guest Posts: n/a Likes Received:	YAY PEDRO! I knew the goat would come through.
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 02:55 PM	#6 (permalink)
linh.nguyen Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 296 Likes Received: 8 Thanks: 2 Thanked 17 Times in 14 Posts	argh, my local sprint store is clueless.. and I live near DC.. you'd think this would be a market to get right. they told me the waitlist was online, and they didn't know how to get it, and 600k ppl were on it. sigh.
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 02:56 PM	#7 (permalink)
Gerorne Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 508 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 67 Thanked 37 Times in 14 Posts	600,000 long wait list? haha... good luck. __________________ Vx --> M515 --> T\|T3 --> T\|T5 --> Treo 650 --> Centro --> Dinc Smart Jones - a smartphone webcomic
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 02:59 PM	#8 (permalink)
Xyg Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 1,112 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 16 Thanked 213 Times in 129 Posts	It's a preview . Thanks for that!
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 02:59 PM	#10 (permalink)
Grim Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Somewhere along the 45th parallel. Posts: 374 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 23 Thanked 23 Times in 20 Posts	¡Muchas Gracias, Pedro! __________________ “Wolves are the top of the food chain, and when the wolf population is healthy, all other animal and plant populations are healthy.” -- Lois Tulleners
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 03:02 PM	#11 (permalink)
Gerorne Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 508 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 67 Thanked 37 Times in 14 Posts	Edit: Nevemind... just ignore this. __________________ Vx --> M515 --> T\|T3 --> T\|T5 --> Treo 650 --> Centro --> Dinc Smart Jones - a smartphone webcomic
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 03:03 PM	#12 (permalink)
WizardHowl Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 216 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 22 Thanked 27 Times in 14 Posts	Thanks! for the review!
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 03:05 PM	#15 (permalink)
urabcsr Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 6 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 31 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	If it's good enough for the Goat, it's good enough for me.
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 03:06 PM	#16 (permalink)
jhoff80 Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Boston-area Posts: 6,973 Likes Received: 116 Thanks: 418 Thanked 1,252 Times in 710 Posts	The funny thing is, this short preview has more objective fact than BGR did, from the 45 minutes of playing taking the battery from 29% to 23%, and timing how long websites took to load.
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 03:15 PM	#18 (permalink)
cookgoose34 Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 32 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 1 Thanked 8 Times in 4 Posts	very good review for only having it for an hour i could imagine if you had it for 4 days .
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 03:21 PM	#19 (permalink)
taharka Banned Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,225 Likes Received: 2 Thanks: 284 Thanked 321 Times in 211 Posts	Taharka has left some grain on his front lawn for the Goat. Thanks for the preview.
	Liked by

05/30/2009, 03:22 PM	#20 (permalink)
preman2be913 Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 370 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 102 Thanked 47 Times in 29 Posts	Goat... Now that you actually got your paws on one... are the withdrawals worse than the waiting was? lol
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