Apps and development
We have come to the point in the smartphone industry where the quality of a device and its base software is not enough to move product. You need an amazing app store, which can only be had by creating an inviting environment for developers. An inviting development environment is one that gives broad access to the phone’s hardware and software resources, which enables developers to create exciting and robust apps.
Sadly, Palm launched the Pre in 2009 with no such capabilities; the company decreed at launch that all apps would have to be written in web languages per their Mojo SDK. Palm forbade OpenGL access (the Pre has a robust OpenGL chip) and limited accelerometer use beyond worth, both of which are a staple in some of the most popular applications for the Android and iPhone markets, which continue to grow by leaps and bounds.
That’s all to say nothing of Palm’s application submission system, which was once described by an early-invite developer as a “Kafka-esque nightmare.” Can you imagine any company attracting a solid set of developers when the privileged few granted exclusive first access to the beta SDK were repulsed by the stipulations Palm enforced? I can’t.
Continuing to prove that the company was out of touch with the desires of developers, the company introduced the Ares SDK about six months after it launched Mojo and the Pre. Ares enabled people to drag’n’drop their way to webOS applications, but still didn’t address the basic need–and the high demand–for an SDK that enabled developers to create rich and intensive multimedia applications.
The Ares SDK enables anyone to build an app by dragging and dropping elements.
Finally, nearly eight months after the launch of the Pre, and certainly well outside the time frame where Palm could have built that all-important early momentum, the company released the Plug-in Development Kit (PDK), which empowered developers with C++ language support and OpenGL access.
The Pre Plus launched this year in that final era of programmability, where developers can actually leverage the hardware to do really interesting things. Games will be a big one, and it’s a totally nascent category for Palm’s family of smartphones. But gaming aside, adding support for C and C++ with the PDK has also opened the doors for a broad range of apps that run closer to the metal, meaning more features and more speed.
That day has not yet come, though. As I browsed through the Palm app store, it felt small and incomplete. It felt like there wasn’t a whole lot enthusiasm surrounding Palm phones because of the early missteps, and because sales of its smartphone are steadily declining. With the commoditization of indie applications, developers are naturally going to flock to the platforms that will offer them the most money for their time, and that’s Apple, followed by Android.
These criticisms aren’t to say that the applications I normally load onto a phone (Twitter, IRC and Pandora, to name a few) weren’t there, but I think these are valid concerns for any smartphone buyer that really cares about volume and innovation in the apps they might some day download.
Battery life
Palm and Verizon gift the Pre Plus’ 1150mAh battery with a… generous talk time of 5.5 hours and 350 hours of standby. Like all such battery ratings, they were amiss. I was lucky to squeeze a full day out of the Pre Plus with moderate usage, and battery life was a complete disaster when the phone was juggling multiple apps or spreading the love with the Mobile HotSpot feature.
To provide a rather present example, a two-hour call I placed during my evaluation period (webOS 1.4) tanked the battery from full charge to 34%. Though that’s better than the ~40%/hour drain I experienced on webOS 1.3.5, it’s still pretty bad.
It has been suggested rather often with the original Pre that users carry a second battery. Sadly, I’d have to recommend the same for the Plus.
Call quality
My callers were loud and clear, as was I to them–what more can you ask for?
As an added perk, Verizon’s 3G band offers excellent coverage and penetration, meaning I never had a dropped call or a weak signal.
Final thoughts
Throughout the course of reviewing the Pre Plus, I was often met with the feeling that these first-gen webOS models are the imperfect progenitors of something truly outstanding.
WebOS is one of the most capable, intuitive and polished mobile operating systems on the market, and it collects those laurels at a very young age with respect to its competitors. Every gesture, visual cue and interface felt so appropriate that the engineers at Palm must have found, scaled and programmed webOS on Feng Shui Mountain. From the Cards UI to the incredible multitasking prowess, not a day went by when I didn’t think to myself, “Gee, I wish this were industry standard.”
Further, I know that the bad and ugly aspects of webOS can be resolved with future patches. For example, going back to Android 1.5 is a terrible experience after spending time with 2.1; Eclair showed us all the things we were missing. The same is true for iPhone, which is more robust than ever almost purely by the virtue of yearly software updates that have made the platform vastly more viable now than it has ever been. I wouldn’t begrudge a little extra hardware under the Pre’s hood, though.
Now, despite my early criticisms of the Pre Plus’ hardware, closing sentiments are the perfect opportunity for the reviewer to say, “Now, hold on a second…” And that is exactly what I’m going to do here. Depending on the type of smartphone user you are, the Pre Plus hardware might matter quite a bit, or not at all.
As previously implied, I am a smartphone enthusiast that adores gorgeous, high-resolution displays and an abundance of horsepower. I like knowing that the phone I have offers the ideal confluence of hardware quality, network performance and software experience. I also never want to see so much as a hiccup when I’m running apps.
The Pre Plus, however does not offer a high-res screen, overwhelming hardware or a hiccup-free experience. That doesn’t make it a bad phone, though. It just makes the Pre Plus a phone that isn’t right for me.
But what about buyers that are initiating themselves to the world of smartphones? What about buyers that don’t have my lofty expectations of what a smartphone is supposed to be? What about buyers that don’t need to pipe 1080p to a TV on the moon? What about buyers for whom cost is a serious concern?
For these users, the $50 Palm Pre Plus on Verizon Wireless is an unprecedented value. You cannot possibly find a more robust, capable or intuitive phone for $50. Not on any other carrier, nor from any other manufacturer. Palm’s financial woes are a golden opportunity to board the smartphone train with a capable and friendly device that, despite its flaws, ends up pretty damn polished for your average guy or gal.
On the future of Palm
With talk that Palm is ripe for buyout, there stands a rather significant chance that all the groundwork Palm has laid could be lost to the depths of another company’s filing cabinet full of patents, never to be seen again in a cohesive format. I find this disheartening because webOS is so close to hitting the point where developers can stop worrying about bugs and start packing in a truckload of hot new features that really bring on the “oooh” and the “aaaaaah.” I would like that.
In addition to the Pre Plus and the Pixi Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to see a high-end Palm device for the enthusiast crowd. Releasing such a device would put webOS in the home it deserves, but it would also help to rebuild the company’s ailing street cred and help to convince investors that it’s ready to fight the big dogs.
These halo devices are not traditionally lucrative, but the retail performance of the Motorola Droid shows that people will listen to a clever and different campaign that also manages to be informative. And when the public listens, the money starts to flow. But Palm has not yet grasped “informative.” Palm’s ads have ranged from creepy to sexist, and never once have they really demonstrated the merits I have discussed today, nor discussed how they make Palm and webOS better than other contenders. It’s a damn shame.
Maybe Palm will get its act together in time, and I’ll be here in a year telling everyone about the firm’s hot new smartphone. Hell, maybe it’s already being designed. But even if Palm shutters and the Pre Plus is the last device to escape their Sunnyvale HQ, know this: Few companies would have the pleasure of a finer rookie or a sweeter swan song.
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