Camera

The Palm Pre comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera. It has an LED flash and takes crisp, vivid and colorful pictures that show detail well, especially on the phone's high-resolution screen.

However, the flash is one of the few options, since there's no way to change the color tone, white balance, or adjust a picture for lighting conditions. A large mirror that pops up when the phone slides open helps take accurate self-portraits.

Photos can be arranged in thumbnail form or in separate photo albums. They can also be used as wallpaper, sent in messages, placed as ID photos or uploaded to social networking sties such as Facebook.

Organizing photos is simple, although the first touch of the screen doesn't always hit the right thumbnail, but the second touch will usually end up being accurate.

Snapping pictures is a cinch -- or at least that's how quickly the camera captures images. It's hard to take a bad picture on the phone and images with a relatively stable hand come out focused and colorful.

Taking a self-portrait is extra easy with the back mirror -- there's none of the typical straining to see faces in a tiny little reflective circle, or no mirror at all, as is the case with the iPhone. Self portraits on Apple's popular handset are mostly a guessing game, but at least there are more image editing options and applications to clean up other pictures with brightness, cropping and sharpness adjustments, among others.

The Pre's scant editing options is a disappointment -- but not as much as the inability to record video.

The iPhone not only shoots video, but also sends it to Web sites and plays it back at over 10 hours of footage. The Pre takes good pictures, but the lack of video recording is a significant drawback.

Basic Features

The Pre has all the basics like a calculator and alarm, but the features don't stop there. Palm Synergy allows users to combine dates and reminders from all their different calendar programs into one calendar view, making it easier to keep track of the day's activities.

Synergy shows which program the calendar item came and each source can also be viewed separately. Contacts from different areas can also be viewed in one layer.

When a calendar item is approaching, or when an email or message is received, the Pre notifies owners with a reminder at the bottom of the screen -- subtly alerting users if they're in the middle of another activity.

They can also find contacts or applications just by typing. Any word typed on the home screen will start a search of anything on the phone. If the search is not a contact or application, the Pre will to online and search Google, Wikipedia, Twitter or Google Maps.

Consumers can browse for applications in the catalogue. Multiple programs can run simultaneously and users can leaf through by swiping left or right on the screen.

Some application let users to save flights to the calendar and get notifications about the flight's status as it occurs with Flight View; find and buy movie tickets, learn about movies in theaters, on DVD, Fandango or Flixster; review businesses for Mobile by Citysearch; find local information, events, news and other information on "Where" and find new places to eat, stay and find friends on LikeMe Mobile; get weather on AccuWeather, stocks information of Express Stocks, get news on AP News and network on LinkedIn; and listen to streaming radio shows on Pandora, find new songs and download them from the application. Games are also available for download.

The handset also has a navigator that gives directions on speakerphone to various locations and provides a color map, the distance from one location to another and the estimated time of arrival.

The GPS system also helps travelers find new restaurants and check for gas stations and other local points of interest.

The battery can last up to five hours while in use and up to 12 days on standby, which isn't very long.

While robust features keep people informed, make purchases, keep track of tasks and search for information, what's missing -- especially compared to the iPhone -- is the fun.

The iPhone has everything from an application that helps people find apartments or print labels for their businesses to an application that allows users to pop on-screen bubble wrap. The Pre has a lot of catching up to do in the application department. Pre owners will be able to find places that offer entertainment but not much in mindless entertainment to pass the time.

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