Messaging

The Pre has text and multimedia messaging, instant messaging and email messaging. It connects to AOL, Windows Live and Yahoo clients for both IM and threaded text messaging.

The phone uses a brand new Palm WebOS mobile platform invented to help users carry information from their phone, office computer and home computer on the phone. The handset "thinks ahead" by calling up all of this information either in separate views or all together with color coding to tell users which source the calendar, email, contact or other information came from.

Before sending a message, the Pre allows users to rifle through contact information from multiple on-line, computer- and phone-based sources listed in one concise listing.

Users can have multiple conversations at once, see buddy lists to check who's online right in their contact listing, and see instant messages in their email inbox. No matter which messaging method they're using, the Pre keeps track of all the conversations at once with integrated text, IM and email.

If a conversation starts in one messaging area, it can continue in another.

The Pre keeps track of multiple email accounts arranged neatly in one menu screen -- listing inboxes as work or personal. Users can see the number of new messages a single a account or "all inboxes" before tapping to read.

Emails, including Gmail, are pushed the handset so users know when it hits their inbox rather than waiting for a refresh period. Attachments such as PDFs and documents from Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint can be viewed, but not edited.

The Pre has text and picture messaging, simple email setup and several viewing options to threaded instant messages. However, documents cannot be edited, which could slow down people conducting business on the go.

Entertainment

The 3.1-inch display is ideal for watching videos, and the Palm Pre has plenty of options for keeping eyes glued to the screen.

Sprint TV offers 50 channels of news, entertainment, weather and sports shows as well as movies. Channel options include the Weather Channel, ABC Mobile, CNN Mobile and the Disney Channel.

NASCAR fans can install the NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile application and keep track of their favorite driver, watch NASCAR videos, view statistics and schedules, get news and alerts, or view Fantasy NASCAR and Sprint FanZone features.

Pre owners can also watch YouTube videos.

Users can check the weather on AccuWeather, stocks on Express Stocks and news on AP News; find career networking on LinkedIn; browse movie listings and buy tickets on Fandango and Flixster; play the mobile game version of Connect 4; hear streaming radio programs; and buy new music on Pandora.

A number of new applications are added to the catalogue every day.

People looking for a decent list of the basics can find plenty to use on the Pre. Sprint TV offers movies, shows and radio. The news and networking sites keep people connected as well as entertained.

Internet

There's more than one way to connect to the Web on the Pre. One way is through Sprint's high-speed 3G EV-DO Rev A. network. Another is through a Wi-Fi connection.

Sprint's broadband service has peak download speeds of up to 3.1Mbps and works at most places where Wi-Fi is not available.

Pre owners can browse the Web -- full-color versions of sites -- quickly and easily. One of the perks of the browser is that Web sites appear as they would on a computer screen, so sites aren't pared down or hard to read and navigate.

To navigate Web pages, Pre users can tap to select a field, touch the screen and keep pressing while moving a finger around the screen to move the page in any direction, and swipe across the screen to move to another page or application. Tapping to add bookmarks or type a Web address is simple.

Both the Pre and iPhone allow zooming in and out by spreading fingers across the screen from one point or pinching them together. Both phones also allow users to scroll up or down by sliding a finger up or down and can show a Web page in horizontal or vertical mode.

The biggest difference is that the Pre can be opened and closed during Web browsing to type on the keypad, whereas the iPhone keypad shows up on screen automatically, which is especially convenient when viewing an item in horizontal mode. Also, unlike the Pre, two pages can be shown in part at once, instead of swiping fully from one page to the next each time.

Multiple pages can be open at once, and sites can be bookmarked. Unfortunately, viewing some videos and animation can be a challenge since there's no Flash support.

The Pre connects to the Internet anywhere Sprint gets service. However, Flash support would be a welcome addition in future versions of the phone.

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