Palm Pre

[mbpark]

I just upgraded from my Blackberry 8703 to a Palm Pre for my work phone.

Here's what I have to say:

1. Exchange 2007 Integration. If you have Exchange 2007 set up with Exchange Web Services/Outlook Anywhere (which is what Outlook Web Access turned into), the Pre can use your Global Address List from Active Directory as an address source. Since my company has a front-end application we use in front of Active Directory to make updating our phone, mobile phone, and pager entries easy, this makes finding people in our 6,400+ person organization really easy. I type in the last name and they come up in the Phone. Windows Mobile, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't pull this off nearly as slick as Palm does, and Blackberry definitely doesn't. The iPhone comes close, but not as good as this.

2. The browser. The browser is WebKit. It will do Flash 10 later in the year when Adobe finishes it. Apple won't let Flash on the iPhone as it will cut off a big revenue stream. Why allow apps that you can't sell on the phone?

3. The GPS. It isn't TomTom, but it works incredibly well and provides very good turn by turn instructions.

4. The size. It's smaller than my iPod Touch, but a little deeper. That's all I need to say.

5. Facebook integration. This device integrates my Facebook calendar and contacts and allows me to view them alongside my Gmail and Exchange contacts and calendars. Sweet.

6. Unified views of contacts, calendars, and mail from GMail and Exchange. That's very name. I can't get that with Windows Mobile or the iPhone.

7. Multiple Exchange Account Support. The iPhone and Windows Mobile do not have it, and Blackberry makes it really hard.

After the travesty that was the Treo and their Windows Mobile devices, they've managed to put every feature I needed into a device.