Day three with my new Palm Pre and I have to say I'm quite happy so far overall that I made the decision to ditch my LG Dare (Verizon). I already had a Sprint account (for a Blackberry 8830) which partly moved me away from trying AT&T and the iPhone. The size of the phone is great. I had some concerns about the keyboard being too small, but have been using regularly for email and find it much easier to use than a touch-screen. The phone does feel a little cheap in terms of plastic casings, etc - we'll see how it holds up. I sprung for the magnetic charging stand which includes a replacement back cover for the phone that feels much more substantial than the original cheap plastic cover. So far initial impressions:
The Good
* Extremely intuitive interface, navigation, etc. You can tell the team that developed the Pre came from Apple.
* Open multiple applications and close them with a simple flick of the finger - it's really easy and convenient. Apps also load quickly.
* Screen size is nice and even with a protective cover I'm able to navigate easily using the touch screen commands.
* Integration with Google Accounts - I easily setup my multiple gmail accounts through google apps and my google calendar (and other google calendars - colleagues, etc.) sync seamlessly.
* Phone sound quality seems just fine. I can hear callers on the other end clearly and they can hear me.
The Not So Good
* Granted I've been playing with location based applications that pull at battery life with use of GPS but I basically have to recharge at the end of the day. I recommend that you buy a second charger and keep one at the house and one at the office so you can stay charged.
* Lack of Voice Dialing - this seems to be a huge oversight and I really miss this feature from my LG Dare (though it wasn't always good at recognizing the commands - it is really convenient while driving). I hope Palm can cure this with a future software upgrade.
All in all, at three days in, I'm very happy.
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