On first impressions the phone does look and feel like a great device, sitting in the palm on your hand nicely like a smooth pebble. That is until you slide it open to reveal the Qwerty keypad with its tiny cramped keys making typing quite awkward, especially with the lack of an on screen keyboard. (I should point out I am an iPhone user).

In terms of features it is quite basic but matches other smartphones on the market with a 3.1MP camera with an LED flash, GPS and Wifi being the main ones, web browsing is quite good as is sending and receiving emails and text messages.

The new WebOS operating system is one of the best features of this phone, its fast and swish, simple to use and looks great. With multi touch support using the touchscreen, you can flick between open applications and have multiple applications running at the same time, something that is lacking on the iPhone. It did take a while to work out how to close an application though and doesn't seem completely polished, but an update may take care of this.

Overall the Palm Pre is a strong contender in the smarphone market though it still needs a bit of polishing to its operating system and the phone itself, an on screen keyboard would be a desirable addition. The phone is suitable for business and for pleasure and anyone looking to buy a smartphone should take this phone into consideration.

Summary:

• Good Points: WebOS operating system
• Bad Points: Tiny keyboard, no on screen keyboard
• Others to Consider: Apple iPhone 3GS
• Free on Contract with: O2