a work in progress

Sometimes, the Pre feels less like V1.0 and more like 0.9. The operating system inspires great hope … it’s going to be good, it’s going to be around awhile. The phone itself, I’m not so sure. But the real problem is the lack of software. There’s enough to do basic stuff, and by basic stuff, I mean a lot more than what I did on my Treo. But for the most part, I find myself imagining how good this will be a year from now. The stuff it does now, it will do better, the stuff it doesn’t do now, it will do. Someone like me, who has had some kind of Palm product for a very long time and who isn’t an Apple obsessive, is the perfect person to ride this first wave of the Palm Pre. And I have a feeling I’ll recommend this phone to anyone who asks, as long as they don’t ask for six months or so. If you have to get a new phone tomorrow, though, you shouldn’t get a Pre unless you’re willing to be an early adopter. It’s not that it doesn’t work (although there are reports that Palm is getting a lot of returns, reports I dismissed until I remembered I’m on my second Pre, myself), it’s that it promises more than it delivers at this point.

I’ve seen more than one review that says pretty much the same thing: I love my Pre, wouldn’t want to do without it, but it’s not quite there, yet.