The launch of the Palm Pre is just around the corner, but reviews were out in full force tonight. Before you dish out that cash, be sure to check out all the reviews for the Palm Pre to get the real low-down on whether or not it lives up to all the hype (from all indications it does). Here are the reviews, in no particular order. I will add more reviews as I see them, but so far the reviews have been glowingly positive. Some caveats of the Pre are the software is extremely nice and fluid, contacts management is an all or nothing affair, the device feels like a toy at times, and the keyboard is so-so. However, for a first generation device, it performs surprisingly well. Reviewers have also noted that it being on Sprint’s network could hold this device back from selling even more and the device doesn’t seem as sturdy as it could be. Looks like I may switch to Sprint after all.

Engadget

Gizmodo

WSJ/All Things Digital – Walt Mossberg

NYTimes – Dave Pogue

Wired’s Gadget Lab

SlashGear

MyPre

Boy Genius Report (Only Part 1)

GigaOM (Quick Review)

PCWorld

PCMag

Laptop Mag

CNET

Phonescoop

UberGizmo (mini-)review

Reuters

AP

BusinessWeek

USA Today

PreCenral - Epic Review

Other issues:

IMAP is pretty much broken, I don’t know if it is an issue with Gmail IMAP or just IMAP email handling in general (I’ve only used IMAP with my gmail account), but it is broken like no other. I don’t receive all my email and it tends to lag when marking an email as read, if it even marks it as read and I had no way to access all my folders. I have since reverted back to general default email settings, which is POP I believe, cause I actually get emails that way.

No fun applications at all. Don’t expect an iPhone like experience on this thing cause it really is great for managing your data and such, but other than brickbreaker or wordmole, don’t expect to be playing Metal Gear on this thing. Another thing is there is no easy way to install applications to this thing, don’t go expecting to simply load up an app store and simply search and install what you’d like from your phone. You are gonna have to search on a desktop to find an application that suites your needs, then you can either connect your BB to your computer or use the god-awful web browser to enter in the url and manage to navigate to it somehow. The impending app store may solve all these problems, but I have a feeling it probably won’t.

Approximately 1/2 of my lock ups, freezes and slow downs can be attributed to one thing, the web browser. It isn’t as bad as say Pocket IE, but its pretty bad. I mean on the surface it renders pages like its original pretty well, that’s if you manage to load a page without it locking up. But you can install Opera Mini on the Bold, so there is an alternative. I am really just waiting for Mozilla to release Fennec, the mobile Firefox browser.

The last issue, which some may or may not consider an issue is (I hate to say it), but the Bold just isn’t “fun” enough. I look at all the cool apps for the iPhone and I get pretty jealous, over the past year or so the iPhone/iPod Touch has really become an amazing platform for development. As much as I dislike some of the choices that Apple has made (ummm… Copy/Paste anyone) it is the phone everyone wants because of its applications and usability. I know plenty of people that have trouble getting around the BB, but know very few that have the same issues of usability on Apple’s mobile platform.

What I think RIM needs to do is throw out the book and create an OS along with great hardware that encompasses modern day techniques of UI. I’m not saying that they should scratch what they have with their current iterations, afterall they are the venerable email workhorse, but they should consider putting the effort into crafting a new platform that will herald in new users that would actually wow them not confuse. We’ll see what 2009 brings, CES next week is only that start of what I predict to be a very interesting year in regards to the common man.

AIM for the BlackBerry
Yahoo Messenger for the BlackBerry
GoogleTalk for the BlackBerry
Windows Live for the BlackBerry

About a week into getting the Bold (AT&T released the service books for AIM and Yahoo a bit later than usually, don’t ask me why), just about all chat clients now have support for the Bold, so with the included BlackBerry Messenger, the Bold has become the ultimate messaging phone. All are integrated very well and there is very little lag between sending and receiving messages.

Google Maps
Good thing that the Bold’s (a-)GPS isn’t locked down by AT&T and you can use any application that you want that uses GPS/a-GPS except for BlackBerry Maps, which AT&T decided to axe to include AT&T Navigator, which is $10 a month.

Gmail
With the Bold not supporting IMAP, there is only one way to sync Gmail with your Bold and is with the Gmail App by Google. Mind you it doesn’t support things such as labeling and I struggled to get it to auto suggest contacts and groups. There was also the issue of the updates not coming in real time, it seems that the Gmail App only checks sometimes, which is probably because it doesn’t want to be a real resource and network hog.

Facebook
Not great, but a decent way to view facebook on your BlackBerry other than using the subpar browser. You can only write messages to one person and not multiple people though, which is a real downside (note to facebook dev crew: implement a real mail and messaging system already, will ya).

FlyCast
Until Pandora/RIM (or an ambitious developer) codes up a Pandora app, this is probably the best alternative. Works decent, but it was hard to navigate seeing as the UI was just an emulation of the iPhone interface.

qik
Streaming video from your Bold to the interwebs, works well enough, but you don’t really know that it actually streamed online, but you can just go online later and check that it did and if it didn’t upload it later from your Bold.

Opera Mini
Great alternative to the built-in browser. It runs quicker, but it can’t run Javascript and it feels a bit slower than Opera Mini in the JVM of my old WinMo Tilt.

Mobipocket Reader
If you are a reading addict this is a great alternative to dedicated E-Book readers like the Sony Reader, Amazon Kindle or the iRex Illiad. I can’t say I can stare at the insanely bright screen for extended periods, but for those short trips to work on the subway where I don’t have any cell signal this holds me over pretty well.

Yahoo Go!
This is actually a very well done application by the Yahoo! team. It is very slick, supports Flickr where you can actually view photos, Yahoo Mail (not full HTML), news feeds (RSS) with full image support, weather, stocks, maps and directions which make use of the GPS. One complaint is that it is a tad slow sometimes. When I attempted to add the feed for Engadget, it took a few minutes for it to add to my news feeds.

TwitterBerry
For all you twitter fanatics, works extremely well and only updates when you want to unless of course you have it open, which it will update whenever one of the people you are following updates.

Newgator Go!
Probably my favorite application for the BlackBerry, one that I like so much that it is in my top five row. I am pretty much addicted to RSS and this is by far the best RSS application for the BlackBerry. The only downside is that it doesn’t support images, but it makes up for it in strides with the ability to clip articles, quickness and the ability to sync with your own news feeds on newsgator, where if you have multiple devices or are using the desktop applications FeedDemon or NetNewsWire you can customize what news feeds it updates.

I knew the title of best electronic purchase that was previously rewarded to my Squeezebox Boom was going to be dethroned one day, but I didn’t know that it was going to be dethroned so soon. I would first like to say that the BlackBerry Bold is my best electronic purchase ever. So after about a week of heavy use, here is my review on this thing. It is kinda long, so by all means read only the sections that matter to you all.

Specs:

• Size: 4.5″ x 2.6″ x 0.55″
• Weight: 4.7 ounces
• Screen: 2.5″, 480×320 pixels, 65K
• Platform: BlackBerry OS 4.6
• Memory: 1GB w/microSDHC slot (up to 16GB)

Network:

• GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-Band)
• WCDMA: 850/1900/2100 (Tri-Band)

Camera:

• 2 mega-pixels (auto-focus)
• 5 x Digital Zoom

Audio:

• MP3, AAC, eAAC+ & WMA

Video:

• Hi-Resolution VGA, 30fps Video Recording
• Supported formats: MP4, 3GPP, H.264 & Divx
• Camera 2 MP
• Video recorder with Half-VGA resolution

Connectivity:

• WiFi (IEEE 802.11g)
• GPS
• Stereo Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP)
• miniUSB
• 3.5mm headphone jack

Messaging:

• SMS
• MMS (with video)
• E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, BES, BIS)

Hardware:

Design:
I’m not sure what it is about the Bold, but the aesthetics of the thing are amazing. I was very hesitant upon hearing that they put (p)leather on its rear instead of a rubberized paint job, but all those reservations are gone. The feel of the phone in the hand is amazing. It does not feel like a brick like my last phone did, which was the AT&T Tilt, and feels slick, smooth and thin. The leather backside gives me no hesitation of using it one-handed; It is perfect for one-handed (fits well for any lefty or righty) use, when you just don’t have access to the other hand. The chrome finish that rounds it out makes it stand out as the high end device that it is. Needless to say, it has both the professional look that one would expect a BlackBerry would have, but yet a stylus look to it as well.

Screen:
HVGA, 480 x 320
The screen has the exact same resolution of that famous touch screen phone, but on about a third the screen size. In short, the screen is gorgeous and is hands down the best screen on any smartphone I have every used.

Keyboard:
I have been using a QWERTY device for about a year now and can’t think of any other way to use a phone. The keyboard on the Bold is quite spectacular. Although it took me sometime to get used to the shorter spacing between the keys, but I anticipated this, it wasn’t long before I was pounding away at the thing in lightning quick speeds. Keyboard is utterly the best thing about this device, which is saying a lot being this smartphone has a lot of things going for it.

Call Quality:
I’ve had four phones in my entire lifetime and I would have to say hands down this sounds the best out of the four even on the crappiness that is AT&T’s network. I don’t make much calls on this thing, but everyone came in clear and I have had no drop calls. Although I do notice that it sometimes gets stuck on EDGE when I am 100% sure that I am in a 3G area. Not sure why this is, but I had the same problems with the Tilt, so I am attributing this to AT&T’s network, which for the most part could be much better.

Software:
This is where the BlackBerry stands above all other devices. It does not have the same plethora of software as other devices, but it makes up for it on the quality of the applications and the speed of execution. Everything is instantaneous, when I click on an icon for say Gtalk, it brings it up right away and signs me in so I can begin to chat. It is one of the problems that I had with the Tilt, applications on that thing would sometimes freeze and lock up for seemingly no reason. On the Bold it is a whole ‘nother story, no waiting minutes for an application to load, it just goes. However, I have had the ocassional lock up, but I am attributing that because some applications have not been optimized for BB OS 4.6, since this is the first phone to get that OS or for the screen res, which is the first BlackBerry to get such a high screen res, well at least until the Storm hits stores.

Contacts:
Contacts management is far superior than any other smartphone I have used. Adding one is simple and easy and the SIM contact transfer is easy to use.

Messaging:

SMS:
This is actually one of the low points of the device for me. I don’t know what it is, possibly the extreme hype I got from everywhere, but it is just a letdown. All I want for this is threaded SMS, where each message is marked for each sender and receiver, all the messages are marked with is a date and time stamp and is group by exchanging contact. I mean the choice of different colors would have made this ten folds better.

IM:
This is the most connected I have every been on a mobile device. I can connect to people with multiple options with the only exclusion is IRC, but that would be crazy on a mobile device. AT&T has now made the service books available for ICQ and AIM to round out the support for the existing BlackBerry Messenger, Gtalk, Yahoo and Windows Live (MSN). All integrated extremely well and has a natural application feel, although I feel some slight lag, but that is probably due to AT&T’s network.

Email:
RIM is supposed to be number one in this area and I would have to say that it still is with the push email, but it does not automatically sync with the email services that I use, which is mainly gmail like IMAP, which is a total letdown.

Web Browsing:
I came from Pocket IE (the broken interwebs) and Opera Mini (much improved fast web browser) as well as Opera Mobile and Firefox on my N800, so I have quite a bit of experience with web browser. The browser called Browser is not so bad, but I can’t say that it is great either. First off, you have three browsers in total, one for Media Net for AT&T (which I kinda think may just be a shortcut to Media Net, I’m not 100% sure), one for WiFi and then the regular browser. I have no clue why there wasn’t just one browser for all connectivity options, but regardless, websites are rendered pretty well and (if you have javascript turned off) webpages are rendered pretty quickly. However, some websites had enormously terrible loads times on non-mobile versions of certain websites, i.e. Engadget. The only saving grace is that there is a mobile version. I have not tested it much on WiFi since I have an unlimited data plan and live in a major city where 3G is just about everywhere.

Multimedia:
The Bold has a pretty decent media player, not the best, but it is pretty decent. One thing that it needs is to show songs on the playlist using ID3 tags instead of the filename, otherwise the music player is great. Sounds decent as well, not 2nd gen iPod or my Squeezebox Boom quality, but it is listenable, only wish that the lowest volume could be lower. The Bold also supports a wide range of codecs as well, I have yet to test anything other than MP3 in the audio category, but in the video it did not play a few out-of-box, only audio came out of some video files. I would also like to see the ability to bookmark a long podcast or a movie.

Applications:
For what the Bold does not have out-of-box, you can probably find an application that does what you like. Just head over to mobile.blackberry.com on your Bold. What it is lacking is a mobile application store built on the phone like that other (i)Phone, but that will be coming in March 2009, since the usability is pretty horrible for downloading applications, which is handled by the web browser or connecting your Bold to your computer which has to have the BlackBerry Desktop software installed first.

Navigation:
The Bold for AT&T comes pre-loaded with TeleNav to replace BlackBerry maps, since I haven’t used either I can’t comment, but I did promptly install Google Maps. Works pretty well, takes a little while getting a fix though, but generally I am much happier with the GPS on this thing than I was with the Tilt where I had to open two programs to use the GPS, which would then may or may not work. As a note, you cannot install BlackBerry Maps on this thing because I am assuming AT&T has prevented it, but I feel if you hacked some of the service books you would probably be able to.

Camera:
I do not take pictures very often, but when I do I have my Canon PowerShot for that, but I have taken a few shots and it is nothing to scream about, but it works and has an LED flash, which is a definite plus. Pictures look decent.

WiFi:
As I wrote earlier, I have not used the WiFi very often, but I was able to connect to my apartment’s Linksys router I setup with no problem and was able to view other Access Points with ease and supports just about all the security protocols, even the now only unhackable WPA2-PSK.

Bluetooth:
Haven’t used this feature yet, can’t comment, but I will update once I do.

Pros:

• Awesome keyboard.
• Fast, fast, and… fast
• Beautiful Screen
• Beautiful Aesthetics
• Contacts management
• Wide Range of reliable applications

Cons:

• Email, although it pushes, is not IMAP and doesn’t sync automatically
• SMS could be managed better
• Not RIM’s fault, but AT&T sucks
• Addicting as heck

Conclusion:
This review has generally been glowing, there was no deal breaker in any of the downsides. The screen is gorgeous, fantastic keyboard, great contacts management, voice sounds good, messaging is good and the amazing amount of stable applications I have used and installed makes me so connected that it kinda scares me. If I were to give this a rating on a 10-point scale with 10 being amazing-awesome-can’t put down and a zero being do-not-even-go-near, I would give this a 9 out of 10, almost perfect.

Links to other Reviews:

• Boy Genius Report
• Engadget Mobile (Not quite a full review)
• Gizmodo (Pre-AT&T)
• Gizmodo (Post-AT&T)
• GigaOM
• InfoSync World
• apc (Pre-AT&T)
• Crackberry (Pre-pre-AT&T)

Here is a quick rundown of the specs:

• 2.8″ 320 x 240 TFT touchscreen
• 400 MHz 32bit Qualcomm MSM7200 processor
• Full QWERTY slide out keyboard
• 3.1 MP camera
• 128 MB RAM
• 256 MB ROM
• Quad Band GSM, Triband UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100) 3G baby
• 802.11g WiFi compatible
• Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP
• Support for microSDHC cards up to 32 GB
• GPS

For more detailed information visit the pdadb info page for the Tilt here.

Hardware:
As hardware goes, this thing has everything you could ever want from a phone. A full keyboard for typing out long emails or lengthy SMS conversations as well as a large touchscreen. A real GPS chip for use with any maps application. A decent amount of space for those small applications. A quick processor. A decent camera with video recording capabilities. A 802.11g radio as well as triband HSDPA and bluetooth. It has everything. Beware, this thing is a brick and pretty heavy compared to your average phone. It also has a nice rubberized backing as well. It’s only port is a mini-USB port for all your needs, charging headphones and such, but for the latter you’d need to purchase an adapter or two and forget about dual charger/listening to music with a standard 3.5 mm without the purchase of another adapter.

Keyboard:
The keyboard is probably one of the best I’ve ever used on a mobile phone, every key feels individual and separate with full QWERTY support, the only thing this is missing is a CTRL and ALT key that will be featured in the upcoming HTC Raphael. GPS takes a few minutes to get a fix, but when it does, it works pretty well with Google Maps, as well as TomTom Mobile Navigator software. Data speeds are fast when in a 3G or HSDPA area, which luckily I am living in two cities.

Software:
The Tilt comes preloaded with a customized Windows Mobile 6.0 for AT&T subscribers. It comes loaded with much bloatware and trial ware. You’ll take some time sifting through which programs are actually usable or not.

Contacts:
Contacts are manage in the usable and the slightly ugly Pocket Outlook. It is pretty straight forward and you can add as much information about a person as if you were using Outlook’s desktop cousin.

SMS:
SMS are done in the similar fashion to emails, which is a great thing. While sending a message to one of your contacts, it will suggest individuals in your contact list. Sending to multiple people is done by simply adding a semi-colon and that individual’s name. If you are in the mood for something a tad better looking, I suggest the wonderfully free PocketCM. Download it here. It will also create a much improved contact interface as well, the only thing with PocketCM is that it still doesn’t support SIM cards.

Web Browsing:
Web browsing in Pocket IE quite frankly sucks. If you don’t ever want to see the web broken and small, then stay away from Pocket IE and use one of the alternatives, such as Opera Mobile (not free, but comes with a 30-day trial), Opera Mini (Free) or sign up for SkyFire beta. Pocket IE is terrible, it is hard for it to render websites that don’t have a mobile interface. Opera Mini, a java midlet, does this beautifully. It is a mainstay in my arsenal. Download it here.

Camera:
The camera is better than your average cellphone cam and can record video. Storage options are the phone’s internal memory or a microSD card.

Navigation:
After using the free trial of TeleNav and not wanting to pay the monthly fee for something that was built to be free and open, you’ll find Google Maps or Live Search from Microsoft. Both are great, I prefer Google maps myself, but Live Search is on par if not better in some areas. The latest version of Google Maps supports My Location, by giving you a general location of where you are, which is never accurate, but it comes in handy if you don’t want to drain your battery by turning on your GPS radio. For the people who are having trouble with their GPS radio, download GPS test here. I know it sounds silly, but it turns on the GPS module and helps to get a fix. Point your web browser here for Google Maps and here for Live Search.

Call Quality:
I’ve been extremely unsatisfied with AT&T and call quality. I’ve had to say more “What?”, making it appear as if I was deaf to the person on the other end. But this was to be expecting when I was taking into consideration other wireless carriers. GSM as a technology is kinda weak, CDMA has much better quality voice and data-wise. While on Sprint I could hear someone crystal clear, but on AT&T everything sounds muffled as if the other person was speaking through a plastic bag. I’ve also have more dropped calls in the past eight months than my entire three years with Sprint. Although Sprint doesn’t have as wide a coverage map as AT&T, if sure did cover enough for me. AT&T seems to be lacking in many areas.

WiFi:
Being significantly faster than EDGE or 3G, it works great, but is a great battery drain. The only problem is that if you leave WiFi radio on for a decent amount of time, it slows to a crawl.

Bluetooth:
Support for stereo bluetooth is great. With the right phones you can wireless listen to your turns and leave your MP3 player at home. Tethering this thing to my laptop to use it as a wireless gateway worked great albeit a tad slow, but you’d have to use the buried Internet Connection Sharing. I also tethered this to other devices and it worked great as well. Guides here and here. Bluetooth tethering eats up battery life like no tomorrow, but it isn’t as bad as having WiFi turned on.

Pros:
Robust and great hardware. Sturdy.

Cons:
Software holds this thing back. Out of the box, it is mediocre, but finding the right software for this thing makes it much better. AT&T is lacking in included accessories, mainly that it provides none other than another stylus. So unlike Sprint where they include an USB-to-2.5 mm jack, a 512 MB microSD card, a screen protector, all you get in the box with AT&T is a USB charger and the phone with one additional stylus.

Conclusion:
For the person with enough patience to put up with the software downsides of the Tilt will find a great device that has a great community that has created much software and enhancements for it. On paper this thing is awesome, but the UI is not very intuitive. At times it’ll slow to a crawl to the point of unusable, it is frustrating to say the least. But loaded with the right ROM, it becomes slightly less rocky. My hope is that there will be an Android hack to make this thing capable of running Android. But I give this thing a 7 out of 10. Slightly better than the average phone. Be sure to visit XDA-developers for other enhancements.