Palm’s improbable comeback story got some help on Thursday when a carefully selected group of reviewers gave the new Pre smartphone the thumbs-up.
“Elegant, joyous,” says David Pogue. “It’s a myth, an idea, possibly a legacy,” raves Engadget. The Pre will “certainly give the iPhone and other rivals a run for their money,” declares USA Today.
Nice to see the Pre get over the first hurdle, but there’s a long way to go if it is to save Palm.
Not least, a final judgment on the device can only come once it has been put through its paces by a much larger group of users. Then there are not inconsiderable issues like the lack of a vibrant app store, Sprint’s poor reputation for service quality, and the sheer difficulty of keeping customers’ attention as Apple prepares to hog the limelight with its latest iPhone advances.
Still, this finally looks like a device worthy of being talked about in the same breath as the iPhone. That is something to welcome.
