Ease of use
Palm’s new webOS operating system is a pleasure to use, with an innovative user interface navigated by intuitive gesture shortcuts. The much-touted Synergy tool syncs Facebook, Google and Microsoft Exchange accounts to stream your contacts, calendars and emails into one easy to manage hub.

Look and feel
The Pre has a near-perfect touch-screen in a glossy black chassis, but its slider mechanism is somewhat clacky. The keyboard is on the small side and keys require more pressure to depress than we would have liked.

Performance
Fast and fluid, the Pre is a good multitasker that can run up to 12 apps simultaneously. while it slows down (though not to annoying levels) when more apps are running, particularly with RAM-intensive apps like Google Maps and browser, it’s an incredibly useful, well executed feature.

Features
Great sound and sat-nav features, mediocre camera. But the real meat of the Pre is Synergy and webOS, and the accompanying messaging, calendar and social network features.

Battery life
We were using Wi-Fi and 3G all day, with sporadic GPS, and the Pre still hadn’t died by day’s end.

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