Hands-on with the Palm Pre 2

The newest webOS device is called the Palm Pre 2 and is now available as a GSM SIM-unlocked smartphone that will work on both AT&T and T-Mobile. The Palm Pre 2 runs the latest webOS 2.0.1 operating system.

Make sure to check out my full ZDNet blog post with more details on the Palm Pre 2 and a video of the device in action.

The box is fairly basic, but it does list all of the interior contents.

The Pre 2 rests in a clear plastic tray in the box.

You will find a USB cable, USB A/C charger adapter, and wired stereo headset in the bottom of the retail box.

A Gesture Guide and Quick Start Guide are found in the retail package. I recommend you read through the Gesture Guide, especially if you are new to webOS.

The Palm Pre 2 looks very similar to the Palm Pre Plus.

Here you can see the Pre 2 resting on the Touchstone just like the Pre Plus did.

The microphone opening is on the bottom left of the front of the Pre 2.

The headset speaker opening is centered on the front above the display.

There are a couple of volume buttons on the upper left of the Pre 2.

The power button, mute switch, and 3.5mm headset jack are found on the top of the Pre 2.

The camera, flash light, and speaker grill are found on the upper back of the Pre 2.

It was nice to see the open microUSB port on the right side as I hated dealing with the flimsy door on the Pre Plus.

As you can see, the Pre 2 has a simple back and fits in my hand well.

The Palm Pre 2 is compact and full featured.

This image shows the Pre 2 in hand with the display on.

The QWERTY keyboard on the Pre 2 is the same as the one on the Palm Plus.

Here you can see the left side of the Pre 2 keyboard.

The right side view shows the spacing of the keys.

Even the open Pre 2 in hand fits well into my palm.

The lineup shows the best smartphones from each of the current mobile operating systems, except for iOS.

Palm webOS 2.0 supports adding several different services.

Stacks are a handy way to browse and access different cards from within applications.

The new Palm Catalog is easy to browse through on your Pre 2.

Several Quick Actions are available when you start to enter text.

You can setup several text actions to control your experience.

The new Launcher lets you create custom Launcher pages and move them around.

You can  customize the apps that appear on each Launcher page.

These are the available options as you manage your Launcher pages.

There are several quick options available in the Just Type utility.

Here are some more options in Just Type.

The Office document viewer comes to us from Quickoffice and supports various cloud storage services.

Palm Pre 2 gallery 1

Palm Pre gallery 2