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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.
By Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer
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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.

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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The Palm Pre 2 is compact and full featured.

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

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

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

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The right side view shows the spacing of the keys.

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

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

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Palm webOS 2.0 supports adding several different services.

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

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

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

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You can setup several text actions to control your experience.

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

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

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

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

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Here are some more options in Just Type.

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

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Palm Pre 2 gallery 1

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Palm Pre gallery 2

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