Co-Authored by Teresa

For years, Palm ruled the portable computing world, and it even arguably began the smartphone revolution with the Treo, but delays in upgrades and operating systems caused it to fall horribly behind into insignificance as BlackBerry, iPhone, and more recently, Android came to rule the hearts of smartphone users. Last summer, Palm released the Pre to Sprint customers, sporting a new, modern mobile interface dubbed webOS, which emphasized what's really important to smartphone users: mobile internet. Now, the webOS has come to Verizon customers with two new models, the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus. Verizon loaned us a couple to give us a chance to try them out. Is Palm once again in contention for smartphone dominance?

We're reviewing the two models together due to their similarity. The user experience is nearly identical, save for a pop-out keyboard on the Pre, and thus a larger screen, whereas the Pixi has an integrated keyboard, which BlackBerry users will find familiar. The Pre also includes a 3.0-megapixel camera; the Pixi, 2-megapixel, both with LED flash.

The webOS includes what has become more and more standard features, including a touchscreen (yes, a physical keyboard and a touchscreen), accelerometer-activated display orientation (to easily switch between portrait and landscape viewing), and an app store with a small but growing number of apps, including pretty much everything the average user will want, including a great Facebook app, several Twitter clients, a built-in YouTube browser, maps, entertainment, and more. Note, though, that this is not an app store for the kids. The store includes an entire "adult" category with downloadable apps that most parents would not want their children seeing or downloading, and while downloads can be blocked with a password, previewing applications and their descriptions cannot. Consequently, we've rated this phone PG-13. You've been warned.

That aside, we love the interface. The tap-and-flick method of interaction gives a great user experience and offers great versatility, allowing for fast switching between apps. Users can have multiple windows open in any number of applications, including multiple browser windows, limited only by the phone's memory. Multitasking allows background email checking and other notifications, and the device integrates with Google Calendar and Gmail (including Gmail's Contacts) out of the box, as well as integration with Facebook, AIM, and other services, combining contact entries without merging data in a very user-friendly way.

While the typing with a physical keyboard works great, the lack of stylus or arrow keys can make moving the insertion point to edit text difficult, so get used to the backspace button if you have larger fingers.

The OS includes an integrated search, so all you have to do is start typing, and it will search the phone for apps and addresses, as well as an option for Google, Bing, or Wikipedia searching without opening a browser window first.

Verizon includes a great all-in-one app called VZ Navigator which, using the integrated GPS, allows users to quickly find local stores, entertainment, and more, then map out directions to the desired location. Of similar apps available on other platforms, I found this one to be insanely useful. That said, I live in a major metropolitan area, and the closest movie showtime information was for a cinema over 100 miles away, so it's not perfect, but the rest worked great.

While we couldn't share files with the built-in bluetooth, users can load photos, movies, and music via USB. Windows users can sync directly with their PC's, but Mac users will need to use 3rd party software like DoubleTwist for music and movies, although iPhoto integrations works fine. Note that the phones have no SD slot, but the Pre Plus also means 16 GB storage, which is enough for most users (only 8 on the Pixi).

So what's the "Plus" in these Verizon-only upgrades? For starters, integrated Wi-Fi in the Pixi (the Pre already had it) will provide much faster internet speeds when available and the aforementioned extra 8 GB of storage on the Pre, plus TouchStone charging compatibility in both models.

We had random problems with battery life. From our tests, because the screen lights up with each new mail or other alert, this frequent light usage could drain the battery completely while we slept, which means an 8-hour charge when not being actively used. Other days with less mail and other notifications would give 16 or more hours of life, so users will want to try this out for a few days to see whether it can survive their lifestyles.

Is this phone the be-all-end-all? Well, it's pretty slick. The physical keyboard gives it an advantage over the iPhone, although Mac users may prefer the Mac integration of the iPhone, but the Palm's Google integration will solve that sync problem for many or even be preferred, since it can sync remotely. Compare data plans for your family and see what works best for you, but Palm is definitely back in the race, and right up in front at that.