Back in January, I switched from the iPhone to 3GS to the Motorola Droid. In a lengthy piece titled “Why I Switched to Android,” I outlined the reasons I chose the Droid.

None of that has really changed. Android is a great platform, and the Droid is a killer handset.

So why did I buy a Palm Pre Plus? Well, my 18-month old son smashed my phone and I needed a replacement. I decided to give Palm a shot at it, and so far, I’m pretty happy.

Hardware:

The Pre Plus is the opposite of the Droid. If the Droid is a Hummer, this is a Porsche. The Droid is AC/DC; the Pre Plus is Michael Bolton. It’s way smaller and way lighter than the Droid. The Pre Plus is all curves, all the time — the Droid’s hard angles are nowhere to be found.

When Palm introduced the Pre last year, they described it as a “river stone.” That’s completely accurate.

The physical keyboard is interesting. The phone is a portrait slider, which is a little unusual these days. They keys are small, but very solid.

The screen packs the same number of pixels as the iPhone does into a smaller space. It’s dense, and very nice looking. The only bummer is that it’s covered by plastic, not glass. I hope it holds up.

The phone isn’t as loud as the iPhone 3GS, and certainly not as loud as the Droid, but it gets the job done nicely unless I have my windows rolled down in the car. I’d peg it a notch above the original iPhone in that regard.

As far as buttons, the Pre Plus sports a power button, a volume rocker and a dedicated ringer/silent switch.

Build quality has plagued Palm for years. The Pre doesn’t break that tradition. While the keyboard slides out smoothly and pops into place quite nicely, the keyboard is creaky if I press to hard. It’s pretty sad.

The camera is lackluster. It’s a 3 megapixel unit with a LED flash. And while it can shoot video, it doesn’t have a macro mode. It’s fine for most things, and nothing on the market is as easy to use as what Apple’s done with the 3GS.

Software

Palm’s WebOS is ahead of it’s time. It multitasks more like a computer than a phone, and the card interface Palm has come up with is genius.

The collection of apps available for the Pre Plus is pretty limited — much more so than even Android. That said, the handful of apps I need on a phone are there, so I don’t mind so much. I’m not a gamer, so the lack of games doesn’t matter to me, either.

When Palm announced WebOS, the big thing they pushed was “Synergy,” Palm’s magic sauce that combined Facebook, Gmail and other accounts on the phone without combining them in the cloud. While that’s a neat addition to a slideshow, in real life, it means scrolling through 500 contacts from Facebook, most of whom I haven’t talked to in five years. Needless to say, I’ve got it all turned off, and am just using the contacts in my primary Gmail account.

Thanks to Synergy, the calendar app can also connect to more than one account, which means I can keep my Google App-powered work calendars and personal calendar separate. That gives WebOS a leg-up on Android, which can only connect to one Google account for calendar information.

The phone will connect to a PC or Mac in USB mode, just like most Android devices, for quick file transfers. (Thankfully, the Pre/iTunes thing is over.)

The media player smokes Android’s. That’s not too hard, since the media player Google ships with Android is a pile of poop. Photos pop on the rich display.

Multi-touch on the Pre works pretty much like it does on the iPhone.

Finally, the jailbreak (or “homebrew“) community for WebOS is amazing. I’m going to be rooting my phone this weekend.

Mobile Hotspot

The killer feature on this phone — in my opinion — is the Mobile Hotspot software. In short, it allows the Pre Plus to become a Wi-Fi router for up to five devices. Anywhere I get 3G coverage (and being on Verizon, that’s just about anywhere), I can get Wi-Fi. The software will let me set the SSID and adjust security settings, just like a real router.

As the owner of a Wi-Fi-only iPad, this is awesome. It means I can use my iPad out and about easily. It also means that if the Pre Plus doesn’t have an app I use every once in a while, I can simply run the iPhone/iPad version as needed.

The most impressive thing about the Mobile Hotspot is that Verizon doesn’t charge for it on the Pre Plus.

The downside is I don’t leave home without the Pre’s charger.

Wrapping It Up

Palm is a lot like Apple. I know that is an obvious thing, since a good number of Palm employees are old Apple employees. The Pre Plus is very Apple-like device in a number of ways — it’s innovative, sexy and media-rich. WebOS is very smooth, and has far fewer rough spots than Android. The hardware/software relationship is much better, since Palm builds them both.

I am in no way saying the Palm Pre Plus is the best smartphone out there. The very future of Palm is in question, and iPhone OS and Android continue to dominate in sales. I am saying that it is a very capable smartphone, and has some features others lack. And that I’m enjoying carrying it around.

Not wanting a device and not being excited about it are two different things. In the months leading up the its release, I was excited about it. More so, I was excited about seeing what app developers were going to do with extra screen size and power.

As the release day drew to an end and I read more reviews of the device I caved, drove to the Apple Store and plunked down some money for the 16GB Wi-Fi model. (Major props to my forgiving wife.) Here are my thoughts on Apple’s newest creation.

Hardware

The iPhone and the Mid-2007 iMac kicked off Apple’s current love affair with smooth, slick aluminum coupled with glass-covered panels with thick black borders. The design language they introduced with those products can now be found on Apple’s notebooks, and it’s embodied in the iPad. In many ways, the iPad reminds me of an iMac — both machines are defined by their large glass-covered displays. What lives behind the screen is easily forgotten.

The glass gets pretty greasy after just a few minutes of use, and the reflections at certain angles are blinding. However, the super-bright display can cut through even the nastiest of fingerprints and reflections. In fact, it’s the brightest display I think I’ve ever used. I’m using it at about 4 clicks above the darkest setting, and in some situations, that’s even too bright for my taste. The only time I’ve cranked it all the way up was while using it outside in pretty direct sunlight.

There is no up or down on the iPad. No wrong way or right way to hold it. The OS and most of the apps don’t care how it’s oriented. It’s a clean break from the desktop computer that is always the same, no matter what the content requires.

Unlike other devices I’ve owned (including iPhones), I use a case with my iPad. I opted for the Incase Convertible Book Jacket. It offers protection, can double as a stand and stays shut with a Moleskine-esque band. It isn’t perfect, but carrying a sheet of glass in my backpack makes me nervous. Additionally, the case makes it easier to use it while laying on the couch, as it keeps the device from sliding on my jeans.

Even in the case, it never gets hot. After playing a racing game for 30 minutes, it was barely warm. It’s pretty incredible. I’d almost like my iPad to get warm more often so I know it’s actually working. That, coupled with the complete lack of noise or humming, makes the iPad seem even mure futuristic. Like most groundbreaking Apple products, it doesn’t have a fan — think of how magical the G4 Cube and the iMac G3 still seem.

The lack of heat and noise is impressive in a device that is so thin.

Battery life is incredible. Simply incredible.

Finally, it would have been nice to see an SD card slot. I use it on my MacBook Pro all the time, but I can’t bring myself to order the SD card adaptor from Apple quite yet.

Software

As a former iPhone owner, I found the iPad interface amazingly easy to use, but Apple has added a lot to the OS that takes advantage of the bigger screen and additional power the iPad offers.

An obvious example is how many apps display additional info in landscape mode, and display content with no window chrome or menus in portrait mode. (Oddly Apple’s Pages app does the opposite. I suppose it’s to make the keyboard dock they sell more viable.)

A huge complaint of mine is that the icons on the home screen shift when the iPad changes orientation. It really screws with muscle memory, and makes me hunt down icons when I’m in portrait mode, since I use mine in landscape most of the time. Apple needs to fix it.

I can’t emphasize how impressed I am with what the developer community has built for this device in such a short period of time. Apps that I use on multiple platforms (like Things, Evernote and Instapaper) just feel so much better on the iPad.

A lot of third-party apps (and apps like Contacts and Calendars) are designed to look like the real objects they replace. It’s an odd trend, and I’m not sure I am in love with it. Virtual bookcases and sticky notes just aren’t as effective as their physical inspirations.

Text Input

I’m a keyboard guy. I have an Apple Extended II keyboard setup at home and at work. As awesome as my Magic Mouse is, my goal is to touch it as little as possible while working.

That said, I really like the keyboard on the iPad. But only in landscape mode. In portrait, the keys are too small for me comfortably use, but the landscape keyboard is just right. When you toss in auto-correction, it’s really quite fast.

I haven’t paired my iPad to a bluetooth keyboard, but it seems like a good solution for long typing sessions. I just don’t see the need at this point. Even typing this review on the iPad wasn’t bad enough for me to go grab a keyboard. Granted, I’ve been working on over the course of a week, not all at once.

How I Use It

Apple’s biggest problem with selling the iPad isn’t the device itself — it’s the fact that the iPad doesn’t fill any holes in the product line. There’s not much of a gap between the iPhone and the MacBook, purpose-wise.

I find myself using my iPad in two primary ways: taking notes in meetings, and reading web and email content at home. In both cases, the iPad is lighter and more accessible than my 15-inch MacBook Pro. I do most of my heavy-duty tasks at work at my desk, so if I go out to take care of something, my iPad usually goes with me, not my notebook.

Netflix has also been pretty sweet on the device.

The Future

With OS 4 coming in the fall, it’s obvious the iPad’s future is exciting. As more developers rework their apps for the device, it’s usefulness will continue to improve.

The biggest question of all when it comes to the iPad is this — can it revolutionize the computer industry? I’m not sure it can.

I think it can replace the desktop for some users who just surf, email and look at photos, the iPad is a compelling alternative.

Of course, since the iPad is dependent on iTunes, it makes it more difficult to think of it as a stand-alone machine.

For another class of users, the desktop computer cannot be replaced at this point. People who use computers to create will see their iPads as secondary devices for light tasks, note taking and media playback. That’s where I am with it. All in all, it’s a great device with lots of promise, but it’s far from being as revolutionary as the Macintosh was in 1984. No matter what Apple says.

Construction

This notebook is the sturdiest I’ve ever used. The whole thing feels like one, solid chunk of awesome. Apple’s unibody construction makes the black MacBook I was using feel like a toy. Since there aren’t any seams on the top case, the edges and corners are very slick. The PowerBooks and MacBook Pros used to have rubber gasket around the edges which could chip and bend. Nothing like that here — the whole thing is one slab of metal.

Speaking of metal, the aluminum used feels like it is of a higher grade than used on the old PowerBooks and MacBook Pros, but I can’t prove it. It’s smooth to the touch, and doesn’t keep fingerprints at all.

I have noticed that I get a squeak out of the left hinge as I open the lid sometimes. I’ll have to keep my eye on that.

The Screen

When Apple went to glossy a few years ago, I was very unhappy, but got used to it after using a MacBook for almost a year. This display keeps the good things about glossy — rich colors, nice blacks and crisp whites.

The major change between older notebooks and these new unibody machines is that the display has a sheet of glass over it — just like the iMacs — making the plastic MacBooks screen look dull. The glass does add to the reflection issue, though.

My iMac at home sits right next to a window, but I have it angled where there is no light hitting the screen directly, cutting down on glare and reflection. The reflections are far more annoying on this machine mainly because I use it so many places. However, the LCD is so bright, it overpowers most reflections. I’m typing right now on it at my desk at work, with a light right behind me, and I can’t see any reflections on the screen, but I can see my hands (rather clearly) in the black border beneath the LCD (where it says “MacBook Pro”). It’s annoying, but I’m sure with time I’ll get used to it or at least learn to ignore it.

The Trackpad

I’m a keyboard guy at heart and love shortcuts. My goal is to touch the trackpad as little as possible. That said, the new gigantic trackpad takes some getting used to, but I’m falling for it. When using the two-finger scrolling in Safari to read through a long webpage, I find myself thinking I’m going to run my fingers right off of the trackpad, but then I find myself with inches left to go. It makes any other trackpad I use now feel cramped and old.

The multi-touch also takes some getting used to. I’ve got the zooming features off, as I found myself accidentally invoking it while reading online, which got annoying. The three- and four-finger gestures are very helpful.

The Keyboard

Like I said, I’m a keyboard guy. I’ve got an Apple Extended II keyboard plugged up to my 24-inch iMac at home, and I love it more than is natural.

I found the keyboards on the iBooks, PowerBooks, MacBooks and pre-unibody MacBook Pros to be squishy. This keyboard is rock solid. Having taken several of these apart at my day job, I know why. Those older keyboard either simply sat into grooves on the top case, or were held in with a handful of screws. Not so with Apple’s unibody notebooks. They’ve used literally dozens of screws — somewhere between 40 and 50 — to keep the keyboard close to the case. The result? This keyboard doesn’t buckle or move at all when I type — no matter how fast or rough I get with it.

The thing I missed the most when I went from a circa 2007 MacBook Pro to a MacBook was the backlit keyboard. It’s now on every unibody notebook, and Apple’s done a great job with this one. Some light spills out (as always), but it’s bright and crisp against the black keys. I really don’t know why every notebook maker includes this — it makes life so much better.

The Battery

When Apple announced that they were going to enclosed batteries, I was fine with it, as long as they could get crazy good charges out of their batteries.

Well, I’m happy to report the battery life on this thing is crazy good. Of course, things like leaving Bluetooth and Wifi off when not needed, turning screen brightness down and leaving the backlit keyboard off always help with battery life, but make using the notebook a lot less useful. With my screen brightness about 3 clicks below full blast, Bluetooth off (as I don’t ever us it), the backlit keyboard off and wireless on, I’ve been getting between 5 and 6 hours of battery life. Again, I could stretch that out by making some adjustments. I really think I could squeeze between 7 and 8 hours out of this thing. It really is that good.

Right now the menu bar item is sitting at 14% remaining in this charge, with 54 minutes left to go. It simply beats the pants off of any other notebook I’ve ever used.

Ports and Other Such Goodies

Down the left side of the machine are lots of goodies, but I’d like to point out the new additions.

Firewire 800 is back on the 13-inch notebooks, and I’m relieved. I have to use Firewire for work almost every day, and a machine without it is a machine I simply can’t use.

The SD card slot works just the way it should — my SD cards show up on the desktop as USB devices. And while I haven’t messed with this yet, SD cards should be bootable, since Intel-based Macs can boot from USB devices. My one gripe is that about half the card sticks out from the machine. I wish it would go all the way in and sit flush. Maybe revision B?

The MiniDisplay port is nice in that it’s so small, but I spent another $50 on some more video adaptors this week. I have a drawer full of them — Mini-VGA, Mini-DVI, Micro-DVI (found only on the first-generation MacBook Air), DVI. It’s an army of video adaptors. I’m sure the benefits of the new standard make a difference to some users, but I just plug this in (with my new adaptor) to an LCD and move on with my day. No big deal.

The Innards

This thing is fast. While the processor speed isn’t great — I have the 2.26GHz model — the faster frontside bus, faster RAM and better integrated graphics make this machine fly. In fact, it runs the latest build of 10.6 faster on 2GB of RAM than my 2.4Ghz MacBook ran it with 4GB of RAM. I’m sure on 10.5 it’s about the same, but 10.6 takes advantage of the graphics better.

Of course, I popped in my 320GB, 7200 RPM drive. The 5400 RPM drive Apple ships with this model is slower. The additional drive speed helps with startup, long file read and writes and helps the whole thing run snappier. I’d recommend a 7200 RPM drive as worthy upgrade for almost any Mac.

I haven’t used the SuperDrive yet, but I’m assuming it works just as well as any other MacBook or MacBook Pro.

In Summary

Over the years, I’ve used a Clamshell iBook G3, a PowerBook ‘Pismo’ G3, a Titanium PowerBook, both a 12- and 15-inch aluminum PowerBook, two pre-unibody MacBook Pros and a black MacBook.

I’m confident in saying this machine smokes them all — and is finally a decent replacement for the 12-inch PowerBook. Simply put, Apple is shipping the best notebooks they’ve ever built, and you’re not going to find a better machine out there for $1,199.

Five bucks is high for a Twitter client, but Birdfeed is simply gorgeous. It fits nicely between Tweetie’s simple layout and Twitterrific’s design-heavy approach.

As a 1.0 release, Birdfeed doesn’t have all the features that other (and older) Twitter clients offer, but the app does offer some features that others don’t, such as a local cache (for offline reading), timestamps in the feed to show you when you left off, and the ability to load more tweets once you hit the bottom of the screen. The developers are saying more features are on the way, but they adhere to the “Real Artists Ship” theory crafted by Steve Jobs when working on the original Macintosh.

Scrolling is smooth, the icons are beautiful, and the typefaces are perfect. My favorite little touch is the badges that show up next to “Mentions” and “Direct Messages,” showing how many unread items are in each category. This is repeated in the menu bar, so you don’t even have to move form the timeline to see the unread count. Searches and trends are gorgeous.

There’s really not a nook or cranny of the app that isn’t polished nicely. It’s well done, all the way around.

Other Twitter apps showed up in the App Store, and enjoyed moderate success, however. Twinkle is probably the other one that comes to mind quickly. Twinkle is a solid app for the most part, but busy. The interface makes my eyes explode.

Then Tweetie came along. I tried it when it first came out, and frankly, was impressed. It offered support for multiple accounts, and acted like Twitter’s website – allowing almost complete access to see people’s profiles, followers and more. Version 1.2, released late this week, builds on the program’s early success. A refined interface includes the “swipe” feature, which allows for faster interaction with a tweet. It is the same motion used in Mail and other applications to reveal the “Delete” dialog.

From the new panel that appears, you can reply, see the user’s profile or mark the update as a favorite. To un-select the tweet, simply swipe your finger back the other way. It is that simple.

The other big updates that most impressed me was the addition of the landscape keyboard and the ability to save drafts. There is one thing that irks me about the landscape keyboard, however. Once it is turned on via Tweetie’s settings (which are in the Setting app, not within Tweetie itself), it is always on, regardless of the orientation of the iPhone (unlike in Safari, where the keyboard adjusts to how the device is oriented). Hopefully this is something that will be resolved with an update.

Tweetie also offers Twitter-wide search, an ability to see tweets posted close to your location (using the iPhone’s location services) and one very unusual feature called the “App Store Popularity EnhancEr.” The “PEE” feature is a satire – within Tweetie’s settings. Here’s Loren Brichter, Tweetie’s creator:

PEE is a collection of ever-growing technologies scientifically designed to enhance the size of that certain something… You guessed it: App Store sales!

Teams from around the globe have analyzed figures and come up with a secret formula for App Store success. I share these findings today, ABSOLUTELY FREE. Success is made up of: a FLASHLIGHT…. and DIRTY WET FART SOUNDS!!!

Tweetie is the only app that bundles together these two incredible features FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. Accept no imitations. Why buy a dedicated fart app AND a flashlight, when you can have BOTH, and get a TWITTER CLIENT along with it!!!

Even with the silliness of PEE, Tweetie has grown into a respectable Twitter client. Yes, it’s more complicated than the ever-popular Twitterific, but the two programs seem to have different goals: Tweetie is aiming to recreate twitter.com within an app, while Twitterific seems to be about putting all your info on one screen – and both meet their goals very nicely. Tweetie can be purchased in the App Store for $2.99.