The Palm Pre Plus ($ 150 with a two-year contract from Verizon; price as of 1 20 10) is actually more of an update of the original Pre on Sprint as a completely new product. Even so, the subtle tweaks hardware with fast network of Verizon, together it makes an overall improvement over its predecessor. Some features remain, but with the keyboard design and the inertia of the software.

Because there are so few significant differences between the Pre Plus and the original Pre in hardware and software, I have concentrated mainly on the updates and new features in the Plus. For a closer look at their WebOS and most of its hardware specifications can be found on our thorough review of the original Palm Pre – the two models are similar. Refined Hardware

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Right off the bat, you’ll notice a small difference between the Pre Plus and the first Palm Pre: The single hardware button that was on the latter was removed. Palm says that this design choice is mostly a question of aesthetics – always on the button eliminates another moving part, creating a sleeker profile. As the Pixi Pixi and Plus, the Pre-Plus has a capacitive touch the area below the screen with a light-up bar. Thus, a smaller apartment on map size, you simply enter this area (on the original Pre, you would press the button).

According to Palm, the Pre-Plus keyboard for a better user-friendliness has been improved. In my side-by-side comparison between Sprint and the Palm Pre Pre Plus, I noticed that the keyboard plus a bit more action was taken. The slider mechanism feels a lot safer as well. The original pre-keyboard felt a bit shaky and uncertain, the Pre-Plus keyboard slides in with a nice breeze.

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Even with these improvements, some of the problems I experienced remained with the original on the Pre Plus: I had my nails to type on the small keys, and I made a few mistakes in long messages. I wish Palm had reviewed the slide-out design, as well. The bezel sharp lip on the sides and bottom sometimes bothers typing. In addition, the top line is a few millimeters too close to the edge of the screen slider, so you have to press your fingers on the keyboard angle.

Another small change: the option and number keys are now gray (instead of bright orange on the original pre-keyboard). I am sure to change the color had something to do with Verizon branding of the device, but I prefer the orange color, as they are the key longer makes.

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Perhaps the best update for the hardware is the doubling of internal memory: The Pre Plus has 16 GB of internal memory, versus 8GB on the original Pre. With the opening of the Palm WebOS SDK and adding 3D graphics into the mix, we are sure to see an increase in the Apps in the App Catalog WebOS, so more space is required. The music player WebOS is great, but the potential for both a first pre portable media player and a smartphone (like the iPhone) has been undercut by its limited storage.