Cell Phone | Product Reviews by The Experimental Mommy

Verizon Palm Pre Plus: Mommy’s Mission Control!

With two kids, a husband, full time job, and a blog to run, I often feel like I am meeting myself coming and going! How do I keep my sanity?? Scheduling, planning, scheduling, planning and planning some more. Anyone that knows me well can tell you that I live by my daily calendar and tend to be an obsessive list maker (oh yes, I even color code my lists!). I just love feeling of satisfaction when I gleefully cross the next item off my to-do list!

As Lily gets older and has activities of her own, as the blog continues to grow, and as my life becomes more hectic, I have found the need for even more calendars and lists. It is starting to get to the point where my calendars need calendars and I can’t help but think that there just has to be a better way to organize it all!

As you know by now, I am fortunate enough to be a Verizon Palm Pre Plus Mommy Blogger. In my first two posts, I introduced you to some of the features including the camera on the Palm Pre Plus. As I explore and learn more about the phone, I found that it can help me organize my life (now if it could only do my dishes, too!). The Palm Pre Plus can sync ALL of my calendars into one convenient view so appointments and reminders can seen at a glance.

As a review blogger, I have to stay organized and have found Google Calendar to be very useful to track shipments, schedule posting dates and keep track of contest ending dates (all color coded of course). Without even telling the Palm Pre what to do, my Google Calendars appeared on my phone as if by way of magic! Love it! I can now tell instantly which reviews are scheduled on any given day and which contests need to be closed and pulled. The Palm Pre even allows you to set an alarm to remind you of certain events (a feature that was most helpful while both my daughter and I were on antibiotics).

Another great feature is the Memo Pad which allows me to quickly jot down ideas for fabulous blog posts or just remind me that we need more milk. And bread. The memos even look like cute little Post-It notes on a bulletin board!

The calendar feature of the Verizon Palm Pre Plus has certainly passed the test of this list-making Mom! Syncing, updating, scheduling and editing were extremely easy to use and did not require a learning curve. The touch screen makes navigating the calendar a cinch and helps this Mom stay sane while on the go!

Next time, I plan to talk all about surfing the Internet from the Palm Pre! Don’t miss it!

This product review is the opinion of the Experimental Mommy. Others may have a different experience. Verizon Wireless supplied me with the Palm Pre Plus and one month of service for review, but all opinions are 100% mine

Meeting the Verizon Palm Pre Plus (Part 1)

When I was in college, my Mom and Dad bought me what I now affectionately call “The Bag-o-Phone.” This thing was enormous, plugged into my car and was to be used ONLY in case of emergencies. It was a few years later that I actually bought a cell phone that didn’t have to be plugged in! Man, what a long way technology has come!

Sometime last year, I decided to take another leap and join the trend of receiving emails on my phone and being able to surf the Net on the go. I currently own a Verizon Blackberry Curve which, I will admit, is addictive. However, after seeing my friends easily surf the Web with their touch phones, I started to wonder if that type of phone would better suit my lifestyle. Reluctant to take the leap and abandon my Blackberry, I resisted….until now!

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a Verizon Palm Pre Plus Mommy Blogger and have been given the opportunity to test out the touch phone and put it through the paces of a working Mom on the go! Through March 31st, I will but the Verizon Palm Pre Plus through the obstacle course that is my life and report to you the results in a series of eight posts.

A few days ago, I purchased the phone with gift cards sent to me by Verizon. The employees at Verizon were helpful in giving me a basic tutorial on the phone as well as setting up my email accounts and importing my contacts. In just under 30 minutes, I was set loose with my new toy.

It’s all about first impressions, isn’t it? When I got home, I sat down with both the Verizon Palm Pre Plus and my old Blackberry and made a few comparisons:

I like the look of the Palm Pre Plus. It has a very modern, sleek and compact design. The dimensions are smaller than the Blackberry but has a larger display screen making web pages easier to navigate. I find that the graphics and crispness of the images are also better on the Palm. The weight feels nearly the same, or at least I cannot tell much of a difference. However, I am finding it a bit harder to type on the keyboard of the Palm Pre Plus, but it may just be a learning curve.

I’m going to take a few more days to learn the workings of the Palm and all of the “gestures” necessary to navigate through it’s features. Stay tuned for my next post!