WHERE for Palm Pre: Local Search Done Right

WHERE for the Pre is the only local search application you'll ever need. The app uses your Pre's internal GPS to detect your location and then delivers a wide variety of local search results.

WHERE for Palm Pre Screen Shots

For example, you can employ WHERE to find nearby movies and movie times. You can quickly query business listings via a built-in YellowPages.com widget. Detailed weather reports for single days and extended forecasts are available. A Starbucks section helps ensure you're never without a latte when in need. Local traffic can be found in the Traffic section. And the Yelp.com integration means you can instantly read reviews from Yelp.

The app has a fairly detailed News section, where you can pick from U.S. news, entertainment, sports, technology, odd and local happenings and query Microsoft's new Bing search engine.

You can also communicate with other WHERE users a la Twitter-style status updates on the "WHERE Wall," though you have to create a separate account to do so.

To find the app, search the Palm Pre App Catalog for "Where."

Speed Brain for Pre:

The Palm Pre doesn't ship with any games, but thankfully, App Catalog already has a few third-party options listed. One that caught my eye is Speed Brain, which is a very basic matching game that claims to "provide a mental workout that will help you quickly understand information and react to it."

Speed Brain for Palm Pre Screen Shots

I'm not so sure of the validity of that statement, but Speed Brain is fun. The concept is simple: The game shows you a shape on the main screen, when you're ready to start, you tap the screen and another similar or identical shape appears. If the shape is the same, you click the Match button. If not, you tap No Match. The object of the game is get more and more correct answers in the 45 seconds you're allotted.

The game keeps track of your high scores and even gives you a "percentile" rating so you can see where you stack up against other players. And after time, Speed Brain creates a "Brain Profile" that lets you track your progress and compare performance and check percentile data.