I have to admit that the touchstone charger was one of the top 5 reasons why I switched to the Palm Pre from the iPhone 3G. The touchstone charger has truly revolutionized the way we charge our phones. Before it was all about finding the end of your charging cable then manipulating it in such that it weasels its way into an overly complicated connector on your phone. Now it is so easy to charge, simply place your phone on the touchstone. I wanted to do a quick review of the touchstone. There are some tips and tricks and some features that you may not know about. This article is a good place to learn everything about the charger.

The touchstone charger kit comes with a touchstone and a back cover that is compatible with the touchstone. That is all that comes in the kit. There is no micro-usb cable and no ac adapter that is compatible with the touchstone. The idea was that the ac adapter and micro-usb cord that came with your Pre will be used with the touchstone. Well this was a bad idea because almost everybody will be purchasing more than one touchstone (home and work) which leaves you needing an additional micro-usb cable and compatible ac adapter. And to make thing worse you cannot use any ac adapter or micro-usb cable with the touchstone. It is only compatible with ac chargers that put out 1000mA and has a certain pin configuration, and micro-usb cables that have extremely small and streamlined ends so that it can fit into the tiny hole in the back of the touchstone. Therefore, you will need another Palm ac adapter and micro-usb cable. However, i was able to find a way to obtain the Palm ac adapter and micro-usb cable for free. Skip to the last paragraph if you would like to know how. There are some ac adapters on the web that have been found to work but they are very hard to find, and you could buy any micro-usb cable and file down the end of it with a dremel or something.

Now that we are done with the logistics, lets talk about the touchstones features. It has a very sticky bottom that literally sticks (and sticks hard I might add) to flat surfaces. To remove the touchstone you need to twist and lift up. It can be reused as many times as you need it on different surfaces but if the bottom starts to collect too much dust it can loose its stickiness. If that happens then you need to wash the bottom wish soapy water and let it dry. You will be restored to full stickiness. The reason that the touchstone has a sticky bottom is because the magnets holding down your Pre to the touchstone are very strong. In fact many people use the touchstone in their cars with no problem at all. The Pre stays put even while making sharp turns.

The touchstone back cover that comes in the touchstone kit is a new back for your Pre. It has magnets and induction coils built into it. It is a nice rubbery/plastic feel like that is like a matte finish unlike the standard Pre back that is a slick and polished finish. I like the touchstone back much better than the standard back. It is easier to grip and there are no finger prints.

Now that you have your touchstone stuck to your table and the touchstone back installed on your pre, what happens? Well when you set you pre on the touchstone you get the “ba-bing” sound and it says charging. Then the Pre turns into basically a night clock. The Pre is dimly lit and has the time and notifications on it. It can be displayed vertically or landscape depending on how you set the Pre on the touchstone. A lot of people are annoyed by this feature because when you are trying to sleep it can be slightly distracting. I have had no problems with it and i sleep right next to my Palm. Still, Palm should offer the ability to turn this feature off.

When your Pre is on the touchstone wifi stays on and the Pre wont go to sleep if you have it on (if you manually make it sleep it reverts to the “night clock” mode. It is extremely easy to place the Pre properly on the touchstone. It is also a very fast process placing and removing the Pre. If you receive a phone call while on the touchstone be careful because if you pick it up off the touchstone you just answered that phone call. It is supposed to emulate a standard phone where if you pick it up off the hook you answer the phone. The touchstone charges very fast. It is almost as fast as simply using the standard ac adapter. The touchstone also enters a low power state when the Pre becomes fully charged.
The touchstone is incredible and I have one at home and at work. It has made charging the phone almost fun. I prefer to use the touchstone instead of leaving the Pre in my holster because it sits on my desk where I can see notification when they pop up. I highly recommend the touchstone but make sure you know what you need before you place and order. First you will need the touchstone charger kit which can be purchased below. Then if you want a second you will need to purchase a touchstone by itself which can also be purchased below. Finlay you will need to obtain another Palm ac adapter and micro-usb cord. This can be achieved by using the purchase link below or using the FREE method at the bottom of the page. The touchstone definitely gets the L337Tech stamp of approval.

HOW TO OBTAIN A FREE PALM AC ADAPTER AND MICRO-USB:
This has worked several times for me (Me and my women have lots of touchstones). First go to google maps and input your area code. Once the map zooms in on your area type “sprint wireless”. Look for a result that says “Sprint Store”. This is a corporate sprint store. The other results will just say “Sprint” or “Sprint PCS” etc. Those are little stores that do not have what we need. Second, drive your vehicle to the store and talk to a representative. Say, “I have two touchstones but I only have one Palm ac adapter and one Palm micro-usb cable that came with my Pre. Can I get another Palm ac adapter and micro-usb cable since that is the only thing that will work with the touchstone.” The rep will then try and sell you the aftermarket crap in the store. Reply with, “those do not work with the touchstone, the touchstone website specifically says it has to use the Palm ac adapter and micro-usb cable.” He will then say well we do not sell those in the store. Reply with, “well can I get on from the back that y’all use for testing and stuff.” He will then go to the back grab the goods then give it to you for free. Sprint is trying really hard to keep everybody happy with the Pre and they are aware that the touchstone does not come with the proper ac adapter and micro-usb cable. They will give you the stuff for free and smile the entire time. Like I said I did this several times for all my touchstones. Have fun with your new charger.