Palm's new touch Phone

Rico · January 09, 2009, 04:53:46 AM

This looks to be pretty nice. Very good feature set, an actual keyboard, GPS with turn-by-turn directions, Wi-Fi, and easier to develop apps for than the iPhone.

Here's the press info:

Palm was under serious pressure to hit a home run at CES today—and boy, did it deliver. Running Palm's gorgeous (if belated) new platform, dubbed WebOS, the touchscreen Pre could well be Palm's savior, and perhaps its biggest hit.
So, as for the Pre itself (due on Sprint in the first half of this year, no pricing yet): It's got a big, 3.1-inch 480 by 320 touch display (yes, with multitouch and an accelerometer), weighs in at 4.8 ounces, and comes with a curved, slide-out keypad. Yes, it does Wi-Fi and 3G (EV-DO Rev. A, to be exact), as well as GPS (with turn-by-turn directions courtesy of TeleNav), stereo Bluetooth, 8GB of internal storage, a 3MP camera, a 3.5mm headset jack, and a removable battery.

But the key to the Pre is its OS, and WebOS—previously code-named "Nova"—is one of the hottest mobile platforms I've seen yet, rivaling both Android and Apple's iPhone OS.

At a glance, WebOS doesn't look all that different from the icon-driven, touch-based Android and iPhone platforms; you've got your main, wallpapered home screen, complete with a row of icons along the bottom for your standard e-mail, calendar, and calling features.

But Palm's done a few key things differently here, starting with the "gesture" area at the bottom or side of the screen (if you're, say, surfing the Web in landscape mode). For example, if you're browsing an individual contact in the Pre's address book, you can flick horizontally in the gesture area to go back to the contact list, or you can flick up for a translucent window shade of applications. Nice.

More importantly, though, is WebOS's way of letting you handle and sort all your open applications like a deck of cards. If you're composing an e-mail, for example, you can flick up, call open a new application, and then return to your e-mail at any point. All open applications appear as windows (similar to the windows in the iPhone's Web browser), and you can flick back and forth, reorder them, and discard them at will.

That's really cool, and it solves one of the biggest problems that's dogged the iPhone—namely, that its various applications are all walled off, making it difficult to easily switch from, say, the Web browser to the calendar and back again.

WebOS also introduces a concept dubbed "Synergy," which all applications can continuously get info from the Web. The best example: WebOS's unified contact list, which seamlessly displays all your contacts and grab their e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and IM handles from Facebook, Gmail, Exchange, you name it.

I'm also happy with Palm's integrated messaging interface, which combines IM and text chats into a single, threaded conversation.

And then there's the WebOS "Dashboard": a flexible space at the bottom of the screen for calling, messaging, and appointment alerts. As you're working in other applications, you might see the first line of a text message or IM, or the Dashboard might open a bit bigger for a calendar alert, complete with "dismiss" and "snooze" options. When alerts appear, you're free to keep working in your open application, or you can go ahead and open the alert—and if you want to answer an IM, you can swipe to that "card" in WebOS, and then return to your previous application card. Great stuff.

A few other interesting notes: When you're sitting at the Pre's main screen, you can just start typing on the QWERTY keypad to call up a universal search menu; you'll instantly see any matching contacts, or you can quickly jump to Web results from Google, Google Maps, and Wikipedia.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention "Touchstone," a little hockey puck of an accessory with a killer feature—wireless charging. Just place the Pre on top of the Touchstone device to power it up. Awesome.

source:
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/32611

billybob476 · January 09, 2009, 05:37:32 AM

This looks like a cool phone. The issue that ANY new smart phone platform is what I have taken to calling the Warcraft effect.

Like World of Warcraft in the MMO space, the iPhone is established and fairly heavily entrenched at this point. The iPhone has a huge and enthusiastic developer community behind it. Any new phone will have to fight that established base. In my mind Palm has a bit of a bad reputation related to being a bit behind the times. They have that working against them as well.

Rico · January 09, 2009, 06:02:58 AM

Yeah - I agree a little. However, there are still A LOT of phones out there. While the iPhone has done well, there is a huge percentage that haven't jumped in (especially corporations that issue phones out to employee's - like me). I really do think this phone and the Google Android are going to provide serious competition to the iPhone over the next few years.

X · January 09, 2009, 06:09:49 AM

Wi Fi and 3g? That's interesting!

Feathers · January 09, 2009, 06:17:56 AM

With this one, one of the key issues is going to be application compatibility with all the old Garnet apps. If they've managed to achieve that then they've got a head start on the competition and a ready made migration path for all old PalmOS users.

Now I doubt they've managed that so as second best they really do need to make sure it is easy to develop for. The PalmOS developer base is huge and if porting in some way shape or form is possible then, again, they're ahead of the game.

If they're starting from scratch again, then they've got an up-hill battle on the App front.

The one front where Palm could steal a march is multitasking. PalmOS never offered this which is why it lost some ground to Windows Mobile (in my view). iPhone positively doesn't multitask (and sells it as a feature). With the capability in the new WebOS, if it's done well and the interface retains some of the original PalmOS simplicity then it beats both WM and iPhone (don't know about Android). It will be interesting to watch...but, of course, its US release only at the minute.

billybob476 · January 09, 2009, 06:18:47 AM

Quote from: Rico on January 09, 2009, 06:02:58 AM
Yeah - I agree a little. However, there are still A LOT of phones out there. While the iPhone has done well, there is a huge percentage that haven't jumped in (especially corporations that issue phones out to employee's - like me). I really do think this phone and the Google Android are going to provide serious competition to the iPhone over the next few years.

Yeah, they have to fight the Blackberry in the corporation. Equally entrenched.

batmite · January 09, 2009, 06:28:06 AM

Folks seem to be excited about this phone. I might have to seriously take a look at it.

Rico · January 09, 2009, 07:35:34 AM

Now on the front page of Yahoo too!

Java The Hut · January 09, 2009, 08:36:10 PM

this thing looks way cool, check out some videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiQzCd2OnoM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRnlzbuLRwM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x67fpIFjtdk

wraith1701 · January 10, 2009, 02:58:38 AM

This thing looks cool, but I'm still very behind the iPhone. Many of the features this thing has are already available with the iPhone (which also has 16GB storage vs. the Palm's 8GB). And one iPhone feature that is VERY handy is the built-in Airplane Mode, which lets you deactivate the wireless/cell phone features and still use it as an iPod. Comes in handy on long flights. :)

I have to admit though, the camera beats my iPhone's, and the slide out keyboard seems pretty sharp. On the plus side, it might be a little easier to use than the iPhone's touch screen. On the downside, more moving pieces = more chance of mechanical glitches (i.e., dust or crud stuck under the keys).

I'd really like to see some reviews once this thing is released. :)

jedijeff · January 10, 2009, 09:09:31 AM

That is a pretty cool phone. After watching the videos, I am more impressed. I do agree Palm has some work to build their brand name back, but this phone might help. I like some of the intuitive things it includes, such as going to speaker phone well charging. The charging puck looks like a cool idea as well. I am thinking later in the year, I might get a smart phone, so will have to consider this one at that time.

wraith1701 · January 10, 2009, 10:31:12 AM

The Palm Pre really is a beautiful thing. As much as I love my iPhone, this thing is giving me a roving eye. I hope this spurs Apple to put together an upgraded version of the iPhone-- perhaps the next generation could include an improved camera (with flash) and an optional qwerty keyboard as well. Otherwise, they might see some folks jump ship once contracts start running out...

moyer777 · January 10, 2009, 10:53:28 AM

wow, that does look nice. I have the Palm Treo and it is ancient in comparison. hmmmmm.

Dangelus · January 10, 2009, 11:20:33 AM

Hmmm am I the only one not in awe of this? Looks nice software and feature wise but I'm not liking the design much. I don't have an iphone because I don't want to be forced into a specific carrier and the cost is ridiculous at the moment but I have an ipod touch which I absolutely LOVE. I love the sleek design. A real keyboard isn't an issue for me, the touch's virtual one is brilliant and I can type pretty fast on it. In fact, a lot of my posts here are done on my touch.

It is good that more 'iphone killer' phones are coming onto the market though as it may force Apple to drop the price of the iphone and open it up to more providers. I could get one myself then! ;)

Rico · January 10, 2009, 11:28:05 AM

I don't find the design that different from the iPhone. Touch screen is about the same and the keyboard is underneath. I'm just happy to see more competition and choices.