Palm to preview Nova OS and first device at CES
(Credit:
Engadget Mobile)
It's been a while since Palm has caused a stir, but the company certainly has people talking with its planned January 8 CES event. As CNET News reporter Tom Krazit reported last week, it's expected that Palm will preview its new operating system, codenamed Nova, at CES 2009, and the rumors look to be true based on new information from a Business Week article.
According to Peter Burrows at Business Week, Palm will unveil Nova and the first of a family of products in Vegas, but it's not looking to go after the iPhone or BlackBerry. Instead, Palm Executive Chairman Jon Rubenstein said the goal behind Nova is to create a flexible platform that supports a number of customer needs and to create products that bridge the gap between work-oriented BlackBerrys and the fun-oriented iPhone. Before joining Palm, Rubenstein was the senior vice president for hardware engineering at Apple.
Rubenstein and Palm executives wouldn't get much more specific about product details, other than that the team hopes to create phones that "make smarter use of data about you." The company also hopes to release products by mid-2009. I'll be at the January 8 event, so check back then for the full report and my first impressions.
Bonnie Cha is a senior editor for CNET, covering smartphones and GPS. When she's not testing the latest gadgets, you can find her chasing after her crazy lab or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California. E-mail Bonnie.
It will be good to have another option other than the iPhone or BB.
Palm has been dying by inches for years; could someone please just shoot it and put it out of its misery already?
Make one with a newer OS, slide-out keyboard, and I think you have a hit. Even with no new features, the old OS still outshines newer versions. Of course, if you haven't used a Treo 650 or similar device with a Palm OS, I don't know that you can accurately comment.
I use either my Treo 650 or my iPhone. One is a smart-phone, the other more like a thin-client. Both are nice, and no one device is likely, ever, to suit every user. Opinions are great, as are cell-phone choices.
really thanks a lot
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Flying in the face of the iPhone I instead purchased the Centro (not the greatest phone on the planet, but it used the same OS as my Zire, which meant I could transfer over my entire collection of addresses, tasks, calendar events, etc.) about 6-months ago. While the iPhone is clearly a more attractive device, an activity rich device, a modern device, etc. I couldn't afford the $30/month for Internet access (and what is the point in having the iPhone if you aren't going to go on the Internet with it?).
The Centro and its OS do everything I really need on a daily basis: texting, phone calls, calendar events, tasks, reminders, etc.
While I have my doubts that Palm will be able to find a growth niche between the iPhone and Blackberries (especially with the advent of the Android OS), I do wish them the best of luck and wish that more folks would recognize the elegance of their rather dated, but still quite effective software.
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by jCounsel
January 7, 2009 12:57 PM PST
- The issue between "new" phones (even if they aren't new), is that people have a choice. You can be a "sheep" and follow what everyone else has OR you can pick a phone that works for you. That phone may be one that simply makes calls or one that does "everything."
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(10 Comments)To each their own.
While the iPhone has reached a very broad audience, I don't know a single blackberry user who bought one on their own--without their company either requiring it or buying it for the consumer. Why would you?
I still use either the iPhone or my old Treo 650. If you haven't seen a PalmOS 650, I suggest you find someone who has one to see how similar the interface is between the iphone and the Treo. If Palm had updated the Palm OS using a non-GPL OS (BSD) earlier, we might have had a serious contender prior to the iphone.
I still like the clean interface and the large icons of the Palm OS--not to mention that nice touchscreen that never required a stylus (if you didn't want to have to use it).