First impressions: Palm Pre
Palm Pre
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)Phew! Thursday was a long, action-packed day thanks to Palm. I'm just now getting to sit down and gather my thoughts on the Palm Pre and Palm Web OS announcements, and I have to confess that I went into the press conference with some skepticism. It's no secret that Palm's been struggling to keep up with the competition and has come under heavy criticism for its lack of innovation and delays in releasing its new operating system. So can you blame me for thinking that Palm might disappoint again?
Well, I'm happy to say that I was wrong. My CNET News colleagues Ina Fried and Tom Krazit did a great job of covering the press conference and reporting on the basic specs of the Palm Pre, but I wanted to put my two cents in on what I think of the Pre and Palm Web OS and what kind of impact it will have on the market.
User interface and OS
To me, the real highlight of the Pre is the user interface and OS. The UI reminded me a little of HTC's TouchFlo interface, with the various swiping gestures and cool animated motions, but Palm certainly put a fresh take on it. It's beautiful and smooth, and just plain cool. It's pretty evident that Palm put a lot of thought into the UI, as everything seamlessly works together to give you the best user experience and making the smartphone a really useful tool in your daily life.
Synergy on the Palm Pre
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)The smartphone makes multitasking easy with the Deck of Cards feature that lets you scroll through various applications and toggle between them without having to open and close windows. It's slick, but most importantly, it's easy. I also think Synergy is a huge player, since it brings all your e-mail accounts and contact and calendar information from various sources into one place. Again, it's about simplicity and whether you're a consumer or business user, you have to love that.
Design
To facilitate all this is a best-of-breed design. First, you've got a multitouch screen that's absolutely sharp and brilliant in color with its half-VGA (320x480) resolution. Not only can you use the screen to navigate, there's a gesture area right below the display where you can use finger swipes and touches to launch menus, toolbars, applications, go back, or advance. Of course, my favorite part might be the slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. I've made it no secret that I'm a huge texter and need physical buttons, so I was more than delighted when I saw that the smartphone had a keyboard. The Pre's keyboard is similar to that of the Palm Treo Pro; the buttons are a little on the smaller side, but there is a good amount of space between them to reduce any problems.
Again, looking at the design of the phone, I could tell time and thought was spent on the device. The hardware feels solid and not as plasticky as the Palm Centro. When you slide open the Pre, it has a slight curve that makes it comfortable to hold against your cheek when talking on the phone or even when typing out messages. Also, going back to the touch screen, it felt responsive and--hooray!--on Web pages, you can pinch the screen like the iPhone to easily zoom in and out of pages.
Web
Pre's Web browser
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)Speaking of the Web, the Pre's browser is pretty outstanding. It renders sites onscreen as you would see on your desktop, and quickly at that. When asked about Flash, Palm said they were not commenting on that at this point. We do know that there will be an app store, and Palm will release an SDK to developers. The company reiterated throughout the press conference that the Palm Web OS was built with developers in mind and based on HTML, CSS, and Javascript, so that's all one really needs to know to develop apps for the Pre and other Web OS devices.
Multimedia
As far as multimedia, the Palm Pre offers a 3-megapixel camera. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to snap any photos, but early reports say that the quality is pretty good. Disappointingly, the camera won't have video recording capabilities at this time, but those could be added in the future. In terms of music, like the T-Mobile G1, Palm has partnered with the Amazon Music Store, so you will be able to purchase songs over the air from your Pre.
The rest
The Palm Pre offers so much that I could write on it forever, but I'll save some for when we actually get the unit in review. (By the way, I'm not sure when that will be, but I don't expect it to be anytime soon. I know. I'm sad, too.) Just to cover some quick specs: the Pre offers integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 (with support for stereo Bluetooth), EV-DO Rev. A, and GPS. There's 8GB of storage, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and high-speed USB 2.0.
Outlook
The Palm Pre and Palm Web OS isn't necessarily going to revolutionize the smartphone market, in that it doesn't offer any crazy, new features, but it definitely brings a fresh look into the way you interact with a device and how it organizes information. It also brings innovation and life back to the struggling company and has certainly set the tech world abuzz. Palm's undeniably taken a beating from the media and general public, so it's good to see the company respond and take action.
As much as the Pre is important to Palm, the smartphone will also be a key player for Sprint. It needs an iconic phone to compete with the likes o AT&T and the iPhone and Verizon Wireless and the BlackBerry Storm, and Pre could certainly be the one to do this for Sprint. Pricing will be key of course, but I suspect the Pre will be priced competitively with the iPhone and Storm. I also think its chances of overtaking the Storm are pretty high. It offers a better user experience and has more consumer appeal. There are still some unanswered questions about everything that will be offered with the Pre; in my opinion, and I know these words are thrown around a lot, but I think the Palm Pre could truly be the stiffest competition for the iPhone.
Palm took a bit of a gamble announcing the product early at CES 2009 and not closer to its release date, which is expected some time during the first half of 2009. Both Palm and Sprint will have to be careful to deliver on their promise and not delay the phone. (You can pre-register for Palm Pre at Sprint's Web site.) Still, the Palm Pre and Web OS has certainly gotten everyone excited and I can't wait to get some quality hands-on time with the final product. You can check out of Palm Pre photo gallery and of course, we'll update you as we get more information, but for now, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Palm Pre and OS.
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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.
the OS looks amazing though !
good move to stay away from Window mobile
I hope HTC does the same
1. Its short and easy to remember.
2. The meaning I think is like "Pre" before all the stuff they've done in the past years. What the rest should have been. Kind of a new start for the company.
Thats what I got out of the name anyway.
Any info on if it has real Standalone GPS (works universally) like the GSM Palm Pro and Sprint HTC Pro, or the crippled one that has a forced dependency on Sprint like on the older Treo 800w (which works only with Sprint signal)? Not talking here about the client programs, as some clients are tied to networks and some not -- but the actual device ability to get the satellites itself with no assistance from the carrier and transfer that data to clients (from the rudimentary to top quality like Garmin/TomTom).
So if I am traveling to Brussles or in very rural areas of the US, an HTC Touch Pro sold by a US carrier like Sprint will work excellently for GPS. (and Wifi lets me do a million things overseas with my CDMA smart phone even when traveling anywhere).
Will GPS work like other new US based handsets universally, or will fail many places like the Palm 800w because it is tied by Sprint to the US carriers reception area?
Also what type if memory slot does it have. I see no specs!
There is no memory slot.
Everyone loves this phone, and I think it shows a lot of potential, but we need to wait and see how it works in paying consumer's hands. Also, remember without a strong developer base and good applications, this phone won't really go anywhere.
My dirtiest little secret in the world of tech is that I've secretly been rooting for Palm. In college, they were the company being my first and only PDA (its been so many years, I can't recall the model...but it was the lowest of the line and i bought it at a garage sale). That little device was spectacular. Its been an unfortunate run for them since that era (late 90's), but I'm glad to see wind back in their sails.
Unfortunately, the keyboard on this phone dismays me. They look like to the keys on the other Sprint/Palm Smartphone (model # eludes me at the moment). No kidding, typing on that phone is actually painful (literally hurts my finger tips). The keys sit high and are very small and stiff (an exaggerated description would be needle points).
Other than that, I'm a hopeful that this product is a winner.
Now, the downside. Carrier: Sprint.
Sprint is a dead company that lost their cool a long, long time ago and never got it back. Their latest effort didn't deliver (the iPhone knockoff) and stands as a tribute to how out-of-touch the money-grubbing fat bast*rds on the top floor of that company are. Sprint's supposed "overhaul" has been purely cosmetic, a claim justified by lots of talk, bad phones, expensive plans, and limited "Unlimited". It is truly unfortunate that Palm has stayed with them (remember how the unpopular kids hung out together in high school? I was one of them...). A phone of this quality should belong to a lineup with a more reputable service company.
Now that I think about it, to buy into this phone is to buy into Sprint....and NOTHING is worth doing that. I'm officially of the opinion that Palm hit a home run just foul.
danielszabo you say all these things about Sprint but what other phone company is good? You say their plans are expensive and limited unlimited, but their more unlimited than AT&T and Verizon...even Tmobile. AT&T you get their unlimited plan and thats just for voice, you still have to pay extra if you want messaging, and internet, same with Verizon. Sprint has the best plans out right now. AT&T got the iphone, and which gets more talk than the Storm or the G1, now its Sprints turn with the Pre. I think the Pre will be good for Sprint, this could be a big jump in subscriptions for them. Just like people went to AT&T for the iPhone (even though their service is horrible) people will go to Sprint for the Pre and may even dump their iPhone for the Pre.
But they seem to have the best plans (I know there's nothing out there better than my SERO plan).
To make a statement like that shows your ignorance. At&t, Verizon, are not by far "a more reputable service company"... On the east coast sprint pcs has far better reception than at&t, and verizon. On top of that these companies will do "pay" a company like apple to attract customers to a carrier with poor reception and lots of dropped calls. Second to charge almost $50 (after taxes) for unlimited data when you are already paying $100 for unlimited calls is ridiculous. The only thing sprint in my view has made a mistake was merging or taking over nextel... But whats done is done. $99 "simply everything" is very smart and shows you how big wigs (companies), can pretty much charge anything, and make up some lame rule as to why it has to charge an enormous amount. Justified, no.... $99 is a little to high but it's better than the alternative.
Other carriers must have truly remarkable service if Sprint's service is so obviously the worst that to suggest otherwise is a apparently a moronic statement.
In your other statement, you sound kind of young when you state you got bored with your iPhone (or any phone for that matter). In the end, a phone is a tool. Assess your needs, do your research and then pick the best tool to meet your needs. Seems like you don't do anything other than play on your phone.
it is very easy to get bored of your cell phone. there is nothing wrong with proclaiming that fact. cell phones are expected to be entertainment hubs now...not just communication tools..if that wasn't the case..camera's would have never been introduced, neither would have live television or live sport feeds..
"the times they are a changing "
(It's required for GPS on cellphones on sprint at least, btw.)
basically you can install a good gps software like tomtom, garmin etc... and it will only use the gps chip on the phone not the data connection....in other words you don't need internet in your phone at all.
I have an old palm treo 700wx from sprint with an external gps and I have tomtom8 on it, and I am using the phone as a navigation device and the phone is not even connected to sprint LOL
Well Jasctt - actually Apple DID make the Pre. It was a team of former Apple staff like Jon Rubinstein (original engineer and co-developer of the iPod) who made the Pre what it is. Check it out:
http://cultofmac.com/former-apple-staffers-make-palm-pre-a-contender/6816
It's still not an iPhone killer. Adolescents have become self-made millionaires writing applications for the app store. It's not only iPhones they're writing for, but iPods as well.
Palm, RIM and Elmer Fudd can do whatever they want, but it's much to late to attempt to win back the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of the tens of millions of people worldwide who love their iPhones.
This race was over very quickly.
No one has answered the question, does this sync with Mac or has Palm given up on the growing number of Mac users??....could be a fatal flaw.
I waited until December for Palm to release something ..... and then I finally was able to transfer my data into an IPhone - thanks to a very skilled AT & T employee at a retail store spending 4 hours to configure. The IPhone is here to stay and shame on Palm for their arrogance....I cannot envision ever going back to Palm, even if they will stoop to sync with Mac!
The only dealbreaker for me with this phone is if Sprint will force that ridiculous unlimited plan down everyones' throats. If not i will get it, but with this new beautiful OS. I think android has to step up, so ill be interested to see what Sprint gets on android, and what android does.
at&t -
it may be thriving at this point in time but lets not forget that prior to the cingular aquisition, at&t was practically dead as a wireless company. It has also taken a lot of heat from the media regarding its spotty coverage, especially its 3G network. Let's also not forget that it took apple's iphone to put at&t back on the map.
t-mobile -
remember that this company is still number 4 in the US and although it was the first to recieve an android phone, the G1 has not exactly put t-mobile in a better spot. T-mobile is still number 4 and will continue to be until it finds a way to really entice people to make the switch.
verizon -
yes verizon is number 1 in the US customer base, however it continues to have its own set of problems. First off its network is aging and needs a drastic revamp to continue to compete with the global GSM standard. Second of all its phones are completely locked down with the horrible verizon UI, and although the company plans to "open up", it needs to get on the ball with that. Third, lets not forget the recent alltel aquisition which put them at number 1!
sprint -
the worst thing sprint could have done is purchase nextel, which it will be regretting for many years to come. This has truly hurt a company that is in the worst financial shape of all 4 carriers. This brings me to my point (finally!!)... Sprint needs to be infused with a major hardware manufacturer. They need a phone that will compete with everything thats out there and so far they have not found one. Instinct didn't do this and with Palm being on the road to recovery as well, they seem like a good pair. Sprint knows that this is a large gamble, but it is their best chance of staying in the game as a key player. The Pre is a phenominal looking phone with a fantastic new UI from what I have seen. So I say to Sprint and Palm, dont blow it with delays or a half @$$ version of the phone when it launches. This phone may be your only hope to stay relevant in this industry!
I am a long long time treo user and slightly before being a treo user a palm OS user. I was beginning to lose faith in the OS I had faithfully preached had beaten Microsoft, as palm's focus and treo line headed towards win OS.
WITH THE PALM PRE MY FAITH IS NOW RESTORED.
I just recently told my friends of mine who were saying Palm inc. was a thing of the past that I wanted a phone with a iphone/itouch size touch screen, slide away keyboard and Palm OS. I told them these three features would make me happy. I would have said any one of the following features in addition to my three requirements would make it a great phone:
1. Integrated GPS
2. GBs of memory (as opposed to MBs)
3. A revamped palm/phone OS with real improvements (in the palm pre this turned out to be palm webOS with: synergry, a "super search" and multiple windows at a finger flick)
[4.] Integrated push email system - (I consider this the only thing blackberries have over treo but this is already possible with chatter on the treo but the integration without having to buy software is nice)
The PALM PRE has the large touch screen, physical keyboard and palm OS in addition to all 4 of these super additions. It even sounds like it won't break the bank which is amazing considering there is not a single thing more I could ask for in this phone! Maybe I would style it a bit differently lol, but at least the look still tops the treo 300's clear plastic flip cover ear piece that I got made fun of for in HS because it was possible to see the callers ear through the phone. [Not to mention the duck tape I used to hold the thing together when it would break]
PALM IS BACK!
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by coheeed2113
January 10, 2009 11:33 AM PST
- i thought this was gonna be a huge flop.looks like i was wrong.
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