The Palm Pre (announced at this year's CES) looks like
it will take Palm back to it's PDA heritage. The big questions are:
Will it compete with the iPhone and will it save Palm?
>> See
our Palm Pre photo gallery
Features:
Better than iPhone? - The hardware definately gets a
thumbs up due to the inclusion of a removable battery and a nice 3
mega-pixel camera. As for software, we like the IM and MMS features
and the copy and paste is obviously handy.
Developer API - All applications are written using CSS,
HTML5 and JS while APIs can access a variety of services. The
applications are 'browser based' on WebOS.
Limitations:
It's difficult to see games being developed as well as the
iPhone due to the developer tools.
Palm Pre features include the following (Information
from the Palm website):
- High-speed connectivity (EVDO Rev. A or UMTS HSDPA)
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g(6)
- Integrated GPS(7)
- Large 3.1-inch touch screen with a vibrant 24-bit color 320x480
resolution HVGA display
- Gesture area, which enables simple, intuitive gestures for
navigation
- Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
- Email, including Outlook EAS (for access to corporate Microsoft
Exchange servers), as well as personal email support (POP3,
IMAP)
- Robust messaging support (IM, SMS and MMS capabilities)(4)
- High-performance, desktop-class web browser
- Great multimedia experience and performance (pictures, video
playback, music), featuring a 3-megapixel camera with LED flash and
extended depth of field, and a standard 3.5mm headset jack
- Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
- 8GB of internal user storage (~7.4GB user available)
- USB mass storage mode
- MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
- Proximity sensor, which automatically disables the touch screen
and turns off the display whenever you put the phone up to your
ear
- Light sensor, which dims the display if the ambient light is
dark, such as at night or in a movie theater, to reduce power
usage
- Accelerometer, which automatically orients web pages and photos
to your perspective
- Ringer switch, which easily silences the device with one
touch
- Removable, rechargeable battery
- Dimensions: 59.57mm (W) x 100.53mm (L, closed) x 16.95mm (D)
[2.35 inches (W) x 3.96 inches (L, closed) x 0.67 inches (D)]
- Weight: ~135 grams [4.76 ounces]
An array of compelling accessories also will be available for
Pre, including the first inductive charging solution for phones
(sold separately). Simply set Pre down on top of the elegantly
designed Palm Touchstone™ charging dock without worrying about
connection, orientation or fit. Pre is active while charging, so
you can access the touch screen, watch movies or video, or use the
speakerphone.