Palm has completely redeemed itself from the Foleo fiasco by launching the very first phone that truly builds on what Apple started with the iPhone and takes it to the next level. Look for a ton more coverage of this device at Ars in the coming weeks and months. Palm will eventually make a WCDMA version available, so we should eventually see the pre on T-Mobile, AT&T, and/or Vodafone (outside of the US). I personally prefer Sprint's network to AT&T's, and now there's actually a phone on that network that I'd consider using. This was a great score for the company, which has reportedly been losing subscribers (myself included) to the iPhone in droves. Sprint is the exclusive launch partner for the pré, playing the AT&T to Palm's Apple. A coup for Sprint, and redemption for Palm But since the interface is completely skinnable and modifiable-from the cards to the docks-developers will have plenty to keep them busy without low-level access. It seems that Palm, at least initially, wants to keep developers at the level of web tools, so I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to get at the Linux guts of the system any time soon. We've heard rumors that this device runs Linux and uses WebKit for its CSS/HTML/Javascript implementation. It runs Linux, and it's totally skinnable I expect to see this method for handling incoming events and alerts gain widespread adoption by smartphone makers. The company's solution was to have alerts and messages show up at the bottom of the screen in a narrow area, so that there's no dialog box for a user to dismiss and no reason to stop whatever you're currently working on in order to close the notification or act on it. In addition to focusing on connecting users to their network in a way that hides which network you're using, Palm thought pretty hard about the problem of interruptions via alerts and new messages. But, in light of how compelling both the idea and the implementation seem to be (at least based on this staged demo), the annoying name is a minor issue. Palm has saddled this fantastic approach with an overused buzzword-turned-name: synergy. It's very nice, in an "I want to be able to do that right now on my iPhone" kind of way. That way, the focus is on the conversation, and not the medium (SMS, Gtalk, iChat, AIM, etc.). That chat card hosts a continuous stream of conversation that combines SMS messages and IM in a single, seamless interface and chat experience. Instead of having multiple communications apps on the phone, any of which you can use to carry on a conversation via multiple services, you just open up a single chat card with that user. It's like Palm started with the iPhone, copied all the best ideas, and then made the whole package better. As a dedicated iPhone user, I experienced something very strange and quite unexpected while watching Palm demo the new OS: my iPhone suddenly felt old and played out. Phone works with slide-out QWERTY keyboard either open or closed.Īs nice as the pré's hardware is, Palm's WebOS is where the real action is.MicroUSB connector for charging, with USB 2.0 support.Sensors: accelerometer, proximity, ambient light.3.1-inch multitouch screen with 320x480 resolution.Here's a quick feature rundown of the pré's hardware: It features a 3.1-inch multitouch screen with 320x480 resolution over a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, all squeezed into a small, 4.8-oz package. Palm also announced a new phone, the Palm pre, set for launch in the first half of 2009. Palm would have appeared to have abstracted the hardware in some manner to allow for JavaScript developers access to nearly every feature of the phone, going in a direction that some had initially pushed for Apple to pursue before the Obj-C iPhone SDK was launched. Any web developer can use CSS, HTML, and JavaScript to develop applications for the OS there are no new languages to learn. "It was built with developers in mind," said Palm CEO Ed Colligan in describing the new platform. At a CES presentation today, Palm announced its next-generation smart phone platform, called WebOS.
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