Ooo ... Shiny
It’s just so pretty. The up-and-coming Palm Pre, the first phone from Palm to feature their new webOS operating system, has become the object of my obsession.
It’s more than just the looks, however, this new phone has a lot going for it. With a big, multi-touch screen, a full web browser with page zooming, accelerometers for spacial awareness, and a slide out full qwerty keyboard the Pre is a serious contender to take on the iPhone. The best thing of all, for me at least, is that it’s not an iPhone. I give credit where credit is due and there is no arguing that the iPhone is amazing and has really stimulated the smart phone market, the Pre being a prime example, I just can’t bring my self to give Apple money.
But enough of all of that, lets get into some details here.
Feature Summary
I’ve already given a sample of what the Pre has to offer but in addition to that Palm has included a proximity sensor and ambient light detector to round out the spacial awareness set. Though possibly not available at launch, Adobe has announced that Flash will appear on the webOS platform and it’s developers are working closely with Palm to deliver the best experience possible. Other features include GPS, WiFi (using 802.11g), stereo Bluetooth, a 3.0 megapixel camera with LED flash and a host of standard phone options.
One very nice new feature of the Pre is what Palm calls “synergy”. I hate the name but what it does is a great idea. With “synergy” your e-mail, calendars, contacts and messages are all kept in one place on your Pre. Now I know you may think that a lot of phones allow you to have multiple e-mails and all of that but “synergy” goes beyond that. For example, if you have contacts stored in the Pre e-mail app, some more in gmail and even more on Facebook, they all show up in one contact list on the Pre with duplicate information being combined. Want to send an IM to someone, just look them up in your contacts and send away, the Pre knows if they are on Google Talk or to send a text to a phone.
The calendar side of things is even cooler, allowing a Pre calendar, outlook and gmail calendars to either show all on one list or separate. So I can keep my work calendar in outlook free of my personal calendar on Google but find all of that info in one place. In this way I can keep personal calendar appointments out of my work calendar but not have to worry that I’ll schedule some things at conflicting times. The separate view of the calendar allows you to view the data from just one source allowing you, for example, to view just your work appointments without the clutter of your personal appointments. While doing this, the calender will still gray out time blocked out by another one of your synced calendars.
webOS
Unlike the iPhone, the webOS platform allows multiple programs to run at the same time, allowing apps to stay open in the background, using it’s “card” system. Palm explains the application navigation as deck of cards. Maybe, but I usually keep my deck, you know, as a deck, stacked all together where the webOS really holds them side-by-side. When you click the navigate button on the Pre the full screen app reduces in size showing you the edges of any other “card” (open app) to the left and right of the screen. Slide a finger across the screen and pan through your apps, tapping the one you want to bring it back to full screen. All of these little cards are updated in real time too, so while you’re panning through the list you will be presented with the most up-to-date info without having to maximize the card.
webOS is built on a custom Linux code base but all of the applications, be they from Palm or other developers, are all created using JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS. That’s it. This allows all applications to be built like a web app using Ajax that will actually run natively on the phone. This should make developing applications for the webOS fairly simple and very familiar to a lot of people. Palm is also creating an application store like so many other platforms that will be built in to every webOS based phone. While I don’t have a release date for it, Palm has stated that there will be a free SDK for the webOS containing sample code and an Eclipse based IDE customized for the webOS. A book, “Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo”, will be release by O’Reilly Media at the same time as the webOS SDK if you want to get started creating apps right away.
The Network
Initially, the Pre will be a Sprint exclusive. This is good news for me as I have Sprint (due to an insanely cheap plan that I will have a hard time giving up) but for the rest of you that do not, Palm has stated there will be a GSM version of the Pre as well as other phones using the webOS. Expect the Sprint exclusive on the Pre to be about 6 months.
When and How Much?
These are the biggest questions for me as I’m pretty excited to get one, however, there isn’t a firm date yet. Palm has said it will be within the first half of 2009 but there have been rumors circulating that they have already begun shipping the phone to Sprint warehouses in preparation for launch. Speculation is that could be as early as mid March but more likely to be around April so they have time to build up stock to meet demand. As far as how much, I have no idea but $200 to $300 with two year contract wouldn’t surprise me.
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