Palm’s new smart phone combines a touch screen with a slide-out QWERY keyboard, a Web OS operating system, and will be available on the Sprint 3G network in the first half of 2009. Price has not yet been determined,
The Palm Pre features include:
- 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 320×480 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
- a 3-megapixel camera with LED flash
- 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
- Accelerometer, which automatically orients web pages and photos to your perspective
- Removable, rechargeable battery
The early buzz is favorable for the Palm Pre, writes PC World.
- Engadget applauded the “grace and simplicity” of the Pre’s interface, which it says “outclasses most of its competition on a number of levels, and actually may be quite a bit more revolutionary than the iPhone.” No small praise there.
- Gizmodo called the Pre “simply amazing” and said the device may be “the most important handset to be announced in two years.” The software, screen quality, and camera earned the strongest praise, but the hardware design could be better, wrote reviewer Adrian Covert.
- MobileDevices gave kudos to the user interface: “The UI is smooth and works pretty seamlessly as they’ve showed. Palm’s always understood how to do a good mobile UI and it’s clear that they’ve applied everything they’ve learned over the years to this device and platform,” wrote Michael Gartenberg.
Palm’s webOS is brand-new, invented exclusively for mobile use. Palm says its interface and hardware design makes it the most integrated and user-friendly phone for mobile users.
Palm Pre is scheduled to be available first in the United States exclusively from Sprint in the first half of 2009, and will be followed by a world-ready UMTS version for other regions. Sprint’s pricing for the phone has not yet been determined.
