News & Views

One of the most impressive devices shown at this year's CES was introduced  by Palm in the form of the new "Pre." I know - the name leaves a lot to be desired, but the device looks to be pretty amazing. In the Pre, Palm has created a device which addresses a lot of the long-time complaints of iPhone users. Could this be the device which finally shows Apple how to make a decent phone?

First of all, let's look at the raw specs on this phone (copied from Palm's site):

Operating system: Palm® webOS™
Network specs: 3G EVDO Rev A (Sprint)
Display: 3.1-inch touch screen with a vibrant 24-bit color 320x480 resolution HVGA display
Keyboard: Physical QWERTY keyboard
Email: Microsoft Outlook® email with Microsoft® Direct Push Technology
POP3/IMAP (Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, etc).
Messaging: Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS
GPS: Built-in GPS
Digital camera: 3 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field
Sensors: Ambient light, accelerometer, and proximity
Media formats supported: Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV
Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264
Image Formats: GIF, Animated GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP
Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g with WPA, WPA2, 801.1x authentication
Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
Memory: 8GB of user storage (~7.4GB user available) also USB mass storage support
Phone as laptop modem: Bluetooth tethering supported
Connector: MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed, Headphone jack is 3.5mm stereo
Charger: Palm^® Touchstone^™ charging dock
Dimensions
Width: 59.5mm (2.3 inches)
Height: 100.5mm (3.9 inches)
Thickness: 16.95mm (0.67 inches)
Weight: 135 grams (4.76 ounces)

As you can see, the Pre includes many features which still haven't materialized on the iPhone after two generations and years of development. For example, the Pre includes MMS messaging. Users have been asking for that feature on the iPhone since the release of the original. The Pre also works with Microsoft Outlook's Direct Push (and ActiveSync) right out of the box.

There are are many other features you won't find on an iPhone which weren't listed in the spec sheet above. The Pre will sync with your Outlook, Google, and Facebook calendars simultaneously. The Pre will let you cross-link Contact records which were synced from a number of different sources, including buddy lists, Gmail contacts, Outlook, and others. The Pre also combines messages sent by the same person across multiple sources based on your contact cross-links. This makes it easier to track ongoing conversations with the same contact even when it starts in IM and ends with an email.

The Pre will let you open multiple applications at once. There is turn-by-turn navigation using the built-in GPS. The camera has much higher resolution and a built-in LED flash. It supports non-Apple standard file formats for a wider variety of media. It supports stereo Bluetooth headsets. The battery is removable. It even allows modem tethering for laptops right out of the box.

Another cool new feature is the Touchstone charging dock. To charge the Pre, you simply lay it on the cylindrical block. There are no wires to connect to your phone. When you're ready to leave, you just pick the phone up and go.

Like the iPhone, the Pre has a built-in WiFi b/g chip which speeds up your Internet browsing when you are near a hot spot. It supports the standard multi-touch gestures, just like the iPhone, including "pinch," "spread," and "flip." There are built-in chat functions, but unlike the iPhone, it lets you track the online status of your buddy lists, as well. Also like the iPhone, it can be operated in landscape mode.

Most importantly, to some users, the Pre has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. So you don't have to worry about precisely placing your fat fingers on small areas of a touch screen any longer. Only time will tell how good this keyboard feels, but it looks to be about as good as a crackberry keyboard, which is to say, usable.

One down side I can see with the device is the "holy crap, I'm a fat-boy" design. This thing won't win any beauty contests with a figure like that. It is a pudgy little gadget with far too much roundness for my tastes. Your mileage will vary, of course, and you might well find it appealing.

Another potential down side is that it is tied to Sprint only at this time. Granted, this may be a benefit for some customers. The majority of us are with other carriers, though, so we will just have to wait patiently for Palm to release version for other 3G networks.

Overall, the Pre looks to be a worthy challenger to the iPhone. One might even say the first worthy challenger, as other efforts to date have been rather disappointing. As I find out more about this interesting device, I will keep you updated. Stay tuned.

Labels: iPhone, Opinions