After the Palm Pre announcement, company representatives handed out small VIP lounge passes inviting attendees to take a closer look at the new smartphone in a private meeting room.
Assuming we’d get some actual hands-on time with the webOS-based device, we stopped into the lounge an hour before closing and got to watch employees give us one-on-one demos. The closest we got to actually holding the Pre was when I asked the demonstrator if it was okay to take those Xperia X1 comparison shots. It was disappointing, sure, but we got our questions answered and took a bunch of pictures, so I’m glad we went.
The lounge had a cool Zen-like feel to it with "stone" furniture, simply presented food, and lots of room to flow around the four draped couch areas. Have a look.
Two Palm employees, stationed in the front corners of the room, stood behind tables with projectors hooked up to large flat-screen TVs. Beneath the projectors were Palm Pre smartphones.
Beside one of the projectors was an early prototype retail box.
It’s a shame that the Touchstone wireless charger won’t be included in the box. I like that the Pre "sticks" to it and that the speaker automatically turns on if a call comes in while the phone is charging.
Now on to the Palm Pre.
Here are some quick notes I jotted down on the back of my CES preshow planner (yes, very professional!) during the demo:
- Capacitive touchscreen
- No memory card expansion because Palm "provided all the storage you need" with 8GB
- Larger capacity models could be released in the future
- WebKit-based browser with no Flash support
- 1200mAh battery; no battery life figures being announced yet
- No soft keyboard for when device is in landscape mode
- All apps auto save
- Apps do not need to be manually closed; just flick "card" up/off the screen
- Web browsing over WiFi can continue when using the phone
- Keyboard is narrow; the demonstrator had trouble typing on it
- Not sure if keyboard is backlit
- Palm is very proud of the removable battery and standard headphone jack (they mentioned it several times)
- Forgot to ask about backwards compatibility with Palm OS
- Phone shape reminds me of Motorola Pebble
- UI is very slick, though comparisons to the iPhone are tough to shake
- More impressed with software than hardware
- Should’ve asked about the rationale behind the Pre name
Anyone going to get one? I admit that Windows Mobile 6.1 looks clunky and unintuitive in comparison, but I’m not giving up my Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.
I was almost sure I was getting it but I’m disappointed in that battery size.
As for Flash, I heard in another interview they cited it “doesn’t have Flash yet” which implied to me its not on the current software version but might be there by the time its released.
what i found most interesting was the one contact, multiple “channels” kind of thing.
that is, if i understood the system right. my understanding was that one could have a im conversation with a contact that went offline, and one could continue the conversation via email or sms/text messages, and except for some different colored backgrounds, the display of said conversation would be seamless.
btw, did they have copy&paste in the browser, or anywhere else in the ui?
Yes there is copy and paste throughout the UI. And you might have to click the contact header, to switch from an IM to an SMS, but you have the system basically right. Though I believe IM/SMS/MMS are in one application, and email is another.
The only thing holding me back is the backward compatibility with .prc files from the old OS kernel. If there was backward compatibility either by emulation or natively, I and quite a few others would be all over this phone.
Another site states that the app development is quite easy to do. This lends me to believe it will be similar to generating apps like the old Palm OS, basically an SDK for Visual Studio with a target platform of Palm OS. This could then be a clue they are still using .prc or something like that.
Did the keyboard resemble a Palm Centro design?
Thank you very much for your coverage!
[No memory card expansion because Palm "provided all the storage you need" with 8GB]
That is a deal breaker for me right there.
Somethings are not even debatable, nor should they be.
Thanks, Jenn.
I am very interested in this phone, and will begin researching the performance of Sprint’s network in comparison to AT&T in the mid-Atlantic/NY metro area. I haven’t used Sprint in many years and don’t know what to expect, although I do think I’ve read that the 3G coverage is better than AT&T’s.
Hey Jenn, great coverage.
If you have a chance to talk to Palm again, getting a clarification about the ability to load .prc apps (even in emulation mode) would be great, as well as the ability to sync with desktop applications that have Hotsync conduits (say, via bluetooth).
Thanx,
P.S. those xperia X1 pictures are awesome, specially when considering the generally poor lighting conditions at CES
They’ve said that Palm won’t be providing backwards compatibility, but there’s no reason a thirdparty can’t do it. (I think they’re maybe hoping Styletap makes a WebOS version.)
Nice birthday present for L!
Does anybody know if & when the Pré will be available in Europe (the Netherlands)????
By the way: the quality of the pictures taken with the Xperia X1 make me wonder if shouldn’t just go for the Xperia…….
Very nice design. I like the fact that although the phone has a slide out QWERTY keyboard it is not as thick as the HTC Touch Pro. Good work Palm.
I haven’t heard anything about European availability.Oh, and none of the photos in this post were taken with the Xperia. They all came from a Canon DSLR.