Coming Soon: The Palm Pre Rev-A Smartphone

Maureen

Are you ready for another manufacturer's attempt at an "iPhone killer"?

The Palm Pre, which will be available on Sprint's network in Spring of 2009, is NOT just another attempt to compete with the uber-popular Apple product. The Pre has a few things the iPhone CAN'T compete with:

1) EVDO Rev-A
2) Tether-capable (we're crossing our fingers that it will be compatible with Cradlepoint routers to REALLY take advantage of this feature)
3) Full slide-out QWERTY keypad

If you weren't a big fan of Palm's OS or browser on previous Palm Smartphones, good news: the Pre runs on the new and very well-received/reviewed webOS. The browser is also improved and allows for zooming and scrolling in both landscape and portrait views.

Here's a peak:

Check out the full list of features on EVDOinfo

widgetman101 · EVDO Junkie Joined: 02 Apr 2008 Posts: 211

I've been reading up on this phone ever since I saw it mentioned on G4's CES 09 coverage.

My hat is off to Palm for finally making what appears to be a capable device. Hopefully this doesn't turn into vaporware like the Palm Foleo did.

The 3G iPhones are HSDPA compatible. I personally don't have 3G support in my area through At&t though so I can't comment on the speeds. But I've seen lots of screen shots of people getting between 2-3Mbps on there iPhones.

The iPhone is tether capable. It just doesn't come like that from the factory. Anyone that really wants to tether an iPhone can. You just need to "Jailbreak" the phone and get a few applications then your good to go. But the Pre has this pre installed so that makes it appealing to those that can't hack phones.

You've got me on the QWERTY though. The iPhone definitely can't do that. I will say IMO QWERTY keyboards are way overrated. I can type a message faster on my iPhone than I can on my Tilt with a full QWERTY keyboard. Not to mention the added phone thickness you get with a slide out keyboard.

Don't take my post wrong though. I'm glad to see the iPhone getting some competition. I hate the words iPhone killer because the storm and G1 were supposed to be iPhone killers also. But phone after phone comes and we keep seeing the next iPhone killer is coming.

It looks great on paper bet a few things they have not released yet.

Battery life? A big factor here, what good is it if it only runs 3 hours?

Price? Some are rumoring a $399 tag on contract. Putting it well over the price of a new 3G iPhone.

I really don't see massive amounts of people breaking there contracts to go to sprint over this phone. I barely get any sprint coverage in my area so I don't even have to worry about the Pre.

It will be interesting when this finally gets released. Palm is depending on this phone. If it bombs so does Palm.

BTW here is a full hands on video covering the Pre's features if your interested in this phone.

http://i.gizmodo.com/5126752/palm-pre-full-video-tours

nickjacket · Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:52 pm Post subject:

If The Pre has the processor power and plug-in for Flash based browsing, it'll be very popular.
Here's a checklist of Palm Pre goodies> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2338583,00.asp

Maureen · Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:45 am Post subject:

Hi widgetman101,

I agree with you that most likely the Pre won't have tons customers from other companies jumping ship to sign up with Sprint - however, I think it has a lot of appeal for folks that like the idea of a touchscreen phone but do so much typing/emailing that they don't want to give up the QWERTY. It does add a little bit of width, but really not much - in fact, it's only .19" thicker than the iPhone. As a Blackberry junkie that switched to an iPhone, I can say that while I love the iPhone I definitely would love it more if it had a real keypad! So I will definitely be checking out the Pre Smile

As for tethering the iPhone, yes, you can hack it, but most people don't want to do that - it voids the warranty and iPhones are very expensive to replace. Also, not everyone is comfortable hacking things.

Check out this blog post to compare AT&T's 3G speeds and coverage to Sprint/Verizon's: http://3gstore.com/ATT

Again, I am an iPhone user and loooooove it, but I definitely think the Pre has a shot at its own share of the market.

Now let's just hope the price estimates are wrong and that it's a little cheaper!!

widgetman101 · EVDO Junkie Joined: 02 Apr 2008 Posts: 211

Don't get me wrong the phone looks really nice. If I was a sprint user it would probably be on my mind.

I'm just interested in seeing it finally released to see if it can live up to the hype. I hope it does that way the next generation iPhone should be really good.

BTW official tether support may be coming to the iPhone shortly.

http://www.macblogz.com/2009/01/09/iphone-tethering-att-may-shock-us-all-and-charge-10/

nickjacket · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 5:42 pm Post subject: Legal Beagle

Here's an article about Apple's efforts in comparing the Pre with the iBone.

http://www.itworld.com/mobile-amp-wireless/61334/iphone-vs-palms-pre-its