Palm introduces the new Palm Pre smartphone!
Pretty huge news from Palm today as the company used CES to announce a new integrated solution based on cloud computing called the Palm Web OS that built on top of CMS, HTML and XML. The company also introduced a new phone, as we all knew would be the case, dubbed the Palm Pre! A black oval shaped touchscreen phone with a portrait slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The handset will have the latest TI3 OMAP CPU, EV-DO Rev. A, 802.11b/g, GPS, Bluetooth, 8GB of internal storage, a 3MP camera with LED flash, MicroUSB connection, mass storage support, 3.5mm headphone jack and Bluetooth A2DP support. This thing is a Palm? The phone will also have a 3.1-inch multitouch display with a 320 x 480 resolution.
Among the Pre’s unique features, a touchscreen gesture area right underneath the main display allows for gesture controls and makes common tasks a breeze. The UI leaps and bounds beyond the Palm of old, sporting flick scrolling and swiping and a quick launcher available throughout the UI for apps, contacts and more. Palm’s tie-in service, Synergy, allows for one log in for multiple online sources, bringing Google, Outlook and facebook into your phone without duplicating entries. The same applies to the calendar, which displays color-coded entries indicating each separate sync source. The email app and IM also feature integration of multiple accounts into one location on your phone.
Last but most certainly not least, the Pre makes use of wireless conductive charging that Palm has dubbed Touchstone – a very cool finishing touch. Palm is shooting to make the handset available as soon as possible in 1H 2009, and it will be available in the US exclusively through Sprint. Hit the jump for some pics while you try and figure out how in the world you’re drooling over a Palm handset.
Sprint has such a black eye it is ridiculous. I read all of these posts and people STILL can’t help but crap on Sprint. Even BGR is hatin’. Do any of you actually have Sprint NOW? I agree completely that their practices and customer service were horrid for years but they are doing much better these days. I have both an AT&T and Sprint phone and these days I will take Sprint’s CS over AT&T any day. It used to be the complete opposite.
I think this will be a a winning situation for both struggling companies…all Palm (and/or Sprint) has to do is price this thing right. Remember guys…an iPhone on contract is $199/$299. Don’t be greedy…go for the jugular and gain some traction with new subs and happy customers.
Sprint is really not that bad anymore people…give them a shot…I’m actually happy now that I didn’t ditch my Sprint when I got my AT&T.
The iPhone HD is going to crap all over this in July
Sprint sucks for you because it doesn’t work in your house. That doesn’t mean Sprint sucks for everybody. I’ve been with every other carrier in the Chicago area (except Tmo), and Sprint has been the best carrier (for me). I have 5 Sprint unlimited lines on my account. My wife drives all over the midwest for her job, and Sprint has been by far the best carrier for her. When she had Verizon she dropped calls like crazy, would have 2 min long voicemails from customers with no audio. Verizon couldn’t do anything to fix the voicemail problem, and it looked really bad to call your customers back and say I got your voicemail, but I have no idea what you said. That’s really professional. So in my case Sprint is the best carrier (for me and my family) and we save a bundle of money over AT&T and VZW. To each his own, but just because Sprint doesn’t work in your house doesn’t mean they suck for everybody. There is no carrier in the US that work in every single house in the country. If you believe that, then you need to put down the crack pipe and stop being a hater.
Eh, it looks like the HTC Touch Dual to me. This combined with the sales of the Treo Pro & Centro are pulling Palm out of their own grave.
What do you gonads know about networks?? Sprint is light years ahead of AT&T and neck & neck with Verizon.
I have a Centro on Sprint and it has been awesome ever since I switched from Verizon about 6 months ago. In my area of Southern California, both Verizon and ATT suck. The pricing on Verizon’s data plan is ridiculous! The Sprint data/share plans are very reasonably priced. Finally, if any of you don’t like Sprint because their service doesn’t work on your home phone, they have a $99 device called “Airave” that hooks to your home network and enables you to use your Sprint cell phone as basically a VoIP phone when you’re at home.
If you’ve had problems with Sprint in the past, check them out again.
BTW, I CAN’T WAIT TO GET MY PALM PRE!!!!!
Wow! I use and iPhone…and I got to say that is one nice OS! I’d for sure consider it when purchasing a new phone.
Wow even I’m impressed.
Does anyone have a link to a video of launch announcement?
@Cannon- The Treo Pro is a red-headed stepchild, as that magnificent 0.1 WM OS upgrade has turned off all those who were not already in Treo’s camp. The Centro is a loss-leader without a profit margin to be recognized.
Palm’s goal is to _CONVERT_ WM, Blackberry, iPhone, and Symbian users. This new OS toy is without support and is the shovel to finish digging their own grave. If only Palm could learn?! Certainly their braintrust cannot be THAT arrogant to dictate to the market what the market wants and needs! Sprint and Palm are co-losers in the farce!
But have you checked out Palm’s new web site? Looks great! http://www.palm.com
@xtant21 I agree 100%. Sprint is not the company it used to be. I am completely happy with them and am happy to have a shot at this new phone.
LOL my previous comment regarding a “WebOS” was spot on–of course I never knew it would be branded as such!
No App Store. Best thing about my iPhone is the app store.
One dying company partnering with another. Too bad Palm couldn’t find a better partner.
Sprint?????? What the Fudge!
Sprint is cool again.
If you left Sprint more than a year ago, you are remembering the old poor customer service. It is far better now and the data network is second to none. And if you have been to Baltimore lately, wooosh. 4G is amazing….
I love the new OS. So glad it’s coming to Sprint.
^4G on what? A discontinued Nokia 810 or is a laptop required?
Everyone should go to sprint’s website and read the details on the phone. I am convinced now.
Finally, for all the Sprint SERO users can rejoice…a device that may be worth getting after all!
I’ve been waiting for a device like this. Almost time to give up VZW and the 755p for the Pre and SPCS…
I’ve chatted with a Palm Systems Engineer for a few months regarding issues with the 755p, talked about this device on VZW – it’s not going to happen for a while, they want to make all kinds of changes to the device before putting it on their network. No WiFi, hacks to the OS, less RAM – he was pretty pissed about his interactions with VZW. You’ll see a new (to VZW) Win Palm on VZW before you see the Pre on Big Red.
Yea I’m thoroughly impressed…the exclusivity won’t last though because if they want the company to survive they’ll need to take it over to Verizon…it’s a great OS and phone though.
Great another nice phone thats a finger print magnet! WHY!! Stop with the finger print black plastic already! SOFT TOUCH!!!!!!!
That keyboard looks too similar to the centro. I hope they increased the individual key size by at least 2. That alone is an uphill battle with the centro. I hope it plays out well for Palm.