Palm Pre was one of Cnet’s best phones of 2009:

Palm Pre

Debuting at CES 2009, the Palm Pre breathed new life into a company struggling to defend its relevance in the smartphone space. More than that though, the Pre and Palm WebOS was a game changer in the way that it handled contact management and multitasking. Hopefully, we’ll see.

Consumer Electronics Show · Handhelds · Palm · Palm OS · Palm Pre · PalmPixi · Smartphone · WebOS

As 2009 draws to a close, more and more confirmations are appearing to suggest that several WebOS are headed to Verizon Wireless in early 2010. The latest rumor comes from a PhoneArena article claiming that some VZW tipsters are reporting the presence of a “Palm Pre Plus” in big red’s internal inventory system. Unfortunately, there is no clear indication of specs, pricing, or release date thus far.

For quite some time the rumor mill has been reporting several different possibilities for an improved version of the Pre on Verizon. These claims have ranged from the likely (16GB of internal storage and/or a microSD slot) to the far-fetched (a larger-size LCD). Based on Palm’s past history with upgraded devices such as the 700w/700wx, the most plausible scenario would see Verizon initially carrying refreshed versions of the Pre and Pixi, with webOS 1.3.5 possibly standard. Then those updated versions will presumably arrive on Sprint in the Q2/Q3 timeframe to replace the original ’09 editions.

Source: Palm Info Center.

Handhelds · Palm · palm pixi · PalmPre · PhoneArena · Sprint Nextel · VerizonWireless · WebOS

One of Verizon’s first webOS phones will be a direct upgrade to the Pre if a leak is accurate. The company’s internal systems reportedly show a “Palm Pre Plus” without supplying further details. What it would involve isn’t clear, but the badge suggests a similar design and that upgrades are most likely to revolve around more storage or better performance.
The tip to Phone Arena is the first to directly point to a new Palm model outside of Sprint and backs up a report of advance Verizon training for webOS as a platform. The carrier is also rumored to be receiving a Wi-Fi equipped Pixi and appears to be committing to Palm in a significant way. Both phones could be critical for the smartphone maker as its lack of carrier choices, combined with competition from the iPhone, has led to declining sales even compared to its pre-webOS days.

Read the full story on Electronista

iPhone · Palm · palm pixi · PalmPre · Smartphone · Sprint · Verizon Communications · WebOS

We all know that the first webOS phone has been making the rounds with high scores in other places, like Popular Mechanics for example. There, the Palm Pre was among the 10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009, I definitely have to agree with them. And now, the Pre is also one of the hottest on Twitter’s Trending Topics, and is one of the Top Twitter Trends of 2009 according to Twitter.

Source: My Pre

Handhelds · Palm · Palm OS · PalmPre · Popular Mechanics · Twitter · Unix and Linux · WebOS

There’s been plenty of speculation as to when Verizon will begin offering the Palm Pre or the Pixi, but some leaked internal training slides would suggest that it’ll be sooner rather than later.

According to Phone Arena these 20-minute long training sessions are “to re-introduce Palm and webOS to [Verizon's] personnel [and] will be ongoing until January 4, 2010,” so we could speculate that there’ll be some excitement in the first quarter of the year.

Source: Gizmodo

Handhelds · Palm · Palm OS · palm pixi · PalmPre · Verizon · Verizon Communications · WebOS

Palm this afternoon sent an invite to members of the press to attend a keynote on January 7th, the first official day of CES. The company has provided no clues as to what it’s expected to release other than “new” developments. Last year was the company’s first CES keynote in a long time and saw the introduction of webOS and the Pre, both of which were key to revitalizing the struggling phone maker’s business.
Likely candidates for new introductions are a new phone model as well as adaptations of the Pixi or Pre for other carriers, including a Pixi with Wi-Fi for Verizon and other devices that end Sprint’s exclusivity in the US. A major webOS update is also a possibility and could address some of the remaining criticisms for the platform, such as its lack of 3D games and other truly native apps.

Source Electronista

Handhelds · Palm OS · PalmPixi · PalmPre · Sprint · Verizon Communications · WebOS · Wi-Fi

Palm demonstrates webOS platform and UI on the new Pre smartphone.

Engadget · Handhelds · Palm · Palm OS · PalmPre · Unix and Linux · Video Games · WebOS

PreThinking has a comparison between the Droid and the Palm Pre, here are some of the highlights of the comparison:
One area in the phone department where the Droid takes an edge, is on the amount of time you have to wait to actually get into a call. For some reason the simplest app on the Pre, the ‘Phone’ app, seems to have quite a bit of lag. The Pre’s phone app takes 1-2 seconds longer to load then the Droid and it takes longer to switch between screens such as, recent calls, the dialer, and the contacts list. Also the Pre is lacking a favorites list which comes in handy when you have hundreds of contacts. When scrolling through the contacts list on the Droid it feels much smoother and has virtually no lag or skips. The Pre’s contacts list within the phone app has quite a bit of lag and skips often. The Pre isn’t completely out of it in the phone app though. There is nothing more rewarding than sliding out the Pre’s small keyboard in portrait mode and typing a name to immediately get results within any part of the phone app. With the Pre you can basically start typing any time when in the phone app or on the home screen. When using the Droid you have to be specifically in the contacts list and either slide out the big keyboard in landscape or hit menu then tap search. Other than that the phone apps work as they should and both offer excellent quality calls as long as you’re in a decent coverage area.

The Pre and Droid both have the TI OMAP 3430 which is also seen in the iPhone 3GS and have 256mb of RAM and 512MB of ROM. Other than their processing chip the Pre and Droid are two very dfferent beasts. The Pre comes with a 3.1 inch screen that is displayed in a colorful 24bit 320×480 resolution HVGA display. The Pre, because of its smaller screen and high color density, actually looks better than other phones with similar resolutions like the iPhone and G1. The screen is a plastic capacitive multitouch screen which has a bit of roundedness to it. The Droid has a 3.7 inch WVGA display at 854×480 Resolution. The Droid has a glass capacitive screen with multitouch (YES IT DOES HAVE MULTITOUCH) and is completely flat with a bezel around the screen that has about a 1mm lift. There is no doubt the Droid has better quality video playback when it comes to videos you put on the phone itself as well as videos streamed from YouTube. The colors are more accurate, sharp, and the videos are always nice and big due to the large screen size.

Both phones have a hardware keyboard which sets them apart from the all-powerful iPhone. So which keyboard is better? It really all depends on your personal preference. The Pre has a portrait slider that can seem a little cramped but once you get used to it you can fly. The Droid has a landscape slider that can seem a little too spread at times but once you are used to it you can fly. Neither keyboard is the best at what it is. For example the portrait keyboard the Blackberry Bold/Tour has is the one to beat in the portrait department. As far as landscape QWERTY goes, the Droid’s keyboard is not nearly as good as the TouchPro 2 slider and personally I don’t think it’s even as good as the G1 keyboard. Though Motorola did away with the chin that the G1 had, there is still a 4 way directional pad to the right of the keyboard which causes your right thumb to stretch farther than your left while typing. Both keyboards require a little bit of attention while typing because there isn’t a whole lot of difference in feel between the keys. I find myself being able to type just over 40 words per minute on both keyboards which is just fine for me. The Droid has a bit of an edge because it also has a virtual keyboard in both landscape and portrait mode. This keyboard is NOT a better alternative to either the Pre or Droid’s hardware keyboard but it is convenient and useful when making quick notes or a text.

Conclusion:

WebOS and Android are so similar and so different at the same time it really is hard to tell which is better. They both have their strong points and they both have their weak points. WebOS is easier to use and a bit easier on the eyes when it comes to the UI. Android allows you to do a lot more customization and tweaking but is a little bit less user friendly. Android has behind it the fact that it is an open source operating system and there are multiple manufacturers working on putting out the best Android devices possible. Palm is working on getting its WebOS into customer’s hands and only has two devices. There is room in the market for both platforms. If I had to recommend a phone to someone just joining the smartphone community for the first time, I would feel obligated to recommend the Pre because of how easy it is to use. If I was recommending the phone to someone who loves customization and is coming off another platform, I might recommend the Droid.

android · iPhone · Open source · PalmPre · QWERTY · Smartphone · WebOS · YouTube

Telefonica O2 Czech Republic, or T-O2, plans to offer the Palm Pre and is currently testing the smartphone on its network according to a T-O2 spokesperson. Totaltele.com reports (via IntoMobile) that the company has various trials underway and they expect to make the Pre available “sometime in 2010.”

We’ll certainly include Palm Pre in our product offering but at the moment I can’t tell when exactly,” T-O2 spokesman Martin Zabka told Dow Jones Newswires, adding the Palm Pre’s launch will likely be during next year.

Source: Palm Infocenter

Apple · Dow Jones & Company · Embassies and Consulates · Government · iPhone · PalmPre · Smartphone · Telefónica Europe

Source: Computer Weekly

iPhone 3GS · Palm Pre