Palm Pre Has Shaken up the World of Smartphones

In the realm of handheld computers Apple’s iPhone has run the show for quite a long time. But on June 6, 2009 a powerful competitor came on the scene -- a breakthrough, versatile smartphone called the Pre. It’s been designed and produced by Palm Inc., the company that pioneered the handheld computer in the 1990s. This year they’ve managed to present a next generation product again.

Despite the fact that the Palm Pre has some common features with iPhone like stylish design, camera, MP3 player, Wi-Fi, GPS, Internet browsing, 8 GB of storage, accelerometer, and Bluetooth functionality, there are peculiarities that lay emphasis on Pre’s uniqueness.

First and one of the most important is that the Palm Pre brings an all-new Linux-based operating system called webOS. WebOS is an advanced and user-friendly platform designed to run a wide variety of sophisticated third-party programs, or apps from social-networking gateways to games and business tools.

Besides the new OS, the Palm Pre smartphone is significant for the background applications. For instance, its Deck of Cards feature is an innovative way to interact with the device and organize information. It does make multitasking on the handheld easy and smoothly. The Synergy functionality pulls in all the personal management information (contacts, e-mail, calendar) from different sources like Google, corporate Exchange servers etc., into one place. That’s so convenient for businessmen and people on the go!

Pre’s 3.1 inch 320x480 capacitive, vibrant LCD display with multi-touch functionality and a sliding QWERTY keyboard also distinguish the phone among all the contemporary handhelds.

The other Pre’s claim to fame is its wireless charging. It utilizes electromagnetic induction through an optional wireless charging dock (dubbed the “Touchstone”) and a special back cover (sold separately). Users can also charge the phone with a supplied MicroUSB cable.

Here are some other specs of the Palm Pre:

4.8 Ounces
Multi-touch gesture area
3G EV-DO rev. A and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR w/ A2DP stereo support and GPS
3.5mm headphone jack
3-Megapixel camera
LED flash
Micro USB connection with mass storage support
Supported formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV; MPEG-4, H.263, H.264; GIF, JPEG, PNG BMP

Of course, nothing is perfect and the Pre has some drawbacks:

quite short battery life
no memory-expansion slot
no video-recording capabilities
Palm App Catalog is still in beta with a limited number of titles.

But despite the mentioned blemishes, it’s evidently clear that Palm has put a lot of thought into the user interface, design, and features, as everything works together seamlessly. With its Pre phone Palm has really shaken up the world of smartphones setting new standards in handhelds’ functionality and ease of use.

The Palm Pre goes for $640 on Amazon. eBay offers the unlocked device from $400. Sprint exclusively sells it with a contract for $199 (after rebate)