Palm Pre
June 26, 2009mike No Comments »There has been a lot of pressure put on one little device. And it is little, not to sound like a hater, but it makes you wonder how the iPhone fits in peoples pockets! But all of that aside, this review could really be one word long: multitasking. It leaves me perplexed when I think about a day (a couple weeks ago perhaps?) when I had a phone without it. The “deck of cards” interface as it has been called is a very slick way of allowing for multitasking. The webOS as a whole is the real groundbreaker here with the Palm Pre itself as the current vehicle to bring that interface to customers. I have said in the past (and people said I was nuts and maybe I am) that the Palm OS would have made a good “desktop” OS, which it would have, for a Netbook type device if it had multitasking. The webOS is nothing like the Palm OS (or Garnet OS as it is now called) except that it brings a super easy to use touchscreen interface to a device. The webOS would make a great netbook interface. Now none of that little rant has any impact on the Pre. The Pre is a fantastic phone with a few shortcomings (video cam, flash player, and a few others that will be out in the next few months). I know the keyboard was criticized by some, I’m not sure what type of keyboard those people where expecting on such a slick device but as a former Treo and Centro user with very big fingers it is not a problem, and embarrasses an onscreen keyboard. The touchstone charger (sold separately) is totally slick and as an actual user I again forget what life was like when I had to plug my phone in. But in the end the Pre and webOS have one HUGE step on the competition, multitasking. As I sit and use Pandora while on the web or Gchating (don’t get me wrong pandora and big websites slow the thing down because those are some serious apps with a lot of bandwidth usage), but it is really pretty nice to sit out on my porch with some bluetooth headphones and listen to mp3s or internet radio and read some websites or IM my friends. All in all, netbooks look out (I have one of those too, and love it, I don’t have a laptop and rarely use my desktop and I have found there is little I can’t do) the Palm Pre is flanking you from behind!
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