Palm Pre / webOS launch roundup

The dust has begun to settle around Palm's event yesterday, and we're still sorting through all the news. Palm certainly packed a lot of "New-ness" (yet weirdly, no actual "New-ness") into its announcements yesterday, and it's pretty easy to get lost among all the Palm Pre / webOS related news. Lucky for you, we've consolidated the goods below, so feel free to experience all the Palm-related bliss you can handle.

The liveblog

Live from Palm's CES press conference

Impressions / hands-on coverage

Palm Pre first hands-on with live updates!
Palm Pre in-depth impressions, video, and huge hands-on gallery
Palm Pre interface tour

Product announcements

The Palm Pre
Palm announces webOS platform
Palm Pre's wireless charger, the Touchstone

In depth / details

There will be a GSM-friendly 3G Palm Pre
Palm stock on a rocket to recovery
Palm's Pre gets its own spot on Sprint's website
Palm Pre website now live with official images, video
Palm's the master of its own domain, the king of its own Castle
Palm's Pre boxed
Palm Pre's "New-ness" event video now viewable
Palm Pre ads appear on Engadget

[you @ Jan 9th 2009 8:52PM]

it was easier to control when everything was separate.

now this keeps happening.

[Alec @ Jan 9th 2009 11:33PM]

I always complained about the Apple bias. Now I realize that it may have been me with the Apple bias, because I can't get enough of these Pre posts.

[Ian Whelan (JOIN BAND!) @ Jan 9th 2009 8:57PM]

Palm,
GSM version, nao!

They always come out with one a few months later anyways...

[bob e @ Jan 9th 2009 9:00PM]

Go PRE!
Count me in as a new customer Palm, unless by some miracle win 7 improves on your tech.

Funny to see iPhone has become second rate technology overnight.

[roole @ Jan 9th 2009 9:06PM]

Sure, Pre looks good. But your post is silly. Apart from the six-month wait, you are broadcasting to the world that you are committed to buying it without knowing the price?

In any event, why/how has the 'iPhone become second-rate technology overnight?' Please explain.

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 9th 2009 9:41PM]

It's going to be interesting to sit back and watch the disappointment again. We've seen it with so many phones, the most recent being the Instinct, then the G1 and then the Storm. I actually like the Pre, but Palm is more likely to kill Android than Apple.

We almost certainly have another iPhone in June or July. More than likely with 32 GB, like the iPod Touch. More apps on the way, possibly copy & paste and iWork, especially since the Keynote Remote at MacWorld.

I just don't understand this at all. People HATED Steve Jobs when he presented his Web App scenario for third party development for the iPhone. Now we have a Palm phone that is built completely from web protocols and now everyone is golly gee, this is the best thing since sliced bread!

Is it just me or does everyone automatically just fall in love with every new iPhone clone, just because they hate Apple so much that they'll take any phone, just as long as it has a slim chance of defeating Apple?

[Quix @ Jan 9th 2009 10:13PM]

"People HATED Steve Jobs when he presented his Web App scenario for third party development for the iPhone. Now we have a Palm phone that is built completely from web protocols and now everyone is golly gee, this is the best thing since sliced bread!" - Paul Chapel

It's called the Apple Hater Derangement Syndrome.

[Ian @ Jan 9th 2009 11:00PM]

Um....no. People just like the iPhone because it's the iPhone, just like all the people who like the iPod just because it's an iPod.

Engadget members make up a very small part of the population. Your opinion is only true in Engadget.

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 9th 2009 11:05PM]

{cue folksy music and a soothing baritone male voice}

"Apple Hater Derangement Syndrome is a contagious disease that affects 20 million Windows users. Once you contract it, you have it for life. There is no cure, but there is Zunex."

{cue beautiful redhead in a park, seated on a bicycle}

"When I first found out I hated iPods, I thought my life was over, but then my doctor prescribed Zunex and since then, I see beauty in every Windows product I see, even when they blue screen! Thanks, Zunex. "

{redhead rides off into the sunset}

"Zunex is a once a day pill which works by helping you to rationalize your unbridled hate for everything Apple. Ask your doctor for it. Side effects include sweating, shouting, chair throwing, lost of voice and possible hallucinations and feelings of persecution from gadget sites. Call your doctor if these symptoms persist."



LOL, thanks Quix.

[TareX @ Jan 10th 2009 12:19AM]

Sorry I disagree with you bob e.

I adore and love everything we know so far about the Palm Pre. BUT, this reminds me with the initial craze with the Xperia X1, back when it was announced and demoed a year ago. What happened between the announcement and the release? Here's your list:

iPhone 3G
Android and the G1
HTC Diamond, Touch Pro, Touch HD
....etc

Companies announce products early for a reason. You can BET that between the Pre announcement and actual release we'll be seeing at least two of those:

T-Mobile G2/3
Tegra-powered phones (wait for the real wow from them....)
WM7 phones
iPhone HD

So what I'm saying is, YES compared to the current phones, Palm Pre is super duper fantastic. But the same could have been said about the Xperia X1 a year ago. So WAIT till u compare the Pre with the other phones it comes out with....

[ntlam @ Jan 10th 2009 4:16AM]

Iphone not really becomes an old technology over night. The technology is still there. still intuitive to inspire all other phone manufacturers.

What Pre offer is something new, something looks promising if the price is right and not locked down to one carrier. It will definitely give iphone something to improve of (copy and paste?)

Technology evolve and good to see there are competitions between manufacturer to get their things better and bring more benefits to consumers.

btw who will be the PEye?

[smallnshort247 @ Jan 9th 2009 9:16PM]

First off, I think this phone looks ugly. I don't know why people like the look so much..It kinda reminds me of that Sony Milo. I guess hating on Apple is what all the cool kids do these days. Even if this phone is overall better than the iPhone, the iPhone will still be more popular than any touch screen palm phone sold by sprint. The g1 tried to beat the iPhone and failed. The Storm tried to beat the iPhone and REALLY failed. You all go get rid of your iPhones and buy this..once its not what you thought it was cracked up to be, you'll be crawling back to at&t...

[Kevin @ Jan 9th 2009 9:22PM]

I undertand that the storm sucked but how did the g1 fail? It has sold remarkably well an I personally prefer it over the iPhone. And no, the most popular thing to do these days is praise apple not hate them, so you aren't exactly original there.

[Patrick @ Jan 9th 2009 9:22PM]

wow dude. or you can just say 'hey, this is a good entrant into the race, especially coming from palm which, to be honest, has sucked these past years.'
get some perspective

[nikster @ Jan 9th 2009 9:24PM]

I love my iPhone but I love this too because it looks like the first serious competitor. The iPhone needs competition.

It's the software I am excited about - I know that WinMobile is going to blow for years to come, Symbian 60 is ancient and won't be a serious competitor ever. That leaves Android which so far has failed to impress.

And now, a new Palm OS which looks fantastic. Palm has John Rubinstein, and a long history of making very user friendly products, a history of making hardware and software - I see great potential there. I have never been a Palm user and I can already say I am much more likely to buy a newer iPhone than I am to buy this - but for others, this may be the alternative they have been waiting for.

[Hamidxa @ Jan 9th 2009 10:19PM]

Just because Britney Spears sold more albums that most artists to date does not make her a better singer.
A more marketed singer is all she is, just like Apple's iPhone, all style and virtually 0 substance, only the shallow will follow Jobs at the healm.

Take the HTC Touch HD for example.
It is 10 times the phone that the iPhone is.
Spec for spec it destroys the iPhone.
App wise, it once again destroys the iPhone.
Can you say a library of 100,000 titles for WM. Take your 10,000 measley apps elsewhere, it pales in comparison to the WM catalog.

Then on top of that, with HTC customization and XDA makeovers its interface is equally as slick if not more so than the iPhones.

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 9th 2009 11:16PM]

@Hamidxa

I know at least three ugly girls who are ten times smarter than Britney Spears, girls that know how to cook, clean and love babies, but it doesn't matter because I want to have sex with Britney Spears. See the problem?

[Mike10010100 @ Jan 10th 2009 12:13AM]

That proves it then! You are a shallow little fanboy, Paul! Using your analogy, I want the women who are smart, have a great personality, love to take care of things (like babies and cleaning, if you will), and will love me to the end.

The iPhone is nothing more to you than a one-night stand! Flash, but little substance. You, my friend, have just admitted all this by yourself. Ass.

[Phoenix @ Jan 10th 2009 6:42AM]

Flash without flash.

[Kevin @ Jan 9th 2009 9:17PM]

Because this phone and others like it do what the iPhone does, only with more features and without apple's ridiculous and restrictive limitations and developer regulations

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 9th 2009 11:18PM]

Funny, that's exactly what everyone said about Android, but now everyone wants to jump ship to the Pre? What changed with Android? Oh, that's right. So far it's on a piece of crap phone. Openness only matters if you got a good product to back it up.

[Mike10010100 @ Jan 10th 2009 12:35AM]

No, Paul. SOME (I emphasize this) people have been underwhelmed so far as to Android's performance, but not it's potential. The Palm OS is not completely open source. Android will truly flourish once the Alliance gets off their butts and starts manufacturing phones for it. Also, have you not been reading about the idea of putting Android on netbooks? That is the true potential of Android is to have the same platform not locked onto one or two phones made by one company.

This OS, on the other hand, is locked into the Palm platform, unless they decide to open it up. Apples to oranges my friend.

[TareX @ Jan 10th 2009 12:47AM]

Paul. That's right, openness comes at a price. But even though, the G1 was a HUGE success from a sales point of view.

So with the G2, we should expect amazing Hardware running a vastly improved software. That's what you get from openness. G2 is coming around March/April...

Pre is amazing FOR NOW. With Tegra, WM7 and G2 showing up before the phone's actual release, nobody should rush into conclusions.

[beaker @ Jan 9th 2009 9:18PM]

Palm has risen from the ashes. They should have call this phone "Phoenix". The game just changed....your move Apple.

[RickyR @ Jan 9th 2009 9:37PM]

@beaker

Phoenix would have been an really cool name not for the phone but rather the OS

[dcoaster @ Jan 10th 2009 12:13AM]

Agreed as the OS name.

[TareX @ Jan 10th 2009 12:49AM]

Phoenix is a great phone name.

If it were for the OS, it would sound intimidating and alien for developers. webOS is saying basically any web developer can write for it. And any OS is only as good as its 3rd party apps...

[Phoenix @ Jan 10th 2009 6:46AM]

Yes, Phoenix is a cool name

[DP @ Jan 9th 2009 9:31PM]

If Sprint has this phone more than $200 without that MIR bullskeet they will have had shot themselves in the foot.

[shugg @ Jan 9th 2009 9:31PM]

sounds like bob e,will have to wait till june till iphone become second rate technology.,u can start saving your $350 from today.,

[bjay @ Jan 9th 2009 9:38PM]

One thing that i am happy about is the fact that all those Iphone nano did not come to pass (yet), rather we were granted the New-ness of Palm. Way to go, i better start saving towards the GSM version. I hope the battery is not a letdown, dat will be a real show stopper

[Timepilot84 @ Jan 9th 2009 9:55PM]

@Paul Chapel - If you'd bother to read about the Pre, you'd know that the applications on the Pre are not the craptacular web pages that the idiot Steve Jobs tried to foist on us. These are applications that use web technologies, but are stored locally. This is a world of difference between the moronic "the web is your SDK" crap that Apple tried unsuccessfully to popularize.

I hate how Apple has to get kicked square in the nuts before they divert from Steve Jobs stupidity. They should get rid of sickly ass once and for all. They'd be a stronger company for it.

[Quix @ Jan 9th 2009 10:13PM]

"idiot Steve Jobs...Steve Jobs stupidity...They should get rid of sickly ass once and for all." - Timepilot84

Hmm, Timepilot, perhaps you need to jump in your WayBack Machine and visit 1997 to compare the Apple of then (pre-Jobs' return) to the Apple of today.

When you return, please elaborate on your idiotic, stupid, and sickly commentary.

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 9th 2009 11:24PM]

You only can do so much with Java, HTML and CSS. That probably means no really powerful games, for instance. Maybe they can get some flash games. I'm not saying I hate the Pre. I like it, but it's not going to kill off the iPhone. The iPhone is more than just a device, it has a whole ecosystem. And a lot of users with two year contracts.

The Pre is going to make a big splash with geeks. But the general public? I'll be surprised if they even know what a "Pre" is seven months from now.

[Patriks7 @ Jan 10th 2009 7:33AM]

Paul, you do realize that this phone is for business men and not for 14 year olds, like yourself? Generally, business men don't play games on their phones.

[bstryd @ Jan 9th 2009 10:03PM]

I believe I take exception with the "yet weirdly, no actual "New-ness"" comment. Though I cannot be certain, of course, this looks like the cloud computing in the hand that we all have wondered is possible. That and the excellent email management and super-threaded SMS/CHAT (if it works) is pretty new and very creative. That all being said, I am a Palmite of long standing and I am on Sprint (yea!!) so I am pretty excited.

[Don @ Jan 9th 2009 10:25PM]

Oh that looks so cool I just watched the mobilesavant.com video of the palm pre. I can't wait for this phone to come out. Can you say I phone killer? WOW checkout the link and judge for yourself. http://www.mobilesavant.com/play.php?vid=150

[mobilheadforlife @ Jan 9th 2009 10:27PM]

I'm getting that phone as soon as it comes out. I'm on the sprint network so looks like I will be able to get it. That freakin awesome. Thanks for the link Don, that a cool website by the way.

[ChuChu @ Jan 10th 2009 12:07AM]

Is it just me or do the couple posts above me read like they were all posted by the same astroturfer?

[smallnshort247 @ Jan 9th 2009 10:57PM]

I'm a bit of an Apple fanboy, but I'll give credit where credit is due. Palm has been in the gutter for the past years, so its cool that they were able to come out with such a detailed phone to compete with the G1, iPhone, and Storm (and all the other touch screen phones). I probably wouldn't get this phone since I'm not a fan of sliders, but I think it pushes the iPhone to raise its game once again.

[BobTurbo @ Jan 9th 2009 11:16PM]

The UI on this thing looks very well done and some of the OS features look good but it is going to have a really hard time competing against Google Android phones and Apple phones.

[BobTurbo @ Jan 9th 2009 11:20PM]

I don't really see this competing with the iPhone as the iPhone is better looking and has no keyboard which some people prefer. It is also tied into iTunes and all of that crap. It is aimed at a particular market that is a bit different to the Pre. The Pre will probably be directly competing with Android and other phones.

[PakeTelor @ Jan 9th 2009 11:25PM]

Never knew the team behind palm now, is some people from apple... no wonder palm pre is awesome

[Timepilot84 @ Jan 9th 2009 11:33PM]

@Paul Chapel - Considering that you don't seem to recognize the difference between Java a Javascript, I don't think you're particularly qualified to speak on their capabilities, or lack thereof.

[Anomoly @ Jan 9th 2009 11:55PM]

This phone has a lot of things that other phones are missing. Love it or hate it it's GREAT that APPLE finally has some competition. Competition is great for consumers -

as long as developers get behind it, there is a future for this phone.

I can't wait to get my hands on it and test it out... might be droppin my HTC touch -

WM has got to step up it's game.

[gyffes @ Jan 9th 2009 11:56PM]

Jenn over at Pocketables was at the Pre presentation ("Pre-sentation"?) and said the keys are so small, even the guy doing the damned demo had trouble typing on it.

That doesn't sound like they've resolved the whole, "can it be used comfortably" question, does it?

You guys (I'm gonna go all global here and include ALL OF YOU) are astonishing in your willingness to either bash Apple willy-nilly or rush to defend Apple.

Bottom line: Windows Mobile sucks. That's a given. Apple's iPhone is pretty great but damn, wouldn't it be better with a real keyboard? Palm once made a great product, but then again, so did Ford. And it was about the same amount of time ago.

If the only question was about formfactor, HTC phones would rule the market, but they don't. If it was all about price, the Centro would rule the market, but it doesn't. If it was all about the quality of the build and user interface and ease of buying/loading new apps, Apple would rule the market.

Oh, wait...

[CJ @ Jan 10th 2009 5:29AM]

Welcome to the World; population: Everyone who doesn't live in America.

Now, you may find things a bit daunting at first, like how your ill-informed ideals and opinions are dead wrong, but there is help, and any friendly 'Human Being' (as we a want to call ourselves; just a silly little in-joke!) will be more than willing to prove you wrong on a regular and incessant basis.

Ha, that's just my joke, but seriously, the US isn't the only econonmy that matters anymore (less so, these days). So just because something is wildly popular where you live, doesn't mean it's anywhere near as popular everywhere else.

[Thomas @ Jan 10th 2009 12:47AM]

I don't think that is hating Apple, I don't think it's about being an iPhone killer, or competition. It's about alternatives.

The iPhone may have set the standard for new smartphones, but they killed themselves by being locked into a single carrier.
This may be an iPhone clone to some folks...mainly the diehard iPhone demographic...but to the rest of us, it's a great alternative to swapping carriers for one phone.

I agree with the keyboard though. The HTC formfactor is great. a landscape keyboard and beautiful screen. The G1 ran with it, but does have it's issues....plus it's locked to 1 carrier (for the time being)...same for Palm.

They are both GREAT alternatives, and until the Pre came out, I was going to wait for the Android. But now...
I've loved Palm devices, but the OS was WAY too dated. This change is like Windows 95 to Vista (or 7). I giant leap at once, using the new technology that the iPhone brought to the market, and others (like Android) have shown.

I welcome the change. It will undoubtedly bring more competition, and better phones for the future.

[John @ Jan 10th 2009 1:36AM]

I just saw a video of Palm Pre on mobilesavant.com. You guys should checkout it out, it looks like it's going to be the ultimate iphone killer.

[Shugg @ Jan 10th 2009 1:45AM]

Read below:),.will it do this,?????