We thought we'd seen all that Palm intended to reveal about the magical company-saving
Pre at CES a few weeks back, but quality footage continues to roll in -- and it just gets even better when it's being shown off by an exec instead of your standard-issue PR type. Peter Skillman, Palm's design VP, does the honors here with a 4-plus minute overview of some of the cooler things the Pre has to offer, including a demo of the
Touchstone inductive charger at about 2:26 in (curious fact: it apparently uses the "same technology that are in gecko feet" to stick to the table). At the 2:06 mark, he puts down the
Nokia N95 for looking like a post-apocalyptic industrial design nightmare of exposed hardware and mechanisms (our words, not his), which is kinda funny since we'd never really considered the N95 as a Pre competitor. Finally, he wraps up with a quick look at the Amazon music store starting around 3:19 -- and at a first glance, it looks a heck of a lot prettier than the one we get on the
G1. Not to say we're going to let the prettiness of the store affect how much DRM-free music we buy. Wait, yes we are. See the full video after the break.
[Via
PreCentral]
posted Jan 29th 2009 10:57PM
awesomenesssssss!!!!!!
Palm has a winner on their hands.
Your post literally contains no argument. You're saying if it doesn't work it's going to be a nail in the coffin for Palm. I think that holds true for any company.
I'm really liking the way the Pre is looking, but I don't get all the hype with the Touchstone. What's the point of setting it on the base to charge if you have to plug in a cable to sync to your computer anyway? I prefer the dual syncing/charging functionality of the iPhone dock. Drop it in the dock, it syncs, it charges. No fumbling around with little rubber doors to plug in tiny USB cables.
The Touchstone seems all gimmick, while the Pre is looking all awesomeness.
I'll be interested to see Apple's counterattack.
Wow,people actually still pay for music?itunes.,?isnt that an apple thing.So a music phone that will "guaranteed "not replace a video ipod. So far has no car integration steering wheel control ,no remote control docks, I should stop criticizing. But the reality is as a consumer people will still be looking to see,which phone can truly replace a true widescreen touchscreen video ipod.As long as the masses on a global scale are still paying upwards of $300-$400 for apple touch, best pre might do is second place or the first loser.So pre users will carry pre in left pocket n video ipod in right pocket,how cool.Remember we were all jizzing our pants just 3 months ago,when we first saw storm. So not till pre is released(pending clear patent violation lawsuit) customer approved,tried n tested,can we cast our vote . Here in global depression stricken 2009, success is measured by 1 thing n nothing else,SALES.I'm sure allllll CEO's would agree.Once again ,I have spoken n silenced all.Bring on the hate mail.,dee deee deee!!!!!!!
I'm beginning to think iEye and Flashpoint are the same person. Neither of them have anything intelligent to say......EVER!
Don't you realize that with the Pre you're not actually syncing with a computer. Put that in your iPhone dock pipe and smoke it. But wait that's dumb, why would you invent a whole new way of doing something like that? Golly gee mini mac, why don't you explain the whole reinventing of the MP3 player with the iPod shuffle first that doesn't have a screen and when we'll move on to WebOS.
Me thinks peter likes a wiener on his palm. :)
@shugg
Yes people clearly still pay for music as we still have a recording industry. I may not pay for all of it but I still try for some. And your point is a little off. Yes people will carry their pre in one pocket and their iPod in another. It's what everyone who doesn't have an iPhone currently does with their iPod and cellphone. I have an ipod touch and yet I still intend to get a preif it comes out in Canada and lives up to the hype. Because it is primarily a phone, and a phone will always be nothing more than a phone to me until it comes with enough built in storage or as cards get cheap at that size (read: 32gb).
iEye = making me lol since just about forever ago.
Comparing old-ass technology to a piece-of-crap volvo just about took the cake of that post, however. It was the figurative icing on the cake, the climax, of your epic bowel-emptying of a post.
"you can see all these rails and all these mechanisms... our goal was to strip the product down to the essentials and give you something beautiful"
Ha, funny... wonder where they got THAT design idea from???
You know, if and when the Pre sells about 15 million units as the N95 has he might be able to criticise otherwise he's going to look awfully silly.
Where exactly did he say the Pre is a N95 competitor? And where did he bash it?
He simply said there is one design aspect they did better, and stating only that the Pre is beautiful, which is hard to argue with.
Seriously people - Engadget included - you look like you have the brain of a baboon.
@Mark Anderson: As a famous man once said "a critic does not set out to emulate the things he critiques", why can no one say negative things about the N95 till they themselves have sold 15million phones? Wouldn't that negate the whole reviewing industry. Plus N95 isn't that good a phone, four of my friends have them and all have had to get replacement units cause the keypad would stop working or the phones memory would give up. And for the record its ugly.
@shugg
You can't argue about iTunes any more, because iTunes now has all those DRM free songs. You could in theory buy songs on iTunes and transfer them to any phone or mp3 player you want.
Lemme say this, I hate apple but I love my iphones. I believe it's the only smartphone that actually work WELL. That said, this is the first time I saw Pre WebOS in action and I'm totally impress. If it got a killer web browser (the only real reason that I'm still hanging on to my 5 iphones) I'm totally switching to palm.
This is the 1st product that I think have some serious credibility to put a dent in iphone armor. Let face it the iphone is a poorly design hardware, it's only saving grace is the OS. If palm can make an OS that work half as good as the iphone... I'm sold!!!
I started reading shugg's comment and was like wtf is this....then realized who wrote it....dee dee deeee lol Same thing every single time shugg...don't you have anything new to say, or that we can read and understand?
@ ajmlazx ...
If the only reason you are holding on to your iPhone is the browser I've got news for you. Opera Mobile 9.5 AND SkyFire will give you a better browsing experience over Safari. You have Firefox's browser coming soon. Android's browser is also very nice. The expected release of IE on the WinMo 6.5 or 7 platforms is also exciting.
The reality is that the Safari was ONCE a very nice mobile browser. Now, it's just one of 5 or 6 browsers that all do essentially the same stuff.
I think the G1 is awesome.But, I have to confess, this looks awesomer.
I think my iPhone is great but I have to say, the Pre looks awesome. Did you see how responsive that UI was? So many apps open too.
On another note, I think his name should be Speed-man:
Take a look at this now see how I can move this and what about that guy over there are you filming this oh my god it's just amazing what will it do next!
You know I like it a lot. WebOS is probably the best mobile OS right now. I just wish it wasn't a Palm's product somehow... I know I shouldn't use brands to judge this... but sigh...
@ Poom
I don't know why you would think that, the PALM badge would just seal the deal for me. Lots of good memories from way back in the days...
Did you forget that the G1 was awesomerer?
droooooollll
Caramel,
That's a misapprehension that hasn't rung true for quite some time now.
It would perhaps surprise you to know that Sprint has recently won the best Customer Service award amongst all carriers.
If Sprint wasn't involved, I would totally ditch the iPhone for this mess!
Sprint is much cheaper and has a more comprehensive 3G network. I just dont understand how any of you pay 30-35 bucks for data on your phone. Sprint is at $15.
Cheaper does not equal better. I have heard lots of horror storys of sprints customer service and unless we're in san francisco, none of my friends with sprint service ever have good signal. At&t, T-mobile, and Verizon are all vastly superior in coverage and customer service. Also, you can get a basic internet plan for $5 with t-mobile. On the sidekick, it's $20/mo including unlimited texting and email.
I had Sprint for 4 years here in Arizona before I switched to Verizon. I honestly didn't have a major problem with their coverage/service. I hardly ever had to deal with their customer service because I use auto-pay and I don't treat my phone like crap. I had one bad experience with customer service and that was when my phone had to be replaced. I paid for the insurance and all that. Since they stopped selling my phone by then, they didn't have any in stock. Rather than replacing it with a comparable device or even giving me some kind of a loaner phone, they told me they had to order one of mine and sent me home with my broken phone for over a week while I waited. Very poor service in that case, especially considering that I was a loyal customer for four years who paid extra for insurance and never missed a payment. I did not switch because of that, but it didn't help. I switched because I thought it might help a problem I had with my service at home, all my family and most of my friends have Verizon, and I wanted a Voyager really bad(I learned later that it's not as good a phone as I thought).
Anyway, my point is that the service wasn't all that bad and I would almost consider going back for the Pre. I think it'll depend on the cost of the plan I'll need and what else comes out between then and when my contract expires.
sprint=bad
@caramel: In most markets they have just as good coverage as any other major. In the boonies you're hit and miss with any of them. In the DC/Baltimore area I have never been without signal. If I am in the metro or some place that only has VZW towers I just turn on roaming because Sprint roams for free on VZW. The data plan has easily the fastest *actual* speed of any of the major providers in the area. For me it comes down to price because I haven't seen any real down side to the service. In 6 years I think I have spoken to customer service three times and it was no worse than talking to Comcast or Verizon customer service: just some uninformed chump in a call center. I hear they have improved recently as well. They didn't get involved in all the illegal treasonous wiretapping crap that ATT did and so far my smart phones have always had the full amount of RAM and CPU speed they normally come with. They also don't have the GPS disabled while the carrier tries to figure out a way to monetize it. It would take a lot to get me to double my rates and switch to another provider.
sprint is great here in NYC, my 35 unlimited SERO plan beats any other plan out there.
I really think that Palm has a great phone on their hands but i think they have their marketing strategy needs some work. Locking such a potentially great phone down on a CDMA network won't do much for global sales and the way the market is right now i think they should come out with a GSM version quickly after all outside the US that is what most other countries use. Plus the survival of the company is most likely relying on the success of this product...get with the program Palm.
Please come to Verizon...
:(
You should consider Sprint. They have the BEST prices in the market. Period. Yea Yea once in a while you might call in a talk to a bad CS rep so hang and call back and get someone else, not to mention CS has improved greatly over the last year.
Seriously, just goto sprint.com and input your zip code and then compare the prices to that of Verizon, ATT and TMo. Just do it. Sprint has great service where I live, and in any relatively civilized area, the service has always been just fine for me.
So glad Sprint is getting this phone.
cooooollll...k ill stop now
the lighting is so bad s-killman is almost hugging und kissing the pre...not that I wouldn't
@ 2:00 He claims that they are the first company to ever put the dialpad(numpad) integrated into the qwerty keypad?
My HTC Fuze has a dialpad on the keyboard. First company ever my arse.
I don't know how else to put this... but you're an idiot
He didn't say the pre was the first phone to do it.. he said Palm was the first COMPANY.. meaning they made a phone with a dial pad on the QWERTY keyboard before anyone else
i dont think he meant the PRE is the first phone with it, but that PALM was the first company to do it. I believe him.
You're an idiot!
He wasn't referring to the first instance of the dial keypad being on the qwerty keyboard being on this phone. I had it on my Palm Treo 650...and the 600 had it before that...as does my current 700p. He was talking about their innovation in the smartphone arena in general...which started long before the iPhone.
BTW, Palm has quite a few patents on this stuff...and many of its patents are being violated by a range of smartphone manufacturers...including Apple...so I am not so sure Apple wants to open that can of whoopass...or it is going to get ugly.
Pretty sure homeboy was talking about theold treos
hey has anyone said how stupid this post was yet?
@ Chris...I just want to say your comment made me laugh my ass off!!! I loved it and voted you up!!!
The Treo was the first mobile to do this.
You guys are forgetting that the Treo was made by Handspring before Palm bought them, so the first COMPANY to do this was Handspring, NOT Palm
@chris
lmfaoooooooooooooooooo
@Scuba Steve
What would be great is if Palm refused to license the "Number Pad Patent" for the iPhone and Apple had to release a patch to all the phones that removed that ability....thus rendering every iPhone useless.
hey engadget, i didnt realize gecko feet use technology, more like biology.
Skillman said that, not us.
You obviously don't watch the science channel. Researchers have studied Geckos and figured out that the hairs are so small on a Gecko's feet that it creates a physical bond on the atomic level. They have mimicked and improved this technology better than the Gecko itself, so strong that a piece of paper of this material can hold a 70lb person with the first prototype.
@taylor
if that's true how do you move it?
I assume the same way that geckos, you know, walk.
Is a bird's nest technology or biology? How about a termite mound? We are biology too, and technology is created by us.
@ Taylor: It's called Van der Waal's force, and unfortunately it also attracts dirt and dust. Once the "tape" is dirty it stops "sticking" forever.
Biology is technology.
yay blacklit keyboard! im soooooooooo excited! wow, i am gay for this thing
did you just come out of teh closet?
Ryan, you, me, and the pree - launch day, back room, sprint store.
Is a backlit keyboard surprising for phones anymore?
Also, what kind of crack is this shift-eyed man on?
is it just me or is the inductive charging dock totally bad ass
2 Things:
1) Did he say, "Sync with iTunes?" Isn't that something only iPods can do?
2) Did anyone SEE how many cards he had open and how responsive the UI still was? I'm sold.
That's exactly what I was about to post...I heard it.
My N95 can sync with iTunes so it's not a completely crazy feature.
You can pretty much sync any USB device with iTunes with some scripts.. maybe Pre has that script included. Or maybe he's just talking about how you can drag & drop stuff into the phone, which is what I do with my Touch Diamond :)
I can see how many cards he has open, but they were all lightweight apps, like contacts, calendar, notes, or whatever. If you notice, when he tries to scroll through his album artwork and through music the thing bogs down so bad. Don't get me wrong, I like the multi-tasking ability the iPhone doesn't have yet, but I think I will still have to stick with my iPhone until we see a killer app store, and other services that blow away the iPhone... which doesn't seem too near in the future. The charging dock is pretty lame too. Wonder what the transfer rate is if it's able to sync through the dock without a usb cable... my guess is much slower than usb? And I heard the dock was not standard, it's an accessory to purchase, along with an inductive backing that would need to be applied to the phone.... So... sounds like a MS product to me... tons of advertised features to get some hype but in reality it's either useless, totally pointless, or doesn't work as well as you thought.
Contacts is light-weight? What are you, a grade-schooler? Last I checked, my phone had about 1300 people in it, many of them with full information.
sinc with itunes? hehe fanbois just hurt
Is the 320 by 480 pixel screen a limitiation on these devices?
Not really. More is better, naturally, but that is not a bad resolution. It is not a future-proof resolution, but not a bad one.
Looks like Palm has a nice device on their hands.
PALM PRE is THE IPHONE KILLER. argggghhh.
Watch your words,in order to be the "iphonekiller" you must sell 1 million in 72 hours,then n only then can u earn coveted title of "iphone-killer"That is a sacred word n title.Wow,people actually still pay for music?itunes.,?isnt that an apple thing.So a music phone that will "guaranteed "not replace a video ipod. So far has no car integration steering wheel control ,no remote control docks, I should stop criticizing. But the reality is as a consumer people will still be looking to see,which phone can truly replace a true widescreen touchscreen video ipod.As long as the masses on a global scale are still paying upwards of $300-$400 for apple touch, best pre might do is second place or the first loser.So pre users will carry pre in left pocket n video ipod in right pocket,how cool.Remember we were all jizzing our pants just 3 months ago,when we first saw storm. So not till pre is released(pending clear patent violation lawsuit) customer approved,tried n tested,can we cast our vote . Here in global depression stricken 2009, success is measured by 1 thing n nothing else,SALES.I'm sure allllll CEO's would agree.Once again ,I have spoken n silenced all.Bring on the hate mail.,dee deee deee!!!!!!!
Shugg is a master troll.
Shugg until you can learn how to use a paragraph please stop posting incoherent BLAH BLAH BLAH.
@ shugg: I'm pretty sure what palm is going for is the "smartphone" market not "show off your internet/movies/games device to the other 7th graders" market.
@ shrugg
Thanks, you've convinced me to buy a Pre. Just wanted to let you know. As soon as Sprint or Palm puts the preorder forms up the check will be in the mail.
I'm going to love the MMS and copy and paste too. Those features are so revolutionary.
no, i did not haha, but this thing is redonkulous. Ima camp out by my sprint store overnight for it, even if i know i dont have to. Camping for shit is awesome
First company EVER to have numbers on their keyboard! WOW!
I wasn't sold at first, but now I HAVE TO HAVE ONE!
Why did he spend so much time talking about stuff that isn't news? I want to see reasons why I should buy one, not reasons why it's like their old products...
I'm so glad my "topological complexity" has been reduced as well.
The dock's cool, but I really wasn't awed by anything in this video. At least it has a 3.5mm headphone jack...
lemme guess, u got an iphone and/or a mac. Its ok to be excited for competition. I am a big pc guy, but i still love mac news and stuff. So yeah, its ok to be excited for a non-mac product
thats a nice phone. i hope apple doesnt win the court case they hav against palm cuz it looks lk a really nice alternative
iEye, eye eye, and Paul A. Chapel incoming! Raise the shields, the idiots are coming! The idiots are coming!
1 if by DSL, 2 if by Cable!
And notice how they always comment on the first or second post, so that everybody could see their (mostly irrelevant) comments...
They are probably all flaming back in the Ask Engadget article...
Brilliant. I'm starting to think, as awesome as Tegra-powered phones at the WMC will be, it will always come down to the OS, and webOS is just brilliant.
Com'on release the non-Sprint version already.
wow, that is cool, why the hell is it on sprint.
He said Boom, its the new Jobs.
Well, now I have to have one - the Touchstone has the same technology used in GECKO FEET, for cryin' out loud.
In all seriousness, though, if it does, somehow, sync with iTunes, let me at it.
lol.
Man, I had really wanted a RIM Storm, but this thing is too damn wild and taking too long. When's it coming to Bell Canada?
Your wish will be coming true, according to this article: http://www.precentral.net/yet-another-source-suggest-february-15th-launch-bell-canada-get-pre
I recall Palms CEO saying that a Canadian version was in the works but they weren't sure if it will be GSM, CDMA or both. I suspected it would be GSM, From the article it appears it will in CDMA flavor, first!
I'm shorted my keyboard.
I'm haz good grammarz.
Does that mean the phone won't have the Sprint Music Store app on it since it has the Amazon one?
I know it will have SprintTV, whether or not it will have Sprint Music store is a good question. I do know that during the keynote at CES all the partners where shown on the big screen, Amazon was one of them. It was mentioned that some partners will have native applications on the Pre others will be available via 3rd party. My guess is, if Amazon isn't native it will be available via 3rd party.
Dude it's Palm. There's probably more Palm apps out there than Symbian apps, and WAY more than for the iPhone... While they seem to have said that most older Palm apps won't work in WebOS, WebOS will not only be easy to code for, it will probably be *not impossible* to make an emulator for, too. I don't even own a Palm device anymore and I still have my Palm apps burned to a backup disc...
It will be the best smartphone on the market when it comes out. Hands down.
So glad that Palm has made a comeback.
American innovation baby! Now if Motorola can pull a Palm..
This type of movie is all about creating and sustaining buzz and the Pre launch did that in spades (it pwned CES). But this little movie was an un-impressive follow-up. The guy sounds like second-hand car salesman. Why did he wipe his greasy marks the back of the keyboard when showing it next to the N95? It has vibrate? A volume switch? Who is this targeted at? It's like pointing out the steering wheel and wipers. I know some people are drooling over this, but let's hope this 'lil device lives up to the hype, and is not Pre-mature.
I believe he was just pointing out the ports and outer buttons.
Also it's a silence switch!
A basic function on all new Palms for quick, no mess silence mode which auto activates vibration mode as well (if it isn't already part of your regular configuration).
He wiped the back of the screen not the back of the keyboard because he is a salesman and its common to try and show things off at their shiniest and most pristine form.