By now, you know precisely what the
Palm Pre is capable of. You know the
ins and outs of the user experience, and you've probably got a solid idea of whether or not you'll be lined up come June 6th to claim one as your own. But here's a side you probably haven't heard: the voice of the design team. At long last, the masterminds behind Palm's comeback phone have finally sat down to talk about the build process and what drove them to create both the Pre and webOS. Not surprisingly, most of it came from the desire to truly revolutionize the mobile experience, one that's been generally poor for far too long. In separate (but equally awesome) interviews, Michelle Koh and a gaggle of design engineers (including Matias Duarte, Mike Bell, Peter Skillman and Michael Abbott) have opened up to spill their soul on rejuvenating the company with a single product. We won't issue any spoilers here, but we'd argue that the read links below are required reading if you're even remotely interested in this handset.
Read - Michelle Koh interview
Read - Design team interview
posted June 5th 2009 9:21AM
When is the next Palm phone coming?
Oh yah, maybe MS should consider acquiring Palm. Then they would have a nice OS that they can build upon instead of writing Mobile 7 from scratch =).
Ultimately, the PRE isn't going to be the next big thing. I see Pre only appealing to those with PALM's and Samsungs on Sprint.... most people have already bought into iPhone or Storm.
Once the next iPhone/OS is released I'm sure it will have the multi application functionality that the PRE has - which besides its keyboard is all that really seperates it from iPhone.
A lot of companies can compete with and best Apple.
What they cant compete with is Apple's rabid user base, who religiously do all the marketing for them.
Fortunately, anyone with an ounce of intelligence can see there is nothing that special about Apple stuff.
@Quantumphysics:
That was the most nonsensical non-troll garbage I've seen in a while. "most people have already bought into iPhone or Storm" I work in the financial district and have not seen a single Storm amongst the white collar crowd. The suits aren't giving up their keyboards, mmmk?
@ Quantumphysics don’t forget the notifications, the Pre notifications are the shit!!
I myself am going am probably going to get an iphone v3 and as my contract is up and come November when the iPhone v3 becomes an embarrassment to own (about the time I see grannies and school kids comparing apps on the train) the pre will be out in the UK and my girlfriend’s contract is up so i’ll make her get a Pre and do a swap with. Both phones are on O2 so everyone’s a winner!
p.s. I know the review said that apps loaded slower on the Pre than the iphone but has anyone seen a vid comparing the two the browser comparison? I’m just asking as the pre doesn’t seem to have loading screen before the apps fully loads like the iphone does so was wondering if this was taken into account.
I dont see any of the suits getting this over a BB (Storm or otherwise) because the email support and implementation is crappy!
Microsoft don't really need to buy anything, they already have the NT kernel which is a very well made kernel, now if only they would use it in their Windows Mobile.... They have already shown it can be stripped down to a very light size with MinWin, all they need to do really is use MinWin and build a new mobile version of Windows on top, the same way Pre and Android both use Linux and the iPhone uses XNU.
@ superhobo, I fixed this for you:
A lot of companies can compete with and best MS.
What they cant compete with is MS' rabid user base, who religiously do all the marketing for them.
Fortunately, anyone with an ounce of intelligence can see there is nothing that special about MS stuff.
WinMo uses Windows CE as a foundation. As far as I know that runs on the NT Kernel... Right?
Please, oh please palm. Please make a Pre with a wide (side) keyboard. Then I will buy it.
@Quix
I bet your one of those guys who would be on his knees if Stevie needed some oral loving huh? I like how all the Apple fanboys start spouting how much better Mac is when Linux does the same if not better job. The only thing that Apple has done thats note worthy is the cult status they established with their iPod. I mean, its the only reason why they're popular now.
@Venomizer
CONGRATULATIONS! You are the one-millionth Apple-hating, close minded, Psheep to suggest that a fellow commenter would perform oral sex on Steve Jobs! Go fuck your damn linux penguin and leave the rest of us alone already.
@dohnuts
I'll keep this simple. FIRST, READ your fellow fanboy's comments first and UNDERSTAND why i posted what i posted. Don't be a hypocrite and accuse me of what you and your friends do consistently on every other product that competes with apple.
SECOND, i am not like you, i don't hate Mac for being mac. I like apple and their products. I have an 80GB iPod, ITouch, and Macbook Air. What i can't stand is ignorant people like you who follow a brand so blindly that they automatically judge everything else as failure if it doesn't have an apple logo on it.
If you ever join the real world and actually use a variety of products to make informed decision, let me know.... I'll have some cookies for you.
O Burnt!
What? You can't relax now, start working on the next phone!
One without a physical keypad, for those who really don't need to type much.
You do realize that an app could be developed to have a virtual keyboard on this phone right? If a 3rd party developer can accomplish this, I suspect it would be profitable.
Of course it could, but that doesn't make the extra weight and thickness disappear.
And it would be a bit cramped too.
Engadget: So did we mention the Pre? .. On the Pre... What about that Pre then? Hey, howbout that Pre! ARE YOU READING ABOUT THE PRE!!!?!?!?
Give it a rest already.
1. Now: Preprepreprepreprepreprepreprepre
2. After 3 days: iphoneiphoneiphoneiphoneiphoneiphoneiphoneiphoneiphoneiphoneiphoneiphoneiphone
I prefer 1 myself.
+ 1
Engadget have a fascination with smartphones urgh
First the iPhone now the Pre, pointless stories going on about nothing.
The comments are always interesting though, people going on about how the iPhone sucks or MS suck or....
I remember people complaining the same whinny way bout the iPhone, yes it did have too much, too many news on it, yes it seemed as if they where elJobso's lovers, yes it was kind of annoying, but for shits sake go take a dump and relieve your selves of all the feces your retaining in your colon, stop being so damn anal, and just skip through the Pre news, you DON'T have to read them all, you DON'T have to be here, ( I'm not gonna say GTFO even tho you do deserve it), and yes it's THEIR frigging blog, and YES they can do what ever they want with it, because there are some of us that DO want this news, just like the iphone fanbois did some time before.
/end abusive rant/ feel better now thanks
@adderz
You should stick to Google News if Engadget talks too much about the most up to date technology on everyone's mind. It's sorta what engadget is all about.
I guess the same goes to you dsunbury. Oh, and don't worry your little fanboy heart any, they'll be back to your precious iphone in a few days.
I want read about the iphone and the Pre and the android and ms and apple and nintendo and Sony.
I don't want to read dumb ass headlines though and often times the comments forum really annoys me.
I haven't really been following the Pre, but seems like all I see are these 'beauty' shots, cleverly positioned at an angle to show off the physical keyboard. Is that the Pre's big claim to fame?
Most people are impressed by its interface and operating system, although Palm is proud that there is the existence of a physical keyboard.
Sprint pays Engadget to ramble on about the Pre because they can't afford to pay for REAL advertising.
Apple is the best at advertising.
Yeah that's it. You've got it all figured out now!
What's with all these guys coming into these comment sections pretending to be me?
So you can leave and get a reallife job.
@Paul
Obviously you haven't discovered the rest of Engadget. Go discover it and then come back screaming that they get paid by Sony, Google, Nintendo, Microsoft, Apple, and countless other technology companies because they talk about them.
@Venomizer
Uh, the guy above is not me. It's a guy named derrick_j. Click on my name in the parent comment and you will see. I actually like the Pre and I'm not one of those idiots who is constantly complaining about Engadget bias, so I would never make a statement like the one above.
There's a bunch of MS Fanboys who are frustrated that they can't beat me in arguments, so now their latest idea is to try to get me banned, but I will make sure that they are reported every time they pull these stunts. Some guy did this to me a few months ago too. It's nothing new.
@the real Paul
I apologize. I was just responding to OP comment.
@Tinu: Actually, RIM should buy Palm. For all it's popularity, the Blackberry OS is appalling! (I was shocket at how 1980s it looked when toying with one the other day. Only the email is done right.) Most of the UI is inconsistent, ugly and lacking an appreciation of human factors. (The Storm looks nice, but is a dog to use.) The Pre and WebOS are perfectly suited to the complex business and social lives of the typical Blackberry user - providing a nice hybrid between the iPhone and Blackberry. (There was rumor of an MS buyout of RIM, but I don't see that happening as I think RIM are smart enough to do things on their own.) Anyway, a RIM/Palm Pre would bring iPhone like slickness to the RIM platform and give Palm a huge ready user base.
Thoughts?
Agree - THAT would be a smart move for both companies. Separately they're both on the losing side, competing against each other rather than Apple.
+1
rimm never actualy went to take down the Iphone in anyway. Even the storm was just an experiment phone since they knew they were going to cut support for it after only a few months. the UI on the iphone is nice, but i havent noticed any problems on my 8900, and i love having a physical keyboard. THe UI on os 4.7 and the coming 5.0 could be used by any ol' fool. Try it for yourself.
Agreed.
BB Email + BB handset + Palm WebOS would be awesome. RIM and Palm should definitely realize that the enemy of their enemy is their friend.
I didn't like that second one, simply because they said that "Apple have the only full-touch mobile phone"
Even apple lovers have to agree that that is straight bullshit.
You seem to be under the delusion that Apple lovers believe in logic. Haha.
yeah, cause a physical keyboard with tiny keys makes all the "logic" in the world - LOL
@dsunbury: RIM made an entire business out of that logic, so we could understand it's a solid one.
@Kemwer - you should have finished that with "before Apple came along".
you know when a new product comes out and suddenly everything else looks slightly dated?
well... the Pre make the i-Phone look OLD.
that curve that becomes more of a curve open at your ear? it makes the i-slab look like something from w-a-y back, when things were flat rectangles.
I know... I just can't wait to have a banana sticking out from my ear... wait till you see the headphones, they'll surely be shaped like loganberries. Revolutionary!
Banana eh? Really, it's that curved? Maybe it's just all the angles I've seen so far in pictures and videos. Hmm, guess it's just me then.
i-slab.... I love it.
Thanks for posting this Darren, it's rare to get even the tiniest glimpse into the murky world of closed-door design from such a major innovator.
GSM Pre please, Palm.