Palm invites us to 'see and hear what's new' at CES 2010

CES 2009 was a biggie for Palm, what with webOS and the Pre and all. Will they top it in 2010? And if so, how? A Verizon partnership seems plausible, if not likely -- but otherwise, your guess is as good as ours. Anyhow, keep it locked right here next month and you'll be finding out just as we do!

[kris120890 Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:01PM]

Well I'm hoping a new device with next version of webOS.

[Titanium Man Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:21PM]

@kris120890
Yeah, this plus a partnership with Verizon.
Although I always thought that webos is designed primarily for power users, with the whole managing cards thing that non-techy people find intimidating. But power users want speed and apps, which the current devices lack. Will the new version be as fast as the competition? We'll see.

[chancekang Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:38PM]

@kris120890 enable the built-in gpu will automatically generate a new webos device. hmmm, possibly two

[JONNNathannn Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:38PM]

@kris120890 Me too. webOS is great and all but they need to fix some things, especially since Android is doing it better (Synergy is TOO MESSY. HTC and Motorola let me link only the friends I want to link, figure it out Palm. Same for adding my buddies to my phonebook automatically...wtf? How is this easier for me?)

Ok, went on a tangent there. The Pre's hardware is pretty weak and the screen small. The Pixie is nice but a budget device. Show off some killer hardware with some webOS changes. Or don't bother.

[joe23521 Posted Dec 15th 2009 5:05PM]

@kris120890

An immediately available webOS device with WVGA screen and 5mp camera will deter me from picking up the DROID in January.

[ComradeArmona Posted Dec 15th 2009 5:11PM]

@JONNNathannn
I thought hardware-wise, 3GS and Pre were essentially equal

[JONNNathannn Posted Dec 15th 2009 5:33PM]

@ComradeArmona Perhaps I should specify build quality, the actual phone itself. It's squeaky, plasticy, loose and wiggly. The screen is very small. The camera, not so great. Things like that.

[Thor e Posted Dec 15th 2009 10:38PM]

@JONNNathannn
I would take the pre anyday than be a victim of how Apple has been treating its iPhone customers. And for the record the form factor is just right and the camera is great. not a heavy peice of marble in your pocket.

[Johnathan Posted Dec 16th 2009 4:55AM]

I wonder if by "see and hear" they mean 'No Touching', it is in Vegas after all...

[RottingOrange Posted Dec 16th 2009 2:23PM]

@kris120890
It's probably going to be webOS 1.5 or the like, hopefully with GPU, flash, and video recording support.

And fix the sync, Palm... dear Neptune, please fix the sync...

[boballistic Posted Jan 3rd 2010 12:59AM]

@JONNNathannn how is the pre hardware weak I load web pages as fast as the 3gs if not faster and that's while doing 5 or 6 other things

[kitsune Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:02PM]

Ooooh interesting!

[tommy2468 Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:26PM]

@kitsune It is interesting, but the amount of orange background in relation to the amount of white text is disgusting

[bill cant fart Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:02PM]

New Treo!!

[Banksta3 Posted Dec 15th 2009 5:43PM]

@bill cant fart
Treo900W

[Craig Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:02PM]

Pre 2.0 with 5 megapixel camera, new webOS and one of those snappy processors. Please.

[Ruben Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:10PM]

@Craig:

It already has a very snappy processor. What it needs badly is GPU hooks and native development. And get the damn market open to canada.

[mdsf Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:33PM]

@Ruben

So true. Everybody seems to be dissing the Pre (including the Bell employees). My wife is fighting an uphill battle trying to convince her office to get her one. Instead they're trying to push the Bold or the iPhone on her instead! No disrespect to the iPhone (as I own a 2G and a 3Gs) but an iPhone!?!

[jhoff80 Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:58PM]

@Craig Agreed with the two posters above me. There honestly isn't all that much that Palm can do hardware specs wise for a Pre 2.

I mean, of course there will be a flash memory bump, maybe a compass, maybe a better camera, and hopefully a larger battery.

But performance-wise, there isn't all that much they can do. Tegra is actually a slower CPU than the A8 in the Pre, and webOS doesn't support the GPU yet anyway, so that wouldn't make sense. Snapdragon is clocked higher than the Pre's OMAP3430, but it's still at its heart based on the Cortex A8 that the Pre is already using, so they won't change the chipset (and have to support a third entirely new configuration) just for that.

The only possibility is to use a newer revision of the OMAP3. The OMAP36xx series is a die shrunk version of their current chipset and supports higher clock speeds, so maybe we'll see that in a new Pre, though I'm not sure it was finished early enough for Palm to use in a new device yet.

In all likelihood, the only huge changes will be software-based. While I don't think native apps are the end-all, be-all that some think they are, they might have to do something with that to shut the naysayers up. I think maybe they'll probably continue to base things on the web design aspects, but my guess is that they'll probably use browser plugins to execute not quite native code, but closer to the metal code.

Regardless, GPU acceleration is a must. And we know Flash is coming. Video recording might be coming. And that's just the easily guessable software changes. Hopefully they've got some secrets locked away to put in webOS 2.0.

[jhoff80 Posted Dec 15th 2009 5:00PM]

And for the record, I know that the Snapdragon, OMAP3, etc. are a system on a chip, not really a "chipset" but it's just easier to refer to it as a chipset.

[jhoff80 Posted Dec 15th 2009 5:02PM]

And one huge thing that I forgot to mention, that's of course ignoring any potential form factor changes (which wouldn't be a Pre 2 anyway, but still).

[Freakin Ijit Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:03PM]

I don't think saying Verizon is buying some devices is a biggee. They need a new device that's MUCH better than a Pre.

[volite Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:11PM]

@Freakin Ijit
I agree. But isn't if funny how quickly the pre has gone from the new superhott device to an underpowered little powder puff in less than 6 months?

[thewhistler Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:22PM]

@volite Um... according to who exactly?

[Freakin Ijit Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:24PM]

@volite Yeah, I personally think the Pre is already history and The Next Next Next Great Thing will take its place.

[Kirtay Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:28PM]

@thewhistler: Exactly, who said the Pre is a puff of powder?
It's a damn powerful device, and it still did well.

Personally, a new, larger-screen device with webOS 1.5/2.0 would be awesome.

[volite Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:51PM]

@thewhistler
Pre owner, eh?

[thewhistler Posted Dec 15th 2009 6:07PM]

@volite

Yep. Just got it last month. Switched from T-Mobile and picked it over the iPhone and the Droid. And I know a handful of other folks who have recently gotten the Pre also (and not because I told them too... well, most of them anyway). I think it is a great device. Give me a bit better battery life and a sturdier slider mechanism and it'd be just about perfect.

[martynmcfarquhar Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:04PM]

Get the GPU working Palm and then we can talk!

[cursive Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:41PM]

@martynmcfarquhar srsly? i dont understand why they wouldnt be using it? maybe battery? i dont really know anything about how it works...

[martynmcfarquhar Posted Dec 15th 2009 5:03PM]

@(Unverified)

I think it's part of the problem of the OS being written in web-based languages, basically the web doesn't integrate GPU acceleration yet, and so the path to the GPU just doesn't exist.

It's a shame really, if the Pre had the GPU integrated the UI could be as smooth as butter, and then I probably would have bought one, but the lag just kills it for me. Once Palm has this ironed out I'll be keeping a close watch on future WebOS devices.

[rlopin Posted Dec 15th 2009 10:14PM]

@martynmcfarquhar

The WebGL open standard was released today. It was written specifically to allow JavaScript calls to OpenGL from within the browser. Looks like basing WebOS development on JavaScript was prescient after all.

[martynmcfarquhar Posted Dec 16th 2009 9:34AM]

@rlopin

Excellent, well get cracking Palm!

[untitled Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:04PM]

see and "hear" ? maybe its an iPalm

[HardToBelieve Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:09PM]

@untitled

iFacePalm. =D

[StanMe Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:41PM]

@HardToBelieve
Ungh... why.....

[HardToBelieve Posted Dec 16th 2009 4:26PM]

@StanMe

Ach... Why not?

[gotwillk Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:07PM]

they better be coming up with something good. seems like the end is near for them.

[martynmcfarquhar Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:12PM]

@gotwillk

Rumours of Palm's death have been greatly exaggerated...

[Riz Posted Dec 16th 2009 10:21PM]

@martynmcfarquhar

after years of hearing the drone of people waiting for Palm to die, I can't tell you how great it is to see a comment like this ranked so highly.

[Stu L Tissimus Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:08PM]

I feel like the best advertising for phones is just seeing other people using them. And I've seen a grand total of one person with a Pre. Why? Sprint is bleeding subscribers like crazy, last I heard - Palm really needs to team up with another provider if they want to actually move their phones into people's hands.

[HardToBelieve Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:28PM]

@Stu L Tissimus


http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/13/palm-pixi-clears-fcc-with-verizon-frequencies-and-wifi-in-tow/

[senormatt Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:09PM]

The end's not near and it'll be apparent at CES.

Hoping for a new Palm device on Sprint in the coming months.

[glenskey Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:09PM]

my prediction: they bought nokia.

[dcoaster Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:13PM]

@glenskey With what? Pixi dust?

[glenskey Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:17PM]

@dcoaster well, i never have been very good at bets :D

[Ruben Posted Dec 15th 2009 5:35PM]

@glenskey: you're also awful with predictions too.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:11PM]

They need to match the hardware capabilities and network of the DROID with Palm's intuitive user interface.

At this point, however, I think the only thing that can compete with Android is BB OS or iPhone OS.

Palm should jump on the bandwagon and make a proprietary overlay for an Android base (a la HTC), which would allow Android apps to run in the "cards" system. That on hardware that has the features and the performance of the DROID would be KILLER.

[TheCodexAlera Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:19PM]

@(Unverified)

It's funny you say "compete with Android"

If anything Android is competing with (and fighting an uphill battte) against iPhone OS, WinMo, and hell even Symbian from Nokia.

Aside from the interwebs and the geeks on websites like Engadget Android isn't that special and it's definitely no where near as popular or as widespread as any of the other OS's....

That being said though Android is definitely on the rise but the way you're phrasing it seems like it's already won which is as far from the truth as possible.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 15th 2009 4:22PM]

@TheCodexAlera Well, PalmOS is much less of a success than Android, and right now the flagship device in the US market is the DROID, and its running Android, so everything else has to compete with it. AT&T has nothing even like it.