The written musings of a long-time Apple //e and Macintosh tech nerd. Opinions are my own.
With the Pre going live in just over 24-hours, have you PREpared your plan to get your new Palm smartphone? I spoke with Jimmie over at GadgetsOnTheGo and he’s got his plan mapped out. I’ve already picked out a spot on the sidewalk at my local Sprint/Nextel retail location. I’ll be camping out at 6am to make sure I’m first in line to score one of the short supply Pre phones.
What are your Pre plans for tomorrow? Drop us a line in the comments section below.
I must have been fooling myself thinking that I may not get a new Palm Pre smartphone right away. Palm has a new gadget about ready to come out and I’ve got that itch that can only be scratched with a new device, so let the Palm Pre OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) begin!
What changed my mind? A few things. I was at a local Sprint store and talked to someone there who had used the Pre and they said that it was “amazing.” This same personal also said “that the browser is just as good as the one on my iPod touch.”
I also received word from an anonymous source that Palm has pushed out an OTA ROM update that brings webOS to version 1.02. The specifics of the updates where not identified.
This all leads up to my decision to sit out in front of my local Sprint store starting at 6am on Saturday morning. The good news is that there is a Dunkin’ Donuts next door (coffee for the Sprint emloyees, a Diet Coke for me).
UPDATE: My wife just tryed to explain to me that there is no clinical “pre OCD.” To which I replied that the object of my current gadget OCD is called, the “Pre.” It’s a good thing that she’s cute. I have changed the title of this post to My Palm Pre OCD.
David Pouge of the New York Times, has review of the Palm Pre smartphone. Mr. Pogue writes:
“You’ve seen that movie, right? The one where a pair of lovable, sad-sack losers team up to defeat the smug, athletic golden boy? If not, you’re about to. It’s called ‘‘Palm Pre vs. iPhone.’’ The star of this summer blockbuster is Palm. Over the years, this once-great company lost its talent for everything but making business blunders. Pundits were predicting Palm’s passing—but then the new Palm Pre appeared.
The Pre’s all-new operating system, called Web OS, is gorgeous, fluid and exciting. It shares some iPhone ideas — pinch or spread two fingers on the screen to zoom in or out, for example, or flick a list item sideways to delete it — but has its own personality and ideas.”
I’m a fan of both Palm and Apple, and I’d rather not see them beating each other to a pulp. The smartphone space is massive and there is plenty of room right now for both the Apple iPhone and the Palm Pre to be successful. For me, I really like the idea of having a nice physical keyboard. I’m not sold on the slider, but hey, that’s probably why Palm is already getting ready to roll out the next Palm webOS smarpthone, the Eos.
Read the full review on the New York Times website…
[Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net…]
Earlier today Handmark announced the release of Phaze, an exciting new futuristic racing game, on the Apple App Store. Phaze is unique to iPhone and iPod touch and offers players an exhilarating race experience as they select their ship and race around 16 rollercoaster-like tracks with stomach-flipping twists and turns, and velocity-increasing boost pads, while collecting powerups and avoiding their competitors’ weapons!
“Following the success of GTS World Racing and Hellfire for iPhone and iPod touch we are excited to bring fans of arcade-style racing games another high-quality, addictive game,” said Cassidy Lackey, vice president of Handmark Studios. “Our partnership with world-class developers like Pazzazz, brings exclusive games to the App Store that will surely keep users on the edge of their seat!”
Phaze features 2 play modes – Single Race and Championship across 16 futuristic locations and with 4 levels of difficulty. Players begin with a choice of 3 ships, and a further 7 can be unlocked through Championship mode.
Phaze is available for $4.99 from Apple’s App Store and works with the iPhone and iPod touch.
For more information and to view a demo video, visit the Astraware website.
This game looks really cool, but I know that I can’t play racing games to save my life! You should know that I can drive a real car much better than I can pilot a vehicle in these racing games.
It’s Tuesday night, and the Pre goes on sale in just 4 days; Saturday morning at 8:00am. The question is, are we going to Pre or not? Palm webOS looks like a fantastic mobile operating system; the kind that Palm OS users have been waiting years for.
For as cool as the Pre is, I’m still worried about the form factor. After having used the Tungsten T, T2, and T3, I’ve decided that I’m calling it quits with the slider design. (I spent more time with the device’s slider open than not. So much so that it became a pain to deal with.) I’m also concerned that 8GB just isn’t enough storage space for a device that we now know that will sync directly with Apple’s iTunes jukebox software. (A 16GB Pre or a Pre with a microSD card slot would have made me feel better.)
At the end of the day, does the feature richness of Palm webOS win the day? Or will my hang ups about the hardware cause me to shy away from the device?
Right now, I’m on the fence. I can totally see myself in line at the local Sprint store at 6:00am to get a new Pre. Then again, with the rumors running rampant on the Internet that Sprint retail locations and big box stores are going to have less than six devices in stock is really putting a damper on things. Why get up at 5am to get in line at a store that may not even have a Pre smartphone in stock?
Let my know what you are going to be doing on Saturday by clicking the Comments link below.
NotifyCorp, a wonderful middleware platform that brings wireless PIM and email to your existing IT infrastructure, is at it again. A teaser billboard on the Notify website simply states that they are coming to the webOS party “soon.”
That’s great news for small to mid size businesses that don’t want to deal with the added costs or stress of trying to support multiple devices, carriers, mobile operating systems, and any email/collaboration system that isn’t Microsoft Exchange Server, Lotus Notes, or BlackBerry Enterprise Server. (Not that those big email systems are easy to manage either!)
I have been a Notify administrator for over two years and the system is working flawlessly. I can’t wait to get my hands on a Pre and load the Notify client on it!
To learn more about NotifyCorp and their NotifyLink Enterprise Server, check out their website.
The latest 1SRC Podcast has been posted for your listening enjoyment.
This week, on the 1SRC Podcast, I cover:
Download 1SRC Podcast 211 enhanced edition…
Subscribe to the enhanced 1SRC Podcast feed…
Read the transcript for 1SRC Podcast 211…
Discuss 1SRC Podcast 211…
Palm’s PR department dropped us a line earlier today to let us know about some of the cool new features that are going to be included in Palm webOS, the new mobile operating system that will power Palm’s Pre smartphone.
Palm Unveils More webOS Details: Palm Media Sync, Twitter Integration, App Catalog
CARLSBAD, Calif., May 28, 2009 — Today at The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) introduced attendees to the latest features of the Palm® webOS™ platform, including Palm media sync, the integration of Twitter in universal search, and a beta version of its App Catalog. Jon Rubinstein, Palm executive chairman, and Roger McNamee, Palm director and co-founder of Elevation Partners, debuted the new webOS features, which will be available on the new Palm Pre™ phone when it launches June 6 on Sprint’s mobile broadband network.
Palm Media Sync
Palm media sync is a feature of webOS that synchronizes seamlessly with iTunes, giving you a simple and easy way to transfer DRM-free music, photos and videos to your Palm Pre. Simply connect Pre to your PC or Mac via the USB cable, select “media sync” on the phone, and iTunes will launch on your computer desktop. You can then choose which DRM-free media files to transfer.
“We designed Palm media sync to be an easy and elegant way for you to take the content you own and put it on Pre, and it’s just one of the ways we think you’ll be amazed by webOS,” said Rubinstein. “We’ve had an overwhelming response since we introduced Pre at CES, and with availability just days away, we can’t wait to let everyone see firsthand what the excitement is all about.”
Pre also acts as a mass storage drive, letting you side-load your media content. Once connected to a computer using the USB cable, Pre will appear as a drive on the computer desktop. You can drag and drop music, photos or video files onto your Pre, or drag files from your Pre to the computer. And, just like a digital camera, Pre works directly with your computer’s default desktop photo software to seamlessly import photos captured with Pre’s built-in 3-megapixel camera.
In addition to listening to music transferred from your desktop, you can use the on-device Amazon MP3 store to purchase individual songs or full albums over-the-air. You can search by artist, song and genre, and preview and purchase music files. You can then download purchased tracks when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Twitter in Universal Search
Palm also announced that Twitter search is integrated into webOS universal search. Universal search is about finding what you want quickly, whether it’s an on-device contact to call, a place you’re trying to get to, or a Wikipedia article for encyclopedic information. Just start typing and Pre will figure out if you’re looking for a contact, an application, or even let you search the web via Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia and now Twitter. Universal search uses Twitter’s search service to sort through real-time current events and news, so universal search now covers every aspect of search on the web: general info, location, encyclopedia, and news.
Twitter’s ability to show what’s going on right now is a perfect fit for what universal search and Pre are all about. You don’t have to be a Twitter user to benefit from Twitter in universal search. It’s available for all users, even if they don’t have an account, so anyone can keep on top of real-time news and the latest trends.
App Catalog
Rubinstein and McNamee also gave conference attendees an advance look at the beta version of the App Catalog, which will be available on Pre at launch. The beta version will feature applications from developers such as AP News, Citysearch, Fandango, Pandora and uLocate.
“We’ve received excellent feedback from participants in the Mojo SDK early access program and look forward to the SDK’s public release. Developers are very enthusiastic about the platform’s ease of use and industry-standard development model,” said Rubinstein. “We’re excited to launch Pre with the beta version of the catalog, which will give a taste of how the overall webOS ecosystem will work.”
The App Catalog was demonstrated at the conference using Fandango’s webOS application, which takes advantage of Palm Synergy™, a key feature of webOS. It also uses Pre’s location-based services to find theaters near you, and lets you watch trailers, buy tickets, add showtimes to your calendar and get directions to the theater. Also included in the beta App Catalog will be Pandora, which makes use of the platform’s multitasking capabilities, running elegantly in the background while you’re using other applications. It highlights a unique aspect of the notification bar that lets you know what song is currently playing, and control pause and play without having to go back into the application.
The Palm Pre phone will be available from Sprint on June 6 for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and $100 mail-in rebate. More information is available at www.sprint.com/palmpre and www.palm.com.
You can check out some of these new features in action on the All Things Digital videos page.
If you haven’t seen this Pre “commercial” of Roger McNamee poking fun at himself, you are doing yourself a disservice.
http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/atd/microPlayer.swf
And just remember kids, the Pre eats iPhones for breakfast!
If you have no idea what I’m talking about or why I think this video is so funny, you have to go back and watch this video of Roger shortly after the Palm Pre was unveiled back in January at this year’s CES show.
Jimmie over at GadgetsOnTheGo.net is reporting that Palm will be making an appearance at this year’s All Things Digital conference. Walt Mossberg, of the Wall Street Journal fame, has been quoted as saying:
“The Palm guys are coming, they not are only going to come and talk in more detail about the Palm Pre than you have seen before, but they’re actually going to introduce some things that haven’t even been speculated, that the Palm Pre is going to be able to do, that haven’t even been speculated on the blogs and they’re going to show some cool features.”
http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf
Let’s hope that this appearance at “D” is better than Palm’s last high-profile appearance when they wanted to talk about their last “new” device, the Palm Foleo.
[Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net…]