Foretelling the future?

Is Palm telling the public something, or are they merely using clever marketing ploys? Either way, the new Palm Pre smartphone may finally give Apple a run for their money!

The Pre is quite impressive. It has a full touch screen with a slide out, tactile QWERTY keyboard. It touts all of the standards: MMS, interweb, wi-fi, email, 3 meg camera w/ flash, calenders, etc. Where it pulls ahead - some seemingly common sense yet fantastic abilities. It has a fully integrated processing system that not only allows the use of multiple apps simultaneously, but also lets you say - surf the web to buy tickets to Zappa Plays Zappa, then automatically creates a date event in your calendar with all of the info. How cool is that? It also organizes all correspondences with a particular person into one IM-type window, regardless of whether it was a phone call, text or IM.

Another cool feature is how it handles notifications. When I'm on my iPhone and using a particular app and a text or phone call comes in, that big ole window pops up right in the middle of the screen and prevents me from what I'm doing until I select 'ignore or reply'. The Pre has a little dashboard at the bottom of the screen that simply shows you what else is going on without interrupting the task at hand. It also has ambient light, accelerometer and proximity sensors like the iPhone. The screen is slightly smaller, 3.1" to the iPhone's 3.5". And at 3.9x2.3x.67" and 4.76oz, the Pre is relatively smaller, though thicker than the iPhone's 4.5x2.5x.5".

I downloaded the beta 3.0 firmware for my iPhone. It has some great improvements, some of which should have been native to the phone ages ago. 3.0, which should release around mid June, allows MMS messaging (finally), Cut/Copy/Paste (finally), universal search (meaning you can now search the entire phone for contacts, entries, whatever), and you can text and email in landscape format (finally). The phone is slightly more responsive. A new native app is included, Voice Memos. It is just as it implies. I prefer YouNote, as you can attach voice memos to your photos, notes, etc.

The Pre definitely appears as though it will be a heavy hitter. With some of its terrific abilities, Apple has a little catching up to do. The largest downfall of the Palm's new device, however, is that it initially will only be offered through Sprint. As a previous patron of 3.5 years, I can tell you that Sprint sucks bologna! As with most other Palm devices, however, I am certain that Verizon will offer it shortly in their own color of choice. As for the iPhone, a new hardware device - yes, that's right folks - a new iPhone is due out along with the firmware update. It's difficult to discern exactly what bells and whistles it shall flaunt. A short while ago Apple acquired a microprocessor company. It is certain there will be a much faster processor in the new iPhone, although we're all pulling for a multi-processor. A better camera will be included and overall, the phone will be more tailored towards the new bandwidth. Will Apple release the update first, or the phone? If they're smart, the update will come first, then the phone. This will prevent the complete server failure of last year when they released both simultaneously, and it will likely employ more veterans to seek out the new hardware. Personally, I'll be happy with my 3G for some time...At least until my contract runs out. ;D

So what's the verdict? While Jane and Joe Blow probably won't care very much, my fellow geeks and smartphone devotees are sure to be closely watching and anticipating. Although Apple's App store is ingenious, the Pre offers a wide variety of 3rd party apps in their own app store and an SDK. The developer's conference in 2.5 weeks will certainly have all eyes and ears glued!