The outstanding QWERTY touchscreen handset that is the Palm Pre did not win awards if not for its remarkable features that set it apart from typical touchscreen smartphones out there. One of the most eagerly anticipated smartphones of the year, this has been speculated on as an iPhone killer. When it was released early in spring, it did sport a capacitive touchscreen with multi-touch capability much like that found in the iPhone and a User Interface that looks and feels like one. But other than that, this is no iPhone killer. It actually has features that put one over the iPhone. And some that disappoint.
Some Innovative Features
Apart from the fact that this is Palm’s first smartphone with the multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, as well as 3G, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR and A2DP, A-GPS and a 3 megapixel camera with LED flash, the Palm Pre boasts of these innovative features:
The Palm Pre’s uses a 600 MHz Texas Instruments engine underclocked at 500 MHz that runs a very capable Linux-based WebOS platform with true multitasking capability. Multiple tasks that are open are organized in Activity Cards that allow you to jump from one to another quickly without losing information. It has three input sensors that make it react to its surroundings: an accelerometer that shifts from portrait to landscape viewing automatically with the handset oriented accordingly; a light sensor that automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness; and a proximity sensor that disables touchscreen inputs when it senses the phone being held to your face in a call. The Pre is among the first smartphones to have wireless charging that makes us of electromagnetic induction from a wireless charging block called a Touchstone Charger. Just put the handset on top of it and it gets charged. You can still a microUSB cable for charging though.
What it doesn’t have
You don’t get video recording, though its media player supports playback of popular video formats. You don’t get a microSD expansion slot, though it has a USB port for Flash drives. There’s no virtual QWERTY pad on screen, but that can be redundant when you already have a tactile QWERTY keyboard that slides out. Its web browser doesn’t support YouTube. Worst, its online Palm app store isn’t as great as the others, but that’s in the works and hopefully will support downloading of apps to give the Palm Pre something new every time.
But let there be no mistake, notwithstanding these shortfalls that are easily addressed by its own feature-set, you have a very attractive and versatile mobile phone in the Palm Pre with features that should keep Apple on its toes.
Originally posted 2009-11-19 11:37:12. Republished by Old Post Promoter
Related posts on Palm Pre:
- Palm Pre – can it beat the iPhone 3GS and HTC Magic? Now that the Palm Pre has been unleashed on the world, let’s take a look at it, and see how it plans to overthrow its rivals. Looks and Design First up, let’s take a look at the Palm Pre’s hardware, as compared to what are probably its two closest rivals: the HTC Magic and the iPhone [...]...
- A Worthy iPhone Opponent – the Palm Pre Palm Inc. launched its Palm Pre multimedia smartphone in June this year using a new Linux-based operating system called WebOS. Having received positive critical reviews and winning some awards, the new mobile phone has cutting edge features that make it a versatile all-in-one package as a multimedia smartphone. Itâs at once an imaging phone, a [...]...
- Sony Ericsson Idou – the phones it will have to beat The Sony Ericsson Idou may be one of the most anticipated phones of the year, but it’s not going to have things all its own way. Let’s take a look at the competition it will have to beat. Sony Ericsson Idou – the basics The Sony Ericsson Idou is garnering a lot of attention for, in [...]...
- An Innovative but Flawed iPhone Opponent – the Palm Pre No, itâs not going to be the iPhone killer. More like an iPhone wanabee. But as they say, imitation is flattery. And the more the competition takes on iPhone-like features, the more iPhone gets the credit. But the Palm Pre is really a lot more than just that. It can stand on its own as [...]...
- An iPhone-like Challenge – the Palm Pre The iPhone has a serious contender in the Palm Pre. Not that mobile phone maker Palm Inc. wants to, but the Palm Pre has the look and feel on its user interface that’s undoubtedly inspired by the iPhone. It uses a Linux-based WebOS platform that’s unique to Palm but with a home screen that looks like [...]...
- Palm Pre SmartPhone – Hands-On Gallery Palm is focused on creating instinctive yet powerful mobile products that enable people to better manage extraordinary lives on the go. Their goal is to deliver products that implement technology in a truly useful way. Palm has unleashed its latest release on June 6 2009- Palm Pre, a Smartphone that is designed according to our life [...]...
- Palm Pixi: A Tiny Phone with Better Features to Offer A small mobile phone does not necessarily mean that it already entails lesser and unnecessary hardware. This is simply because of the fact that a small phone has also the ability to contain outstanding hardware or features just like the large-sized mobile phones.And this is actually what the Palm Pixi mobile phone wants to prove. [...]...
- LG GC900 VIEWTY II- sophistication and stylish innovation at the palm of your hands The LG GC900 VIEWTY II has made a lot of mobile enthusiasts appreciate the ability of this phone, to be multi-functional, and love its almost surreal style that comes with a completely sophisticated black and silver casing. This elegant mobile reflects the great modernization in the mobile world. One of the reasons that made the [...]...
- Palm Pre Versus the Iphone The Last Gasp Good Enough? The Palm Pre is a last gasp for Palm (a company that was previously a giant in the industry of smart handheld gadgets) in a market overrun with smart phones; the smartest (at least in terms of sales and popularity) of which, is the Iphone. If the Palm mobile phone is [...]...
- Amazing Small Phone: the Palm Pixi The one thing people hate about small mobile phones is how they tend to be nothing but basic GSM devices with hardly any useful features. The usually sacrifice manufacturers make to achieve a small size usually comes on the form of hardware cuts removing precious functionality from the device.The Palm Pixi shows that careful mobile [...]...