Palm Pre

I don't have one but I've been following the news a bit. The Pre's WebOS is getting strong technical reviews. Jon Rubenstein, former head of iPod and Mac at Apple and a long-time colleague of Steve Jobs going back to the NeXT days, was brought in to build the design and engineering teams to create the Pre. He was promoted to CEO this week, and Palm has literally bet the company on the Pre. By all accounts they have done an exceptional job. The question is whether it's too little and too late.

Personally, I think the device will do well. Everyone is chasing the iPhone now (at least in terms of design, touch interface, applications, etc -- Blackberry has a huge user base already), but there's room for the iPhone, Pre and Blackberry to all find their niche and succeed, in my opinion. And I think this competition is only going to be good for consumers and business.

The area where Palm needs to get some quick traction is their application ecosystem, same for Blackberry but to a lesser extent. The App Store model is the killer app now, and Apple has set the standard.
 
There's an app store, but there's only ~20 apps so far. Palm has yet to release the software dev kit but they will eventually.

I got a Pre on saturday and it's an incredible device. I really love the multitasking aspects of it. I was running Pandora, browsing the web, and getting texts from my wife. Anytime a background app had an update for me (Pandora wanting me to vote +/- on a song, a new text had arrived) a little icon on the bottom right would appear while browsing. Click the icon and a small dialog would appear at the bottom saying what it was for and allowing me to switch to that app to respond.
 
Got mine on Saturday & am loving it so far. My 30 second review:

PROS
* BEAUTIFUL screen
*slide out QWERTY keyboard is nice but small. Not the big improvement over touch screen typing I was hoping for (basically a push speed-wise, but it's more accurate than my old Instinct)
*cards feature (flipping between open functions) is very slick
*very easy to transfer data/contacts/photos, etc. from any platform. Initial integration was a breeze
*feels good in my hand, slips easily into pocket (shirt & pants), just has a great feel to it

CONS
*battery life is less than stellar. I've already ordered another micro USB cable to keep handy @ my desk so I can charge it from my PC. I've yet to see my battery icon at green (100% full, best was 98% after a night on the charger). I'm screwing around w/ it constantly now which I'm sure isn't helping but heavy apps use would certainly be comparable. I'll wait a few months to see what aftermarket, stronger batteries are available
*few apps available now, but they're decent (Pandora, Flixster, AccuWeather, FlightView, Fandango, etc.). they'll never catch up to Apple but I've got friends who have so many apps on their iPhones they never use that I don't see # of apps as a huge deal breaker for me
*build quality? don't get me wrong, it feels fine now but after removing the back cover to check out the battery & seeing how thin it (the cover) is I'm definitely planning on getting a protective case soon. As smooth & curved as the Pre is (reportedly a huge design cue was the feel of a pebble for skipping across water) I know it's just a matter of time before I drop it while pulling it out of my pocket.
*some apps are slow to launch, but I'd expect software upgrades down the road to tweak the performance issues in the right directions
 
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