Jeff Bennett's Blog

Over the years I guess you could say I have been a tech gadget junkie.  I have shared many posts on this blog about the Apple iPhone espousing that it is one of the best things I have every bought.  I was taken to the simple elegance of the iPhone on release now almost two years ago even though it had the short comings of lack of seamless email integration, poor battery and AT&T’s service.  I upgraded to the 3G and the email fix was in.  It gets better everyday with the applications that are coming on board.  Well today the iPhone has some new competition with Palm launching the Pre.  

Head Geek Joel Evans, of NameMedia’s Geek.com, was up early today and is line right now trying to buy one.  I am tracking his progress on Twitter.  I would expect some great posts coming from Geek.com later this weekend regarding his own Pre…even though he loves the iPhone too.  Until then this is what I have been able to find out about the Pre through my own research. 

Like the iPhone, the Pre has a large touch-screen and just one button on its front surface. As with the Apple device, you generally interact with the Pre with your finger, starting programs by touching on-screen icons and scrolling through lists by flicking your finger up or down.  Also like the iPhone, the Pre has a tool bar with icons that launch frequently used applications. The device comes with many of the same programs preinstalled, such as a Web browser, mail reader, Google Maps and a YouTube player. And like the iPhone, you can download new ones by going to an applications store.

The Pre adds some features that the iPhone doesn’t have. The most notable one is a physical keyboard, which is hidden underneath the screen. The tactile sensation of touching actual buttons gave me greater confidence that I was hitting the right keys than I get with the virtual keyboard on my iPhone. Another difference is that the Pre can run multiple applications at one time and allow users to easily switch between them.  The operating system represents each individual application as if it were a playing card. Tap on the card and it will run full screen. With this capability, you can listen to Internet radio from Pandora while downloading another program from Palm’s application store and while reading your e-mail. That’s something you can’t do on the iPhone. Other smart-phones allow you to run multiple applications simultaneously, but switching between and closing applications is a lot easier on the Pre.

The Pre’s most obvious shortcoming compared with the iPhone right now is the lack of applications available for it. While there are now more than 35,000 programs to choose from in the iPhone’s application store, Palm’s comparable outlet has little more than a dozen.  We will have to see how fast the developer community adopts the Pre.

I have a couple of old Palms in my “retired gadget box” from years back.  Nice to see Palm back in the game.  Watch for more info on Geek.com later today to see what Joel has to say about the Pre.