Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 04 June 2009 19:33
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Palm’s highly anticipated Pre, touted as yet another potential iPhone
killer, launches in a couple of days in the busiest phone launch month
of the year, set to compete with a new iPhone, the Nokia N97, Google’s
HTC Magic and more – so is it any good?
When Palm released the
Pre at the CES Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, we all got to see an iPhone-like device with much smoother graphical tricks than the iPhone, while packing the same multi-touch wonders.
Palm’s executives started trash-talking the iPhone, despite undoubtedly knowing Apple was very likely to release a third 3rd-generation iPhone model at the same time the Pre would go on sale, setting Palm and its Pre up for a spectacular win - or mighty yawns if Apple’s latest and greatest sets the world alight – again.
Although a range of online videos showed the Pre interface at work, showing how it challenged a lot of the iPhone’s sophistication, consumers are still yet to demonstrate just how popular the Pre becomes – or otherwise.
Over the last few weeks, articles questioning the Pre have appeared in the press, noting that while the Pre’s “WebOS” operating system can support third party applications, those apps end up being little different to the iPhone’s original “web apps”, and not true programs.
This means the iPhone is still streets ahead with its tens of thousands of programs on offer for just about anything – and with millions more users who not only love the iPhone’s App Store, but who provide a huge user base for time-poor developers who will choose to develop for the phone platform likely to earn them the most money.
Given the Pre is only available on the US Sprint CDMA mobile network at the moment, a wider worldwide launch is not yet happening, but will likely come sometime in 2010.
A series of US technology journalists have received the Pre to review preceding Pre’s launch in two days time, and overall, the verdict is pretty unanimous: it mostly lives up to the hype, but with some exceptions and surprises.
Find out more –
on page 2! Please read on…
