Palm Pre going down a storm at CES
It’s another iPhone killer (yeah, yeah)
We first wrote about the new Palm Pre smartphone last week, but you can't have too much of a good thing. For all the handsets released recently that are ‘the next iPhone’, it seems that Palm’s triumphant return might actually be the first to really put Apple’s handset in its sights.
The Palm Pre has proven to be the golden boy at this year’s CES in Las Vegas, with hands-on reports all singing the praise of not only the handset but the brand new operating system.
Indeed, it seems to be WebOS that’s really opening eyes at the CES, with its clear and user-friendly gesture-driven interface (check out the video at the bottom to see the OS in use - it's quite outstanding).
Mobile Computer Mag said, “A slick application carousel provides a neat way to manage the operating system’s multi-tasking capabilities and the display responds in a snappy, bouncy way.”
PCMag.com explains that WebOS “…has a Linux core and is capable of … multi-tasking and deep integration of virtually every aspect of your online, social and information-management life.
The demo made it all look so simple and because it's an entirely new, yet somewhat familiar-looking, interface, it all looked good.”
We mentioned last week that the new smartphone will have a slide out QWERTY, but it hadn’t really occurred to us where that keyboard might be.
It seems Palm has stuck with the look of its old Treo system, though sleeker and sexier in most every respect (let’s just hope the top line of buttons aren’t too close to the screen, right Treo lovers?)
Although there are strong suggestions that it’s taken a leaf or two from the iPhone’s book in terms of its user interface, the truth is that the iPhone looked to the old PalmOS for inspiration first.
It’s been hardware that’s let Palm down over the last few years, and few will argue that the operating system and software were anything less than simple, awesome and plentiful.
Keep checking back as we fight tooth and nail to get our clammy hands on this little beauty. In the meantime, check out Palm’s presentation of the handset and its fabled operating system below.
