'Palm Pre' Smartphone Announced: WebOS, Wireless Charging, App Store

[bloodycape]

Agreed.

After the Palm Pre, the iPhone's home screen and application transitions suddenly feel dated and too one-dimensional. The next obvious step is to upgrade the CPU to handle the type of strenuous tasks (copy+paste?) a desktop can.

If old Palm and WM PDA can cut and paste on processors that are 200mhz or less(hell some of the old palms are running like a 50mhz processor), I would think a simple upgrade in the firmware would do it for the iphone.

To me the best feature is the stereo BT, and UMS support, which means no intermediary software to transfer files on or off the device. Not to mention that means native linux support with out any extra software.

 

[Mooey]

Well, I was going to purchase an iPhone next month, but after seeing the Pre video, HOLY ****.

If you guys haven't seen the video, please do. Multi-tasking, notifications, gesture bar at the bottom, this Synergy thing, keyboard on the bottom, wow. I think I'm going to wait it out now to see what Apple can pull out of their sleeve.

 

[Povilas]

Well, I was going to purchase an iPhone next month, but after seeing the Pre video, HOLY ****.

If you guys haven't seen the video, please do. Multi-tasking, notifications, gesture bar at the bottom, this Synergy thing, keyboard on the bottom, wow. I think I'm going to wait it out now to see what Apple can pull out of their sleeve.

Just wait for it to be released and How Apple will reply.

 

[LiveForever]

If ex apple staff are involved I suspect multiple patent and employee Non disclosure agreement writs against palm.

But at least apple will have to do something now to improve the iphone as they were in danger of thinking they have it made and not doing much.

For example why no:

Real Turn By Turn GPS
Multitasking
apps which can run in background
better quality apps in general
office suite
better camera

come on apple stop being so precious about all this.

 

[Mooey]

If ex apple staff are involved I suspect multiple patent and employee Non disclosure agreement writs against palm.

But at least apple will have to do something now to improve the iphone as they were in danger of thinking they have it made and not doing much.

For example why no:

Real Turn By Turn GPS
Multitasking
apps which can run in background
better quality apps in general
office suite
better camera

come on apple stop being so precious about all this.

No true bluetooth. I think Apple will step up their game now that competition is in the ball field.

 

[The Man]

Oh Rubenstein

Looking at the presentation video, it sure looks like Rubenstein took the liberty to copy a lot of key iPhone UI innovations. Like the bouncing behaviour when scrolling at the end of a list is a blatant copy of the iPhone behaviour. And the scrolling behaviour (of it loosing momentum) too. And of course the "Apple patented" zoom pinching gesture, and some other stuff. Well, if you decide to copy stuff, do it with style, I guess, just like Apple once did. And it just shows that Apple did bring some good innovation out there for others to copy. The new Palm looks like a great UI, much better than Android. I think it shows that Palm "gets" the UI and UI interaction more than Google and MS. Will be a good competitor.

 

[kuliand]

Looking at the presentation video, it sure looks like Rubenstein took the liberty to copy a lot of key iPhone UI innovations. Like the bouncing behaviour when scrolling at the end of a list is a blatant copy of the iPhone behaviour. And the scrolling behaviour (of it loosing momentum) too. And of course the "Apple patented" zoom pinching gesture, and some other stuff. Well, if you decide to copy stuff, do it with style, I guess, just like Apple once did. And it just shows that Apple did bring some good innovation out there for others to copy. The new Palm looks like a great UI, much better than Android. I think it shows that Palm "gets" the UI and UI interaction more than Google and MS. Will be a good competitor.

I don't think they are going to be suing palm for simple stuff like the scrolling motion after all it has already been used in other products. And people need to face it palm has a device that is i real competitor and everyone in the apple world has gone all defensive if we believe apple is the best in world at UI design then we have nothing to worry about.

 

[petvas]

I think it is too early to say if the Pre is better than the iPhone.
I believe that it will be a good competitor but from what I have seen so far the iPhone is a bit better. Of course we saw a prerelease version of the device so we will have to wait..

 

[needthephone]

If ex apple staff are involved I suspect multiple patent and employee Non disclosure agreement writs against palm.

Agree this will get interesting.

Palm were a company on the brink of going under and so they had little to loose.

They probably thought they would take their chances in the courts where they MAY get a favourable outcome rather than the alternative which was going into liquidation.

If there are former employees involved who so blatantly brought their former companies IP to another company then I really don't fancy Palms chances.

It's not necessarily whether the concepts were patented or not its the fact that what they were working on at apple (where they would have signed very watertight N.D.A's )has now OBVIOULSLY ,for the whole world to see, been implemented at Palm. After all, Apple will be able to prove what these guys were doing at apple, after all they employed them.

Well Palm had no choice but this will get messy, wait and see but I wouldn't be buying Palm stock for a long term investment.....

Protecting Trade Secrets from Former Employees

While non-compete agreements are unenforceable in California, former employees are required to compete fairly against his/her former employer. In that regard, ex-employees are not permitted to use a former employer’s proprietary or trade secret information.

Employers can and need to take steps to protect their proprietary and trade secret information from misappropriation by former employees turned competitors. California law will protect the diligent employer which takes the proper steps.

 

[Povilas]

If ex apple staff are involved I suspect multiple patent and employee Non disclosure agreement writs against palm.

But at least apple will have to do something now to improve the iphone as they were in danger of thinking they have it made and not doing much.

For example why no:

Real Turn By Turn GPS
Multitasking
apps which can run in background
better quality apps in general
office suite
better camera

come on apple stop being so precious about all this.

Better quality apps in general? WTF? I don't have iPhone, but i have iPod Touch 2G and i had no trouble with software quality. Some apps i use every day:

Briefcase
TouchTerm
VNC
Apple Remote
Mail
Safari
Music App
Video App
Maps
Calendar

And i had no trouble with firmware 2.2, Safari crashed 2 or 3 times though.

 

[clevin]

This is my next phone for sure.

Its indeed leap and bound ahead of anything else. including iPhone and G1.

All other smartphones are just a launcher, iPhone and G1 are just glorified launcher. Pre is really task-centric multitasking device. Its implementation of CLOUD idea is so good, you can't even find it on a desktop computer.

This is a winner, not an iPhone competitor, if they market it correctly, it should be an iPhone killer. or any smartphone killer for that matters.

 

[Povilas]

This is my next phone for sure.

Its indeed leap and bound ahead of anything else. including iPhone and G1.

All other smartphones are just a launcher, iPhone and G1 are just glorified launcher. Pre is really task-centric multitasking device. Its implementation of CLOUD idea is so good, you can't even find it on a desktop computer.

This is a winner, not an iPhone competitor, if they market it correctly, it should be an iPhone killer. or any smartphone killer for that matters.

You don't event know what Apple is working on in their R&D labs. Time is not stopping for next 6 months you know

 

[tonyroberts09]

The only problem I see with all these new smart phones is they don't have itunes. The iphone is a really really great phone but itunes is part of why the iphone is so great. Ad a mac to your iphone and it's a hard combination to beat.

 

[wnurse]

I think it is too early to say if the Pre is better than the iPhone.
I believe that it will be a good competitor but from what I have seen so far the iPhone is a bit better. Of course we saw a prerelease version of the device so we will have to wait..

Going from specs alone, how is the iphone better?

Lets see

Multitasking vs unitasking
Realtime GPS vs whatever the fake **** iphone has
Integrated messaging vs not
cut and paste vs Jobs arrogance (ie, no cut and paste)
better camera than iphone
stereo bluetooth vs mono bluetooth for iphone..

iphone advantages
apps (duh)... this will diminish in time
customer base. apple fans are pretty fanatic, they'd buy the iphone if it sucked (and it doesn't).. but they will stay with apple, through thick and thin.

That's about it.. those advantages does not make the iphone better.
If the gui is as promised, apple gui is not better, their interface is not better, sprint network is faster than AT&T so their browsing speed is worse.. i mean, exactly why is the iphone better?.
Other than number of apps (duh).. what advantage would the iphone have over the pre

 

[wnurse]

The only problem I see with all these new smart phones is they don't have itunes. The iphone is a really really great phone but itunes is part of why the iphone is so great. Ad a mac to your iphone and it's a hard combination to beat.

What if i told you that a significant percentage of the population do not use itunes?. Would that shock you?. I don't think the pre wants to compete with the ihone.. they can both coexist.. There is a significant number of users for palm to go after. even with itunes, apple is nowhere close to being the market leader.. nokia is doing just fine without itunes.

 

[ppc750fx]

Multitasking vs unitasking
Realtime GPS vs whatever the fake **** iphone has
Integrated messaging vs not
cut and paste vs Jobs arrogance (ie, no cut and paste)
better camera than iphone
stereo bluetooth vs mono bluetooth for iphone..

The iPhone does have real GPS. Don't know where you got the idea otherwise.

Also, what makes you think that the lack of cut and paste is due to "Jobs [sic] arrogance"?

 

[Povilas]

What if i told you that a significant percentage of the population do not use itunes?. Would that shock you?. I don't think the pre wants to compete with the ihone.. they can both coexist.. There is a significant number of users for palm to go after. even with itunes, apple is nowhere close to being the market leader.. nokia is doing just fine without itunes.

So why every company wants it's own music store?

 

[ImageWrangler]

I'm reminded while seeing all this of some really excellent stuff about trends and marketing that Seth Godin talks about, the true innovator in a field almost always wins out, the followers and copiers don't. Doesn't even matter if the follower or copier can do some things better than the innovator, in the end, it won't matter.

iPhone/Apple = Innovator
Palm Pre = Follower
iPhone > Palm Pre

The competition is good mind you as Apple does need to raise the bar, there's no question in anyone but a troll (and I see a few in this thread) the iPhone can multitask and do things probably much better than the Pre could, but doesn't, that said, the iPhone already does quite a few things better than the Pre, and no competition does everything better than it's other competitors. Where the iPhone has succeeded, also taking into consideration what it is, and that it's NOT the first smart phone (by a long shot), but that it innovated itself into the one to watch, and everyone else now is just copiers, is that it's the bar. When a company, be it Palm or Blackberry, is doing it's darndest to outdo the top dog and basically play follower, which is all I guess they can do, it shows their weakness, NOT iPhones. So I have to LOL at all the jockular "that's it, iPhone is toast" from people very uneducated in how markets work. iPhone has momentum and the other day I heard someone calling their (woefully laughably bad) Instinct an "iPhone," not the first time, but "iPhone" has slowly to some taken over as ubiquitous for "any smart phone," all the copiers out there are against a pretty much never-going-to-be top spot position. It's laughable and ignorant to think otherwise.

 

[shk718]

Going from specs alone, how is the iphone better?

Lets see

Multitasking vs unitasking
Realtime GPS vs whatever the fake **** iphone has
Integrated messaging vs not
cut and paste vs Jobs arrogance (ie, no cut and paste)
better camera than iphone
stereo bluetooth vs mono bluetooth for iphone..

iphone advantages
apps (duh)... this will diminish in time
customer base. apple fans are pretty fanatic, they'd buy the iphone if it sucked (and it doesn't).. but they will stay with apple, through thick and thin.

That's about it.. those advantages does not make the iphone better.
If the gui is as promised, apple gui is not better, their interface is not better, sprint network is faster than AT&T so their browsing speed is worse.. i mean, exactly why is the iphone better?.
Other than number of apps (duh).. what advantage would the iphone have over the pre

well you're a bit incorrect on some of your facts -
1. the iphone does multi task - (it won't allow 3rd party applications to run in the background)
2. the iphone does have realtime gps
3. i'm not sure what you mean by integrated messaging
4. i think the iphone has a few more advantages than what you listed.

i think both user interfaces look good - i just wish palm didn't copy apple so much - shows a lack of originality. there are a few things i wish apple would give us - but they do seem to be adding features at a steady clip.

 

[Povilas]

Going from specs alone, how is the iphone better?

Lets see

cut and paste vs Jobs arrogance (ie, no cut and paste)

When Steve Jobs told you that? Apple said that it's not so easy to implement Copy/Paste that is simple and efective and that they are working on it just Copy/Paste is not on their current to do list I guess it will come with 3.0 firmware and 3rd generation iPhone.

 

[VinitaBoy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah . . .

Only one thing needs to be said about the "Pre":

IT'S VAPORWARE! V-A-P-0-R-W-A-R-E! GET IT? IT DOESN'T EXIST! IT'S A HOPE, A PROMISE, A DREAM, A PHANTOM, A WISP, AN ILLUSION, A POTEMKIN VILLAGE, A GHOST. NOTHING MORE!

Wait until the unit falls into the hands of actual, real-world customers (and Sprint's less-than-awesome network) before praising or damning it.* THEN we'll find out if Palm can right itself in some very deep waters.

* And when will this be?

 

[Digital Skunk]

Only one thing needs to be said about the "Pre":

IT'S VAPORWARE! V-A-P-0-R-W-A-R-E! GET IT? IT DOESN'T EXIST! IT'S A HOPE, A PROMISE, A DREAM, A PHANTOM, A WISP, AN ILLUSION, A POTEMKIN VILLAGE, A GHOST. NOTHING MORE!

Wait until the unit falls into the hands of actual, real-world customers (and Sprint's less-than-awesome network) before praising or damning it.* THEN we'll find out if Palm can right itself in some very deep waters.

* And when will this be?

Well, the same iPhone fanboys did the same thing when the iPhone was announced, so it's safe to say that it will happen with just about every tech product out there.

And before cracking on any network, have a look at the awful 3G AT&T gives. You did say less than awesome though, and given that AT&T has proven to be less than awful I guess it's okay.

well you're a bit incorrect on some of your facts -
1. the iphone does multi task - (it won't allow 3rd party applications to run in the background)
2. the iphone does have realtime gps
3. i'm not sure what you mean by integrated messaging
4. i think the iphone has a few more advantages than what you listed.

i think both user interfaces look good - i just wish palm didn't copy apple so much - shows a lack of originality. there are a few things i wish apple would give us - but they do seem to be adding features at a steady clip.

By "realtime" I think the person means turn by turn, in which case the iPhone doesn't have it.

And by integrated messaging, the Pre lets you change the message type on the fly before you send it. So if you don't want to text, you can change it to an email or MMS. Kinda nice, not fantastic, but I love the fact that you get an option.

Stop saying that Palm copied Apple. I know it's hard for younger tech fans to know about the early days, but some research into the subject wouldn't hurt. Palm and Apple shared tech a lot, and even the square icon thing on the iPhone and Palm devices was taken from another company.

 

[ZiggyPastorius]

And before cracking on any network, have a look at the awful 3G AT&T gives. You did say less than awesome though, and given that AT&T has proven to be less than awful I guess it's okay.

Except the people who live in places with good coverage, and make that clear in their posts (i.e. "I've had Sprint and AT&T and AT&T is much better where I live...) rather than just saying AT&T sucks in general, like you tend to do.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Except the people who live in places with good coverage, and make that clear in their posts (i.e. "I've had Sprint and AT&T and AT&T is much better where I live...) rather than just saying AT&T sucks in general, like you tend to do.

Or like other tend to do with Sprint, so share your comments with others or make it general instead of just quoting me.

I am sure a T-Mobile user can give testimony to both AT&T and Sprint sucking to.

Understand what I am saying.

 

[bremb0]

Only one thing needs to be said about the "Pre":

IT'S VAPORWARE! V-A-P-0-R-W-A-R-E! GET IT? IT DOESN'T EXIST! IT'S A HOPE, A PROMISE, A DREAM, A PHANTOM, A WISP, AN ILLUSION, A POTEMKIN VILLAGE, A GHOST. NOTHING MORE!

Wait until the unit falls into the hands of actual, real-world customers (and Sprint's less-than-awesome network) before praising or damning it.* THEN we'll find out if Palm can right itself in some very deep waters.

* And when will this be?

I love my iPhone but At&t sucks!!! All I get with At&t is a high montly bill, slow a$$ 3g (edge like), dropped calls, no service etc... Sprint 3g is 4x bigger than ****** At&t.