Is the Pre Smartphone Enough to Make Palm a Seious Competitor Again?

Having been and IT person for so many years AND a gadget freak I have used just about every phone/PDA on the market. I see nothing but consumer goodness here and a major blow to Android.

What I am curious about in the long run is how well this new OS will handle us business folks. I have used iPhones off and on for sometime and they just can not handle any serious volume of email and the lack of real multi-tasking made me go running back to BlackBerry. Not to mention, cut and paste. If this new WebOS can handle BES or ActiveSync out of the box that will be great first step.

Gosh that screen sure is pretty.

Now get it off Sprint and we are talking about something I will be sure to get in and test

WildHair: It _does_ handle activesync. The interesting thing here is going to be to see how the two single-vendor platforms (iPhone and Palm) square off to Android. WinMo is dead, I think.

No = Sprint.

If this were on Verizon, it would have been. The # of people who will switch to Sprint just for a Palm phone is much < than the # who switched to AT&T for a Mac phone.

The interface the way it's used looks completely renovated this is it guys

This could do wonders for Palm. I have never owned a Palm device, and never wanted to. Their OS was always bland, underpowered, simplistic, and uninteresting. I've used Windows Mobile for many years, and while its performance is dreadful, its functionality overall has been unparalleled. The iPhone gave me pause at first, but all of its serious limitations prevented it from being a real option for me. In the end all it had to offer was a slick and responsive interface.

This, however, seems genuinely impressive. The OS seems clever, well-conceived, and pretty feature-packed for being its first version (something Android. It seems to bring not only new ideas to the table, but USEFUL new ideas. It's smooth, responsive, and seems to take into account real-world and business needs together. Also the photo seems to suggest it has a nice, big battery, so it might not die halfway through the day.

I currently have the HTC Touch Pro on Sprint, which I mostly love. And at the end of the day the features I need on it probably aren't and won't be available for this Palm Web OS. Also the lack of a card slot bothers me a little bit. But if it weren't for that, I'd be strongly considering it from what I've heard so far.

I am a loyal PalmOS user, but I can not change carriers (family member works for at&t). I am not interested in the iPhone and changing all my calendars, contacts, ect. and losing my 3rd party programs. Plus employees do not get a discount on the $30 monthly data package needed to take advantage of what the phone can do. I am disappointed in Palm and also the political, commercial and marketing crap! I should be able to buy the phone I want and use the carrier I want.

I am so happy I switched to Sprint from Tmobile. Much better coverage, faster data, cheaper price. This phone looks fantastic for me, it'll be a race to see if it beats the Android phone to sprint.

I think this was a huge release for Palm. They have been relatively silent for the last couple of years. I believe the power will be with the maker that can provide the most "useful" apps for their devices. They need a good mix of productivity and "social" apps that people can gravitate toward.

The card slot most likely will not be an issue. The way memory sizes are now a days, getting 8gb onto a device like this should be plenty for "most" users.

I doubt this will also be on Sprints Network exclusively, more than likely this will show up in some shape or form on other providers like it's Treo and Centro lines.

Good move on Palm's part. This year looks like another good year for the handheld device.

I am in awe of this phone, it *appears* to be exactly what I've been waiting for for a long time...love the form factor, love the real keyboard, love the screen and the way it's all thought out. I wouldn't worry too much about it being a CDMA phone, or only on Sprint for now, because Palm hasn't shied away from offering both CDMA and GSM versions of the same phone over multiple carriers (look at the Centro for example...both CDMA and GSM versions, available on Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, unlocked GSM, you can connect a version of the Centro to any network). If they're serious about becoming a contender again, I'm sure they'll end up doing the same with this phone.

This is the best palm for years, and maybe the best phone for years. It's sucess may depend on what networks it will be available in the rest of the world. Europa alone is a bigger market that the US, so when it comes to the right network or is sold network independent (like for example the blackberry over here) it could be a huge succes.

Sprint = No

i dont get it? reading these comments you would think sprint and palm are the worst things in the world. after 5 years of testing every service and phone known to man sprint and palm are a godsend compared to any other phone and company. cingular/at&t completely blow ballz, verizon and t mobile are just expensive knock offs. especially now that sprint has the $99 unlimited everything plan... and as far as phones i will be the first to admit palm phones have always had issues, but much less than any other smart phone i ever used. the sheer amount of crap you can do with palm phones is amazing... you could fly a rocket with it. palm has had terrible pr i think is the problem. look at the huge piece of crap i phone is. great for a little girl that wants a cookie cutter phone that can play youtube videos at the push of a button, but if you have a head on your shoulders any palm phone blows it away. you may have to be a slight bit technically inclined and push 2 or 3 more buttons, but you can do sooo much more with palm than anything else. thats my venting.