The iPhone and Blackberry have been ruling the handheld market for almost 5 years. The Palm’s Treo faded into the wind when Apple and RIM got serious with their powerhouse phones. Now, the Palm is looking to make a comeback with the Palm Pre, a new iPhone look-alike which is expected to have the fastest Internet surfing. It is a small phone that has a keyboard slide out from the bottom, similar to the Sidekick. It will have the typical GPS, Internet, e-mail, picture viewing, and a generous touch screen.
So, how’s it different than the iPhone and Blackberry? It will have the WebOS as its operating system first of all. The WebOS allows the handheld to always be connected to the Internet and allow all apps to be inter-functional. Also, the phone can charge without a cable. It is somehow connected to a cradle that charges. The Pre’s alliance will be with Sprint which will have exclusive rights as a provider.
No price has been mentioned nor a launch date. Will the new Palm be able to compete? Well, Sprint as a carrier doesn’t help its chances. They should have not limited themselves to a second-tier phone provider. Otherwise, the WebOS might be the difference maker to possibly set it apart. But, they’ll need to bundle useful apps for WebOS to be fully utilized in the best light.
Time will tell whether the tech support on these devices will be better than the Treos in the past. With the older Treos, there were too many third-party applications to sync the contacts, calendar, and e-mails making the Palm not so tech-friendly. Hopefully, this new Pre will have one mainstream software to sync everything to make the process smoother.
