Palm is preparing a low cost follow-up to its upcoming Palm Pre, offering the same Linux-based WebOS operating system. At the well-received unveiling of the Palm Pre smartphone in January, Palm stated that it planned to release several phones based on WebOS, but since then has released no further details. The 3G-enabled Palm Pre may well be be the first Linux-based smartphone aside from Android phones from HTC and Samsung to offer an "iPhone"-like smartphone experience.
Despite possible production troubles, early reports on the Pre continue to be positive, as suggested by the high marks given to the smartphone in the Laptop Magazine article. The general consensus among the analysts was that while WebOS could possibly be extended to mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and possibly even netbooks, a la Android, Palm is focused on smartphones for the near future.
The Pre features WiFi, GPS, 3-megapixel camera, 3.1-inch touchscreen, and Palm's homegrown WebOS Linux phone stack. Offering a rounded design with a keyboard that slides out on a curved slider, the Pre is slightly smaller than the first Android phone, the HTC G1, and it offers a more cramped thumb-oriented QWERTY keyboard compared to the landscape-style slide-out of the G1. Yet, the design appears sleeker than the G1, especially with keyboards extended. In addition, the Pre offers design innovations like a "gesture area" underneath the screen where one can swipe and flip away at the UI without obscuring the screen.
The Pre ships with 8GB of internal memory, of which 7.4GB is available to users. A microUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed support is also said to be available. The 3.1-inch HVGA touchscreen offers 320x480 resolution and 24-bit color, accelerometers, and two additional sensors: a proximity sensor and a light sensor for automatic dimming. The Pre uses Sprint's EVDO 3G network, but a UMTS HSDPA model will come out later that will be aimed at Europe and other international markets, said the company.
The Pre's Linux-derived WebOS leverages industry standard technologies, including CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript, and will offer an open development environment, said Palm. WebOS is said to provide gesture-based UI that includes a card metaphor for sifting through screens and applications. It also offers unified messaging technology called Synergy, which aims to integrate information from multiple sources such as calendars, contacts, and messaging applications into combined, logical views.
WebOS is said to offer extensive synchronization features, as well as persistent connections between applications and the web, providing updates in the background. Other touted features are said to include multitasking with easy switching between multiple open applications, a multi-touch interface with gesture and touch tricks, universal search, and unobtrusive notifications.The Palm Pre is scheduled to be available in the U.S. exclusively from Sprint in the first half of 2009, says Palm.
Despite possible production troubles, early reports on the Pre continue to be positive, as suggested by the high marks given to the smartphone in the Laptop Magazine article. The general consensus among the analysts was that while WebOS could possibly be extended to mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and possibly even netbooks, a la Android, Palm is focused on smartphones for the near future.
The Pre features WiFi, GPS, 3-megapixel camera, 3.1-inch touchscreen, and Palm's homegrown WebOS Linux phone stack. Offering a rounded design with a keyboard that slides out on a curved slider, the Pre is slightly smaller than the first Android phone, the HTC G1, and it offers a more cramped thumb-oriented QWERTY keyboard compared to the landscape-style slide-out of the G1. Yet, the design appears sleeker than the G1, especially with keyboards extended. In addition, the Pre offers design innovations like a "gesture area" underneath the screen where one can swipe and flip away at the UI without obscuring the screen.
The Pre ships with 8GB of internal memory, of which 7.4GB is available to users. A microUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed support is also said to be available. The 3.1-inch HVGA touchscreen offers 320x480 resolution and 24-bit color, accelerometers, and two additional sensors: a proximity sensor and a light sensor for automatic dimming. The Pre uses Sprint's EVDO 3G network, but a UMTS HSDPA model will come out later that will be aimed at Europe and other international markets, said the company.
The Pre's Linux-derived WebOS leverages industry standard technologies, including CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript, and will offer an open development environment, said Palm. WebOS is said to provide gesture-based UI that includes a card metaphor for sifting through screens and applications. It also offers unified messaging technology called Synergy, which aims to integrate information from multiple sources such as calendars, contacts, and messaging applications into combined, logical views.
WebOS is said to offer extensive synchronization features, as well as persistent connections between applications and the web, providing updates in the background. Other touted features are said to include multitasking with easy switching between multiple open applications, a multi-touch interface with gesture and touch tricks, universal search, and unobtrusive notifications.The Palm Pre is scheduled to be available in the U.S. exclusively from Sprint in the first half of 2009, says Palm.
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