Palm unveiled its latest smartphone, the Palm Pre, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CEW). The Pre is a nice-looking smartphone with a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard that slides out from the phone. One smart feature is that the touch screen extends below the screen so you can operate some of the phone's functions without your hand blocking the touch screen. Gadget geeks are raving about its specs and performance. Gizmodo calls the Pre simply amazing. Engadget says the Pre's UI is "incredibly well thought out and smooth." PC Magazine says the Pre is the hottest product at CES. They list some of the Pre's impressive specs.
First of all, the specs are impressive: a large multi-touch screen, powerful processor, accelerometer, hidden QWERTY keyboard, multitasking, GPS, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and 3.2 megapixel camera. Honestly, it's a long list that I could scarcely cover. However there's more than simply me-too technology to the Pre; it offers real innovation. From a new app and tasks management metaphor known as "Cards" to the gesture area, this is a smart phone that's breaking new ground.
They also note the Pre's operating software was built from the ground-up. They write that, "As the hour-long demo went on I began to feel like I was sitting at an Apple event, listening to Steve Jobs wax rhapsodic about the amazing stuff his latest tech gizmo could accomplish."
That's interesting because Jon Rubinstein, a former Apple engineer, is one of the developers of the Palm Pre. Newsweeksays Apple's Steve Jobs was furious when Rubinstein left Apple for Palm. Palm's engineers believe the Palm Pre is better than the iPhone.
Still, over the course of two days, Rubinstein and others at Palm couldn't help pointing out that the Pre outperforms the iPhone. Palm's advantages include faster Web browsing, a better camera, and the ability to run many applications at the same time. Egos being what they are in the Valley, it's easy to believe that despite all the talk about not competing with Apple, these guys do, in fact, secretly harbor the desire to knock Apple firmly on its backside—and that while the marketing guys may have decided, correctly, that it's best not to pick a fight with a bigger, wealthier opponent, the engineers simply can't help talking smack.
The Palm Pre is expected to be out later this year - sometime in the first half of the year. Pricing is not yet known. USA Today's Ed Baig talked with Palm CEO Ed Colligan about the Palm Pre
Palm unveiled its latest smartphone, the 
