My first PDA was a Palm-based Sony Clie, bought six years ago, and I was hooked immediately. I replaced it a year later -- they don't bounce well on asphalt -- with a Palm Zire 72, and it's lasted me five more years. But unfortunately Palm effectively stopped hardware and software development five years ago with the Zire lineup. And compared to the iPhone today, the Palm is cro-magnon. I need a new PDA but there's nothing reasonable for a guy like me. So I wait.
Last summer a friend and Palm advocate (who helped me with my first Palm) told me Palm had a killer new OS coming. I was skeptical, to be kind, having given up on Palm as mostly dead.
But then comes the Pre announcement! First, the introduction webpage shows some promising features, especially ones the iPhone still lacks: copy and paste, system wide search, turn-by-turn GPS, quality camera.
But it's still promises and pixie dust. Then I see the CES demo video. Boy, this is starting to look good. They are definitely trying to take the best of the old Palm concepts and the best of the new iPhone features and advance the whole system for general users. And I'm beginning to be swayed: Palm might have a killer new system. Not an iPhone killer, but hopefully real competition.
The downside is they copied the iPhone's worst trait: locked to a single carrier; Sprint in this case. ((sigh) Hopefully poor ol' Verizon will get a good smartphone someday.)
But this might really be a quality new system from Palm. What do you think about it?
Pre webpage
Palm CES Launch Demo
Last summer a friend and Palm advocate (who helped me with my first Palm) told me Palm had a killer new OS coming. I was skeptical, to be kind, having given up on Palm as mostly dead.
But then comes the Pre announcement! First, the introduction webpage shows some promising features, especially ones the iPhone still lacks: copy and paste, system wide search, turn-by-turn GPS, quality camera.
But it's still promises and pixie dust. Then I see the CES demo video. Boy, this is starting to look good. They are definitely trying to take the best of the old Palm concepts and the best of the new iPhone features and advance the whole system for general users. And I'm beginning to be swayed: Palm might have a killer new system. Not an iPhone killer, but hopefully real competition.
The downside is they copied the iPhone's worst trait: locked to a single carrier; Sprint in this case. ((sigh) Hopefully poor ol' Verizon will get a good smartphone someday.)
But this might really be a quality new system from Palm. What do you think about it?
Pre webpage
Palm CES Launch Demo