Palm Pre Touch Phone » Steven Grady

Oh Roger McNamee; Pre is Alien Technology (and better than Viagra)

Steven Grady — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:33:08 +0000

The funny man himself had some interesting things to say in this video that was shown before the Palm keynote at D7 today. The Palm Pre apparently has a ton of capabilities that only Roger is aware of. Who knew?

Video after the jump.

Click here to view the embedded video.

All Things Digital D7: Palm Pre info [Updated]

Steven Grady — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:49:25 +0000

We’re watching a live feed from D7, and so far, we have confirmation that the Palm Pre WILL sync to iTunes on Mac AND PC. There is also Twitter Universal Search built in.

Roger McNamee says that there will be a dozen apps at launch, but “at 4:20, they’re get more apps.” So far, everything being demoed has been seen before (with the exception of iTunes syncing.

Update: We have some more information from D7. There’s no confirmation that the Pre will be coming to Verizon, but no news is good news for fans of Big Red. Palm is not denying it. The GSM version of the Pre will be released in a few months’ time, signaling the world-wide release of the Pre, and potentially the launch of it in the U.S. as well. That’s really about it. Look for the full SDK to be launched after the Pre hits the streets.

[Via Gizmodo]

Palm Pre default Ringtone graces our ears

Steven Grady — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:58:53 +0000

I have to say it sounds quite pretty, and is much better than the iPhone’s Marimba ringtone. Roger Bourland was commissioned to write the 8 new ringtones for the Palm Pre, including this one (hit up the link to hear it).

Bourland praised Matias Duarte for having the vision to commission “micro-compositions; not just phone emulations, or paid-for chunks of pre-existing songs.” Each ringtone is roughly 24 seconds long before it kicks into the message service. [...] Bourland is in negotiations with Palm to make available, the remaining 170 ringtones that were made at the same time, through the Palm application site.

This makes me want to know what the other ringtones are, and now I’m not sure I’ll replace the default ringer with an .mp3 ringtone or not.

[Via PreCentral.net]

Verizon wants the Pre too

Steven Grady — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:17:14 +0000

Anyone who doesn’t want AT&T OR Sprint might be interested in this one. Reuters has a quote from Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam stating:

“Over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm,” on the Verizon Wireless networks McAdam said.

While this doesn’t meant the the Pre will DEFINITELY hit big red, it’s an indicator that there is definitely interest from other carriers at picking up the hottest phone in the industry right now. Palm has been pretty absent from Verizon in terms of devices lately, and the Pre would make for a nice comeback on the countries largest carrier.

The part about 6-months might be indicative of the 6-month standard exclusivity that carriers normally have for devices, but there has been no confirmation of how long Sprint has the Pre for exclusively.

[Via Reuters]

Palm Pre handled by BGR

Steven Grady — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:27:41 +0000

Boy Genius Report is claiming to be the first blog to be able to write about their experiences with the Pre. I’m not sure if they’re under NDA, violating it, or what, but they’ve got it and are currently manhandling our beautiful device. So far, their impressions are that if feels good in your hands, but has an overly plastic feel to it (as if the iPhone didn’t) and that the keyboard might be a bit too cramped (which it wasn’t for me). Still, they have it, and pictures to boot. Darn them. We’ll get ours…I can’t say when.

While I am disappointed, I am also patient. I’m going to take the forthcoming review of the Pre with a grain of salt, as I have handled the device myself, and know what to expect. I know the display is gorgeous, and appreciate the size more than the iPhone 3G’s, and the keyboard is going to be hit or miss with many, simply because some people just have larger hands. Whatever BGR says, I know the Pre will be the phone for me, but not everyone else.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Want to see an example of a photo taken with a Pre? [Updated]

Steven Grady — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:05:35 +0000

Here it is:

To check it out in its full glory, go here.

Apparently, this photo was taken with a Palm Pre and submitted via the Official Palm Twitter (@palm) to yFrog. Palm was “Just trying out yfrog.com” and published the first known photo from the 3.0 MP, auto focus, flash toting, depth-of-field wielding camera. Surprisingly, the photo is darn good.

UPDATE: Giz found some photos from the Lead Software Engineer at Palm, and these were taken with a Pre as well.

[Via @palm Twitter and Flickr]

AT&T wants Palm Pre after Sprint

Steven Grady — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:14:38 +0000

It seems that AT&T is going to try to get their hands on the Palm Pre as soon as the exclusivity contract with Sprint expires. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson admitted that he sees AT&T selling the Palm Pre after Sprint’s contract with Palm has expired. This means we could see a GSM version of the Pre in the U.S. as soon as a year from the launch of Sprint’s CDMA Pre.

AT&T is also rumored to have the Palm Eos lined up for release as early as this year. While this is immensely beneficial for Palm, I can’t help but feel a little bad for Sprint. The carrier is taking a huge risk with the Pre, and is being rewarded by Palm giving the direct competitor their best hope for salvation. AT&T gets the iPhone, why can’t Sprint keep the Pre? Maybe we’ll see a CDMA iPhone after AT&T’s contract with Apple expires?

Anyway you look at it, we knew this would come. Palm has long been a manufacturer of devices on multiple carriers. The Eos and Pre are just the first of many webOS based devices, and hopefully, Sprint will have the first chance at those phones as well.

[Via CNet]

Palm Pre to have IMAP IDLE (Push) Gmail

Steven Grady — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:07:00 +0000

Pre Central is getting word from a tipster with a webOS emulator that the Pre is going to support IMAP IDLE. This means that users on GMail will have near instantaneous reception of new emails. That’s right, it’s getting pushed down to the phone from the GMail servers.

This is great news for Pre users. Currently, the only phone to support GMail push is the G1 (and soon any other Android device). Palm’s close relationship with Google and their heavy incorporation of GMail into Synergy and the Pre’s contacts and calendars is proving to be extremely beneficial for soon-to-be Pre users.

There have been some complaints recently over the inability to select which contacts are synced through Synergy on the Pre from sources such as GMail and Facebook. The system is an All-or-Nothing system, and makes it frustrating for users who have hundreds of useless contacts. This news of Push GMail however, makes it worth it to dig through those GMail contacts and clean it up.

Palm webOS makes appearance at Google I/O [UPDATED w/ Video]

Steven Grady — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:12:47 +0000

We were very surprised that Palm made an appearance at the Google I/O keynote. Vincent is there right now, watching Palm demonstrate a bunch of different features, including the Maps API, the accelerometer API and what looks like the music API.

Go to live.slashgear.com to check it out!

Become a Palm Pre expert BEFORE the device launches!

Steven Grady — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:29:26 +0000

If you’re like me, you’re already watching all of the walk through videos posted on YouTube of the Palm Pre. To make it easy, I’ve decided to embed all of the videos into a centralized location for your learning and viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

PDF Viewer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Phone

Click here to view the embedded video.

Universal Search

Click here to view the embedded video.

Calendar

Click here to view the embedded video.

Google Maps

Click here to view the embedded video.

Phone Settings

Click here to view the embedded video.

Contacts

Click here to view the embedded video.

Settings

Click here to view the embedded video.

YouTube Application

Click here to view the embedded video.

Messaging

Click here to view the embedded video.

Copy and Paste

Click here to view the embedded video.

Palm Profile and Backup

Click here to view the embedded video.

Organize Your Icons

Click here to view the embedded video.

Memos

Click here to view the embedded video.

Okay Invisible Man, clever name (not) but could you at least have turned off your email “ding” before filming? I kept checking my email whenever I heard it.