While every webOS device comes with some kind of speaker, the TouchPad is the only one whose speaker is adequate to fill a (smallish) room. On the phones, even the rear speaker struggles to put out enough volume to allow sharing of music or other audio in a space with moderate or higher background noise. Given that webOS phones all support both standard 3.5mm headphone/speaker jacks (the Veer admittedly needing an adapter) and Bluetooth speakers, there are numerous options for boosting the sound so others can enjoy it too. Unfortunately, most of those external speakers are far less portable than the phone itself. There are, though, some speakers that offer both powered amplification and portability. One of these is the Naztech N15 3.55 Mini Boom Speaker, which additionally operates as a standalone MP3/WMA player (it accepts microSD cards as removable storage, and has minimal controls for music playback and track navigation). While the Naztech's design and standalone player capabilities are pluses, however, its minimal amplification power makes it a poor choice for webOS devices.

Naztech has done a nice job with the design of the N15. It folds to the size and shape of a flattened golf ball, with a recess for storing the non-removable (and very short at 2-3 inches) 3.5mm audio cable. Along the periphery of the speaker are the standalone music player controls, a miniUSB (not microUSB, unfortunately, meaning it cannot share charger cables with a webOS device) port, and the microSD slot. The play/pause button doubles as the power button for the speaker, and a blue LED lights up when the unit is powered on. Note that although the track forward and reverse buttons double as volume controls for standalone play, they do not affect volume when the N15 is connected to an external sound source. According to Naztech, the N15 provides 2 watts of speaker output, and its 3.7 volt lithium ion battery charges (via a powered USB port or charger) in 4 hours. Naztech does not provide any play time details, and our testing did not extend to battery life.

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Anyone who has used a webOS phone for any period of time knows that battery life is not one of the strongest features of those phones. While it has gotten significantly better from when the original Pre was first released in 2009, it's still a difficult task to make it through a full day with any type of moderate usage. For Pre, Pre Plus, or Pre 2 owners, the good news was that you could use spare batteries from any of those phones interchangeably or purchase spare stock or extended batteries from places such as the webOS Nation store.

With the official limited release of the HP Pre3 in Europe and the slew of AT&T (and a few Verizon) phones making their way to eBay, we found ourselves in a bit of a quandary: the only way to get a spare battery for those phones was to buy an extra Pre3. Not exactly an inexpensive (or efficient) proposition. And if you didn’t want to spend the hundreds of dollars on another Pre3 just for its battery, what would happen if/when the battery stopped working after extended usage, shorted out, or gets trashed?

Seeing a potential business opportunity, Mugen Power Batteries (who previously made extended batteries for both the Pre and Pixi) created their own a survey late last year to gague interested in extended batteries for the Pre3. Within just a few hours of opening the poll, Mugen announced that they received enough feedback to justify development of Pre3 batteries. Pre-orders were opened in December for a 1400 mAh "SL" extended battery for $46.95 and a 2800 mAh "XL" extended battery for $98.95, the latter of which comes with a larger back cover for the Pre3. As compared to the stock Pre3 battery that clocks in at 1230 mAh, these batteries should provide an extra 14% or 128% of battery life before your phone needs to be plugged back in.

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When the Pre was released in June 2009, there were two power-related features that made users particularly excited. First was the Touchstone, the inductive charger whose system-level integration with webOS (automatic speakerphone, clock display, etc.) and thoughtful design (sticky back, magnets for easier and more secure placement) put it well beyond the third-party solutions available for competitors. The second innovation, at least when compared to the iPhone, was Palm’s choice to make the Pre’s battery easily replaceable. Once users found out how quickly a Pre with all radios on (WiFi, data, GPS, Bluetooth) could go through its standard 1100 mAh battery, the ability to swap out batteries was both appreciated and crucial for long days, although Palm’s spare batteries were no better than the originals.

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The V-Moda Vibe in-ear headphones combine excellent build quality with great bundled accessories. Can the great fit and finish make up for the subpar audio quality in justifying that rather steep asking price?

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The Seidio Innocell 2600mAh Extended Battery for the Palm Pre will add noticeable bulk – there’s no question about that. The question is this: does the substantial improvement in battery life (and I do mean substantial) make the sacrifice in form factor worthwhile?

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As a wanna-be developer, I rejoiced in the announcement in February of O’Reilly Books’ Palm webOS by Mitch Allen, read the free first chapter and even purchased the online preview version, in the hopes that it could turn me into a webOS developer. Now that I have read a review copy of the final print version, though, I am sad to say that it did not magically do so. On the other hand, experienced developers and those beginners who already know the basics of HTML and Javascript will find the book a hugely useful resource, and even those who are not yet at that level (but may be considering giving it a try, especially with the recent release of Palm’s Web-based Project Ares online development environment) will benefit from its clear discussion, code examples, best practices and identification of pitfalls. Even for the non-developer, Palm webOS provides insight into how applications work and interact on the Pre and Pixi.

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O’Reilly’s Missing Manuals, a series created together with tech journalist/author David Pogue, are supposed to represent "the book that should have been in the box." Given that the Pre’s box is too small for a book, it’s no wonder that it didn’t have a book inside. Happily, Ed Baig has set out to remedy that situation, with the new Palm Pre: The Missing Manual.

Read on for the review!

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My top five Palm Pre Accessories are very straightforward – I like to cover the basics first. Our Palm Pre Accessories forum have been very active with accessory talk and I figured I’d chime in with my top picks. Far be it from me to dictate what you should get for your Pre, but what I’m listing here are the five things that, for me, are essential for my Pre experience.

Let’s see what we’ve got, shall we?

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The Palm Car Charger for the Pre is a compact and convenient USB charger that will keep your Pre topped off while on the go. We know car chargers are fairly important accessories to have, especially when it comes to smartphones. You never know when you’ll need to get a few precious moments of juice. The problem was always finding a charger that wasn’t an eyesore in your vehicle.

Enter the latest addition to the Palm family of chargers. This time, you have a device that looks good, supplies enough power to charge your phone while listening to Pandora and using Sprint Navigation, plus it comes with a data sync cable for the Pre.

Oh yeah, it gets points for working with my Touchstone Charger in my car. Your mileage may vary (excuse the pun), as I’ll explain after the break.

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