Our Sprint Palm Pre webcast roundup includes full Q&A coverage, with Sprint reconfirming that Pre is still on-schedule for a release date in the first half of 2009, “casual” or “web-centric” gaming is possible, and that Palm will continue to release Windows Mobile phones side by side with the Pre.

All in all, it was a disappointing webcast for folks who have been following the Palm Pre’s development since CES.  The video demo segment showed nothing newer than our own 26 minute demo, embedded below, and the questions selected for the second half seemed to bypass the technical queries many of us have had and instead focus on clarifying details we already know.

Apple announced earlier today that they will preview the iPhone OS 3.0 on March 17th, so it’ll be interesting to see how webOS vs. iPhone 3.0 and Pre vs. iPhone plays out.

Palm Pre demoed on Sprint Webcast 03/12/09

Due to technical difficulties, the audio portion of the video did not get captured.

Palm Pre: 26-minutes live demo!

Palm Pre Web Experience

Palm Pre Calendar Synergy Live Demo at MWC09

Palm Pre gestures demo in slow motion

Vic Gundotra Demo HTML Google Map Palm Pre at MWC09

We’ve seen GSM versions of the Palm Pre up close and personal at MWC09, so it’s no secret, even though Palm hasn’t officially acknowledge its existence.  It’s possible that Pre might launch stateside on Sprint and across the pond simultaneously.  It does make a lot of sense for a worldwide launch.  The rumor pointed to a “before summer” time frame for Europe, which does coincide with Sprint’s launch date.

Don’t forget to join me tomorrow where I’ll be livetweeting a webcast of the Palm Pre hosted by Sprint.  Make sure to follow http://twitter.com/palmpre for the latest coverage!  Coverage starts at 2PM Eastern with a 20-minute presentation and 20 minutes for Q&A.

Palm Pre: 26-minutes live demo!

[Via PalmInfoCenter]

I know there are many of you-Pre owner wannabe out there that’ll eat up all the news, rumors or even this short video clip demoing the Pre’s synergy calendar.  I do caution you not to expect to see anything new, especially after watching our exclusive 26-min video demo of the Pre at MWC09.

After I watched this clip a couple of times, I feel like there’ll be some level of organization in my life as well as a sense of completeness as I go through planning my day.  Well until the arrival of the Pre, I’ll just stay unorganized and unproductive.  There goes the 10 minutes I spent watching the video over and over again that I’ll never get back.

In case you want to see the Pre’s synergy calendar in action for real, I’ve embedded our video from MWC09.  Enjoy!

I know there are many of you-Pre owner wannabe out there that’ll eat up all the news, rumors or even this short video clip demoing the Pre’s synergy calendar.  I do caution you not to expect to see anything new, especially after watching our exclusive 26-min video demo of the Pre at MWC09.

After I watched this clip a couple of times, I feel like there’ll be some level of organization in my life as well as a sense of completeness as I go through planning my day.  Well until the arrival of the Pre, I’ll just stay unorganized and unproductive.  There goes the 10 minutes I spent watching the video over and over again that I’ll never get back.

In case you want to see the Pre’s synergy calendar in action for real, I’ve embedded our video from MWC09.  Enjoy!

When asked about a scheduled release date for the Palm Pre, Hesse gave a long explanation as to the logistics required to roll out a “new device with this level of sophistication and functionality”.   Eager owners of the Pre can rest assure that both Palm and Sprint are working 24/7 to bring the new phone to market as soon as possible, but according to Hesse, Sprint will not start selling it until they are confident that the launch is going to be really successful in terms of how it operates.

Hesse also raised the concern of making sure there will be enough Pres to go around and not just a “handful of Pres” in the whole country.  From my encounter with the Palm Pre, I agree with Hesse that there will be high demands for the new phone and there might even be shortage in demands.  As it stands right now, Hesse is sticking to the previously announced target release date of the first half of this year.

Check out Pre Community’s 26-min long video of the Palm Pre at MWC09 below!

When asked about a scheduled release date for the Palm Pre, Hesse gave a long explanation as to the logistics required to roll out a “new device with this level of sophistication and functionality”.   Eager owners of the Pre can rest assure that both Palm and Sprint are working 24/7 to bring the new phone to market as soon as possible, but according to Hesse, Sprint will not start selling it until they are confident that the launch is going to be really successful in terms of how it operates.

Hesse also raised the concern of making sure there will be enough Pres to go around and not just a “handful of Pres” in the whole country.  From my encounter with the Palm Pre, I agree with Hesse that there will be high demands for the new phone and there might even be shortage in demands.  As it stands right now, Hesse is sticking to the previously announced target release date of the first half of this year.

Check out Pre Community’s 26-min long video of the Palm Pre at MWC09 below!

Check out the video, plus live Palm Pre photos after the cut

The video is one of the most complete demonstrations of the Pre that we’ve seen to date, showing app to app transitions without the covert tinkering Palm execs had to do with their pre-production devices at CES last month.  In it, you can see the calendar, contacts, Synergy linking of information from Microsoft Exchange, GMail and various social networks, browser and more.

We know there’s a lot of discussion going on right now about just how much of a game-changer the Palm Pre might be to the mobile industry, and rightly so.  From our experience with the handset this week - and talking to Palm themselves about their intentions for the Pre between now and the smartphone’s release - we’re even more convinced that it’s the leap in software convergence that webOS and Synergy represent that will make the biggest impact.  We’ve seen rivals attempt to integrate on-device information, such as HTC’s latest iteration of TouchFLO 3D does, but nothing that links so seamlessly to cloud-based data stores.

For all the Palm Pre content from Mobile World Congress this week, click here.

Click to watch the video on YouTube.

Video demo after the cut

That same engine is also used in the Android platform browser and the iPhone’s browser, which means that developers are able to code a single app that will run identically on any of these devices. It relies on HTML5’s AppCache, GeoLocation and Database standards to keep an offline record of not only data but app functionality. Gundotra also demonstrated an offline-capable version of GMail, which not only has an executable state on an unconnected device - such as when in airplane mode - but a floating menu and labelling support, and that which looks identical on both the iPhone 3G and the HTC Magic Android device.

Incidentally, Gundotra also described the Pre as “arguably one of my most favorite devices”, a sentiment which after our time with the handset here at MWC we can’t disagree with. More hands-on video with the Pre coming up shortly.

The video we’ve already seen recently showed the concertina-style collapsing of empty calendar space; a single tap opens it up, with the total free time always displayed. You can view all of the appointments across multiple calendars, or filter out all but one: time slots occupied in other calendars are subtly greyed-out to avoid clashes.

What the Pre’s calendar can’t do right now is enter a single new calendar entry to multiple schedules simultaneously. That is, you can type in a new appointment - either to your default calendar or by selecting any other you sync with - but you can’t select multiple calendars to put that same appointment into. That would be a useful function if you’re adding, say, a team meeting to your Exchange calendar but also to a group Google Calendar. According to Palm, it’s a feature they’ve considered but they’re still trying to figure out the best way to present the GUI without detracting from the Pre’s usability.

You’re also unable to change the color coding that the different calendars are assigned - Palm apparently tried adding the functionality in an earlier build, but it got too complicated to manage - and as with contacts two-way sync is only possible with clients - such as Exchange and Google Calendar - that support that. Palm did address the question of how cloud data is handled when you’re out of network range - in airplane mode, for instance: the Pre caches important data, such as schedules, locally, based on its own prioritization of what might be important (Palm didn’t expand on how it did that; it could be as straightforward as using as much free space as is available to copy as many appointments as possible). Any changes made when out of network coverage are cached and synchronized once you’re back connected to the cloud.

All the details - at least, those Palm could show us - are in the video. We’ll also have more footage from our live Palm Pre demos at Mobile World Congress over the next few days; believe us when we say this is one very slick handset.

Start up the browser and as well as the address bar - which you can begin typing in without needing to tap into it - there’s also a page full of bookmarks. Each is represented by a thumbnail of the page rather than just the URL. Load times - over WiFi, rather than Vodafone Spain’s 3G network - were good, with the full range of pinch zooming and double-tap zooming (which automatically zooms into a column). The rep doing the demo couldn’t tell us whether - or how - you’ll be able to save images from webpages, but he did show the “Share” feature which adds a hyperlink and thumbnail image to a new email, ready to be sent to a friend or colleague.

As for that “Add to launcher” option above “Share”, that puts a link to the current webpage onto the Pre’s launcher bar. In fact you can put a link to any page - or to a specific contact - as well as apps, and call them up either from the homescreen or with the gesture-launcher.

All the functionality that Palm could show us today is in the video; we’ve also got more footage processing of other Pre details, which we’ll be running over the next couple of days. Enjoy the clip, and let us know what you think!