When did smartphones become superphones?  To be precise, the term superphone was unofficially coined only this year with the launch of Google’s Nexus One back in January of 2010.  While one can argue whether or not a term like superphone vs. smartphone is warranted, what isn’t up for debate is that 2010 saw the release of a succession of groundbreaking devices sporting amazing hardware.  While the term began with the Nexus One it continued into the year with other well known “superphones” like the EVO 4G, iPhone 4, Galaxy S line and Droid X, to name only a few.  Palm and HP webOS devices, as we know all too well, were not only left behind but were literally left totally out of the mix during the year of the superphone.  Though various form factors and features made for a less than definitive case for what exactly constituted a superphone, one thing all of these devices had in common was this, a 1GHz CPU.

By this standard alone did Palm finally enter into the superphone arena with the late 2010 release of the Pre 2?  Obviously yes, as the Pre 2 does in fact feature a 1GHz processor in the Texas Instruments OMAP 3630. So should it have a shot to be considered in the same class as those other phones? Read on.

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Interested in winning the next Palm device (whatever it may be)? Then consider this a reminder to kick your keister into gear and get that mock-up you’ve been pondering finished and into our inbox. You’ve got until midnight Eastern time on October 15th to get in your entries, and in spite of the leaks we’ve seen recently, we still want you to be exercise your creative juices and get us something unique. So get in your entries, we’ll dig out the best and put it all to a vote to decide who wins the next device (with two more getting a $50 PreCentral store gift certificate).

Above is a sliver of some of our favorites thus far – it was hard to pick, we’ve received a lot of fantastic entries and there’s still time left! After the break check out a few of the above entries in more detail.

More: Contest: Mock-up the next Palm device… and win it!

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Currently, 82% of Americans own a cellular phone, and we expect that number to grow closer and closer to 100% over the next several years. But the device category we talk about most here on the sites of the Smartphone Experts network is underrepresented: according to a survey of some 37,000 individuals by Forrester Research, smartphones are only in the hands of 17% of Americans. If you do the math, that means there are 255 million potential customers wandering around in the space between Canada and Mexico (plus Alaska and Hawaii, of course) without proper mobile digital connectivity.

Now before you go and tout that more younger people own smartphones than older less tech-saavy Americans, think again. Forrester’s survey indicates that the ratio is roughly the same among members of Generation Y (18-30) and Generation X (31-40) as the general populace. And only one quarter of Americans have an unlimited data plan to supplement their phone; less than half have any mobile internet access at all.

We’re saddened by the number of Americans that don’t own smartphones, but by the same token we’re also encouraged by the potential size of the market over the next several years. There was a time when only a small portion of Americans owned computers, or had in-home access to the internet. Or owned a car, for that matter. Times are changing and more technology is finding its way into the homes, pockets, and hands of the people.

So what’s the problem? It’s the value proposition: smartphone makers are still running into hurdles convincing typically spend-happy Americans that it’s worth the extra initial cost and monthly charges to upgrade to a smartphone. Apple has experienced some success in making that case, and it’s an area where Palm and HP have struggled recently. But if that case can be made, the explosive growth the smartphone industry has experienced over the past few years will pale in comparison to the coming decade.

Source: Forrester Research; Via: CNN; Thanks Mannyman!

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We’re sort of in limbo right now, waiting for Palm to announce, well, anything. We’ve had rumors, minor leaks, and insinuations here and there, but not a full-on iPhone 4-style leak. So what the next Palm device might look like or do is still kind of up in the stratosphere.

As such, we’ve decided to have a little fun. We want you to show us what you want the next Palm device to look like. And we want you to be creative. It doesn’t have to be a Photoshop job. You can make a video, whittle a model out of pine, shoot us telepathic visions of what you see (bonus points for that, by the way), or whatever else your heart desires.

Just two requirements. One: be visual. Two: be creative. To encourage this creativity, we’re going to make this whole deal a contest: show us what you think the next Palm device should be and we’ll put the best up to a vote. The top vote getter wins… drumroll please… the next Palm device. Whatever it is. Sweet, eh? Head on past the break for the sweet hot details.

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HP CTO Phil McKinney (a standup gentlemen, if we may say so) has thrown his hat into the ring to get a panel at next March’s SXSW event, proposing a presentation titled “Hacking the Future,” wherein he would discuss his vision for how personal computing will be rolling along during the next decade, replete with “bold predictions.” While we predict that the fabled flexible display sheet will make another appearance, HP’s Mark Budgell posted a pair of teaser photos on the Twitter that have us in a bit of a tizzy.

See, there are at least three different devices teased here: a bigger tabletish thing, a smaller smartphoneish thing, and a wide wristwatchish thing. Problem is this: all three are blacked out into oblivion. So what are they? If we had to take a guess, it’s a webOS tablet, a new webOS smartphone, and that internet-sharing wristwatch HP’s talked about before (the watch provides the web connection and shares with your devices, ala Mobile Hotspot). But are these mere concept prototypes, or is McKinney playing with actual devices we’ll see in the near future. While we are hoping and praying that these are actual working devices we’ll be using soon, we wouldn’t count on it. McKinney’s presentation is on computing five to ten years from now, not six months to a year.

Enough of our jabbering and speculation – what do you see hidden behind the black boxes? If you really want to find out, you’ll head to SXSW’s panels page and vote for McKinney’s panel (registration required).

Source: MarkatHP on Twitter, SXSW; Via: Gizmodo; Hat tip to Andrew

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HP’s been making a lot of noise about building an ecosystem of webOS device. They’ve talked about tablets and netbooks and printers, oh, and maybe some phones too. But they haven’t really laid any public concrete plans as to what is coming next. We have a sneaking suspicion that the overwhelming response to this question is going to be "OMG new smartphone now!", but we thought we’d ask anyway. So, here goes…

What kind of webOS device do you want next?Market Research

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As HP’s acquisition of Palm grows closer, the role of Palm and its products (both smartphones and webOS) is a topic of interest for investors and customers alike. In an interview with Bob Evans of InformationWeek, Shane Robison, HP’s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, provided some additional details as to where HP is headed, and how Palm fits in the plan.

HP’s strategy focuses on five key points:

1) The inevitability of the cloud as a compelling enterprise IT model;
2) The rise of mobility as the dominant computing platform;
3) The momentous shift from IT as productivity agent to communications & collaboration optimizer;
4) The stunningly steep increase in the volume of information that’s being produced—and the fact that we’re only in the early stages of that surge; and
5) The power of analytics to help organizations seize competitive advantage by being able to exploit the power of that information explosion.

To reflect these points, the company is putting together a set of unified products and services to cover the entire range of IT infrastructure. According to the article, HP intends to leverage webOS as a tool for keeping their business customers connected, in conjunction with new "analytical tools that will enable on-the-go workers to manipulate and comprehend and base decisions on those huge sets of data and information."

Robison himself states,

"’If you look at where we’re going with the Palm thing—and actually it ties back to some of the things we’ve done with 3Com and getting the rest of that network built out so that we can have that free flow of information—it’s all consistent….Then our announcement today on the web-connected printing stuff—same thing: it’s all gonna be connected. Now, the interesting opportunity for us is—especially with all the work we’ve done with touch and in new user interfaces—we can make a much more consistent and intuitive experience for people across a wide, wide range of products.’"

Unlike the controversial remarks (subsequently clarified) by HP CEO Mark Hurd last week, the InformationWeek piece affirms that HP envisions Palm’s hardware as well as software playing a role in the company’s strategy. Good news for the Palm hardware group, as well as for users hoping for continuing (and rapid) webOS smartphone development.

Source: InformationWeek

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The App Catalog has now more then 1700 applications available for us webOS users. We only had a little over 1500 about a month ago so Palm is keeping a steady pace — but still slow for some — releasing the apps into the Catalog.

One of the new apps in the Catalog is “The [...]

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For those who want a good deal on a new Palm handset, Walmart wireless online (LetsTalk) is offering the Palm Pre for $79.99 and the Pixi for only $29.99. Now the most interesting part of this is not the price of the webOS devices, but the 4GB microSD card that you’ll get for free [...]

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Happy New Year 2010! Another year is gone, and we find ourselves with new goals, more tech, and many more things to come. Here at MyPre.com, we are focused on anything that has to do with the first webOS device, but you already knew that, so let us begin with this year in review. Palm [...]

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