The wait continues, but I feel better now as the first half of the year is indeed running out. Today I picked up this snippet from the ongoing conversations over at Facebook. It seems that legacy applications will be supported in the palm pre. This is good news for those of us who have been Palm followers from the “Pilot” days through its many iterations. With the legacy applications covered some of our favorites will now be saved, whether or not stylus functionality is retained is still a question in my mind but I am sure that it probably will be. We are all going to be learning new motions with our thumbs when we finally get our hands on the actual phone.
I also like the fact that it will contain many new features such as social connectivity and email functionality with built in gmail and other apps that are a pain in the ???? to configure in mobile 6. The scalable view of websites will be a great boon over my current MotoQ which renders so little of the page as to make web browsing essentially useless. The always connected aspect is a nice feature as well, imagine as they have explained the search function will automatically go onto the web to answer your question if it does not find it in storage. Of course the built in GPS with mapping will eliminate the need for a separate GPS device or an added charge for the service with your current phone. The big question also un-answered is of course the release of an unlocked version for the millions of palm aficionados who are not in the sprint network. The Facebook questions from the outside of the US clients, also anticipating a gsm version…when,when,when?
Palm is being very tight lipped about the actual release date. I am guessing that the now 8 exec’s who have come on to answer questions in the Facebook forum have been threatened with a public skinning if they reveal the actual date. I am however encouraged by the fact that the Pre is back on the front page of their website in leiu of the Treo.
Post #29
Honestly, you guys have done a great job betting on what Palm users were looking for. I think all of the gripes I have about other smartphones (no real keyboard, bad web browser, no 3G, no 3.5 mm headphone jack) have all been answered by your device. There were even some of the nice-to-haves: free development kit, and Gmail and Facebook integration.
You are building the phone I want. Just make sure you get it out fast enough so that you’re not beaten to market by someone else.
Post #30
Keep in mind that the same core principals were used to create this phone as were used to create the phones and PDAs you guys fell in love with. That main concept being that we put YOU - the user - first. User experience and ease of use are paramount in pretty much everything we do. So sure, for those of you who have been using PalmOS for many years, the Pre and Palm webOS will be something new. BUT, it will be as easy, if not easier to get going on than your first Palm was. Trust me, I’m a creature of habit when it comes to technology, and being lucky enough to demo and test a Pre, I can honestly say that the learning curve was quick and painless, and now I often catch myself looking for the activity cards on my older devices.
Also, we recently (just a few days ago!) announced that our partners Motion Apps will be creating an emulator called Classic that allows you to run your legacy PalmOS applications on your Pre. So for those of you who have gotten very attached so some of those older apps, you can use the emulator to keep using them on your new Pre. That will help ease you through the transition!
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