Jan 8, 2009 03:03 PM
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Palm just announced the multitouch Palm Pre smartphone with the completely new Web OS at CES 2009. It's a full touchscreen phone that slides open to reveal a keyboard.
It has a 3.1 inch 480x320 screen that slides vertically to reveal a keyboard. The slider action is curved, sort of like the SE Xperia X1. It also has 3MP Camera, LED Flash, EVDO rev.A, WiFi, bluetooth, a gesture area on the screen for navigation and use, a removable battery, micro USB, USB mass storage support, a 3.5mm Headphone Jack., plus a very cool wireless charger.
It weighs 4.8 ounces and can be used easily with one hand. The phone runs on a new platform named Web OS, which is designed to seamlessly integrate all your web content into one interface. It's going to release the first half of 2009 on the Sprint network, but pricing details were not discussed.
The phone itself reminds me of the Treo 680 in shape, except all there is on the front is a screen and a button.
One of the big new features is something called Synergy, which can pull contacts from all your sites (Facebook, Gmail, AIM, etc...), gather and organize them into one coherent list on the Palm Pre. It has dupe checking so you don't have the same contacts listed multiple times. It does the same thing for calendar events.
Web OS has been designed to work with your finger. All the demos are being done without a keyboard and stylus. Synergy can easily go from checking email, to scheduling meetings in a calendar, to IMing someone in your contact list.
The music UI is cool—go from one "card" to the music UI, selected a song, then quickly switch back to email screen. It's super smooth, and lets you keep all your data in front of you.
[If you want to know what its like to use the Palm Pre, and get more details, check out our preview and full coverage.]
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