Palm Pre Hands on Videos Part 2

Palm Pre Videos - Part 2

Next in our series of video updates from CES, we've put together three new hands on clips of the Palm Pre. In the first clip we have a demonstration of the Palm webOS Copy and Paste ability. Following that we have a ~2 minute clip of the Pre's web browser visiting everyones favorite Palm site live on the device. You can see the Pre render the standard version PIC and scroll around, zoom in and out as well as viewing it in landscape mode. The third video takes a longer look at more of the gesture functionality and using the application card system. Read on to watch the videos.

Palm Pre Copy and Paste Demo (1:13s)

Visiting PalmInfocenter on a Pre (1:31s)

Palm Pre Gestures and Application Cards Demo (6:31s)

More Palm Pre Coverage

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Steal it!

freakout @ 1/9/2009 3:33:50 PM # Q
Ryan, I don't know how you fought the temptation to not snatch that thing out of his hands and run out the door with it!

Great vids!

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 -> Treo 650 -> Treo 680 -> Centro

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Still a phone...

JediLow @ 1/9/2009 3:41:42 PM # Q
Does anyone know how well the pre serves as an actual phone?

RE: Still a phone...
SeldomVisitor @ 1/9/2009 3:51:27 PM # Q
No.

RE: Still a phone...
hkklife @ 1/9/2009 4:12:59 PM # Q
Palm stressed the "phone" aspect of the device several times yestrerday, including comments from Rubinstein, Colligan and several Palm product managers and reps we spoke to. They said the formfactor lends itself to a comfortable grip with the keyboard extended. As far as the actual performance as a telephone, I have no idea.

However, here's how I look at it:

I detest using my Garnet Treo for 3 main reasons:

1. It's bulky and uncomfortable to hold

2. It lags terriblly, especially when trying to initiate a 3-way call or look up a contact while on speakerphone or end a call.

3. It gets crummy receptions, constantly is dropping its signal and offers feeble audio quality.

By virtue of the impressive new CPU/chipset, the Pre should handily resolve #2 based on everything Ryan and I have seen firsthand. #1 is addressed by the nice "bend" in the body and the extra length afforded by the slide-down keyboard.

So that just leave #3 as a possible problem area. At any rate, I am quite certain this thing's gonna leave all of Palm's previous Treos/Centros in the dust as far as its phone performance.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: Still a phone...
LiveFaith @ 1/9/2009 9:11:48 PM # Q
Oh yeah. Does it make calls?

Pat Horne
RE: Still a phone...
LiveFaith @ 1/9/2009 9:19:07 PM # Q
I don't get all the problems @ the Treo as a phone since I got the 680. My 3 650s were all awful for coverage and volume. My 680 is excellent as a phone with better coverage than my previous SE T637, my wife's RAZR and Shine. The sound is great. But I use my Jawbone about 95% of the time, and only hold the brick to my ear during headset charging or other oddity.

BT volume could be louder in some situations. Also, I get the lag a lot since "upgrading" to ATT 2.11 firmware. Thanks for eating all my execution memory with SPAMware ATT.

Pat Horne

RE: Still a phone...
JediLow @ 1/9/2009 9:34:27 PM # Q
I've been fairly happy with my 755p as a phone; its not dedicated to it and the adjustment took a little... but its still not the best in terms of actually being a phone (call quality, etc).


With that... how do you hang up a SINGLE line when on one? It only ever allows me to hang up all calls at the same time.

RE: Still a phone...
TooMuch @ 1/10/2009 9:32:50 AM # Q
The first comment made at the Pre intro was that it was "a great phone." That was said before they demoed anything else. So, it seems that they understand and wanted to communicate that foundation in their focus. It is yet to be seen in operation.

RE: Still a phone...
SeldomVisitor @ 1/10/2009 9:38:17 AM # Q
> The first comment made at the Pre intro was that it was "a great phone."...

Then why wasn't it demoed by anyone?

I would bet the phone used in conjunction with anything else running on the device is not ready for prime time.

Reply to this comment

From when, copy/paste become a feature?

neuron @ 1/9/2009 4:09:31 PM # Q
I am wondering from when copy/paste become a feature. Which smartphone can't even copy and paste? Ridiculous.


It is also make me laugh when people try to zoom in and out while gesturing stupidly on the tiny LCD. Doubling clicking to zoom in and out like in Opera and netfront isn't much more intuitive?


RE: From when, copy/paste become a feature?
freakout @ 1/9/2009 5:07:38 PM # Q
Which smartphone can't even copy and paste? Ridiculous.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/ - yes, it is ridiculous.

As for double-clicking vs. pinching - Pre does both!

RE: From when, copy/paste become a feature?
LiveFaith @ 1/9/2009 9:21:20 PM # Q
Yes, it is rediculous. One of the main deal killers for the iPhone. Yesterday at 2:15pm EST I gave up tinkering with my sons iPod Touch to see if the iPhone would have the moxie to replace my 680. Thanks Palm. :-)

Pat Horne
RE: From when, copy/paste become a feature?
otter @ 1/9/2009 11:23:23 PM # Q
Ridiculous, indeed. Which is why I will drop my cursed iphone in a heartbeat as soon as the Pre comes out - assuming the production versions work as well as the demos we're seeing.

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Excellent work, Ryan!

mikecane @ 1/9/2009 6:41:37 PM # Q
Very useful videos.

OK, Colligan: Card View *is* a "breakthrough level of innovation."

As for that Wave, eh, don't know. Better than going back to the Launcher, I'll grant you that.

I don't see how people can NOT get those gestures, once they have them demonstrated by a Sprint rep. Plus, I'm sure the Pre will have a Welcome to Pre vid/tutorial on it.

RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
hkklife @ 1/9/2009 7:41:07 PM # Q
My fearless prediction of the week:

Pre will draw in a TON of new users and dumbphone upgraders and maybe a few Centro users looking to upgrade. The remaining Palm OS power users like myself will end up feeling alienated and dumbed down to much by WebOS that they will end up jumping ship to....something else. Palm will ride a soaring stock price for the next 6-12 months then be purchased and Elevation Partners will get the juicy ROI they've been looking for.
I am really torn right now on my stance towards WebOS & Pre.

First of all, I am NOT sold on this while "cloud" thing. Secondly, I am expecting nothing other than little lightweight fluff applets for WebOS. It's an absolutely fantastic device & platform if you are starting from scratch or have no expectations...but it's not the direction that long-time Palm OS users are likely looking to go in. It's TOO much of a paradigm shift IMO and TOO much of a break from the Zen of Palm that we know and love. Third, I find all of these silly gestures and swipes rather tiring and all too often requiring 2-hands. The one-handed navigation afforded by the Treo's 5-way navigatior + hard app button combos was brilliant and unmatched in efficiency. Might I really end up wishing I had a Cobalt or ALP device?

Quite honestly, I wish someone else had developed & released WebOS so we wouldn't have the preconceived notions and the legacy, expectations and emotional equity built into the "Palm" name. If Palm had a beefed-up version of the Pre hardware announced today but running something like "Infinite Garnet" or "Cobalt 2.0" or even ALP on it (stylus support, Hotsync and all), I'd probably be really chomping at the bit for one.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
yugadp @ 1/9/2009 7:55:29 PM # Q
If you're going to replace hardware buttons on the front of the device, Wave seems like a good way to do it. My only concern is that I wouldn't be able to power on my device to a specific app like I can with the hardware buttons on Palm OS devices.

Former POS user. Grudgingly converted to WM.
I'm DaCheez most other places...
RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
hkklife @ 1/9/2009 8:04:24 PM # Q
Yup, that's another good point. I am starting to long for the days of the "tap counter" and Hawkins/Rob Haitani. Say I want to look at my monthly calendar on a Palm OS PDA. Tap the hard calendar button 3 times. That's it.

So far on WebOS/Pre, we have a power button to press, then an unlock finger swipe to perform, then a ribbon launcher gesture to make. then another tap or two to bring up the monthly calendar view.

Easy and intuitive for n00bz, yes, but potentially quite aggravating for longtime Palm OS users.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
LiveFaith @ 1/9/2009 9:56:02 PM # Q
Some good points as always Kris. But consider this.

#1 Palm HAD to go with a clean sheet. I share some of your fears, but remember how long it took M$ to create an OS for consumers that was not a "workaround" for the dreaded 1MB memory limitation of the original DOS? It's hard to break away from your "base", but if you don't you'll simply die. The Pilot platform had it's day, but it is increasingly fading into a less and less prominence as tech currents have drastically shifted. Cobalt was legacy and died. ALPOs is lagacy (kinda) and appears dead, unless that Russian iPhone killer arrives (it won't). Palm HAD to move forward in order to hit this home run. To be honest, I saw / see no way for Palm to hang on to any past restrictions and dig out of the hole they created. The T3, Zire, and Treo 650 should have been upgraded in a lot of ways since 2003/4 and it would not be so bleak today.

#2 Fear not. Among us in the Palm OS dinosaur crowd are certainly code-monkeys that will emulate much of what Palm moved away from. Yeah, hard buttons are tough to do with software, but I'm sure they'll come up with a quick and dirty way to get to month view etc. This platform is going to attract devs like corporate America to a Congressional bailout.

#3 I'm not sure about my data in the cloud either. Especially down here in the sticks. Data coverage in GA,AL, & FL where I travel is sometimes more like a clear day than a cloud. That being said, I totally see where Palm is going and am quite shocked that they seemed to have fulfilled all the past promises so fully. Hawkins & Ed have spoken of this vision of a "world with a super fast data connection" for a while. This IS where the tech "cloud" is moving (no pun intended). Palm is shockingly IN FRONT of the wave for the first time in years. While I'm not perfectly comfy @ the jump, I differ with the idea that it should be a different company. I'm glad it's Palm, because they are the only ones that could ever respect the roots of Palm OS. They alone have the people that care and I'm being positive in my hope that the PIM focus will not be lost. That is one area they still do better than the others. I think it's more than just a name, but a value system. From their many statements they see Web OS as the 2009 answer of the 1996 Palm OS.

#4 EP has got to be jumping for joy over this. IMO, they'll dump this baby like a box of rox if they can pump it to $15 or whatever. The EP dude over on CNBC was hyping the Pre today and answered the "why not own it all" Q, with "we want it to stay public". You're right it's pump and dump ... which is their perogative.

Keep up the good work.


Pat Horne

RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
hkklife @ 1/9/2009 11:28:02 PM # Q
Thanks for the kind words, Pat. It's Saturday night in Vegas and I ain't goan go out honky tonkin'. I'm plumb whupped! I need to get some rest to try and get a full run of CES tomorrow. So far I've just been on a fraction of the floor, mostly covering MIDs and netbooks. We've been in 110% pure Palm mode since Wednesday and we've got plenty of content still to be posted.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?
RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
TooMuch @ 1/10/2009 9:46:04 AM # Q
hkklife, it would seem logical that you could turn on the device by sliding out the keyboard. It would then seem logical that you could launch the calendar with a shortcut key. Thus you could get to your calendar in two actions, which is what it takes me on my Treo now - calendar button + center unlock button. Did you see this demoed?

RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
Caspian @ 1/10/2009 11:49:58 AM # Q
hkklife > The remaining Palm OS power users like myself will end up feeling alienated and dumbed down to much by WebOS that they will end up jumping ship to....something else.

What else is there that you would jump to? I am considering picking up a Centro to hold me over until this comes to VZW and I can decide whether I want to bind myself to the new OS. I haven't seen anything to jump to if I leave Palm now.

David
Palm III> Palm IIIx> Palm IIIc> Sony T615> Sony T665> Sony TH55> Palm T|E> Palm T|E2> Palm T|X

RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
SeldomVisitor @ 1/10/2009 12:02:47 PM # Q
> ...What else is there that you would jump to?...

iPhone Nano?

RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
hkklife @ 1/10/2009 12:08:49 PM # Q
I specirfically asked questions about user-created shortcuts:

For example, having "C" on the keyboard do Contacts or calendar etc. Both reps I questioned were mum and basically repeated again the on-screen "wave" gesture thingie.

Not a positive sign IMO. Also, the phone app didn't have the old style Favorites menu that you could pull up and rearrange stuff. I do think you can make little 'card' shortcuts to go on the desktop.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
hkklife @ 1/10/2009 12:12:54 PM # Q
One very good feature, almost like Windows Vista's improved search function is you can opoen the keyboard and just start typing. So if I open the slider and start typing "Mike C"

It might pull up "Mike Cane" "Mike Collins" and "Lamike Calllahan" and tie in all of their relevant facebook, AIM, email, contact etc info as well as a thumbnail shot of them if you've added it. That IS impressive and a gigantic leap over the hideous old Palm OS "find" function


Re: Clipboard & memo size limits:


I was told "there are no limits, you'll have tons of memory to do anything"

Make of that what you will.

Also, they would not breathe a word on device memory, aside from the 8gb internal flash embedded. But I heard 2 non-Palm people tell me that the device has 256MB of program memory but Ryan heard 52mb or 56mb. I'd really be disappointed with <100mb, so i think it probably is 256mb. They are doing like with the Lifedrive back in '05 and talking about it's storage capacity instead of its actual program/executable memory space.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
robitaille88 @ 1/10/2009 8:28:28 PM # Q
> Also, they would not breathe a word on device memory, aside from the 8gb internal flash embedded. But I heard 2 non-Palm people tell me that the device has 256MB of program memory but Ryan heard 52mb or 56mb

Hmmm, it could be possible there's 256MB available for programs, and then 52MB (or 56) for active programs. That would make sense to me with Palm's new multitasking system.

RE: Excellent work, Ryan!
mikecane @ 1/11/2009 10:08:08 AM # Q
>>>For example, having "C" on the keyboard do Contacts or calendar etc. Both reps I questioned were mum and basically repeated again the on-screen "wave" gesture thingie.

Hmmmmm.

>>>Re: Clipboard & memo size limits:
>>>I was told "there are no limits, you'll have tons of memory to do anything"

*snort* Wait til *I* try it!

>>>Also, they would not breathe a word on device memory, aside from the 8gb internal flash embedded. But I heard 2 non-Palm people tell me that the device has 256MB of program memory but Ryan heard 52mb or 56mb. I'd really be disappointed with <100mb, so i think it probably is 256mb. They are doing like with the Lifedrive back in '05 and talking about it's storage capacity instead of its actual program/executable memory space.

Uh-oh. And did they give it adequate Heap?!

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Cry, Nokia, Cry!!!

mikecane @ 1/9/2009 6:42:45 PM # Q
Man, with all the investment Nokia put into Maemo, here comes Palm *again* to show them How It's Done.

Don't you Finns wish you had bought Palm NOW? Too late!

RE: Cry, Nokia, Cry!!!
Gekko @ 1/10/2009 10:28:27 AM # Q

get back on your lithium.

RE: Cry, Nokia, Cry!!!
mikecane @ 1/10/2009 11:00:32 AM # Q
Get back on your Viagra.

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Another Interview with Colligan

ozz @ 1/9/2009 7:56:24 PM # Q
In this USA Today article about the Palm Pre is a video where USA Today's Ed Baig interviews Ed Colligan. Some of the screen shots are very impressive.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2009-01-08-palm-smartphone-pre_N.htm

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Pogue seems very enthusiastic

freakout @ 1/10/2009 2:51:03 AM # Q
But then, so does everybody! He calls Pre "the belle of the ball":

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/01/09/technology/personaltech/1194837694770/cool-new-gadgets.html

RE: Pogue seems very enthusiastic
SeldomVisitor @ 1/10/2009 5:18:32 AM # Q
How did Pogue manage to get a Pre to actually show and tell with when no one other than Palm employees were allowed to handle one?

RE: Pogue seems very enthusiastic
cervezas @ 1/10/2009 7:21:19 AM # Q
What? You mean they didn't send *you* one to try? Strange!

;-)


David Beers
Senior Wireless Developer
MapQuest
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: Pogue seems very enthusiastic
SeldomVisitor @ 1/10/2009 7:37:54 AM # Q
Yes, that is indeed probably why Pogue got his own unit.

(...)

RE: Pogue seems very enthusiastic
mikecane @ 1/10/2009 8:35:05 AM # Q
No. I loaned Pogue mine. Which Ed Colligan personally delivered to me - in exchange for my tongue!

Yeah. That's the ticket!

Reply to this comment

good demo video here too

Gekko @ 1/10/2009 6:28:20 AM # Q
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HTML, CSS & AJAX for REAL apps?!

mikecane @ 1/10/2009 8:33:48 AM # Q
I still can't wrap my head around the idea that HTML, CCS, and AJAX can give us *real* apps.

Will there be a WordSmith-class wordprocessor?

A database program (subsets of which include several budget & shopping programs others here have mentioned relying on)?

A PDF viewer?

eReader and/or Stanza?

Also unknown: WHAT IS THE FRIKKIN CLIPBOARD LIMIT?! How large can a text file be?

What is REALLY beginning to piss me off is that Palm *knows* - HAS known - what we've wanted all this time. That Heatherbot must have wracked up quite a database of info. They could have used THAT as the basis for a FAQ for us to go through.

RE: HTML, CSS & AJAX for REAL apps?!
freakout @ 1/10/2009 1:51:49 PM # Q
All the apps Palm have made for the Pre use all these technologies - to quoth Colligan from the presentation, "We're eating our own dog food here."

That said, I've sent off a flurry of emails to many of the longtime Palm OS developers and some of the companies listed during Colligan's partner announcements, so I'm hoping to put together an article of learned opinions in a day or two. One told me this is...

...a great strategic coup for Palm because the web is where most of the great innovation is going on in software today. JavaScript/CSS/HTML are standards, not proprietary APIs, which makes it so Palm is able to leverage alot of 3rd party software and developers almost right out of the gate.

Ars Technica, meanwhile, has someone saying that the Mojo SDK is a "joy" to use and way more developer-friendly than Apple:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090109-the-pres-got-mojo-a-developer-speaks-about-palms-new-sdk.html

RE: HTML, CSS & AJAX for REAL apps?!
palmato @ 1/10/2009 2:14:41 PM # Q
I really want to see a media player coded in javascript.....

No really, this is good for simple and slow apps. Anything that goes beyond that (skype, VNC, vpn, 3D navigation ...) will require native programming in C/C++ or java (provided a last generation jvm is available).

Moreover I believe javascript is barely suited to build large and complex applications.

-------------
Hey Admin: Why do we have to keep two profiles?

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Mossberg has some comments on the Pre

SeldomVisitor @ 1/10/2009 8:53:04 AM # Q
[6 MByte file]

http://podcast-files.cnet.com/podcast/walt_mossberg.mp3


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