Remember this one? Thanks to Steve Lichfield for the photo.

Andrew Orlowski over at The Register has written a monumental series on the history and background to Psion. It really is compelling reading for anyone even slightly curious about the heritage of Symbian and developmental stages of Psion.

In today’s fast-paced smartphone world, it is rather useful to take a bit of time out to remember how we got here. It was Psion that started it all. And if you sometimes wonder about the rather passionate Symbian users convinced that the operating system’s heritage was second to none — well, they’re right. It was. It arguably still is. I’d love to have seen what they could have done with the right resources. It’s a different world now though.

So if you’ve a bit of time, get a coffee and have a read. Or bookmark it for later on.

I also hope that The Register consider releasing Andrew’s piece as a short story on Amazon (like what Ars Technica did with their OS X Lion review).

Super work Andrew.

This week we reminisce about the devices we’ve owned and loved over the years. We highlight a few we think were real ‘market changers’, a few lemons and speculate about who might make the next game-changer. Rafe also lets slip the secret of his magic drawers.

Amongst the devices we discuss this week are the:

• SonyEricsson P800
• Sony CMD Z5
• Nokia 6210
• O2 XDA (HTC)
• Nokia N95
• Nokia E61 and E61i
• Nokia N82
• Blackberry 7230
• iPhone 2G
• Orange SPV / HTC Canary
• Nokia 1011
• Motorola RAZR
• Nokia 5110 and 3210 with Xpress-on Covers
• Original Sidekick
• Treo 180

Episode 7 is also available on Soundcloud.

There are lots of ways to follow the podcast or you can subscribe using iTunes and other popular services.

Technical note: We’ve changed the way we serve downloads to podcast subscribers this week – this should address some recent feedback about tags and also improve audio quality. Please let us know in the comments if you have any questions or problems following the change.

First, the background.

I remember being really excited by the introduction of Palm’s all new WebOS and the Palm Pre. At the time, I remember rating WebOS slightly higher than the bog-standard first edition of iOS. I remember Palm being a forced to be reckoned with. I remember when the ultra-geeks I knew were seriously debating whether to buy an iPhone or ‘wait for the Pre’.

It all went wrong though. I remember filming in the Palm stand a few years ago at Mobile World Congress. We’d just finished doing the overview of the Pre and we’d gone on to doing an interview with one of their new partners when the PR lady physically interrupted and told us to get out.

“You can only film Palm, here!” she screamed. Our man Ben, who was conducting the interview calmly explained that we were filming with one of their software developer partners. The PR lady was furious.

“Get out!” she said.

We did get out. We still published the interview and the device review, but I think it’s fair to say I thought, “Screw you, with bells on,” at that point.

I don’t remember writing much about Palm after that. The company began to experience financial troubles — and with award-winning public relations like that, it’s not difficult to see how the industry’s viewpoint on Palm began to wane.

The devices and, in particular, WebOS, remained pretty nifty. I remember privately lamenting the fact that Palm had left the stage when the industry really, really needed their involvement against Apple and Android.

I’d have liked to have seen how a Nokia-Palm or RIM-Palm future would have panned out. Badly, I suspect.

But an HP-Palm future?

Love it.

I always felt HP had more in the tank than just simply knocking out Windows Mobile 6.5 devices like the very worst OEM provider. No love. No care. And absolutely NO excitement whatsoever.

The HP mobile story didn’t really gel with the company’s rather impressive efforts in the printing, laptop and desktop world. Their devices were looking nice, functioning well and attracting buyers in spades. But there was a big hole in the mobile segment.

Palm has filled that, beautifully.

The new devices are looking simply wonderful. They’re genuinely inspired. I’m rather excited to see how the market reacts to the ultra small Veer — a smartphone to rival the size of the very popular Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini.

And then we have the tablets. I got a good look at the company’s WebOS devices and was pleased to see they’d done some out-of-the-box thinking (like the ability to send photos between devices just by touching/flicking).

But HP Palm? A bit player, surely?

Well, not so fast.

HP’s working on placing WebOS at the centre of their consumer device strategy. And by device, I’m not just talking mobile phone. As a quick reminder — and as an illustration of the company’s might — HP ships two PCs and two printers every second.

Here’s what HP have to say about their intentions:

Smartphones and tablets are just the beginning. HP intends to bring webOS to PCs, printers, and so much more. webOS is key to the HP mobile strategy, and HP is placing its full marketing and distribution resources behind webOS, showcasing how HP products allow people to pursue their personal and professional passions.

And their App Market?

With HP’s global reach behind webOS, there’ll be an enormous market for webOS apps. No one has the reach and scale of HP when it comes to meeting the needs of technology consumers, whether they’re in the home, a school, small business, government, or large enterprise. By developing for webOS, you have an opportunity unlike anything else today.

I particularly like the words, “No one has the reach and scale of HP.”

I sat down with HP’s Richard Kerris recently. He’s HP’s World Wide Head of Developer Relations for WebOS. And he means business. He talked me through their strategy and then we did a piece to camera that I’ll be publishing shortly.

Richard made a few key points. First off, he expects to see over one hundred million WebOS devices in the market by the end of this year.

I had to sit back and think about that one.

A hundred million devices? That’s easily achievable if you assume some nice healthy Palm device sales and you include most of the company’s consumer desktop/laptop and printer sales.

Does WebOS on a printer count as a device? I think it does. Just imagine the cool things that could be enabled by that!

The second point Richard made is that, HP is serious about developers. Very, very serious. The chap himself knows a thing or two about the power of the ecosystem, given the fact he used to run Apple’s Worldwide Developer Relations Group (and most recently was CTO over at LucasFilm).

I was particularly impressed by the chap’s manner. Radiating confidence, he left me in no doubt that he’ll be executing swiftly to ensure that the HP Palm developer ecosystem begins growing dramatically.

Richard also explained that whilst they’ll be working to deliver every possible assistance to developers looking to get involved, that will not include ‘buying love’. (Other platforms have been helping boost adoption of their operating systems by covering the development costs or in some cases, simply paying developers to write apps for their ecosystem). Richard reckons that just doesn’t work. You get a short-term benefit (i.e. an app in the store) but since it wasn’t made with passion and care, the long-term outlook for that app is rather bleak. For instance, unlikely to be supported beyond a cursory look from a developer now and again — and there’s unlikely to be future development or enhancement either.

This, I think, is a very fair point.

That’s not to say HP doesn’t intend helping out. Oh no. They’ve got big plans to support their developers both online and in terms of physical events. I’ll be bringing you more on this shortly.

I’m very excited at HP’s entrant into the mobile marketplace with Palm. I think the company has the resources, people and talent to make it work really, really well. And with people such as Richard on-board, I reckon WebOS is set to be a very big success over the coming years.

For far too long Apple has been the default ‘number one’, carrying the candle of [perceived] innovation, excitement and leadership in the marketplace. I’m pleased to see HP joining the table with Palm and WebOS.

Let’s see what you’ve got, HP… blow us away!

Now to the nitty gritty: The SDK for WebOS 3.0 was released last night — if your teams are already developing with Palm, they can get access right away. If not, they just need to register.

If your teams are heavily focused on iOS, converting or adding WebOS as a platform is — I’m told — simplicity itself, especially if your team’s current focus is OpenGL/SDL.

For all those in charge of allocating budget and attention for mobile platforms, I suggest you look carefully at what HP are doing now and where they’ll be in the future to make sure you’re not left behind. This, I suspect, is the time when you should be talking with HP to discuss what you might be able to do together.

If you’re working on some big projects and you’d like to talk at a high level with HP about possibilities — or perhaps get an introduction to Richard himself, drop me a note by email and I will connect you.

Meanwhile, standby for the video interview. I’ll have that up shortly.

Design

First of all, Topaz looks like an iPad with an HP logo on it. As far as I can see, there’s absolutely nothing unique about it. It is unclear whether the body will be plastic or metal. It appears that HP is more focussed on technical capabilities and prefers not to bother with the housing. Just like their laptops? The Topaz doesn’t look as ugly as the Slate, but it appears like a cheap replica. Whether the back is plastic (cheaper) or aluminium (better) it is still likely to be inferior to Apple’s latest developments. Aluminium itself is a very light and flexible metal prone to deformation (like if you drop it). A thin aluminium casing will be no match for Apple’s proprietary alloys, which are light and durable. They get better and better with every iteration of Apple’s devices.

The Market

The market has moved on, and will move further by the time Topaz is released. Looking into the future, I predict that its release will not be sensational at all. I even dare to say that HP Topaz will not be competing with the iPad, but with budget tablets which (as we saw at CES) are sure to flood the market soon. Yes, HP, think carefully about the pricing strategy. Your device should cost half the price of the next iPad to even be considered for purchase. The next iPad? Yes! By the time Topaz hits the market, there will undoubtedly be a new iPad, more powerful, more capable, probably better looking, lighter and more attractive.

HP can’t do anything better than printers, or can they?

Well, scanners too, but I’m afraid that’s pretty much it. Take HP’s last few generations of Windows Mobile Smartphones – bulky and slow, inferior to the competitor’s products, such as HTC mobiles. HP laptops? I’m currently typing on one, must have the worst ever cooling system to be released. However, things have changed now that HP owns Palm. HP’s WebOS promises to be, “Amazingly powerful. Surprisingly simple.” – sounds bold, but will it live up to our crazy-high expectations? Why would HP, who never were really good at making anything but printers, be able to come up with a breakthrough OS to take over the world?

One can but hope.

Here are some of the key features of WebOS:

Admit it. You need a quick refresher, right?

“One view of what matters to you”

Integrating Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MSN and Yahoo instant messages in one single view. The system will identify the person sending it, no matter which IM platform they’re using. Sounds a bit complex rather than “Surprisingly simple”. Never seen this before, have we?

“Multiple Applications”

Amazing! We’ve never seen that before!

“Intuitive Interface” – “HP webOS uses multitouch gestures and a touchscreen…”

Wow that’s totally innovative. No need to comment here either!

The list of amazing new features goes on. The system supports “Notifications” and “Universal search” too! So far there is no obvious reason for HP to be any better than the competitors (read: Apple, Samsung) who are already well established in the market.

This said, I am reasonably excited to see:

USB Host

The days of the Palm Pilot are over, yet Palm devices did have some cool features even before the recent collapse of Palm. Palm smartphones could act as a MiFi! Yes, your phone, in your pocket, working as a WiFi hotspot, very cool! Now there is a planned USB Host feature for the HP Topaz. This means you can plug your USB flash drive or your camera directly to the tablet and transfer information. Maybe even charge your phone via USB? Now that’s not innovative thinking!

Wireless Charging

Wireless charging is likely to become very popular with mobile devices in the near future. How does it work? Inductive coupling is not new, it’s used in electric toothbrushes to avoid short circuit as they might be wet when you push them onto the charger. Looking amazing at first, Wireless Charging is nothing but a coil on the base unit with a current running through it, which creates a magnetic field picked up by another coil in the wirelessly charged mobile device. The technology is pure electromagnetics and has been around for a while. Still cool.

Let’s hope the Topaz arrives and impresses the hell out of us.

I got this note in from Mark who’s having some trauma with o2 and Palm. Have a read…

Hi Ewan,

I have been a fan of Palm for many years starting back in 1996 with a US Robotics Palm 1000 and over the years have purchased many of their products. Through blind loyalty I even replaced a Treo 650 with a Centro despite being ridiculed by my mates who at the time were all buying iPhones. When the Pre was announced it was fantastic news as I finally had a device to counter some of the stick I was getting from the Apple fanboys. After the long wait between announcement and UK availability I signed up for an 18 month contract on o2 the morning they become available here in the UK (Nov 6th?).

So impressed was I, that when my wife’s Nokia came out of contract in Feb 2010 I immediately convinced her to go for a Pre on an 24 month contract on o2.

We were happy Palm Pre users for months.

Recently though the power switch on my wife’s Pre stopped functioning correctly. It responds if pressed with herculean effort but doesn’t work otherwise. My wife assured me that it just stopped working and she hadn’t dropped it or damaged it anyway.

A bit of googling found that others also reported similar problems:

http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pre/202448-pre-power-button-not-functioning.html

http://forums.palm.com/t5/webOS-Hardware/Pre-power-button/m-p/257899

http://gdgt.com/discuss/power-button-not-working-recently-i-5vp/

Especially interesting is this post which claims Sprint acknowledge it is a known hardware problem:

http://forums.palm.com/t5/webOS-Hardware/Broken-Power-Button/m-p/241625

“I am bumping this thread to report the same problem. I took the phone into Sprint on Saturday and they told me that this is a known hardware problem. They said Palm is aware of it as well and they are replacing the phone with no questions asked. ”

So I took the Pre to an o2 shop, explained that it was broken and required fixing under warranty.

A week later I get a call saying that the phone is damaged and that a repair will cost 117.5 GBP. When asked for an explanation of the damage there was a very vague explanation of “crack behind the screen”. The screen does not have a crack in it (although this is also a common problem with Pres – see http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=30038) so I do not understand the comment nor the relevance to the power button.

I asked for the phone to be returned so as to check its condition. The letter that came with it simply said the phone was damaged and would cost 117.5 to repair which I had declined. No details of damage were given. I (admittedly not a trained phone engineer) cannot see any problem with it.

It seems that many other Pre users have experienced similar problems with o2 refusing to accept liability for a phone repair under warranty due to cosmetic damage of the phones:

http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=50595

http://forums.palm.com/t5/webOS-Hardware/Palm-Pre-repair-service-in-the-UK/td-p/312993

http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=48955

The fee is always the same – 117.5 GBP

The justifications are often vague.

It appears that o2 are hiding behind a blanket “It is damaged” response as a simple means of not having to cover the cost of repairs themselves and if so, this is unacceptable.

I do not have a problem with Palm – I still love it. I bought 2 Palm Pres from o2 and think they have a duty of service to provide me with a handset fit for purpose and free from manufacturing defects. If they believe my phone fault is as a result of damage then they should provide a detailed explanation in their rejection of the warranty claim. Are o2 simply giving up on Palm and unconcerned if they piss of handset owners? Are o2 hoping people will give up trying to get a problems fixed by o2 and go to Palm direct instead?

I have asked @o2 several times via Twitter for info about justification for repair estimates but have yet to receive a response. Thought you might be interested in this and possibly have some insight into the problem.

/Mark

Next time, Mark, get her to buy an iPhone. Because as long as it’s in warranty, you can avoid all this tossing around. It’s simply too much hassle. That’s why Apple instructs and empowers their team members to take one look at the issue and — provided you’re in warranty — get you a new one from the back. It’s simply not worth winding up the customer. And the amount of to-and-fro just ends up costing everyone more and more money. I wish more organisations adopted a can-do approach.

In the United Kingdom, however, we don’t generally get this, do we? Instead we all arse about with weeks and weeks of back-and-forward.

But who’s at fault with this specific issue.  What do readers recommend Mark does next?

And so Bloomberg reports this morning that, well, yes, Palm is dead. Not just the Pre, but the company. Kaput. That is, it’s trying to get itself sold.

Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners are currently doing the hawking.

HTC and Lenovo are, Bloomberg reckons, musing on the possibility of making an offer.

Here’s a quote:

“Palm still has quite a good brand in the U.S. market, and some strong technology, so you can do something with it,” said Frank He, a technology analyst at BOC International Holdings Ltd. in Hong Kong. “The shares have gone down a lot and the company may become attractive to anyone looking for a turnaround play.”

Indeed. Quite a turnaround indeed.

Who do you think will be the ultimate acquirer? Who’d you like to see snap up Palm? Microsoft? Nokia?

A Nokia acquisition would certainly raise some eyebrows. Doubtful, though.

What about some Russian trillionaire? It’d be quite exciting to see someone do the equivalent of Roman Abramovich’s reinvigoration of faltering premiership football team, Chelsea (who are now consistently amongst the Premiership titans).

And for all the Pre users out there: Hold on tight…

Saw your Palm Pre coverage, Ewan –

Remember this?

Mr Operator: Palm Pre – destined for European failure

Heh.

Mr O.

That post he’s highlighted is a column he wrote published back in March 2009 when the Palm Pre noise was beginning to hot up. At that point Mr Operator said the Palm Pre would go nowhere in Europe and set out his reasoning why. You can, of course, read what Mr Operator had to say right here.

Nicely done, Mr Operator.

We never doubted you!

Amongst the 250,000 strong audience there are fans, defenders (and often product managers!) of all manner of devices and platforms. I fully expected someone, somewhere, to jump in with some kind of defence.

Is there anyone in the UK or Ireland — or Europe, for that matter — enjoying their Palm Pre?

Or better still, does anyone know of somebody who’s actually bought one? If so please do post below and tell us about it.

My overriding memory of the Pre is being told not to touch it last year at Mobile World Congress. Kind of difficult to evaluate a device when you can — literally — only look at it.

What do you think? Is Palm dead to you?

I always have to steady myself just in case it’s something shocking. You know, like ‘Larry Page has just bought Vodafone — he reckons it’ll be quicker’.

Today, though, the call was about the Palm Pre’s performance in Ireland. It seems the Irish haven’t taken to the old Pre. My source reckons that a whopping 220 units have been sold since launch. Now, the launch date was October 16. So it’s been out for roughly 85 days or about 12 weeks. So on that basis, o2 Ireland have sold about 16 Palm Pre devices per week since launch. Or 2.3 Palm Pre units per day.

My source tells me that the Pre is equally as successful at o2 UK. Surely not? Can this be accurate? Does anyone know differently?

And it’s far too good a story for most pundits not to have written, me included. The truth, of course, is a little less dramatic but significant nonetheless.

While the Palm Pre is undoubtedly the company’s comeback device, the big bet is the accompanying webOS that powers the Pre along with the subsequently released Palm Pixi. In fact since the second device running webOS was unveiled, Palm have announced that, moving forward, they’re dumping Windows Mobile to pursue a single OS strategy. Thanks Redmond for easing the transition away from the dying PalmOS to the newly born webOS. But make no mistake, that’s all you were good for.

It’s in this context that when reviewing the Palm Pre it’s more tempting than usual to consider the phone’s hardware as separate from the operating system it runs on. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

(Spoiler: The hardware is OK but webOS is where things get really exciting.)

Hardware

As iconic as the iPhone’s industrial design has become, the Pre largely attempts to carve out its own distinctive cues unlike the raft of ‘slate’ copycats churned out by LG, Samsung and others.

Aside from the portrait slide-out and arched QWERTY keyboard (more on that below), when closed the device follows the natural lines of a pebble or so the marketing fluff goes. Think chubbier and heavier than the iPhone and with curvier lines to match.

It’s also smaller in width and height due to housing a 3.2 inch (rather than 3.5) multi-touch capacitive touchscreen. That’s MULTI-TOUCH and CAPACITIVE. I hope Nokia is reading.

The overall effect is that the Pre is really comfortable to hold, much more phone-like if you will, although it could be a tad lighter.

In terms of build quality, the Pre is certainly plasticky and the slide mechanism does wobble a little but I haven’t found it to be the deal breaker that some reviews have elevated it to. However, this particular Pre seems to suffer from the loose battery problem that others have reported online, which means that the phone occasionally shuts down involuntarily. (Tech historians will know that a very similar problem plagued the original Palm Pilot PDA). The remedy, apparently, requires the contact pins to be bent back into shape or the insertion of a thin piece of foam below the battery.

Next up, let’s deal with that QWERTY keyboard.

I’m disappointed.

It’s not that it’s rubbish but it’s definitely a bit of a let down. I want to love it, I really do as it ticks so many boxes. It’s a real keyboard. It’s portrait not landscape. And I have no issue with it being a slider.

But as much as I’ve practiced, I still can’t get up to the typing speeds I achieve on my Nokia E71 or a BlackBerry or even an old PalmOS-powered Treo. The keys on the Pre are too stiff and the top row too close to the protruding edge. There’s also not enough error correction built into the software and no auto-completion either, both of which could have helped to mask the keyboard’s deficiencies. However, for those who like me don’t get on well with an onscreen keyboard, it’s still preferable having a real one.

The Pre’s call quality proved to be good, although the speakerphone is a bit shrill, and despite O2′s reputation for having it’s network hammered by iPhone users, data connections held up well. I also haven’t experienced any problems joining various WiFi hotspots.

In terms of battery life, the Pre is probably its own worst enemy, such is the device’s always-on and multitasking capability (see below). That said, there’s certainly room for improvement. With moderate use of WiFi for web browsing, 3G pulling in email, a few tweets and calls here and there, you should be good for a full day. The temptation, of course, is to do a lot more, more of the time, in which case you won’t want to be too far away from a charger. However, this is where the utterly brilliant Touchstone comes into play.

The Touchstone is the Pre’s optional (and pricey) desktop ‘inductive’ charger. To charge the Pre you place it face up onto the Touchstone – it snaps into place via a magnet – and the device ‘wirelessly’ begins charging. The phone also sits at a slight angle, perfect for viewing emails and incoming messages while the Pre’s battery is getting a top up. Of course, unlike a certain popular smartphone, the Pre’s battery is also user swappable, so carrying a spare is another option.

The Pre’s camera is mediocre. It’s 3 megapixels and fixed focus, with a single LED flash. There’s no dedicated hardware shutter button – it’s a purely onscreen affair – and like most smartphones, the camera app takes a few seconds to launch, after which, however, shots can be taken in fairly quick succession. In summary, picture quality is passable but the Pre is certainly no camera phone. This is most evident by the complete lack of video recording capability.

To summarize the Pre’s hardware, Palm have made some really smart design choices. The non-iPhone copycat design, the bright 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen, multi-touch, a physical portrait QWERTY and the optional Touchstone ‘inductive’ charger. But execution, in places, is poor. The wobbly slider, sub-par keyboard, and smallish and poor fitting 1150mAh battery immediately spring to mind.

However, the Pre’s software or specifically webOS tells a very different story.

Software

I’m going to shoot from the hip. Based on its ease-of-use and in particular the way multitasking and notifications are handled, Palm’s webOS has the best User Interface of all current mobile operating systems. It’s a contentious thing to say I know and I’m admittedly discounting Maemo 5 as the N900 has yet-to-be-released but I have lived extensively with all recent flavors of Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, Android, iPhone OS, INQ and a whole bunch of dumbphones.

OK I’ll admit that getting to grips with webOS takes a little longer than iPhone. Yep, all ten seconds longer, less than the time it takes to actually sit through the interactive tutorial that ships with the Pre.

The additional learning curve mostly involves getting up to speed with the gesture area and the card system that webOS uses for multitasking. Otherwise, the Pre borrows many of the UI ideas that we first saw on the iPhone, such as kinetic ‘flick’ scrolling or the use of an inverted pinch to zoom in on web pages, images and other documents. There’s also the usual grid of app icons and these, like the iPhone, can be re-ordered and organised across multiple screens, accessible by swiping left or right.

It’s all perfectly finger-friendly, as you’d expect, and the visible feedback given with each finger press in the form of an onscreen ripple is particularly helpful.

One of the most refreshing aspects of webOS is that essential toggles and settings are brought to the surface in the form of a dedicated app for each instead of being buried in one gigantic kludge of a menu S60-style. Examples include discrete apps for WiFi and Bluetooth, adjusting screen brightness and time-out, and toggling GPS on and off. Accessing preferences within each app is also consistent via a finger optimized drop down menu. The result is that I rarely wasted time hunting for a particular setting, something that can’t be said of most mobile OSes.

The card system employed by webOS to support multi-tasking is GENIUS.

It’s one of the UI designs that is deceptively simple and after you’ve used it, you’ll find it hard to go back to the old way of doing things. To switch between running apps, you press the hardware menu button and the Pre zooms out to display each instance of a running app as a card side by side. You then swipe left or right until you’re focused on the card displaying the app you want to switch to, tap on it and webOS zooms in and that app is brought to the front. It’s not dissimilar to Mac OSX’s Expose feature and is almost identical to the way Safari Mobile on iPhone handles switching between open web pages.

Notifications on webOS are equally well thought through. For example, when a new email or text message arrives, no matter what app is in the foreground, a notification area pops up at the bottom of the screen. These can then either be acted upon, such as reading the full email, or dismissed with the swipe of a finger. If there is no interaction after a set period of time the notification is minimized. It’s a very efficient but non-obtrusive system. Far, far better than iPhone’s push notifications and and still an improvement over Android.

A flagship feature of webOS is the way it plays nice with third-party Cloud services, something Palm is calling Synergy. That means syncing with Gmail, Google Contacts and Google Calendar, along with similar support for Facebook. I’ve found Synergy to be reliable and, as noted previously, dead easy to setup (see my Day One impressions: “In some ways the webOS-powered Pre is the Google phone I was always hoped Android would be”).

Palm’s biggest issue with Synergy, however, is that it’s no longer a unique feature. Almost all of Palm’s competitors are now offering or talking up a unified address book that pulls in and converges data from Facebook and other Cloud services – HTC, INQ, Motorola,Google (Android 2.0) and Vodafone (360).

The latest version of webOS also adds LinkedIn to the list supported by Synergy but the UK is currently at least one iteration behind.

You read that right.

Despite getting the Palm Pre three months after the US, we’re saddled with an out of date version of webOS. Palm plans to eventually offer parity between US and UK versions, but again, we’ll have to wait a while. Currently, along with Synergy support for LinkedIn, UK Pre owners are missing much better cut ‘n’ paste and overall speed improvements. I did, however, find a really nice LinkedIn app in Palm’s own app store.

Talking of apps, this is one area where webOS is far behind the iPhone. On the Pre, the app cupboard is fairly bare but it’s slowly filling up a little.

The two questions I’d ask: does the Pre have 1st or 3rd party apps for the features you need? What does the future look like? i.e. is webOS attracting developers?

As for essential features, for my own needs the Pre has most apps covered. YouTube, fantastic web browser, push email, Twitter client, weather, Google Maps, Flixster (movie reviews), PDF and Word viewer, Instant Messaging, Podcasts etc. I’ve also noticed many new apps being added on a daily basis, even in the week or so that I’ve had the Pre.

By the way, the webOS web browser is very, very nice, at least on par with the iPhone, which helps to fill some of the gaps in third-party apps e.g. Facebook.

I also think webOS will/is attracting developers in sufficient numbers and I’m very optimistic about the future of third-party apps. For evidence look no further than the vibrant homebrew community that, like the iPhone’s original jailbreak development community, started before Palm released an official Software Development Kit. And about that SDK, it was only made public and widely available a few months ago. Palm also recently made two smart hires to boost its developer relations.

In other words, it’s early days but on the app front the signs are good.

And that pretty much sums up webOS. It has a very bright future if technology and UX is to win through. Whether or not Palm can sell enough webOS devices to remain cash positive in the meantime – the Pre is a good start and the Pixi should do well – only time will tell.

I do hope so.

- – – – -

Steve O’Hear is a tech journalist and consultant based in London. Steve writes the blog last100 and has written for numerous publications, including The Guardian, ZDNet, ReadWriteWeb and Macworld. He also wrote and directed the Silicon Valley documentary, In Search of the Valley. You can follow Steve on Twitter here.

I’d been instructed to meet a PR called Greg at a secret location in London’s Soho. Once there I’d receive a short briefing and handover of Palm’s much anticipated smartphone, the Palm Pre. The device goes on sale in the UK today exclusive to O2 and priced to match the original iPhone 3G. It wasn’t enough to send a review loan by courier or recorded post as is the norm with these things. No, on Palm’s insistence, this had to be done in person to talk me through the Pre’s setup.

Paranoid I thought.

I wasn’t really all that surprised, however, remembering that back at January’s CES where the Pre was first unveiled, none of the invited journalists were allowed to hold the device. And perhaps even more bizarrely, at a London press event where I got my first brief hands-on with the Pre, we were told not to film or take any photos. This was nine months after the Pre had been announced and three months since the CDMA version had gone on sale in the US.

All of which did add to the mystery of Palm’s comeback smartphone, a device that, along with webOS, may well represent the beleaguered company’s second coming.

In other words, this seemingly paranoid press strategy was either that. Paranoid.

Or pure marketing GENIUS.

Either way, I was more than willing to jump through the necessary hoops. You see Palm and I have previous form. I grew up using the Palm Treo line of PalmOS smartphones (Treo 180, 600 and 650). And through nostalgia tinted glasses, I’ve openly declared that I’m rooting for the company’s renewed success. I also get the impression that I’m not alone in the wider tech press. Hell, the smartphone world needs a viable competitor on the UX front to keep Cupertino in check.

The handover was swift and painless. It was later explained that the reason for insisting on a face-to-face was so that I experienced something similar to customers who purchase a Pre in an O2 store, which is interesting in itself and mirrors the point of sale program that Palm and Sprint have designed for the US.

I setup a webOS profile, a registration process that undoubtedly enables Palm to own a large part of the customer relationship (a la Apple) and gives the user a place in the cloud to store their crucial data and settings, making life easier if they lose their Pre or upgrade to another webOS phone in the future (regardless of carrier). It’s a win-win proposition for both Palm and the customer, although where it leaves carrier O2 in the value chain, in the long term anyway, I’m not so sure. As phones get smarter, the pipes seemed destined to get dumber.

Next I was presented with a short interactive demo video that auto plays explaining crucial elements of the Pre’s UI, from basics like the multi-touch screen to the more subtle gesture area. All very nice, all very Palm. In fact the Pre’s setup and initial use felt so intuitive, the presence of an overlooking PR was a little awkward.

Finally, Greg suggested that I launch the contacts app and start entering in my Gmail and Facebook credentials so that Palm’s Synergy feature could start its work converging my various contacts into one unified and cloud-savvy address book. However, alert to the fact that the battery indicator was in the red – that’s how it was given to me – I declined and would get to that bit as soon as I was back home. Besides I didn’t want a dead battery otherwise I couldn’t continue playing with the Pre during my commute from Soho to north London (the Pre’s battery life is a potential sticking point based on most reviews).

And that was it. With a certain sense of satisfaction and excitement knowing that, finally, I have a Palm Pre, at least for the next ten days anyway, and after a brief conversation about the virtues of twitter (follow me @sohear) I bid farewell to the helpful PR and I was on my way…

Once back home, setting up Synergy was equally straight forward. After entering my Google credentials into the Pre, the phone’s email client sprang to life, as did calendar and contacts. In some ways the webOS-powered Pre is the Google phone I was always hoped Android would be. Google integration is more or less on a par with stock Android but has a far superior UI. The Pre’s calendar is one example, with multi-calendar support and a nifty accordion metaphor to utilise screen real estate when part of the day is empty.

Importing Facebook contacts, avatars included, also worked as expected, and merging any duplicate contacts between Google and Facebook, for the most part, happened automatically. Manually linking contacts that Synergy had missed was also trivial.

Anyway, you get the picture. I’m impressed so far.

Besides, I’ve already more than exceeded my self imposed word count for this debut MIR column and frankly I better get my skates on for a press event I’m attending tonight. Think gadgets and canapés, you know the deal. Talking of which, I’m really looking forward to goading all of my journo rivals with this shiny new Palm Pre in hand. Although perhaps not. Knowing my luck I’ll lose it.

Who’s paranoid now.

And just before I go, here is the device in all it’s glory:

- – - – -

Steve O’Hear is a tech journalist and consultant based in London. Steve writes the blog last100 and has written for numerous publications, including The Guardian, ZDNet, ReadWriteWeb and Macworld. He also wrote and directed the Silicon Valley documentary, In Search of the Valley. You can follow Steve on Twitter here.

Speculation that Palm will be scooped up by a well-capitalized tech company has intensified since the well-received release of the Palm Pre and the company’s new operating system, webOS. While most of the commentary has centered around Dell possibly acquiring Palm, recent speculation pegs Microsoft as a potential suitor.

via Rumor Mill: Should Microsoft buy Palm? – FierceWireless & @mobilegd

What d’ya reckon?

It’d be an interesting shot-in-the-arm for Palm, that’s for sure.

In nearly a month from now, Mobile World Congress will be over, done and dusted, put to bed, an ex-event, acabado – finished.

What are we expecting to see, what are we likely to experience, what will astound us and what will we all be talking about five weeks from now?

From what we’ve already seen aired at CES and the meeting requests with various companies – the following is what we believe will be the main themes from the event. Along with the topics that could be addressed, and the avenues of discussion that we suspect will be throughout the event.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room, the very large grey beast that is the OS. We doubt the whole event will be taken up by talk of platforms, but they will have a significant presence at this year’s MWC.

With the inclusion of Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer as a keynote speaker, the attention will turn to the next generation of Windows Mobile on phones. At least we’re assuming he’ll be there to announce a product, as we doubt he’s just going along to increase his air miles.

Rumours have been around for a while now as to what Windows Mobile 6.5 will most likely contain, from the likes of multi-touch to the known IE version 6 being included. All that anyone can really wish for is that the new OS will fix the issues that plagued 6.1. Saving us all the bother of downloading cooked ROMs from the xda-developers website to resolve them.

Motorola has already spoken publically about their new handsets running this OS, due in the second half of this year which realistically means Q4. We’re wishing good things for that company too, as they need all the luck they can get right now.

We’re assuming, as most will be, 6.5 will be more of a service pack than a long term OS that will be with us for many years to come. As we’re hoping the attention will be on Windows Mobile 7 at MWC. If we’re all led to believe the hype, this will include the likes of Zune-esque features and an integrated live mesh mobile version.

With the world’s economy being what it is right now, the cost of Windows Mobile will be undoubtedly drawn in to the argument this year. As the alternatives around will be surely weighed up as a comparison, now they’re all here and phones around running them all. At the end of last year, a slide was shown at Orange Partner Camp just highlighting the cost associated with WM as compared to the others. To quote a tweet from Rafe Bladford “in open platform session – cost of platform – Symbian, Limo, Android = $0; Windows Mobile $14 (est). not often you see that slide comparison”. Seeing this in black and white just hammers home what Windows Mobile will have to achieve, if it wants to survive in these times.

There’s bound to be a heated, intense discussion of this nature, which we’ll enjoy and throw some spanners in to the works in order to get some decent feedback. Arguments will be made from all corners, which will be interesting to say the least on what everyone will say. Some will be diplomatic on the costs, although we’re hoping to hear from the European against the North American perspective. As it’s no secret the Americans love their Windows Mobile handsets, so we’re unsure if they can give a balanced opinion.

It’s been a year since Android was first shown off on a few phones at last year’s MWC, and only a few months since the HTC manufactured G1 came out. Since then there’s been a lot of rumours as to who will have the next Google OS powered device, who will be the first to market, who will be known as leader with these handsets in the future and not tied solely to a network.

CES saw a few models of not all that well known companies doing the rounds, with a few whispers of who really will be next. With leaks of late coming from HTC, Asus and others all showing they supposedly have Android phones in the mix. Perhaps one of those will show up with a ready-to-market model. Let’s not forget that only two months ago 48 of the biggest players in the mobile world all signed up to the Open Handset Alliance, so we’re all expecting good things from everyone soon.

We have it on good authority, the next one will be around very soon so keep your eyes peeled and stay reading MIR. We are expecting everyone and their dog, to be making some noise over their Android handsets either publically, or behind closed doors. Our money goes with HTC and we’re taking good odds on that spread right now.

They’ll also be talk of the next Android version or the updates, in the form of ‘cup cake’ and possibly how this will be rolled out. If not that, then at the very least what it will possibly contain, if not how the development is going. Although most of what’s what is already known, there’s bound to be some news to be aired as they’ve been rather quiet of late.

Not to be out done, and in the realm of keeping up with the Joneses, there’s bound to be news from Nokia’s Symbian platform. This time last year the world was completely unaware of the grand scheming going on. As far as we all knew Symbian was just a good OS running phones, which included Nokia and that was that. A few months later, the landscape of the platform world would change forever, with Nokia announcing its intentions.

We doubt we’ll hear anything great from Symbian at the event, perhaps some minor announcements but nothing too much. We do however expect to hear rumblings from Nokia, perhaps leading with an update on the N97 and when it’s actually due. Perhaps more on location based services, along with how well Ovi mail is doing on the Series 40 handsets, plus how that service will be expanded.

Some other rumours we’re hearing are that nVidia possibly, maybe, could be, might have something to say at MWC this year. This is all to do with them entering the mobile graphics world on phones, with a possible association with HTC being in the pipeline or so we hear. Whether or not this holds any water is yet to be seen, but it sounds like an interesting concept and partnership.

There’s bound to be noise over LTE, WiMAX and HSPA+ with some networks, carriers and handsets being spoken about. Don’t hold your breath in seeing any of this on the horizon anytime soon, just watch and read with glee and think of flying cars.

We’re even hearing completely unsubstantiated mutterings that even DELL will be making an appearance. This is with a view to be showing up with a Smartphone in tow, of all things. This rumour is picking up even more and more worth in the last week, as more and more sites have begun reporting on it. Why not have a phone; DELL seems to have everything else. They’re turning out to be like a large Sainsbury’s, a one stop shop for everything you need.

Other keynotes that have been booked in already come from large companies such as Vodafone, to even MySpace’s CEO and its co-founder. With the latter obviously appearing to let everyone know MySpace is still around, despite the fact Facebook jas stolen all its limelight and people have completely forgotten about them.

Many CES delights will surely make an appearance, there’s no getting away from that. The LG watch phone and the palm pre will be shown off to the coos and the wonderment of the Europeans. It’ll be interesting to see if the Palm phone and webOS will have the same reception as it did in Las Vegas, also if they’ll be tougher questions to answer now the dust has settled on the announcement.

It’s bound to be a veritable smorgasbord of mobile delights and treats, we’ll undoubtedly bring you as much information as your eyes can handle.

A “credible source” tells WebOS Arena, that Best Buy would be hosting a 60 days exclusive deal for retailing the Palm Pre. The Pre, which will be launched on Sprint’s network in the US would be the second phone to be available exclusively at Best Buy, following the Samsung Instinct which was touted to be highly anticipated and better than the iPhone.

Of course, as it is with the tons of rumors floating out there, there’s a huge cloud of uncertainty surrounding this one too.

[Via PhoneArena]

Mobile Industry Review has it exclusively from a well placed source, the prē was not manufactured by HTC for Palm.

It has been rumoured the HTC Touch looking device by Palm was said to be of an original design manufacturer (ODM) model, by the High Tech Computer Corporation.

Only now, despite all the evidence in hand, speculation, gossip and what turns out to be completely the wrong assumption, this was all just idle banter.

There is already a precedence set in place and a well establish partnership between HTC and Palm, with the likes of the Treo 650 and others already falling into this ODM relationship.

It wouldn’t have been so much of a stretch then to have seen them as the true authors of the prÄ“. Especially seeing as someone has just traced around the outside of the original HTC Touch and used that as the template for this new Palm handset.

More recently the Inventec company has made a number of devices for Palm, which means they are now the most likely candidate next on the list for the rumours to start chasing.

We were looking for a prē pre-briefing before Mobile World Congress by Palm; we were told by them the handset will be there and shown off in all its glory. Sadly, this will be the very first time it will be seen outside of the US of A and we were denied access.

No doubt, by then, we’ll have discovered who the designer of the palm prÄ“ was.

Until that time, feel free to speculate amongst yourselves, just as we will be doing as well.

All hail the newest Smartphone on the block, the one, the only – the palm prÄ“.

On first impressions the handset looks uncomfortably like the very first HTC Touch. Then its slider drops down, the keyboard is exposed and all preconceived notions and subsequent lawsuits are dropped.

As expected it comes along running the new platform which we assumed would be announced at the same time, which they more or less had to anyway. It’s the newest mobile phone operating system out there, which now goes under the title webOS.

Aesthetically the phone has some nice curves which also puts you in mind of the HTC Touch once again, with all its non-sharp smooth edges. The accompanying blurb to the handset is full of words such as smooth, rounded and ergonomically designed to feel natural in the hand. We concur with all from first impressions, we just can’t wait now until we get our grubby little mitts on the prÄ“ ourselves.

Its display is a 3.1-inch touch screen, not the most common screen size around and we’re not sure if we’ve ever come across those dimensions on a mobile before. To put it in perspective the HTC T-Mobile G1 has a 3.2-inch display, whilst boasting the same half VGA resolution of 320 x 480 as the prÄ“.

Built in are a variety of usual sensors, which they wanted us to be drawn to in the press conference for some reason. There’s the accelerometer, ambient light and proximity gauge which are all present and correct. With the latter being used to disable the touch screen when the handset is held up to the ear. Let’s hope they don’t cheat and just turn the screen off completely. This is one of the biggest irks with the HTC Diamond and other Windows Mobile devices. As the amount of times the screen is needed for accessing the likes of voicemail surely out ways the usefulness, or uselessness of this so called feature.

From the initial specs we’ve seen it appears to be UMTS HSDPA when it ships outside the US, with WIFI and GPS being standard all around. They harped on about the USA version which will be exclusively on Sprint, so the final details for other markets are a little sketchy. Onboard is a beefy 8GB of memory, although there doesn’t appear to be any further expansion possible in the form of a microSD slot.

Running the whole show is the Texas Instruments OMAP3430 processor. It’ll be the first Smartphone on the market to include this, with Palm saying it provides a laptop like performance. Hurrah!

Palm made a joke at the press conference about including a ‘removable battery’ for popular demand; the audience got the gag, laughed loudly and applauded. This was obviously and without any possible illusions a clear dig at Apple, which was very well received and only their first swipe at the iPhone with more to follow.

The product spokesperson unveiled slider in the presentation, showing off the full QWERTY keyboard. He added the accompanying line of – providing a ‘cheesy’ virtual keyboard just won’t cut it. This, if you’re keeping score, is dig number two at Apple and the iPhone.

They might however have been taking a knock at the BlackBerry Strom, but a later slide showed who they’re pitching the prÄ“’ up against and it wasn’t there. A slide which had three other phones silhouetted, as not to cause the wrath of lawyers. Seeing as 93-percent of the world’s lawyers are in America, it was probably a smart move too. The three phones were very easily recognisable as both the iPhone generations and BlackBerry Bold. Just showing who they’re wanting us to see they’re taking on with the prÄ“, and in a very not so subtle way.

When opening the phone to its fullest size the screen slides straight up leaving the keyboard exposed at a slight angle. They’re calling this ‘ergonomically curved’, we’re just calling this slightly tilted as it is no more than that. It does however put you in mind of the arc slider on the HTC designed Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, in the way the screen slides up only at a much more acute angle. If the rumours that we’re all hearing have any worth or merit to them, then the phone has been designed by those very same people.

Palm believe this curved format is much more comfortable to use and hold for typing, presumably as compared to a regular run of the mill straight slider. One nice touch they’ve added here which we’re mightily glad about, is that it will work as a phone both open, and closed. Others we’ve seen in the past struggle with this – it appears Palm has made some ground here. Double hurrah!

Palm mentioned, as they began talking about the underlying new OS to the prÄ“, they’ve always been known for the simplicity of their UI. True some of their phones have been rather simple, but we doubt they were trying to make that point. Without being too facetious, they were just trying to show their platform is much more easier to use than others. After not being overly impressed with the OS layout to the Palm Centro, it would have been very easy to assume they were trying to apologise – they weren’t.

Instead they were just trying to say the webOS works seamlessly with this phone, invisible if you will – as if you weren’t even aware of its presence. This is all very well, but what happens when the next phone featuring the same OS comes out. Palm can’t really say the same line then, as the OS surely has to stand on its own two feet. It was a confusing message they delivered. And one we doubt was fully underlined and looked over by marketing and public relations. More than likely an over excited product manager produced this presentation, without thinking ahead and towards the future of webOS.

They have running along the base of the prÄ“’s screen quick start icons, which looks rather akin to the HTC Touch Diamonds UI. Did someone mention there’s a lawyer in the room? These icons launch the applications whilst being pressed and held down, not double tap here needed.

Scrolling through long screens on the phone is performed in much the same way as on the HTC Touch Diamond. This was demonstrated on a large contact list from the phone, by touching the screen then sliding a finger upwards – where the phone just runs through the content on the screen. It does appear that Palm seem to be taking the best of other phones and including them in the webOS. As this feature alone does look like the iPhone’s functionality within this area, there’s even the ‘bounce’ when you pull a page down and it springs up again.

Underneath the display is what Palm is calling the ‘gesture area’. On this part of the phone minor screen operations can be evoked and controlled. This was demonstrated by swiping a finger from right to left whilst on the contact page. Here a light appears on the right part of this area, indicating pressure, then another light on left becomes alit when that area has been reached. This action reverts the screen back to the previous page, which can also be performed in any other application. This functionality just shows the screen won’t be used a great deal for everyday use. Meaning unsightly fingerprints and smudges won’t be the issue it is with other touch screen devices.

Holding a finger on the gesture area and swiping up opens up the main application launcher, this can be done at anytime and in any screen. It’s an easy way to cut down on the screen’s usage by a small margin. All of which seems eerily familiar; we hate to harp on about the HTC connection but we shall. The swiping from left to right was a feature from the original Touch handset, albeit on the actual screen. This swiping functionality was heavily promoted by them, in fact so much so one title ran a news piece ‘HTC takes a swipe at the iPhone’.

Palm has added a more complex gesture for quick launching of the favourites, these are the most commonly used applications that apparently the users want. This harks back to the trÄ“o and its four application buttons, that were also on the original Palm Pilot of yesteryear. In launching this, a finger once again is dragged from the gesture area up the screen only this time it’s held there. A wave looking bar appears where the finger stops, with those four main applications are then listed across the screen horizontally. Wherever the finger is then moved from left to right, the wave moves up and down accordingly. The actual app required is then launched when the finger is taken away from the screen, on that icon. This all emanates from one action access to everything needed, something they mentioned a few times throughout the press conference. It’s a nice touch and feature, and it’s that good continuity is rife.

Accessing all the running applications, if there are many applications running at once, is also done from the gesture control. Pressing the main button at the centre brings up what’s currently running, where scrolling from left to right moves through the apps. It’s even possible to rearrange the order by just dragging and dropping them into a different arrangement. Palm doesn’t want to think this way of multitasking as applications running on a Windows platform. Which they referred to as a list of apps running like sheets of paper being stacked on top of one another. Instead, they like us to think of this as a deck of cards – wasn’t that the way the HTC designed Xperia X1UI was laid out?

When the user is done with a particular application, it can just be dragged to the top of the screen where it’s shut down. The data here is all saved and can be resumed exactly where it was left off, on the next time it’s launched again. Palm insisted there are no save buttons anywhere on this new OS.

This was clearly a move to distance the webOS from Windows Mobile, and possibly themselves in the process. This could have been a ‘read between the lines’ moment, highlighting no further association with Microsoft. With the new mobile OS finally being a contender to Windows Mobile and Palm no longer needing to lean on Microsoft to run their phones. We’ll just have to wait and see the outcome.

Palm appears to has taken a leaf from the INQ playbook and have integrated social aspects of the web into the prÄ“. In viewing someone’s contact page from the webOS, they’ve also presented various possible means of getting in touch with said person over Outlook, Gmail and even Facebook. With what appears to be webOS actually taking content from the likes of Facebook, and then automatically adding those details to a person’s contact entry. Without being prompted, details such as phone number, email address are all brought over and populated into the prÄ“’s address book. Even the photo used by the webOS contact application to identify that person, is brought over from their Facebook profile picture. Outstanding!

The crosspollination doesn’t end there either. Data from a users Gmail calendar is brought into the webOS and then goes on to self populate appointments and meetings in the diary and calendar features. There are even separate colours to distinguish which calendar entry comes from which source, with auto-synchronisation being kept up. We weren’t told as much, but we’re assuming this can work both ways too.

Email plays a big part with the new webOS and the prē, where the inbox can be presented in a number of fashions. All the email accounts on the handset can be accessed from a single list, in where the emails can be seen altogether or separately by their individual accounts.

Palm has thrown in a nice feature where multiple instances of the inbox and emails can be accessed, and not just one at any one time. If a user were in the middle of writing an email and wanted to open up another they would have to save the email before carrying on, in a different platform *cough*. With the webOS and the prÄ“, the user can simply launch another instance of the inbox in the regular way, whilst gaining access to other emails. Where with that other OS, the original email would have to be saved as a draft, only to be retrieved later from the draft folder.They’re trying desperately hard to mimic the functionality of a computer on a mobile phone, which everyone else has being striving to do also. This type of feature with the email makes some ground, and goes some way in our book to coming close.

Palm kept mentioning ‘synergy’ throughout the launch of the prÄ“, without really dazzling the audience along the way. When they began to show off the conversation functions on the device, this caught our attention. From here, a user can view in chronological order IM chats and text messages and all combined. All the usual methods of contacting someone are available from inside conversations, whilst logging any and all details along the way for continuity. This looks great for interoperability, and a feature that could better the INQ in this way.

The only possible downside is the varied access to multiple IM’s and what’s on offer. There wasn’t a list made available to what’s onboard, which arose our suspicion instantly. When we find out more, we’ll report back but it does appear they’ve left out Windows Live Messenger.

Palm has said that the applications in webOS and on the prÄ“ are all made up from the likes of CSS, XHTML and JavaScript. All meaning it will be easy to develop applications for their phones in the future. Nothing has been said about existing applications they have for their current phones, and if they can be run out on webOS. The word around from other sources has it as a big no, nada, it’s not happening – you get where we’re going with this. This has got to upset some out there, if not many, as we’re getting the vibe from Palm this will be their main OS for some years to come.

They seem to have built-in a good all round search function, one similar to that of Windows to a degree. Just by starting to type a word from the keyboard on the main screen, the webOS starts searching that word across the whole handset. Results are instantly brought up from emails, contacts and applications. If nothing is found, the webOS automatically starts searching the web and in an intelligent way until the results are found.

The web browsing comes across well on the prÄ“, from what we’ve noticed. Fully integrated is the accelerometer for both viewing of website in portrait and landscape modes. Palm, or whoever made it for them *cough* has also brought in multi-touch technology. Where two fingers pinched together can be placed on a webpage, the fingers are then parted and moved away from each other whilst the webpage zooms in further. Zooming out is performed in the exact same way, only in reverse. This has been seen in other handsets before, just not with Palm and it’s good to see. Windows Mobile is still lacking this feature, leaving them somewhat behind at the party.

Another useful feature that Palm has included in webOS is notifications. These appear as a scrolling ticker on the base of the display. It’s useful when the application running is at full size, taking up the whole screen. They’re appear fairly unobtrusive, popping up showing previews of IM’s in a single line of text, SMSs arriving or alarms. The notification messages can be read in full at a later date, as the webOS stores them up just in case you missed one.

Some of these features sets are going to impact on data charges quite heavily we feel. Then we noticed in the small print ‘Unlimited usage data plan strongly recommended’, which we also concur with although we’re unsure if the webOS abilities can be toned down. If not, the handset wouldn’t really be for all customers as it would leave those on pre-pay tariffs somewhat distressed.

It’s been said before don’t fix something that isn’t broken, and the highest form of flattery is mockery. The unbroken features from other phones seem to be in webOS and also the mockery is here too – in the form of straight out copying some of their functions.

It does appear a lot of the features in the phone have been seen elsewhere, from its look to its software. Let’s hope they’re presenting themselves as an alternative to these other phones, whilst accrediting them along the way.

Following are a just few images highlighting the phone and its features, before any copy follows on from us – enjoy.

palm prÄ“ – with slider open.

palm prÄ“ – showing multiple websites

palm prÄ“ – Combined messaging, coming off looking rather iPhone-esque

palm prÄ“ – web browser, zoomed in

palm prÄ“ – application launcher

News of a new Palm mobile has been doing the rounds, with CrunchGear apparently having the exclusive lowdown on what’s what.

The site has it from a trusted source the latest Palm Smartphone will be of a slider phone design, with a full QWERTY keyboard in a portrait formatted touchscreen. To our knowledge the case is the very first type in a new venture for them and only the second display of that ilk, in their current line up.

This is supposedly what Palm is bringing along to CES in Las Vegas this week, with the announcement to be unveiled to the muggles this Thursday.

According to the site’s insider source, this will also feature a new OS with the accompanying standard office type functionality we’ve all come to expect from Palm and their Smartphones.

Also being touted around is that the phone’s maker is now known. It’s been rumoured by other sources too that the handset will be made by the same builders of the Palm Pro, namely one HTC.

There have been troubled times of late for the former 3Com spinoff company, perhaps a break away from the formats of yesteryear could be a good move for them. As we’d hate for a company of this history and worth to fall along the roadside, just like Psion have.

Let’s hope we hear more on this model and that it’s not some pie in the sky concept, as it does sound rather intriguing.

For one, it isn’t modelled after one of their full frontal QWERTY keyboard phones, which do come off sometimes feeling distinctly like a budget version of a BlackBerry of long ago.

And for another, it’s a new format for them in a slider phone. This could add more weight behind them within a new avenue on a route that they haven’t previously ventured down before. It could open up more or just another market for them along the way.

With RIM said to be producing their first ever slider model Smartphone later this year, perhaps Palm could get their first and grab the attention of those who don’t want to wait around or even go for a BlackBerry.

Lest not forget, that if the mock-up image is anything to go by and the information on hand is accurate, it’s both a full touchscreen display and has a physical keyboard. All of which means it sits on the fence between three types of phones, touch screen, one with a full QWERTY keyboard and also a slider handset.

This could very well hit more demographics that anyone cares to wish for; let’s just hope it has WIFI and all will be great with us.

Note: The image above is just a fictitious possibility, from Palmdoc_Flood on Flickr – seen here.

Palm recently posted a $506m loss, so the money has come just in time as Palm are expected to launch their new Nova operating system at CES in Jan next year.

Whether this injection or the new OS will save Palm is as yet undecided.

Is it too little too late though, Palm has been in decline for a while?

The store can be found here

The iPhone’s market share now stands at just over 19 percent of all smartphones, down from around 26 percent in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, RIM’s BlackBerry saw its market share jump in comparison, going from 35.1 percent of all smartphones in the fourth quarter of last year to 44.5 percent in the first quarter of this year and Palm saw its share grow from 7.9 percent to 13.4 percent of smart device sales.

Why has Apple hit a bump? Suggestions have included a post-Christmas shopping slump, new models from both Palm and RIM hitting the market and shoppers waiting for the 3G iPhone to surface. Chances are it’s a bit more prosaic than that: Apple’s range at the moment is just a single device and most people who wanted one went out to buy it in the first few months after release. Wait for the June refresh, and chances are those numbers will pick up again.