The original Palm Pre launched with no small amount of excitement. Largely due to its beautiful WebOS platform, the Pre was instantly hailed as an “iPhone Killer” by countless tech journalists and bloggers (aren’t they all?). Even I thought this phone looked amazing. It just had so much that the iPhone didn’t (at the time). An innovative multi-tasking system, a slideout physical keyboard, cool gestures to bring up hidden menus, global search, Facebook contact syncing, and more. All of this of course came in addition to various iPhone-like features that had Apple calling their patent lawyers.
However, here we are well over a year later and the iPhone is still the king (though Android is a serious threat). Even the newer Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi failed to gain the interest of consumers. Meanwhile, the horribly performing Palm, Inc. has been acquired by HP in hopes that the PC titan can revive the Palm brand. Now after a considerable period of silence, HP has launched the Palm Pre 2 along with WebOS2.
With HP’s backing, will this new Pre finally gain a considerable following and challenge the iPhone?
The Palm Pre 2
The updates to the hardware are fairly modest. Same basic shape (apparently more streamlined), same slideout keyboard design, the 3MP camera has been bumped to 5MP (still only one) and the 500Mhz processor has been bumped to 1GHz. Both the memory and storage also remain where they were: 512MB and 16GB respectively.
The Palm Pre 2
As Jason Mick at Daily Tech pointed out, one of the biggest surprises is that HP is staying with a 3.1-inch 320×480 HVGA display. If the iPhone’s amazing Retina display is spurring a smartphone resolution war, Palm has decided to sit it out.
Likewise, most of the “new features” in WebOS 2 seem more like UI improvements of things that already existed. The card-based multi-tasking system has been overhauled, the launcher has been reworked, etc.
Exhibition allows you to display special apps while the phone is docked
Two new features that I think do seem pretty cool are Exhibition and “Just Type.” Exhibition, shown above, displays certain special apps while your Pre is on the charger. This is a really simple and awesome idea that I suddenly wish the iPhone had. “Just Type” is a lot like the global iPhone search, only it allows you to do a ton more like start an email or update your Facebook status, all without launching an app.
Palm Pre: Now A Contender?
I have mixed feelings about the Pre 2. The hardware doesn’t strike me as anything special and isn’t really that much more impressive than the original. WebOS 2 on the other hand looks pretty awesome. But then again, so did the original WebOS and it didn’t exactly revolutionize the market.
For whatever reason, the Palm Pre just hasn’t made a serious impact and I don’t see this fairly minor upgrade as a game changer. My guess is that the market is just supporting too many systems at the moment. Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile are quite the lot without throwing in WebOS, a product with a very uncertain long-term future.
The Android market is swelling at a rapid rate and if AT&T finally loses iPhone exclusivity in 2011 we could see a huge jump in iOS users. Both of these events will continue to push fringe products like WebOS out even further into the abyss.
What Do You Think?
Now that you’ve seen the new Palm Pre, what do you think of it? Is it a promising refresh of the Pre or merely a minor update? Also weigh in on your thoughts about WebOS and its ability to gain share in a fierce and crowded market.
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