Earlier quoted context omitted.
form the specs I've seen of the Pre, it is about twice the thickness of the iPhone and the other dimensions are only slightly less. I guess you will find the Pre also large and clunky.
Palm Pre is .19 of an inch thicker than the iphone, and over half an inch shorter. Great size for an average hand or a pocket. Here are the numbers: http://palmpre.org/palm-pre-vs-iphone-storm-g1
Palm did it: better experience than Apple
51–60 of 63 posts
Re: Palm did it: better experience than Apple
#52Palm has never been as cool as Apple.
Palm hardware has always been "organization pr0n," which only appeals to a small subset.
The iPhone is seen as cool; it is the most desirable phone. People are bending over backwards to afford one (the most iPhone growth over the past 2 quarters has been in low-middle and low class income groups). Apple paved the way with iPods.
I think Palm will have a very hard time selling the Pre to people outside the geeky / careering groups where orgpr0n still appeals.
Even if the user experience is better, the market hasn't been conditioned fr it.
Re: Palm did it: better experience than Apple
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
While it'd be way more difficult to write the next office clone in this stack, the vast majority of apps we see on mobile devices are frontends to web data, calculators, or databases of some sort. In those cases, I think these APIs might be just about perfect. Perhaps they'll provide ways to extend out the javascript APIs (e.g. native code modules) later.
The vast majority of apps we saw on mobile devices, you mean. Then the iPhone and Android-based phones came along. If simple frontends are what the Pre plans to focus on, then Palm is still fighting the last war.
Games aside, there's hardly anything on the App Store that couldn't be done in webOS. It's not just "local webpages" -- the SMS and phone apps are written in it, after all.
I think if the choice was between a third all-new alien SDK and luring developers in with HTML+JS, Palm made the right choice.
Re: Palm did it: better experience than Apple
#54I hate to sound like an Apple fanboy, but you need more than a pretty phone to dethrone the iPhone. The App store is the best thing since sliced bread. The ever-growing developer enthusiasm for the iPhone is a huge factor too. And if webOS is basically web-based, that means that all of Palm's apps will be available on the iPhone, but none of the iPhone's apps will be available on the Palm Pre. Not exactly a winning p…
All Scoble said was it had a better user experience. You can split hairs about whether app selection should be figured into UX - I think maybe it should - but that clearly isn't what Scoble means. Being based on HTML and JS does not mean that Pre apps will be served up over HTTP. My bet is they get compiled like any app for iPhone or Android. Bottom line: the article didn't say the Pre will "dethrone" the iPhone. Pal…
He said that it is about to kick Apple into the "deathbin of history." I think that's pretty much the same thing as saying it will "dethrone" the iPhone.
I take everything that Scoble says with a grain of salt; he is overexcited and hyperbolic about everything. However, I think that he is right that this is device is special; It seems to be the first "iPhone-killer" which has actually surpassed Apple in some areas, rather than being an inferior ripoff like the others.
Re: Palm did it: better experience than Apple
#55I hate to sound like an Apple fanboy, but you need more than a pretty phone to dethrone the iPhone. The App store is the best thing since sliced bread. The ever-growing developer enthusiasm for the iPhone is a huge factor too. And if webOS is basically web-based, that means that all of Palm's apps will be available on the iPhone, but none of the iPhone's apps will be available on the Palm Pre. Not exactly a winning p…
They don't need to "dethrone the iPhone" to succeed, in the same way Apple didn't need to "dethrone Windows" to succeed. There's no reason why multiple manufacturers can't all have viable businesses in the same market space.
Sure, and I agree with that - but that's not the point that Scoble appears to be making...
Re: Palm did it: better experience than Apple
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
You missed "physical qwerty keyboard". That's my reason not to get a storm or an iphone, just can't type as fast without it. Pre's got the 320x480 res and a keyboard, and thus my interest. The webkit browser might push it past blackberry as well. I had a treo doing touch for few years, but the browser was useless. I wonder how the push email works on the Pre.
I don't consider not having a physical keyboard a weakness. One thing that you can do with the virtual keyboard that you can't do with a physical keyboard is change to the keys to show more useful keys depending on the situation. Then when you don't need the keys at all you can have all the screen to work with. Personally I consider having a physical keyboard to be a drawback.
I agree with you, but I think your parent's post still makes sense. The Pre does have a static keyboard, yes, but it also has a nice big screen where (presumably) those extra functions you mention could still be used.
But then again, that makes the phone bulkier. I'm very pleased not having a physical keyboard on my phone at all.
Re: Palm did it: better experience than Apple
#57I hate to sound like an Apple fanboy, but you need more than a pretty phone to dethrone the iPhone. The App store is the best thing since sliced bread. The ever-growing developer enthusiasm for the iPhone is a huge factor too. And if webOS is basically web-based, that means that all of Palm's apps will be available on the iPhone, but none of the iPhone's apps will be available on the Palm Pre. Not exactly a winning p…
They don't need to "dethrone the iPhone" to succeed, in the same way Apple didn't need to "dethrone Windows" to succeed. There's no reason why multiple manufacturers can't all have viable businesses in the same market space.
If the call quality is good (read: way better than Apple/AT&T) and if the network access is good (read: way better than AT&T) and if they address some annoyances that Apple creates with its highly restrictive user experience control policies, then they will give Apple a real run for their money.
BUT, if they can unify Facebook apps with a mobile device, this could be the start of something really huge. If someone (or someones) manages to unify all of the social networks with a mobile device, this would clearly leapfrog Apple's iPhone. We can access Twitter, Facebook, our blog, and location-aware social networks on the iPhone, but this experience is currently somewhat fragmented, and that aspect definitely sucks. If something enabled by the Palm Pre manages to unify all of the above, then this would be a huge game-changing win.
Re: Palm did it: better experience than Apple
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I say this as an iPhone lover, but I think you might be jumping to conclusions prematurely. Granted, the fact that that iPhone already has an awesome product in the market (version 2.0 at that) puts them light years ahead of the product demo Palm has at the trade show. But just because something is miles ahead of current competition doesn't mean your safe forever. The iPhone has some serious weaknesses, including but…
You missed "physical qwerty keyboard". That's my reason not to get a storm or an iphone, just can't type as fast without it. Pre's got the 320x480 res and a keyboard, and thus my interest. The webkit browser might push it past blackberry as well. I had a treo doing touch for few years, but the browser was useless. I wonder how the push email works on the Pre.
As a user of both French and English, having the ability to switch from QWERTY to AZERTY in a single click on my iPhone is something I really appreciate. Especially since switching to French loads up the French dictionary, completing and correcting words in the language I'm currently using. I probably use 80% English, 20% French, and live in France so having only a French keyboard would be pretty annoying.
Re: Palm did it: better experience than Apple
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Unless you have hooks for deeper functionality" Functionality like what? Will it let you import physics libraries written in C? Give you access to OpenGL in javascript? What about networking stacks? What if I need OpenSSL? At a certain point you end up reinventing an awful lot of wheels even if the hooks are all there.
I think the mini-revolution Palm's pulled off isn't being understood. They've implemented a full SDK in HTML/CSS/JS. Unlike the helpless widgets of the apple-side, Palm's presenting their entire API as a set of extensions to a pretty forward-looking HTML stack. From what I've seen: - Graphics: HTML5 canvas. No word yet on if it's got the 3D support that's been planned for that canvas. But 2D access for graphics is pr…
Um, I hate to break it to you, but none of that is Palm-specific. In fact, it's all available on the iPhone already. It all comes out of WebKit, which is mostly developed by Apple. Going back further, the canvas was developed by Apple for Dashboard before it was ever standardized.
I agree that it's neat--in fact, I expected that in the way of an iPhone SDK long before the native one existed (and given the number of ex-Apple employees on the team maybe that's where the idea came from)--but I wouldn't call it a mini-revolution. It's just an SDK built on an existing open source platform.
Re: Palm did it: better experience than Apple
#60I hate to sound like an Apple fanboy, but you need more than a pretty phone to dethrone the iPhone. The App store is the best thing since sliced bread. The ever-growing developer enthusiasm for the iPhone is a huge factor too. And if webOS is basically web-based, that means that all of Palm's apps will be available on the iPhone, but none of the iPhone's apps will be available on the Palm Pre. Not exactly a winning p…
I say this as an iPhone lover, but I think you might be jumping to conclusions prematurely. Granted, the fact that that iPhone already has an awesome product in the market (version 2.0 at that) puts them light years ahead of the product demo Palm has at the trade show. But just because something is miles ahead of current competition doesn't mean your safe forever. The iPhone has some serious weaknesses, including but…
I think it's shortsighted to think that Apple's shortcoming is any of those missing features.
In the end Palm has completely out-done Apple is one very crucial area: workflow. The iPhone has a great UI, but horrible workflow. Anyone can figure out how to do anything on an iPhone, but it's neither simple nor fast.
Palm is clearly not going after "trend" users, but rather the hardcore productivity types who need to get things done efficiently.