Palm has finally introduced the handset that will work on the much discussed Nova OS. Say hello to the Palm Pre, which runs on the WebOS, the official name for Nova.

Rumor mills were seething with gossip about Palm's new OS ever since Palm posed a teaser back in December about a new product that was to make an appearance soon. The company had seen little advancement in terms of product launches over the past few years and remained a mute spectator as RIM and Windows Mobile began eating into the user base, which was once dominated by Palm. The last straw came in the form of the iPhone, and the rest, as we all know, is history.

Palm seems to have had enough, and the result is what we now know as the Palm Pre, a very understated, classy-looking handset that might just turn Palm's fate around!

Coming to the phone, this one features a 3.1-inch HVGA touchscreen display with 320x480 resolution. There's a QWERTY slide-out keyboard and almost all the goodies you'd expect in a phone, including a 3.5mm jack. The UI, from what has been seen so far, looks slick and responsive and supports some multi-touch gestures - there is a dedicated "gesture area" as well. For those wanting to know about the browser on the phone, it has got a full HTML-based browser that supports tapping and zooming - just like the iPhone. Other notable inclusions are the following: 8GB memory, GPS, WiFi, MicroUSB support, EVDO, and a new multimedia interface. The device should be out by mid 2009, and in the US it will be on Sprint. A GSM version is in the pipeline as well.

 

 

Specifications

Operating system: webOS
Network specs: 3G EVDO Rev A

Display: 3.1-inch touchscreen with a vibrant 24-bit color 320x480 resolution HVGA display
Keyboard: Physical QWERTY keyboard
Email: Microsoft Outlook" email with Microsoft" Direct Push Technology
POP3/IMAP (Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, etc.)
Messaging: Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS
GPS: Built-in GPS

Digital camera: 3 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field
Sensors: Ambient light, accelerometer, and proximity

Media formats supported

Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV
Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264
Image Formats: GIF, Animated GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP

Wireless connectivity
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g with WPA, WPA2, 801.1x authentication
Bluetooth" 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support

Memory
8GB of user storage (~7.4GB user availability)
USB mass storage support

Phone as laptop modem
Bluetooth tethering
Connector
MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Headphone jack
3.5mm stereo

Dimensions
Width: 2.3 inches
Height: 3.9 inches
Thickness: 0.67 inches

Weight
135 grams

 

 

 

The Pre is arguably one of the more capable phones that we know of, but it remains to be seen how it fares in the illustrious company of the iPhones and the Androids of the world.