[Pearl_Diva]

I almost forgot...Windows Mobile 6.5 looks awful. The MWC videos showed choppy finger scrolling all over the place, and the fonts on the new Zune-like start screen don't even extend to the rest of the OS, plus the new start screen shows LESS information at a glance than the current one (or even the TF3D start screen)

Is there anyone who thinks this isn't Microsoft's own version of TF3D?

Looks fine to me. WM is mainly business for the most part and still reflects that. But it did get a nice refresh IMO. Looking again at the video, I'd say the scrolling is less fluid than the iPhone or Pre, at this time. But not "awful".

If WM6.5 is being released officially near the end of the year, I'm going to bet the final version may be a bit more smooth. Especially since it seems to be featured on all these new WM touchscreen devices. The Touch Pro 2 looks excellent, I would love to see it on AT&T eventually.

[Pearl_Diva]

Is there someone who doesn't think that a 32 gb Iphone with a better camera/video, higher rez screen, software refresh, multi tasking, and copy and paste wouldn't be a game changer for the pre? Why not throw Flash on there? Especially if it is competitively priced and available soon after the pre?

Certainly these things are more then possible.

And that's one main reason I won't abandon my AT&T iPhone contract. I want to see what the 3rd gen. iPhone will do first.

[JayC3]

At the end of the day, what matters most is how much units Palm or HTC or Apple sold. Buzz is like an IOU, its pretty much useless until you can get the cash.

Even if the Pre is far superior than the TP2/TD2, if the TP2/TD2 sold more units than the Pre, HTC does not care if the Pre gets all the buzz on the net.

[Reeves]

Looks fine to me. WM is mainly business for the most part and still reflects that. But it did get a nice refresh IMO. Looking again at the video, I'd say the scrolling is less fluid than the iPhone or Pre, at this time. But not "awful".

If WM6.5 is being released officially near the end of the year, I'm going to bet the final version may be a bit more smooth. Especially since it seems to be featured on all these new WM touchscreen devices. The Touch Pro 2 looks excellent, I would love to see it on AT&T eventually.

I can only evaluate the shape it is in now, and not what I hope Microsoft makes it. But even if the scrolling becomes magically smoothed out all the way around, the "improvements" of 6.5 don't seem to reach too far beyond the today screen and app list, and in the case of the today screen, I think it's a step back.

[Reeves]

Is there someone who doesn't think that a 32 gb Iphone with a better camera/video, higher rez screen, software refresh, multi tasking, and copy and paste wouldn't be a game changer for the pre? Why not throw Flash on there? Especially if it is competitively priced and available soon after the pre?

Certainly these things are more then possible.

Sure. So is Palm releasing the Pre with 32GB of onboard storage, 2 card slots, and an embedded bluetooth headset. But is it likely? No.

A "software refresh" and "multitasking" when you have thousands upon thousands of apps based on the current configuration would be a nightmare for Apple and all iPhone and iPod Touch users. And copy and paste being a game changer? Um, no. Millions bought iPhones either not caring about it or in spite of this omission. Millions will continue to buy them whether it's added or not. I don't think the Pre having copy and paste is what would lure away iPhone users, anyway.

Palm got it together and came up with the industry's best answer yet to the dominance of the iPhone. Rushing its release would be suicide.

[Aero]

Just to put things into a little perspective...



From twist.flaptor.com which keeps track of Twitter trends. I tried searching Omnia and OmniaHD and it was so low it didn't even show on the chart.

Fact: Omnia and Omnia HD get plenty of mentions relative to the actual Pre mentions. Your chart is FLAWED.

Though, I think the iPhone has an unfair advantage because of all the posts that say "Pre has flash before iPhone" or "Is Pre an iPhone killer" etc. In other words, the iPhone is mentioned not only in iPhone related topics but also in topics about every other smartphone.

Lol, did you actually look a the results for that? 90% of the results for "pre" have NOTHING to do with the Palm Pre!

I suggest anyone RUN it themselves and then look at teh tweets. "Pre dinner snacks" , "pre-lude", "pre-registered" "pre-order"

monikaflores: aguém sabe me dizer como funciona esse pre-lude?
33 minutes ago
dquack: @kerri_qunell Looks like we have 47 folks who pre-registered for the lunch. Not sure how many walk-ups we usually have.
34 minutes ago
whathobertie: @bonorattle Ah cool! I just pre-ordered mine.
35 minutes ago
JRblog: @kuniochi - J&R's taking pre-orders for Street Fighter IV Collector's Edition - you'll be notified when it ships. Street Fighter IV Collector’s Edition - Xbox 360 in Microsoft Xbox 360 Fighting Games at JR.com
35 minutes ago
RichardR: Dammit, the script I just finished would require an actual Pre to be used in filming, I thought I might get away with some clever angles
37 minutes ago
CRA1G: [GearBits] Palm Pre's Mirrored Slider: In keeping an eye on the Palm Pre news, I ran across this photo.. GearBits: Palm Pre's Mirrored Slider
43 minutes ago
fbhz85: Pra acabar com a felcidade de todos: to pensando em comparecer ao TwitterBH-Pre-Carnaval
46 minutes ago
abhishek: My younger brother brought chicken momo's + chicken roll for pre dinner snacks. - i m hungry.
46 minutes ago
FP_Passport: Morning Brief: Don't call it a surge: Top Story In his first major change to U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, Pre.. Morning Brief: Obama will send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan - By Joshua Keating | FP Passport
49 minutes ago
kgadberry: Hoping our 9-hour meeting agenda fades by about 3:00 today. Swallowing pre-emptive Ibu now.
55 minutes ago
lashahah: debating tidying my room or going for a run pre-beers with em and rich... i run around my room tidying i suppose!
1 hour ago
1_4G41N57_1: Starting pre-production for the next episode of "Ask 1_4g41n57_1". Please submit your questions!
1 hour ago
Euphoriamism: is about to eat some questionable pre-frozen rice.
1 hour ago

LOL!

[Captweez]

Sure. So is Palm releasing the Pre with 32GB of onboard storage, 2 card slots, and an embedded bluetooth headset. But is it likely? No.

A "software refresh" and "multitasking" when you have thousands upon thousands of apps based on the current configuration would be a nightmare for Apple and all iPhone and iPod Touch users. And copy and paste being a game changer? Um, no. Millions bought iPhones either not caring about it or in spite of this omission. Millions will continue to buy them whether it's added or not. I don't think the Pre having copy and paste is what would lure away iPhone users, anyway.

Palm got it together and came up with the industry's best answer yet to the dominance of the iPhone. Rushing its release would be suicide.

I would bet a paycheck on the fact the next iPhone will have a version with 32 gb on board.

Your right, maybe they should take their sweet time, because Palm's phone is SOOO miraculous that nobody, not even Apple with it's gagillion dollar budget, could possibly replicate its features EVER. There will never be another phone that offers multitasking.

You mentioned those "thousands and thousands of apps" that might need editing. What about the fact the phone has thousands of apps?

I'm not saying the next iPhone will kill the Pre. It might even be an inferior phone, but in the position that Palm and Sprint are in, they can't gamble that every phone manufacturer will sit idle while they take their sweet time.

[Reeves]

I would bet a paycheck on the fact the next iPhone will have a version with 32 gb on board.

Your right, maybe they should take their sweet time, because Palm's phone is SOOO miraculous that nobody, not even Apple with it's gagillion dollar budget, could possibly replicate its features EVER. There will never be another phone that offers multitasking.

Of course, iPhone will move up to 32GB on board. And? It will always be dominant in onboard memory over the rest the market. Equaling them is not going to be a differentiator for Palm. You see anybody ecstatic about the Pre media player having Cover Flow? People are crazy about the features of Pre that DON'T have much to do with the iPhone at all (e.g. cards, synergy, hardware keyboard instead of a competing soft keyboard). That's what Palm has emphasized and that is what is going to keep them alive in the marketplace past the next several iPhone iterations.

There are already phones that offer multitasking. There are not phones that offer it as simply and elegantly as the Pre does. Just as there had been phones that would play MP3s from SD cards, but none that had the simplicity and elegance of the iPod app on the iPhone and its abundant onboard storage. It's not what you do, but the way that you do it. Apple cannot do multitasking the way Palm does.

You mentioned those "thousands and thousands of apps" that might need editing. What about the fact the phone has thousands of apps?

To me, it's meaningless. So does Symbian. So does WinMo. So does Palm OS. Apple has the online and onphone store that makes it easy, but pretty much everyone is copying that move in the next 6-12 months, so then what?

I'm not saying the next iPhone will kill the Pre. It might even be an inferior phone, but in the position that Palm and Sprint are in, they can't gamble that every phone manufacturer will sit idle.

I guess I find it bizarre that people think Palm and Sprint are "sitting idle" with the Pre. In addition to trying to get it to market as quick as possible, they're everywhere with this device and constantly updating the Palm.com site with new Pre content. They're unofficially supporting the PreCamps going on, giving impromptu demos to industry insiders and tastemakers, and lining up partnership after partnership (see the Google Maps thread here today) that will sustain them beyond the lifespan of one phone model. That's waiting around?

Additionally, they've come up with an OS and featureset that not only allows them to compete with today's handsets, but puts them into the future and ahead of the pack when it comes to productivity and usability. That they want to spend a wee bit of time tweaking it before bringing it to market is understandable. The greater the buzz and premiere your phone starts with, the greater the fall if you come to market with show-stopping bugs.

[Captweez]

Of coarse people are most excited about "non-iPhone" features? Who would be excited about features that another phone has had for a year or two? Nobody gets excited about more of the same.

[anon(45821)]

I guess I find it bizarre that people think Palm and Sprint are "sitting idle" with the Pre. In addition to trying to get it to market as quick as possible, they're everywhere with this device and constantly updating the Palm.com site with new Pre content. They're unofficially supporting the PreCamps going on, giving impromptu demos to industry insiders and tastemakers, and lining up partnership after partnership (see the Google Maps thread here today) that will sustain them beyond the lifespan of one phone model. That's waiting around?

Additionally, they've come up with an OS and featureset that not only allows them to compete with today's handsets, but puts them into the future and ahead of the pack when it comes to productivity and usability. That they want to spend a wee bit of time tweaking it before bringing it to market is understandable. The greater the buzz and premiere your phone starts with, the greater the fall if you come to market with show-stopping bugs.

I'll agree with this and add: People were so desperate to see what Palm was going to come out with next (when we knew it as Nova) and I think Palm did the right thing by waiting for something like CES to debut it, and did so even though it wasn't production ready. Imagine all the crap we'd be reading (and writing for some) if Palm had not shown up at CES to demo their next OS and phone. But now we have to read a lot of crap because they did show it at CES and that it's not available for purchase yet.
I for one appreciate being given the opportunity to preview the soon to be released Pre and will wait patiently for it's release. If it doesn't come out before June 30th then I'll start to question Palms tactics.
I suppose maybe I'm a Palm fanboy as I have not even been "shopping" around for any other device. I know I want a Pre.

[Gerorne]

Of coarse people are most excited about "non-iPhone" features? Who would be excited about features that another phone has had for a year or two? Nobody gets excited about more of the same.

I don't understand what you expect to happen in the next couple months. If four months (at most) is the difference it takes for Apple's billion dollars to come up with a feature set that's going to blow the Pre away, have it announced and demo'd, and announced that it'll be released soon after, then Palm has no chance anyway, even if the phone was released tomorrow.

[marcol]

Lol, did you actually look a the results for that? 90% of the results for "pre" have NOTHING to do with the Palm Pre!

I suggest anyone RUN it themselves and then look at teh tweets. "Pre dinner snacks" , "pre-lude", "pre-registered" "pre-order"

You're right and that site is a lot of fun, but I'm not sure Twitter users are completely normal

[Reeves]

I don't understand what you expect to happen in the next couple months. If four months (at most) is the difference it takes for Apple's billion dollars to come up with a feature set that's going to blow the Pre away, have it announced and demo'd, and announced that it'll be released soon after, then Palm has no chance anyway, even if the phone was released tomorrow.

I know, right?! Do people think Palm will magically make 10 billion dollars in Pre sales if it were released next week that they would not get if it were released in the first week of June? If the next iPhone is so magically compelling, guess what's going to happen...all of those people who bought Pre phones will do EXACTLY what the first batch of iPhone customers did: break Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint contracts to get the hottest, newest thing, Pre be damned. Palm can't do anything about that.

The shadow of the iPhone is not THAT long. Look at the Instinct launch. The iPhone 3G was fully announced before it could launch, but a load of Sprint customers bought it in the first month and gave it a chance anyway. And what did they find? That Sprint and Samsung rushed a buggy junkbox to market missing all kinds of promised features and stability. Thus, the returns happened, and the device was tarnished. Now, months after that, Sprint ironically corrected a lot of those mistakes via OTA updates, but the buzz is gone and the window is closed.

They cannot afford to repeat that mistake. So, yes, I am glad they are taking their time to do the Pre launch properly.

[jhoff80]

Fact: Omnia and Omnia HD get plenty of mentions relative to the actual Pre mentions. Your chart is FLAWED.
Lol, did you actually look a the results for that? 90% of the results for "pre" have NOTHING to do with the Palm Pre!

Yes, I did, which is why I said:

You know, one other thing is I'm not entirely sure how that graph I posted works. I mean, I don't know if tags such as #palm, #pre, and #meetpre (what the official Palm Twitter account has been tagging it with), are counted in that search.

Then again, at the same time, it's probably catching a ton of random ones as well, about pre-ordering or pre-release, so it might equal out.

[cardfan]

Editorial: Ten reasons why Windows Mobile 6.5 misses the mark - Engadget

I'm not the biggest fan of engadget, but i think they hit the mark on WM6.5 I watch videos on the Pre, and i'm still kind of blown away at the elegance of what it can do.

[Pearl_Diva]

He didn't even USE it so I have to take what he says with a grain of salt. Opinion, same as everyone else.

WM was never the most exciting OS, just the most functional for serious business. It would have been nice if they'd merge business and pleasure, but they just won't do it for some reason. The one thing I do agree with is his points about no exciting media player and needing a kick **** browser. Basically it still only appeals mainly to the business market.

[Reeves]

He didn't even USE it so I have to take what he says with a grain of salt. Opinion, same as everyone else.

Uh, only points #2, 9, and 10 are really opinion-based (and you seem to agree with #9, so...). The other 7 are factually true as of this moment of WM 6.5's development., and he links to screens deep within the OS to show how ancient and stagnant 6.5 still is.

WM was never the most exciting OS, just the most functional for serious business. It would have been nice if they'd merge business and pleasure, but they just won't do it for some reason. The one thing I do agree with is his points about no exciting media player and needing a kick **** browser. Basically it still only appeals mainly to the business market.[/COLOR]

It's losing that appeal, which is why iPhone now has more marketshare than all Windows Mobile devices combined. RIM has gained. iPhone has gained. Android has gained (Granted, since it's new that's a given, but...). Windows Mobile is SINKING. Why? Because it's old, laggy, hardware-hungry and Microsoft refuses to give it the complete overhaul it desperately needs.

[Pearl_Diva]

That editorial is littered with opinion. About the points you didn't mention:

For point 1. How does he know this for sure? Was he in on it's development? I'm not clear how he knows this for sure.

3. Read above.

I'll give you 4 and 5 because I remember the rep said he was using a resistive screen. And I even suspect they may be late getting it out. MSFT has this problem.

6. hasn't truly been determined yet. There's speculation that some WILL get an upgrade.

7. is the one I also agree with. But this MAY not be the final version, especially if it's not due out until late this year. Hopefully if they get feedback, they can make some changes before final release.

8. It's a matter of preference and personal experience. Just because HE doesn't like it, doesn't mean others won't like it also.

BTW, if you agree the iPhone stole much of the market, why don't you view the possible release of the Pre too close to the release of the new iPhone as a threat?

[Captweez]

I don't understand what you expect to happen in the next couple months. If four months (at most) is the difference it takes for Apple's billion dollars to come up with a feature set that's going to blow the Pre away, have it announced and demo'd, and announced that it'll be released soon after, then Palm has no chance anyway, even if the phone was released tomorrow.

I guess my point is people are fickle. Palm needs to keep the momentum and excitement of the Pre being the "next big thing", through to the release. Cool videos and demos only get you so far. If "the next big thing" that gets people talking is announced before the Pre hits the shelf, or right as, it's going to be a disaster for Palm. In order to get some market share, Palm has to sell some phones while they are hot.

Right now I'm ready to run out, cash in hand, and buy one on the first day. If the next big thing is announced, maybe I can wait a few more months.

[cardfan]

There hasn't been a next big thing since the Pre. Before that, the iphone. The rest? Whiff...

And still, noone i've talked to has even heard of the Pre...

"what do you think of the new phone Palm is coming out with?"

"what phone?"

And i hate to say it...but sometimes i get "who's palm?"

Anyway, this only tells me that for most, the buzz won't even hit til right before launch and they see it advertised...