Palm's pre gets its own spot on Sprint's website

by Darren Murph, posted Jan 8th 2009 at 3:26PM

Merely minutes after Palm shook up the mobile realm with the introduction of the pre, Sprint -- its exclusive launch partner -- has already hosted up a dedicated website for what will unquestionably be its flagship device. Currently, all the site offers is a way to get informed of when it'll be out, but that's all you really need at the moment, now isn't it?

[Thanks, MTW]

Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Sprint, Palm OS, EV-DO, CDMA

Tags: palm, palm pre, PalmPre, pre, smartphone, sprint, teaser, website

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Blu-Sam @ Jan 8th 2009 3:44PM

I want it now.

Okay, I'll wait until 1st half 2009. *waiting*

Neutral

boris @ Jan 8th 2009 4:26PM

Disappointing hardware.
Promising software.

Neutral

The Indie Army @ Jan 9th 2009 4:25PM

when you think about it though, they usually don't start these email sign up's until a couple months before it's out. I don't ever recall one showing up a whole 4-6 months prior. My guess is that this is a sign that it's coming sooner than we may think.

Neutral

Mark @ Jan 8th 2009 3:45PM

I just called trying to preorder and no one had any idea of what the Pre was, although this CSR made a good faith attempt to sell me an olive Centro.

I wasn't there but Dan Hesse apparently said they're taking preorder starting now. Guess he forgot to send out that memo.

Highly Ranked

juda @ Jan 8th 2009 6:17PM

lol yeah it was quite a surprise for us sprint employees the kept this under wraps. so plz dont bother calling in just sing up for the website and wait :)

Highly Ranked

Derek @ Jan 8th 2009 4:57PM

You have to Pre Pre-Order.

Highly Ranked

James @ Jan 8th 2009 3:54PM

Looks good. Reminds me of the PPC-6600 on Sprint a while ago. Any other specs?

--James

Lowest Ranked

Brian @ Jan 8th 2009 3:57PM

Is there anyone who still has Sprint out there to even buy this phone?

Highest Ranked

VCI_Cell @ Jan 8th 2009 4:04PM

Only about 50 million or so.

Neutral

shopperciti.com @ Feb 21st 2009 12:16AM

YESIR! Of all the people to respond to your comment you get the guy who use to sell sprint long distance back when i was 15 and worked at a telemarketing company here in Nebraska ( telemarketing capital of the world). This is back before cellphones and when Sprint sold phone cards but they spelled phone with a F as in FON CARD! Sprint has the best service all in all and if any Sprint rep is in the audience can i get a dedicated user discount? I mean my $49.99 sero plan with unlimited data and text with 1250 minutes is cool and all but DAMN ive been promo'n yall's work for 18 years come October!

Neutral

RCC2k8 @ Jan 8th 2009 4:00PM

I'm not a big fan of the chin-wannabe shape. Also, what's up with Palm and that macron character no one can type? First it was the Trēo and now the Prē!

Lowest Ranked

NuShrike @ Jan 8th 2009 4:12PM

Newsflash!:
Two sinking ships form partnership of desperation!

One, coming from a background of formerly unchained has-been, offers new unproven flash. The other, coming from a background of regional 3rd-rate, offers nothing new but ankle-chaining. Will these two survive?

Neutral

Chris Littmann @ Jan 8th 2009 4:15PM

/Looks at Treo 800W, shakes fist.

This thing looks great. I can't imagine they could've done much better on this one.

Neutral

Rick @ Jan 8th 2009 4:20PM

I am one of the last Sprint faithfuls waiting for Dan and company to get off of their @sses and get a device worthy of dumping a few hundred dollars in to. This is the one thing I didn't count on. The Treo Pro is a nice phone, not an iPhone or Blackberry killer, the pre is looking like it will regain some of the momentum Sprint has lost over the last 3 years since the debacle they had when Nextel came to town. The ARPU for iden is now trying to be regained from business users with the new iden Blackberry so I think when it comes to business it'll be either the iden or the new Palm pre that will be first in line when choosing a new phone. Given that the pre comes out in the first half of this year, this means that At&t and the other providers will have released another 18 new devices to the lineup to the new 1 (good phone) for Sprint. I'm hoping Hesse has a few other tricks up his sleeve. A couple G1'ish phones would be a good start.

Neutral

cocoviper @ Jan 8th 2009 4:55PM

I would personally rather have Sprint have 6 or 7 really good handsets targeted at specific user types then firing junk in all directions the way ATT does. You can tell that this is their strategy with:

1 Touch Diamond
1 Touch Pro
1 Instinct
1 Rant
1 Low end BB
1 High end BB (with the soon to be released bold)
1 High end palm device (pre)
1 Low end palm device (centro)
and finally a couple rugged PTT devices

If anything it could stand to be reduced further...but I'll take that lineup over ATTs smattering of crap phones (save the bold and iphone) any day

Highly Ranked

cakruser @ Jan 8th 2009 4:29PM

Actually, my old Samsung i730 came to mind when I saw the photo.

Neutral

DssTrainer @ Jan 8th 2009 5:05PM

eh? its clearly a HTC Touch Opal VIVA

Neutral

Tom @ Jan 8th 2009 4:38PM

I can't help but notice that it doesn't say anything about compatibility with existing PalmOS applications. If it's not, that's going to be a huge dealbreaker for existing Palm users. Having recently ditched my Treo 680 for a T-Mobile G1, I would only consider coming back to Palm if it was backwards compatible. If not it has the same issue the G1 currently has with a dearth of good applications. I’m willing to wait it out with the G1, but I’m not sure I’d be that confident about the future of a new OS from Palm.

Low Ranked

mpete @ Jan 8th 2009 4:46PM

What is the OS? Nova?

Highly Ranked

DssTrainer @ Jan 8th 2009 5:01PM

Who said disappointing hardware? Why?
Found this in google:
Looks like good specs and a good unit. GPS, Blutooth, 8GB storage, and a "fast processor; Stereo A2DP support; TI's latest OMAP CPU. The first one with this CPU; 3.1-inch display, 320 x 480 -- touchscreen, with multitouch; you can replace the battery (insert cheering masses here) 3 mp camera with led flash; MicroUSB connection, USB 2.0 jack; 3.5mm headphone jack (more cheering) Portrait slide out keyboard

looks like its pretty good.. Cam with flash, 3.5 headphone, microusb... win win win!

But I assume the Treo Pro on Jan 25th will have to tide me over for a while

Neutral

Boris @ Jan 9th 2009 12:10PM

It's middle of the road, not top of the line as Cooligan has been touting.

The screen is smallish and the resolution is middle of the road. They've have 320x320 since the 650, how about increasing the pixel density in 4 year's time. Considering the the touch HD has a higher res screen and the newly released BB's now have 320x480.

I haven't read anything about SD cards, hope that there is a slot because while 8gb is nice, you can get 16 gb sd cards now.

They haven't done much enhancing of the keyboard either. The Treo hard-button keyboards are easier to type on than the rubber Centro/Pro keyboards.

Can't complain about anything else.

Neutral

DssTrainer @ Jan 9th 2009 12:30PM

a lower res screen isn't exactly middle of the road tho. The screen is only spot they might have nerfed on but considering the form factor, it fits. Touch HD has a huge screen and requires the added res. but all the other features are there..
Its more like 1 rung from the top.

Neutral

justin @ Jan 8th 2009 5:13PM

artsy pre launch vid from palm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JiB6lkLwjY

Neutral

backbeat @ Jan 8th 2009 6:05PM

_THIS_ is it? Is this just a sad, cruel joke? Tell me Palm is just lowering expectations and holding back the _REAL_ goods! This has catastrophic failure written all over it given Sprint's need to convert users on other carriers and Palm's need to convert users of WM, Blackberry, and Symbian devices. Why do they BOTH insist on preaching to their choir?? *sigh*

Neutral

VCI_Cell @ Jan 8th 2009 6:39PM

Sorry, what? Catastrophic failure? No. No, I don't see that at all.

Neutral

backbeat @ Jan 8th 2009 7:48PM

When a _new_ Sprint customer's costs are no less than on AT&T or VZW, the draw to this new toy becomes severely tarnished. If only Palm/Sprint fanbois choose it, both companies fail as a result.

Nice cheerleader uniform, btw. ;) Now, if you will kindly remove the rose-colored glasses. Progress is trying to get through and you're standing in the way.

Neutral

Musicman247 @ Jan 9th 2009 4:24AM

Wow. Full of yourself much? Have you even seen this thing in action? It is a thing of beauty. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6l0birqeig

Neutral

backbeat @ Jan 9th 2009 10:44AM

If I didn't know better (and I do), this new Pre(o) (non-Nova) phone is ripping from the WM7 UI. How is that revolutionary? As for the cheezy video, this only proves they could produce a single sample that actually operates. Thanks for the eye-opening experience. ;)

When you can stand without a spot of sin on you, you'll have my blessing to be my judge. Until then ... Not so much.

Idiot.

Neutral

ToniCipriani @ Jan 8th 2009 7:04PM

Pre? Who came up with that name?

Neutral

derek @ Jan 8th 2009 10:03PM

darn it. i was just about to finally get the the touch pro. Im gonna have to wait now, and see more info about the "pre". Grrrrrr!!

Neutral

SPOKE @ Jan 9th 2009 8:16AM

I am happy for sprint because all thier phones suck, but I dont think this is going to save them. Not because its a bad phone or anything - just because I think they are deeper in shit than anyone thinks. Where is the Wimax?

Bring it to Tmo fuggers.

Neutral

Eric @ Jan 9th 2009 12:23PM

No on screen key board on this big ass touch screen phone. Wow, Palm good way to keep your phone from kicking the iphone ass. whats the point of having an accelerometer? To type sideways. How F-ing dumb. Unbelievable.

Neutral

Freddyc @ Jan 9th 2009 3:21PM

I'm not so sure I agree with that. I know a few people who have iPhones and their major complaint is the on-screen keyboard. I'm sure it would be rather simple to create an appication that would give you the keyboard, though.

Palm was my fist PDA. Then my first smart phone. Since then, I've gone to Windows mobile because 1) I love HTC's hardware, and 2) I needed something more. I'm not in love with WM, and I've been a Sprint customer for quite some time. The idea of going to AT&T didn't give me the warm and fuzzies, and the iPhone, as cool as it is, just wasn't doing it for me. This has potential. No, there's no slot for a memory card, which is a let-down, but I haven't used the 4 gig on my Touch Diamond, so I don't see this as being too much of an issue. I'm worried about how the screen is going to behave in sunlight, though. And I do like the higher resolution of my phones 480x640 screen. I don't know if I can go back now. Also, there's the question of how this thing is going to sync. Do I need yet another Palm Desktop installation? Is it all Cloud based? How will it behave with Outlook? Still a lot of questions, but I'm definitly keeping my eye on this one. Nice work, Palm!

Neutral

Solo @ Jan 9th 2009 9:34PM

How fast is that processor? I did a quick search for its specs, but I can't find a place that says how fast it actually is.

Anyone who disparages that OS is insane... it looks amazing. I'm more of a fan of sharper lines on gadgets, but the overall design looks great.

I have two phones right now and used two windows mobile phones in the past. The WinMo phones were fine (8125 and 8525), but I went back to a Treo when the hardware gave out and I really just need the Treo/BB form factor for the phone that I type and text the most on.

My Blackberry is a decent phone, I've got the 8330 from Verizon... gets the job done, rarely fails, but VERY boring and no touchscreen is a bummer and a half. The Treo 755p still has the best keyboard I've ever used on a phone. I can type on that thing one handed and REALLY fast, while not even looking, with two thumbs. I don't have to even mention the old Palm OS... everyone agrees on how much that sucks.

All things said and done... I'm trading my Treo 755p for this hot rocket as soon as its available. My sweet sweet dreams will be made manifest when someone finally gets off their arse and designs a Android phone with an iPhone size screen, slide out keyboard and nice overall body. Then I can get rid of my Nokia n810 tablet and be a Happy camper... for a few months until I start lusting over the next revolutionary device anyway, haha.

Neutral

Tracy @ Jan 14th 2009 1:59PM

I agree with the guy who said it reminds him of the Samsung i730. I swear that is the exact same keyboard. I'd be interested in knowing if the feel of the slide mechanism is the same.