CES 2009
(Photos at the bottom.)
3:10 PM: All done. Thanks for reading Phone Scoop's liveblog of the Palm keynote.
3:01 PM: Pre will be available in the first half of 2009, Colligan says "as soon as possible". Still have to finish things up and get through certification. Tons of partners had a hand it it, including SPrint, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, AOL, DataViz, Amazon, Pandora, MobiTV, Telenav. etc.
2:58 PM: Dan Hesse is giving a hiuge commercial for Sprint and its data / calling plans and how much families can save. He's re-hashing some press releases that Sprint sent out a couple of weeks ago.
2:56 PM: No one clapped when it was announced that Sprint was going to be the exclusive carrier. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse says the Pre is the "right device on the right network."
2:52 PM: Colligan is up no, talking about partners. The exlusive launch partner is SPRINT.
2:51 PM: If it is on TouchStone and a call comes in, pick it up off TouchStone to answer a call. Touch it to turn on speakerphone.
2:50 PM: webOS demo is done. Rubinstein is back. Accessories. Wireless conductive charging. PLace the Pre on a the charging puck, no need to plug it in to charge. It is called TouchStone.
2:48 PM: Applications will re-size if a really important notification comes in and you can interact with the alert if you need to and easiuly go back to the application you are using.
2:47 PM: The alerts will even let you know when you navigate away from the music application and gfive you a small control function to play/pause the music. They are a completely open design. Developers can write anything for the OS. Put in any controls that you want, using CSS and Java.
2:45 PM: The OS will store all the alerts down at the bottom of the screen, and you can open them to get an alert dashboard. Tap on the alert that you want to open.
2:44 PM: It will place incoming SMS messages at the bottom of the screen, so you can cocnentrate on the application you're using, but still see messages. If you see a message you want to read more of, you can press it to open the message thread. The notifications work any time webOS needs to get your attention. That includes voicemails, alarms, etc.
2:43 PM: The cards will rotate even on the home screen, so that everything is in the correct orientation.
2:42 PM: Double tapping can zoom directly into certain areas of the page. Has an accelerometer, so it auto rotates when you change the phone. Integrates with gestures area to navigate back and forth.
2:41 PM: You can have as many Web browser windows open as you want at any one time. You can see a favorite bookmarks with huge pix of each site rather than just a list.
2:40 PM: Now Palm is demoing the browser. Looks like full HTML. The screen supports multi touch to zoom around, get context, focus on something, and see the web pages as you would on the desktop.
2:39 PM: Just start typing to find anything.
2:39 PM: Intelligently presenting all the appropriate options. As you type, it can even go straight to the web if it doesn't find any matches on the device. It will serach googe, maps, wikipedia, etc., to find the results if they aren't on the phone itself.
2:38 PM: "Not everything can be solved by a flick or a gesture." This is why they included a QWERTY keyboard. The keys can also be used to navigate. Start typing to auto search the entire phone. Tytpe "BL" and it will start autosorting everything on the phone.
2:36 PM: ALl IM accounts are packed into one list for instant messaging. AIM, Yahoo, etc, all seen in one list of online IM. Brings threaded conversations idea to the IM application. Lumpes everything together so you see all your conversations with a person in one place, includinbg IMs, SMS, email, etc.
2:34 PM: You don't have to go "back", you aren't locked into one activity. You can navigate away from an application and go back to it without losing your place.
2:33 PM: The Email app also combines all email accounts, including a single inbox for all email accounts. Email works as it does on the desktop. Attachments, inline images, and everything. Can easily start new messages, and can choose a default email for replying. Typing in the address bar starts sorting through all your contacts, regardless of which account the email information is stored in. Will even perform an over-the-air search for Exchange contacts.
2:32 PM: tap and type to add new calendar appointments easily.
2:31 PM: In the calendar application, you can integrate all your different calendars as one, or sort through different calendars, such as work, home, etc.
2:30 PM: Contacts can be linked from multiple sources, including work, home, etc., and combines it all into one contact. No duplicate entries and no redundancies. All the info is brought into once place for convenience, while the data is stored separately.
2:28 PM: Very cool that you can shuffle through the cards and toss applciations away at will. Everything is connected to teh Web and communicates dynamically with the Web.
2:27 PM: All changes are saved automatically. There's no "save" button. Allows users to alter their focus and concentrate on what is important, not on function.
2:27 PM: Want to be able to flow from one application to another. Imagining a deck of cards that can be shuffled. Pressing the center button brings up all the apps, and you can slide back and forth between applications. All the apps are up and running constantly. It is completely user customizable, so the apps can be arranged at will.
2:25 PM: Some very cool gestures allow you to access a menu bar and get to certain applications.
2:24 PM: Palm is showing the new user interdface, which uses gestures and tapping to manipulate the menus and applications. The UI looks nice and smooth. One-action access to the things that matter most. There is a separate area on the screen for gestures.
2:19 PM: It weight 4.8 ounces, and has a slide out QWERTY keyboard.
2:18 PM: It has 3.5mm headset jack, ringer switch, power button for silencing.
2:17 PM: 3.1-inch display with HVGA resolution 320 x 480. Gesture area, center button, touch screen. Lots of sensors. Accelerometer and more. 3 megapixel camera with LED fash.
2:16 PM: Bluetooth 2.1+EDR with stereo support. OMAP 3430 processor, laptop-like performance with a mobile power footprint.
2:15 PM: Rubinstein is back. The Palm Pre is the new device. Looks tiny, small. To hlep live l ife more effectively. "Feels like it is thinking for you."
Touch based, smooth has a camera, EVDO REV a Wi-Fi, GPS, 8GB storage, stereo Bluetooth, and a fast processor.
2:14 PM: Palm brought it all together into one new platform called the web OS, which will reach out to the cloud and get everything.
2:12 PM: Colligan is talking about how the current way we consume data, information, etc., is still in a modal way, and we visit separate sites to get different bits and pieces of information. Looking for a way to bring all the pieces of our lives and bring them together.
2:09 PM: Palm is giving us a history lesson on the birth of the smartpone, a.k.a., the Treo. Combining multiple devices into one product.
2:07 PM: Palm wants to simplify people's lives when they are on the go. It wants to make the technology invisible, so it feels like magic.
2:06 PM: Colligan says Palm designs products to improve people's lives. Pockets, not processors, fingers not buttons.
Experience is more important than the specs.
2:05 PM: You need to have the right phone and the right platform to handle all the data we generate and consume, and flexible to move between the data with the flick of a finger.
Rubinstein introduced Palm CEO Ed Colligan. Loud cheers.
2:04 PM: The next wave is clearly mobile devices, and Palm's DNA is mobile. The company is positioned to create the best mobile devices in the world, says Rubinstein.
2:03 PM: Rubinstein is going over the events that led him to joining Palm. He met with Ed Colligan in Mexico while he was living there.
2:02 PM: Palm Executive chairman Jon Rubinstein is speaking.
2:01 PM: Crowd is cheering as the presentation gets under way. Everyone is clearly excited.
1:59 PM: We're in the ballroom where Palm is about to hold is CES press conference. The room is packed, and we're sitting shoulder to shoulder. Analysts and press galore. Some funky music playing, and a weird montage of slides are showing on a large screen that is about 40 feet across. Presentation is beginning shortly.
This page is our live minute-by-minute report from the Palm press conference at CES. Check back often for updates throughout the next couple of hours.
Video Tour: WebOS 1.4
Video Demo: Palm Pre Plus Mobile Hotspot
Review: Palm Pre
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