New touchscreen Palm Pre hits US market

Palm Pre, the new smartphone from the US pioneer in handheld devices, went on sale in the US yesterday amid generally glowing reviews and favourable comparisons with Apple's iPhone.

The Pre was named 'Best in Show' at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, and most reviewers have been full of praise for the latest device from Sunnyvale, California-based company.

Palm came out with some of the first personal digital assistants (PDAs) in the 1990s. However, the company has been lagging behind rivals Nokia, Apple and Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the Blackberry, in recent years.

The much-anticipated touch screen Pre is being seen as its best opportunity in years to win back a significant share of the highly competitive cell phone market.

The Pre will be available through United States wireless carrier Sprint Nextel for $199.99 (Dh734) after a $100 mail-in rebate.

Technology reviewer Edward Baig of USA Today said the Pre "stacks up well against Apple's blockbuster device, and in some ways even surpasses it".

"The first Palm Pre will certainly give the iPhone and other rivals a run for their money," he wrote.

Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal called the Pre a "beautiful, innovative and versatile hand-held computer that's fully in the iPhone's class".

"Its design is much better than that of the two other main iPhone-class competitors," he said, the T-Mobile G1, which uses Google's Android software, and the Blackberry Storm from Research in Motion.

Mossberg said the biggest advantage of the Pre over the iPhone is its physical keyboard that slides out of the body of the phone. The iPhone has a virtual on-screen keyboard.

 

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