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Palm Pre Technical Specifications

Announced: Jan 8, 2009

Operating system: Palm webOS ("Linux Palm Neutron OS")

• Current version: 1.2.1
• iTunes compatibility: 9.01

US Carriers: Sprint

Other Carriers:

• Canada - Bell
• UK, Ireland, Germany - O2
• Spain - Telefonica
• Australia - Telstra

Availablility / Price (as of release):

• USA - June 6th, 2009 - $199 after $100 mail-in rebate (2-year plan), $549.99 (no contract)
  
• Canada - August 27, 2009 - $199 (3-year)
• Germany - October 13, 2009 - €49.99 (2-year)
  
• Spain - October 14, 2009 - €179 (18-month)
• UK - October 16, 2009 - £96.89 (18-month)
• Ireland - October 16, 2009 - €99 (18-month)
• Australia - TBD

Model: Palm P100

Carrier-Specific Features: Sprint TV, Sprint NFL

Color options: Black

Form Factor: Slider

Network technology:

• 3G EVDO Rev A, CDMA 800/1900
• Data CDMA 2000 1xRTT/1xEV-DO rev.0/1xEV-DO rev.A
• UMTS (Europe)
• HSDPA/GSM Quad-Band (International)

Display:

• 3.1" diagonal, 3:2 aspect ratio
• 24-bit color (16.7 million colors)
• 320x480 resolution capacitive HVGA
• Portrait or landscape format, auto rotation

Input / Hardware Controls:

• Multitouch 3.1" screen
• Vertical slide-out QWERTY keyboard (backlit) w/ predictive text
• Gesture Area (below screen), multitouch-capable
• Volume up/down, power, ringer switch
• Cut and paste functionality

Email:

• Microsoft Outlook email with Microsoft Direct Push technology
• POP/IMAP (Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL, etc.)

Messaging: Integrated IM, SMS and MMS

GPS: Built-in

Digital Camera:

• 3 megapixels
• LED flash and extended depth of field
• No video recording (hardware capable)

Sensors: Ambient light, accelerometer, proximity

Compatible Formats:

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

Wireless connectivity:

• Wi-fi 802.11b/g with WPA, WPA2, 802.1X authentication
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR w/ full A2DP stereo Bluetooth support

Ports: 3.5mm stereo headphone, micro USB 2.0

CPU / Processor: Texas Instruments OMAP3430 - 64nm ARM, PowerVR SGX 530 GPU, ~600MHz C64x + DSP + ISP

Memory:

• Internal: 8GB flash (approx. 7.4GB available)
• 256MB RAM
• USB mass storage support
• Memory expansion card slot: None

Phone as modem: Tethering via Bluetooth or Micro USB 2.0

Battery: Li-Ion, 1150mAh (removable)

Battery Life: 5 hours talk / 250 hours standby (maximum)

Charging dock (optional):

• Palm Touchstone (MSRP kit $69.99, charger $49.99, cover $19.99)
• Wireless induction technology
• Requires matte, soft-touch magnetic battery cover (included with kit)

Physical properties:

• width: 59.5mm (2.3")
• height: 100.5mm (3.9")
• thickness 16.95mm (0.67")
• weight: 135g (4.76oz)

Physical Views / Photo Gallery (click to enlarge)

 

Updated Oct. 7, 2009. Information will be added as the latest official tech specs become available.

 

Earlier, we reported on several interviews conducted with up-and-coming webOS developers by PDA-247. These included Loftcat, Iambic, Resco, and Natara. Today, we look at three more developer interviews to round off the series, as well as the overall impressions of how PalmOS developers feel about the new webOS. To summarize the main points:

Tamoggemon: The Pre's hardware "does not deserve praise", primarily because high specs are a "must-have" in today's industry. Build quality is what will really make or break the Pre. There are no plans to develop for webOS immediately, but he predicts that there are "a lot of stuff upcoming for the webOS". Palm is back in the game sales-wise, but PalmOS apps are done for.

The Independent, a British daily, has published an informative article on Palm's recent comeback campaign with the Pre. In it, they briefly discuss the history of Palm's ascent (and struggles), from the early success of the PalmPilot, to the competition with Blackberry, and eventually to the marketing tour de force of the iPhone that would overshadow the Treo lineup.

They go on to describe that with the Pre's arrival, which created headlines at the CES in Las Vegas, "chinks are appearing in the armor of the competition", such as the RIM BlackBerry Storm, which failed to live up to expectations, no new iPhone announced, and the Android generating mixed reactions, Palm could "become a big player in the mobile device market".

The article also alludes to the Apple vs. Palm debate, previously discussed in numerous articles. To conclude, they state that rumors are abuzz that Vodafone could be the first provider to get the Pre in Europe.

Get the full scoop here:

Palm CEO Edward T. Colligan spoke at the Thomas Weisel Technology, Telecom and Internet Conference in San Francisco today, tackling a number of issues on everyone's mind including patent disputes, webOS and PalmOS, profit margins and more. To summarize his most important points:

• Palm does not expect any disputes with Apple over multi-touch technology patents for the Pre, according to Electronista, and Colligan believes that Palm is "very respectful" of intellectual property. Palm has some 1500 patents that provide them a good base, should there be any issues. However, Apple has previously said they would not stand for any perceived theft of intellectual property, discussed in numerous articles.

In another interview courtesy of PDA-247, we take a look at what an independent developer, Tony Kingsmill of Loftcat, has to say about WebOS and the Pre. When asked about his initial impressions of the Palm Pre, Kingsmill was impressed with the direction Palm was taking, stating:

The hardware looks decent enough...on the software side Palm is talking up the ease of PIM functionality, which is obviously one thing they have done well in the past. I’m interested to see how easy to use the whole platform turns out. For me Palm OS simplifies everything such as connecting Bluetooth devices and installing programs.

Asked about Palm's future, Kingsmill said that mass-marketing the new device is the key to their success. 

Looks like the newspapers are also seeing the Pre as the next big thing. Last month, New York Times' columnist David Pogue took a visit to the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and was generally unimpressed with Apple's latest offerings, which included iPhoto '09 and iMovie '09; he was expecting something bigger from a company "whose track record includes the iPod and the iPhone". But what good did he take away from the event this year?

"There was one smash hit of C.E.S., and it came from a company most people had left for dead: Palm."

Apparently, the tech writers in attendance were buzzing all around the stylish handheld, and people couldn't get enough of it at the convention. He also had good things to say about the synergy feature, that combines all your contacts from Outlook, Gmail, Facebook into "one unified little black book for all".

Another in a series of webOS interviews, PDA-247 asks Palm developer, iambic, about their thoughts on the new platform. In the interview, Adriano Chiaretta from iambic expresses their disappointment regarding backwards compatibility, but offers an optimistic view on the potential of the system:

Palm appears to have put together a formidable solution (especially with its touch optimization and the focus on ensuring user-friendliness) that should stand up nicely to the iPhone.  In fact, it could truly be the strongest competitor to the iPhone yet. 

They also went on to say that they plan on developing for the Pre. "we are...looking forward to getting our hands on the SDK", Chiaretta said.

Shaun from PDA-247 interviews another developer, Jan Slodicka from Resco. In it, he echoed the mixed feelings of other established developers in that the device was attractive to consumers, but offered little in the way of compatibility with existing software. Will we see Resco software on the Pre? Probably, but it could take a while:

"We shall not port any of our titles to WebOS. In fact they can’t be ported - we would have to develop them from scratch. To be fair, I can imagine less risky ways how to earn money."

When asked if Palm was "back in the game", Slodicka was slightly reserved but still optimistic:

"I would give them good chances, so maybe 2:1. Perhaps even higher if everything worked as advertised...I don’t think they will ever restore their leadership, but they might become one of the key players in the mass market - iPhone, Palm, Symbian, Android."

Resco, founded in 1999, has been developing popular software such as photo viewers, file explorers, and games for handhelds running Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile.

For the full interview, go here.