Lifestyle - Gadgets

I've had a hard-on for a new phone ever since the Droid came out in November. The Droid wasn't the "it" phone for me, but it got me to start paying really close attention. I figured I would wait until some Android phone with a killer form factor and a fast CPU came along, and I would be in. I was kind of thinking that a Nexus One on Verizon would fit that bill. 

So it just barely got my attention that the Palm phones were debuting on Verizon on Monday this week. I kind of noticed at the last minute, but I did the same thing I did with Android. I downloaded the SDK and started playing with it on my Mac. Holy crap! Not only was Palm not even on my radar, this operating system destroyed Android! Totally shook up my whole frame of mind on phones.

So I spent the whole weekend obsessively reading and watching everything I can find on the Palm Pre. That obsession continues into the week. Lucky for the world, because I quit smoking on Monday. The Palm Pre is not only a kick ass smartphone, it saves lives. Saves lives because I am pretty sure I would have killed somebody for a cigarette this week, but didn't because I went out and got a Palm Pre Plus instead.

 

I am not going to go into detail about why I think this is the greatest smartphone available at this time. There are plenty of sites that do that sort of thing. I am just going to say that Palm's WebOS, the operating system that powers their two phones the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi, absolutely DESTROYS Android. Forget about iPhone. iPhone deserves all the credit for showing everyone the way, but it isn't driving the ball down the field anymore.

The future appears to be Android. Android is ok, but let me tell you something after running it emulated for the last 3 months: Android is janky. I mean it. It feels like something from the past. Google isn't stressing any sort of interface guidelines, and it shows. The apps look rough. The multitasking is rough. The user has to do too much to accomplish simple tasks. Running Android is kind of like running a poorly configured linux distro, whereas Palm's WebOS has the refinement and elegance of Mac OS X. It really struck me as being black and white the first time I ran WebOS. It is excellent, and I trust that anyone who walks into a Verizon store and picks one up will see that. I hope that the sales drones know the product, because Palm faces an uphill battle selling phones with all the hype around Android right now. My wife had her heart set on a Droid Eris, and as soon as she walked into the Verizon store she picked up a Pixi and was sold. These phones are that nice.

So, someone else can have my Nexus One. I won't be needing it now. Palm, all I ask is that you continue to improve WebOS, and offer new WebOS devices annually. This is such an awesome platform. I truly love my Palm Pre Plus. It would be a crime if WebOS didn't succeed, so do everything you can to create a healthy, happy developer and user community.