in the Palm of my hand
There is so much elegance, simplicity and functionality in the webOS operating system, that I really want to love the Palm Pre smartphone on which it runs. And, in so many ways, I do. When I tested one in the store, I easily intuited how it works, and actually enjoyed navigating in, out and among its different applications by effortlessly flicking “cards” around the screen. I also appreciate the way it combines and organizes my contacts, calendars, messages and accounts, from multiple services and applications, into the single corresponding tool on my phone. The webOS is so much more graceful than Android. But two things keep me from choosing it as my next pocket computer.
The Keyboard: My most immediate problem? The keyboard is just too tiny for me, provides hardly any tactile feedback (clicking to let you know if you pressed a key), without offering a decent auto-correction feature to compensate. Now, keep in mind, typing is most of what I do on a my phone; you might feel differently. Indeed, one of the attractive features of the Pre is how compact and comfortably palm-sized it; the keyboard could hardly be enlarged without also enlarging the whole phone. If you’re a slow and infrequent typist, if you prefer holding your phone and typing with just one hand, if you want your pocket computer to slide easily into an average pocket, you might think it’s just right.
Looking at photos of the Pre, I can easily imagine typing 2-thumbs style on that keyboard. It wasn’t until I held one of these cute little gadgets that I realized how truly tiny and closely spaced those keys are. You (more or less) press each key with your fingernail, to avoid hitting the wrong one.
The Future: I also have a long term problem with the Pre. I doubt how much webOS will improve over the coming two years of a new Verizon Wireless contract. I fear it may languish (and ultimately disappear), like the Atari and Commodore computers that long ago withered in the shadow of Apple and Microsoft’s success. Today, Apple’s iOS already has over 200,000 apps, and Android’s app marketplace is growing quickly into the 10,000s. Apple is steadily improving their operating system and hardware, as are Google and its manufacturing partners. While Palm gradually updates webOS, and has shown recent success using app contests to effectively bribe developers into creating software for webOS, I still worry that the best developers will concentrate on the more popular iOS or the more open Android, leaving second-rate or second-hand apps to belatedly arrive on webOS (if at all). Also, it is currently unclear what HP, Palm’s new parent company, plans to do with webOS, now that they own it.
Obviously, this is in the realm of (at best) educated guesswork. But as we come to rely on our “phones” to do more and more for us, our choice of operating system has increasing and long term significance. The more we invest our time and money in one system, mastering it’s use, tuning our muscle memory, and acquiring a home screen full of familiar applications, the less convenient it becomes to switch later. This is only reinforced by the two year contracts the mobile carriers like us to sign. All these considerations increasingly lock us in to the platform we chose. So I recommend giving some thought to that choice, before buying your next phone.
For a casual user, who doesn’t want a bulky tablet in their pocket, who might even settle for a dumb phone, and who is adverse to the sort of geekery required to get the most out of an Android phone, Palm’s Pre is one way to switch to a smartphone without too much fuss or bother. And it doesn’t hurt that it will only cost you $50 (with contract), or less
