You know what Big Hands mean

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Here's the new Palm Prē, the next iPhone killer.





1: I can't understand why hardware companies can't wrap their mind around design. This phone looks like it came in off the 1993 bus. The internet is filled with amateur artists creating very cool and modern phone concepts, why can't corporations take a spin around the web then maybe hire a decent industrial designer? The iPhone came out two years ago and still looks 10 years ahead of this.

2: Before the iPhone hit stores, pundits claimed that a phone without a physical keyboard was ridiculous, that it would never work, that no one would accept it. Now the iPhone is a smash hit and you don't hear anyone complaining about the screen-based keyboard. So, with a couple years of insight, what did Palm's Apple-veteran engineers do? You know, the engineers they hired away from Apple who claim that they are uniquely positioned to compete with Apple 'cos they worked with Steve Jobs? Well, surprise, surprise: they created yet another slide-out, plastic keyboard.

3. People are all excited about the fact that this phone runs apps based on HTML, CSS and Javascript — you know, webapps. Funny, when the iPhone came out that's how it ran apps as well, and people were pissed off about it. Now that the iPhone runs both webapps and compiled apps, people give Palm's crippled selection of apps a thumbs up. Weird. [John Gruber points out the difference here: Palm's "webapps" not only run on the phone without having to be web-based, they also take advantage of APIs into the WebOS that Apple's implementation doesn't allow. Whether this is a security nightmare about to be unleashed or not is left up to the reader to decide.]

4: Maybe Engadget has giants on their review staff. Maybe the camera is foreshortening. Or maybe Palm is so used to touch screens that require a tiny, easy-to-lose stylus that they forgot to measure typical fingers. Seriously, look at the size of that keyboard. Look at the size of that touchscreen. Can you imagine trying to target your big fat finger on this device?

Oh, and just a tip to the marketing team: naming the device using a diacritical — the Palm Prē — means that 99.9% of reviewers won't properly name your device. Who the hell knows where the ē is on a keyboard? Intercaps like iPhone can be typed on any keyboard without thinking. If you're gonna use a symbol or diacritical, stop right now. Don't bother. No one else will.

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