While it is still speculation as to exactly what they will announce, the latest release for webOS (version 1.3.5) has brought a lot of surprises including the addition of OpenGL ES files. This has enabled the WebOS Internals team to release DOOM for webOS via Preware (an application used to load un-official applications onto the Pre). This also gives more evidence that the Need For Speed video released this past November was real despite everyone saying it was a fake.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCVnxXvEAPo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbGFJF4M77U

Check It Out> Precentral

This video is with Peter Skillman VP of design with Palm as he demo’s the Pre at CES.  If you have owned or currently do own a smartphone I am sure you will agree that Palm has done a good job in giving consumers what they want.  While it might not be the option for everyone it will attract many consumers and is the best offering Palm has had to date.

Check It Out> Treo Central via Engadget

At the end of CES every year there is an award given out for “Best In Show” which is a very coveted award.  With so many new products at CES it can be a very difficult task to even get attention let alone the Best In Show award.  There were many competitors this year such as Windows 7 and the Sony Vaio P Netbook but the one that stole the show and the award was Palm Pre and it’s webOS.  Winning the Best In Show is a huge accomplishment for Palm but to sweeten the deal they also won the CES People’s Voice Award.

This marks the first time any mobile phone has won the Best in Show award and it was a boost that Palm desperately needed.  Without a good showing at CES their hard times were going to get a lot harder.  The Palm Pre has received a tremendous amount of positive feedback due to the phone’s operating system called webOS and it’s intelligent design.  Now competitors instead of searching for the iPhone killer are talking about a Palm Pre killer.

There are several things that really set the phone apart from the crowd

1. It has a REAL keyboard: Sorry iPhone lovers but a pretty touchscreen keyboard can’t compare to actual buttons.
2. Choice of network providers: Sprint is the debuting provider but due to the Palm Pre’s design it will easily be ported to other networks which will only increase their popularity.  With the iPhone being carrier locked it will make it substantially more difficult for it to compete with the Pre.
3. Beats iPhone features: Ummm can we say “Copy & Paste”?  Replaceable battery! Better camera!  Same size display screen but a bigger touchscreen for a gestures section.
4. Social Networking: Has the capability to grab contact information from social networking sites to broaden contact information.
5. Multitasking: iPhone is terrible at multi-tasking and the user struggles to perform multiple tasks at the same time.  The G1 is much better at this but the Pre takes it much more seriously and does it with grace.

As more and more reviewers get to check out the Palm Pre it is becoming more and more clear that Palm is still in the game and the smartphone market just got better for consumers.

Check It Out> Slashgear, RTT News, Palm Pre

Netbooks are one of the “in” things right now and everyone seems to be talking about them.  There is an ever expanding list of Netbooks to choose from by major OEM’s such as HP and Sony down to the niche market of Asus.  Asus is the company that really brought Netbooks in to the light of day with their Eee PC line at around $400.  With a price easily in the range of most consumers it made the computer very attractive to purchasers.

Now with an abundance of Netbooks on the market and the selection only growing experts are needed and Sascha Pallenberg is the king of Netbook experts.  He is the go-to guy for everything Netbook and gets the information we all want.  The Scobleizer was able to get a pretty good interview with him regarding Netbooks and the Sony Vaio P with an in depth discussion on Operating Systems for Netbooks.  If your interested in hearing more about Netbooks this is the guy to listen to and the Interview that you need to check out.

Check It Out> Scobleizer, Netbook News (in German but they have pretty pictures)

UPDATE:: The Sony Vaio P that Sascha is talking about can be seen at jkkmobile…in pieces (via gizmologia.com)

It didn’t take long for someone to take the new Sony Vaio P Netbook (introduced at CES) and load Windows 7 on it.  Engadget has a quick write-up on their thoughts and first impressions of how it went.  They also have 2 videos of it which will give you a good chance to check out the new Vaio as well.

• It boots fast! Not that Vista was that bad on the boot front, but we’re pretty happy with this.
• No Aero. That’s to be expected, but the lack of transparency and visual effects makes the OS look quite a bit different than most of the screenshots out there.
• It’s very responsive. To be honest, a lot of that could be from the fact that this is a clean install, minus all the crap Sony loads on. Still, we’re very happy for the start menu to pop open instantly, windows to redraw like God intended… it’s pretty great.
• Browsing is 100% better. Internet Explorer pops open in a flash, and pages load in times nearly on comparison with “real” computers. Also, scrolling is ultra smooth, whereas with Vista it was stuttery all the way down.
• There’s a lot more to explore. We’ve just scratched the surface, but we love what we’ve seen so far.

Check It Out> Engadget, Sony Vaio P

Competition is always good and drives companies and products to be better.  If a product is merely adequate and has no compelling reason for people to upgrade to it there is little chance that it can survive in the marketplace.  Even with a large company backing a product there is no guarantee that it can advance and gain sufficient market share to be viable.

The Microsoft Zune is a good example of a company with endless financial means unable to make a product that is compelling enough for people to switch to.  The features are adequate but not impressive enough to actually convice people to switch from a product like the iPod.

Enter The Palm Pre

With a very convincing presentation at CES and judging from the reaction’s of spectators it was obvious that there are enough features to give the Palm Pre that wow factor it needs to survive.  But there is always that initial impact of a product on people in this type of environment that can just simply cause false excitement that won’t realize themselves when actually looking for a product to purchase.

The scobleizer was one of those there at the Palm Pre presentation at CES and had that initial excitement but decided to wait and see if it was falsely generated.  He delayed posting about it to make sure that he really did like the product and that the excitement was genuine.  Going back to the Palm Pre booth later on and getting to check it out he was able to see that the excitement was real and that Palm could pull it off.

Check It Out> scobleizer, Palm, OS Attack

“It’s straight up gorgeous, but it’s not perfect – yet. During our demonstration, a few things went on the fritz: there was a bit of lag, certain menus wouldn’t open no matter how many times they were poked. With Palm only promising “by the end of the first half of 2009″, they’ve still got nearly a full 6 months to crack out the bugs, so we won’t judge them too much.

At the very bottom of the screen is a notifications bar, similar to that found on Android. Icons light up when a new e-mail or IM comes in – touch the area, and the notifications menu opens to tell you what’s going on. To clear the notification, you simply swipe it off the screen.

The “Cards” window management system is fantastic – it reminds me of alt-tabbing on a full blown desktop OS, with the added ability of being able to gesture swipe programs upward to close them.

All demonstrated gestures (single and multi-touch) appeared to work well. A small glow appears on screen beneath your fingers when doing multi-touch gestures – I’m not quite sure what the point is, but it’s a nice visual.

The quick launch bar, which is activated by dragging your finger upwards from below the screen, is great. Drag up, highlight any of the 5 applications you’ve got tucked away in there, release – the application launches.” – Greg Kumparak @ MobileCrunch

Judging by the feedback and features that they have posted, the device and operating system are looking like they will be well received by most users.   With the comparisons to Andriod and iPhone I personally don’t think it will be any sort of iPhone killer but it might have a really good run at the Android market share.  Either way this is going to liven up the smartphone market and make things substantially more difficult for Microsoft’s smartphone platform.

Check It Out> MobileCrunch

Most people expected it to actually be a big flop as Palm has been in a downward spiral for many years that has only been accelerated by products such as Apple’s iPhone and Googles Android.  These competitive products have really stolen the PDA/multi-function phone market away from Palm.  Even serious Palm fan-boys had to move to competing products due to the age and lack of new features in the Palm products.

Palm did the right thing and came back strong with an impressive product in the Palm Pre Phone.  The product is flooded with all of the top features for a smartphone and to top it off the phone actually looks good.  Now for why we are talking about it here….

At the core of the phone is the operating system called “palm webOS”.  From the looks of it at this point its just that, a web browser.  Palm is bringing us this new operating system for phones based off of typical web standards such as CSS, XHTML and JavaScript.   This was a very smart move for Palm to go with these standards as it drastically increases the developer base for making applications for the new platform.  Apple has been overwhelmed by the massive quantity of applications made for their iPhone platform due the wide user base.  Palms OS choice may be the only way that can have an opportunity to get anywhere near the amount of applications that Apple has available.

While the actual performance details of the operating system are not known yet we can expect to see the reviews start pouring in now that the details of the phone have been made public.  Since the release of the details today Palm’s stock price has jumped almost 35%

Check It Out> Palm Pre Phone, Palm stock price, MobileCrunch

One thing is for certain either way, Microsoft would be foolish to pass up the opportunity to announce Windows 7 tonight.  With so many people listening and wanting the details to the successor of Windows Vista they can’t risk ignoring their audience.

Maybe Steve Balmer will do the crazy antics he is known for but maybe change the words to “It Works!, It Works!”.