* Posts by David Steele

2 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Oct 2009

Gizmodo faces visit from cops over 'found' iPhone

David Steele
Badgers

Does anybody still care?

One thing is for sure, this episode has generated lots of publicity for Apple. it may be a cute PR stunt, maybe not - does anybody care any more?

Palm Pre smartphone

David Steele
Thumb Up

It's not all that bad...

I’ve been impressed with how the Pré works; it’s far more polished than any Android handset I’ve spent any time with. Android may catch up with 1.6, may do. It’s taken Android a year to get to this point, the Pré was released in the USA four months ago. I expect great things from both operating systems.

Keyboard wise, meh; I don’t find any small keyboard easy to use, but I’d rather than one than a touch-keyboard. That’s personal preference. I’m not all together sold on the slider design though. The Pré’s form factor isn’t what I want – the Pixi solves that issue.

Touchstone, however, is just plain cool.

The Pré’s browser is arguably superior to the iPhone, but both are head and shoulders over anything else out there (I have not played with the Nokia N900 yet). Android’s browser is dog slow for one, presumable because of Flash support (not available on the Pré just yet).

The Pré’s biggest issue appears to be the cost of it, which is more likely O2 rather than Palm. It’s a first generation (operating system and hardware) device that is as expensive as the third generation iPhone.

And as for the O2 factor... bad decision to do an exclusive in my opinion; Palm have always had problems breaking into the European market and every O2 sales assistant I have seen is carrying an iPhone. Combine that with high costs (at the moment) and I don’t see the product working.