Hasta La Gadget!

We just sat down with Palm for a more in-depth look at the device, and here are our takeaways. First off, the software and hardware they’re showing right now aren’t the final versions. They’re updating and tweaking as we speak, so some of the features haven’t been implemented yet. Our take? Check it all out after the break, along with video, a full spec rundown… and in case you’re wondering… it rhymes with Tree!

Continue reading Palm Pre in-depth impressions, video, and huge hands-on gallery

Filed under: Cellphones, CES

Palm Pre in-depth impressions, video, and huge hands-on gallery originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LAS VEGAS — Sony has invented the webcam. Or at least, it has put the web into a cam. At CES 2009, the company debuted Cybershot DSC-G3, the first camera to have built in 802.11 (b,g) Wi-Fi along with a web browser.

As a camera, it’s no slouch. Ten megapixels, a 10x zoom, a hi-res 921,600-dot 3.5 inch touchscreen and smile detection. There is a decent 4GB memory built in, but if you want more you will of course have to buy a Sony Memory Stick.

Of course, the Wi-Fi is the interesting point here. You can hook up to any Wi-Fi point and using the browser you can also sign in to hotspots. From there, you can upload directly to Photobucket, YouTube, DailyMotion, Picasa and Shutterfly but, oddly, not Flickr.

The real gimmick, though, is the browser, and it is terrible. Buttons disappear half off the screen in forms, html links are tiny and hard to click (hence the plastic stylus on the end of the strap) and if you think you’ll be browsing your online photo collection you’re dead wrong. This is strictly html only, Web 1.0. No Flash, no Javascript.

You’re never going to have an iPhone-like experience here (except for the parity in the lack of Flash). In fact, its hard to see why Sony bother putting it in. In fact, if you need the uploading functions, just grab an Eye-Fi card instead.

Priced at $500, you can buy it now only at SonyStyle, coming to stores soon.

Product page [SonyStyle]

LAS VEGAS — With its new Palm Pre phone announced earlier today, troubled phone maker Palm has clearly put itself back into the game.

The spotlight is clearly on the slick hardware but Palm is betting its secret sauce, its newly created operating system, WebOS, will give the Pre an edge over competitors.

"We created a new platform from the ground up," said Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm at CES 2009. "It is going to redefine the center of your access point to the Internet."

A key feature of WebOS is the Palm Synergy, which brings different information from calendars, contacts and instant messaging applications into a single screen.

WebOS links contacts together so if the same contact is listed in Outlook, Google and Facebook accounts, it recognizes that they are the same person and links them together into one listing.

There’s also combined messaging, which allows you to see who’s active in a buddy list and start a conversation with just one touch, instead of having to fire up the IM application seperately.

The OS treats every application as a "card", a new term that Palm has introduced with the Pre. Cards or individual applications are stacked up like a deck on the main screen and can be scrolled through.

WebOS also comes with global search– any search string typed on the phone searches through contacts, applications and other information repositories on the device. The OS also offers to search the Internet, all in a seamless way.

While Palm has said the WebOS is developer friendly, it hasn’t commented about how applications written for WebOS will be compatible with Palm OS 5.

Though the last Gearlog entry to feature Polaroid concerned its bankruptcy filing, rumors of Polaroid’s death are premature. That’s especially true after today’s announcement that instant print cameras are now digital! Kudos to our Mariella Moon who sniffed this one out in August.

The Polaroid PoGo is 4.7-inches wide by 3-inches tall and weighs only 10 ounces. It is indistinguishable from a bevy of other digital cameras except it prints! Sixty seconds after snapping the shutter your photo comes out fully developed. The photos are a bit on the tiny side and I suspect thinner than typical photo prints. At least that’s the implication from, “2×3-inch sticky-backed photos.”

The Panasonic Z1 plasma measures just one inch thick, leaving little room for wired connections.

(Credit: Panasonic)

The epic battle between plasma and LCD manifests itself in numerous ways–Hz oneupsmanship, contrast ratio and viewing angle specs, lifespan claims–but until now panel depth was a frontier comfortably dominated by LCD, with …

Originally posted at CES 2009