Hasta La Gadget!

Palm has been cagey about when its next-generation smartphone, the Palm Pre, will be coming out. Now the normally reliable New York Times cites “people briefed on the company’s plans” who say that the Pre will be released the first week of June.

If it comes out then, it will be facing stiff summer competition, from — among others — a revamped iPhone (also expected to be announced in June, at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference) and Samsung’s first Android-based smartphone, the i7500.

And it will have to sell at least a million units to be considered a “hit,” the Times reports.

Our take: It will have to sell a lot more than that, because Palm has staked the company on this ambitious phone. The company fanned the flames with over-the-top hype at CES, preserved a nearly Apple-like shroud of secrecy around the phone since then, and has only now allowed what we assume are a series of carefully staged “sightings” around the San Francisco Bay Area. Result: Geeks are anticipating this phone more eagerly than anything since, well, the first-generation iPhone.

Cellphone Makers Hope for a Blockbuster Summer – NYTimes.com.

Photo credit: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com

The rumor-mill has been running hot this weekend, with the revelation that Best Buy has three new entries in its inventory system. Widely regarded to be new iPhone models, the only details so far revealed are that the models are called Charlie 1, Charlie 2 and, yes, Charlie 3. Collectively they have been dubbed “Project Charlie”.

Now Gadget Lab can exclusively reveal the truth behind “Project Charlie”, and we think you’ll like it. Last August, shortly after Apple shipped the iPhone 3G, the Cupertino R&D labs were already well into designing the next version. Seeking advice from a knowledgeable writer and all around good-guy, the team asked me to give them a list of features I’d like to see in the new iPhone*. To my surprise, almost all of my suggestions found their way in, hence the codename of the new iPhone: “Project Charlie”.

Here’s my list:

• 10 megapixel camera with full frame sensor, auto-focus and ƒ1.2 lens. Support for dng RAW files. This will make the phone quite big, but that makes room for a few of the other new features.
• Airtunes. The new iPhone will stream music to any Airport Express.
• RSS BitTorrent. Pick a TV show and new versions will automatically turn up via a native BitTorrent client. Wi-Fi only, sadly (blame AT&T).
• SD card reader for backing up and reviewing photos. Will not work to expand memory (one of the few refusals from the Apple team).
• Background applications. This was a hard sell but Jonny Ive eventually realized I was right. You will be able to run as many apps as you like, all at once. This meant the new iPhone needed a bigger battery, which has duly been added. This, along with the full-frame camera, means the iPhone will be about an inch thick, but of course, there are always compromises in design.
• A real, slide-out keyboard. For blogging.
• FM radio.

I wanted to open up the suggestions list to you, the Gadget Lab reader, but I was under NDA. With these slip-ups in the Best Buy inventory system, though, I thought it was time to go ahead and reveal the secret.

Project Charlie – three secret AT&T devices bound for Best Buy [Phone Arena]

*For the sarcastically challenged, this post is almost entirely fictional.

Email ‘N Walk is an application which makes your iPhone invisible. The reason? To stop moronic, distracted texters from walking into lamp posts.

Fire up the app on your iPhone (this doesn’t work with the iPod Touch) and it overlays a transparent email window over a live view coming in from the camera. Effectively, this lets you look at the screen and compose your masterpiece while simultaneously watching the road ahead. Of course, it won’t work. Anyone who would write e-mail while walking is obviously too self-absorbed to pay attention the world around them. Let them walk under a bus.

Email ‘N Walk is a genuine, non-spoof app and it is available now, free, from the App Store.

Product page [iTunes via the Reg]

Hugo Chavez has a small handheld, and he wants the citizens of his country to get their hands on it–cheap. The outspoken Venezuelan president recently revealed his Vergatario, a supercheap phone (roughly $15) with a camera, FM radio, WAP Internet access, and MP3 playback.

The president showed off his device on his TV show, stating, “Whoever doesn’t have a Vergatario is nothing,” which is actually pretty hilarious when you find out that vergatario is slang for penis. This comes from the man who called George W. Bush a pendejo–the guy knows his curse words.

The Vergatario’s cheap price is due to government subsidies. The first 10,000 will be released this week, and the total is expected to his 600,000 by year’s end.

Apple has rejected an iPhone app that would enable users to fashion their mugs into portraits resembling Jesus Christ.

The app, called Me So Holy, involves using the iPhone’s camera to snap a mug shot of someone, which can then be scaled and cropped to replace Jesus’ face. Apple rejected the app, saying it “contains objectionable material,” according to Me So Holy developer Benjamin Kahle.

“Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users,” the iPhone SDK agreement states.

Apple may be tightening its restrictions on its iPhone App Store after it approved an iPhone app called Baby Shaker, a game whose objective was to shake a baby to death. Amid parental outrage, Apple subsequently removed the app, saying its approval was a mistake.

Though tremendously successful, Apple’s iPhone App Store has been the victim of heavy scrutiny. Other than being criticized for approving questionable apps such as Baby Shaker, some developers have slammed Apple for being unclear about its App Store approval process. For example, FreedomVoice Systems in March told Wired.com that Apple hadn’t said a word about its iPhone voice app Newber for six months, potentially costing the company $600,000 in wasted investments.

In defense of Me So Holy, Kahle questioned what was objectionable about his app, since it did not contain any violence or offensive content.

“We feel that Apple is being too sensitive to its perceived user group and are disappointed that this otherwise creative, freethinking company would reject such a positive and fun application,” Kahle wrote in his blog. “The message to developers is that they should think inside the box, rather than outside it.”

Nonetheless, the App Store continues to lure developers with dreams of striking it rich. One of the largest success stories to date involves Ethan Nicholas, an independent developer whose iPhone game iShoot earned him $600,000 in a single month.

Me So Holy Product Page [via Business Insider]

See Also:

• Android Welcomes App Store’s Rejects With Arms Wide Open
• Trent Reznor Has a Few Choice Words For Apple
• Apple’s Delays Could Cost iPhone Developer $600K
• Apple Rejects Obama Trampoline iPhone Game
• Apple Removes Baby-Killing iPhone App Amid Outrage
• Rejected: ‘Pull My Finger’ iPhone App
• Apple Rejects Twitter App Update for Alleged Bad Language