If you would have asked me if I thought Palm had a fighting chance against Nokia and Blackberry, to duke it out with Apple’s iPhone in any way, shape or form… I would have laughed.

Palm who?

Well, the announcement of the Palm Pre this past week at CES surprised more than a few people, and has been all the buzz on the tech and mobile blogs.  And while the term "iPhone killer" has lost any sort of meaning - as these devices always end up being half-baked - the Palm Pre, standing by itself, it positioned to be one of the leading, lust-worthy, must have phones on the market.

Good for Palm.  And really good for Sprint.

In only a week, Palm’s made it quite apparent that they’ve *really* thought this handset through - not only on the level of how it could be positioned to compete with the large offering of touch-screen smartphones out already there, but how it could wrestle with the iPhone itself.  And what does it come down to?

The software.  Software, software, software.

Unlike Nokia and Blackberry, Palm has actually given enough of a shit to think about how to build a touch-screen UI.  Both the Blackberry Storm (talk about a failure) and the Nokia N97 (still on the horizon, slated to disappoint very soon) both fail to sport any significant UI overhaul, which is needed to take a D-pad driven experience to one you use with your fingers.  Just because you make your context menus bigger and pump out an on-screen keyboard, doesn’t mean you’re gonna come up with something that people can use without big frustration, let a alone desire and enjoy using, every day.

What’s the Palm Pre doing right?  Well, for starters, they’ve built (with relatively good  secrecy) a next generation OS that’s a massive improvement over their current devices… and they haven’t just tried to match the iPhone, they’re trying to one- up it, in some areas. 

Off-screen gestures (just below the screen) for simple navigation tasks and quick menu access.  UI  obviously built for the multi-tasker… something many  iPhone users are jealous they don’t have (and hasn’t been provided yet by Apple’s extremely late inclusion of push service-driven multitasking functionality).  Hell… they’ve even gone ahead and implemented technology we’ve seen rolling around for years, but never in consumer mobile devices - wireless charging!  Rather than plug a cable into the phone, you can lay it on a pad that charges via contact with the phone… pretty slick. 

Current Sprint subscriber?  I’d wager this is worth sticking around for.  AT&T has the iPhone.  T-Mobile has the G1.  Verizon has the Storm (sucks to be them).  Looks like Sprint is finally positioning itself back in the pack, as far as desirable devices, with the Palm Pre. 

And when you have stubborn iPhone fanatics, looking at a video of your UI, and wishing their phone did that… you know, you might have a fighting chance for a good-sized piece of the pie.

*knock knock* 

"Nokia?  Are you there?  Would you mind please ditching the ancient S60 OS for something built from scratch, please?  Maybe slap it on a phone that isn’t at the bottom of the barrel, spec-wise, with all your other handsets?  I’d really like to invite you back to the party.  Thanks."

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There’s been some radio silence on my end, as far as excitement for up-and-coming mobiles.  Why?  A couple reasons.

One, I’ll admit I’ve been really enjoying my iPhone.  Sure, I DESPERATELY miss the great camera of the Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones I used to arm myself with… but that’s about all I miss.  Now, surely there will be a day that I’ll ditch the iPhone for something else - don’t you fret.  But after these last two big-time devices crushed my hopes, it might be later than expected.

Blackberry Storm

I got my hands on one of these before they launched.  I was pretty excited, as I’m a big fan of Blackberry, and the fact that they’ve got a huge set of diehard loyal users, speaks to the quality of their offerings.  I soon realized - just before getting the device - that the outcry of others on the Intertubes, called it before I had a chance to. 

FAIL.

Not only is the Storm NOT a remarkable mobile, it’s probably the least favorite Blackberries I’ve ever touched.  I found the click-screen interesting, but all-in-all gimmicky and made for even SLOWER texting on a touch-screen.  I didn’t expect a failure on text input, from the kings of text input.  Other than some small, front-end UI changes to make a shiny first menu, it’s essentially a Bold with a much worse method of input.  So.  Disappointed.

I even preferred using the Samsung Instinct I’ve got kicking around.  That’s pretty bad.

I’m hoping this isn’t their last attempt… I’m hoping they have a REAL new mobile OS under development, and this is just an intermediate step to get a touch-screen product out of the gate.  Otherwise, I’d advise you to pick up a Bold if you’re looking for a ‘Berry, or possibly wait for the non-3G Curve 8900…. I had a chance to play with one, and they’re a tidy, nice little handset in quite possibly the best Blackberry form-factor to date.

Nokia N97

After blowing other manufacturer’s out of the water with their N Series line for the last couple years, Nokia seems to be taking a big break.  It might be a good time to regroup. 

After the seemingly-alright but remarkably low-end Nokia "Tube" 5800, Nokia has followed up with the Nokia N97.  Their new big device.

What is the N97?  It’s all the lower-end components of their N Series line, seeming wrapped into one large device with a touch-screen on the front.  Oh yeah, and you’ll probably need a stylus for some stuff in their UI, as it requires touching, using the physical keyboard, and now a tiny, plastic pen.  We all know how much people enjoy using those.  How is it, that a touch-screen and keyboard input… and a D-pad… aren’t enough?

In my book, Nokia has done more taking S60 to a touch interface that RIM.  But from what the videos floating around online reveal… not a *whole* lot more.  And while they’ve spent time doing things like adding Ovi functionality nobody cares about, they didn’t seem to tack the fact that people don’t want to have to pull a stylus out of the device to hit the tiny UI buttons, or to… well… EVER.  Nor did they offer the beefy specs that N Series fans come to expect.  Since this device isn’t in peoples hands as much yet, there’s still a little mystery as to how good/horrible it is to use in practice.  So I’m still curious. 

But mostly…. just…. offended.  N Series is supposed to be top-of-the-line in terms of features.  So why is the software, UI, camera specs, portability, and user experience of this handset worse than my old N82?

Like I said.  I’m maintaining that they’re regrouping.  N Series can do more.  They just need the software.

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My New Year’s resolution?  To get caught up.

I’ve got months of pics and videos to share, but have been pretty busy with the whole "real life" thing recently… not to mention the time-suck of some other rekindled interests of mine.

So before work sends me off on another multi-week adventure later this month, my goal is to get my ducks in a row.  Fast and furious.

Happy New Year’s, y’all.

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