Recently Apple updates iTunes from 8.2 to 8.2.1 for disabling Palm Pre sync to iTunes. Now it’s time for Palm to push a new update for answering Apple and they did it. Palm pushed webOS to 1.1.0 with bugfixes, battery performance improvements, and UI enhancements. Ahh, and Palm has re-enabled full iTunes sync with iTunes 8.2.1 So we can say After Dev team Apple got a new reason to update iTunes frequently. Love to see a cat n mouse race between Apple and Palm. From Official Palm blog “ In addition to these treats for business users, Version 1.1 also includes a few other goodies for everyone — like support for emoticons in the messaging app, and the ability to set “person reminders” in the contacts app (next time you get a message or phone call from that person, a message pops up showing you a reminder to ask them about their vacation in Maui — cool, huh?). Oh, and one more thing: Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync. That’s right — you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1).”

Palm Pre iTunes

Here’s the recap of what’s changed:

• New service pre-installed: NFL Mobile Live from Sprint.
• Calendar: the default reminder intervals are 15 minutes for timed events and one day for all-day events.
• Camera: Photos application opens more quickly when launched from the camera.
• Clock: better support for time zones; when alarm is set, a small icon will appear in the notification area at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on that icon will display alarm details.
• Contacts: improved synchronization with Facebook and Google.
• Email: mail server can be an IP address; support for self-signed certificates; improved Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) support.
• Messaging: emoticons support; better management of IM accounts.
• Phone: minor usability improvements.
• System: improved functionality of person reminders; syncing with iTunes works again!
• Web: few usability improvements.

Palm Pre is available in Sprint stores but the early response is not so good for the Palm Pre A.K.A iPhone Killer. The main reason behind the slow response is iPhone Video or iPhone’09 which is just around the corner. Still there are many Palm boy who can’t hold there-selves to get their hands on Pre. iFixit are always number one in Tearing Down the latest launches but this time they lags. Couple of another sites posted the set of photos of tearing down the Pre. To Disassemble Palm Pre you need to have a small Phillips screw driver, small flathead, pliers, solder iron, exacto razor & safe open tool. A report from Engadget indicates that the total hardware cost of  Palm Pre is not more than 170$. Rapidrepair was the very first one who published the Teardown photos. Lets take a quick look at the teardown of Palm Pre.

This disassembly is done by the specialist don’t try this at your own. You may be interesting in the following Palm Pre related posts.

Palm Pre Back

Battery Removed

Palm Pre Front Panel

Palm Pre Keyboard

Palm Pre Memory Board

Palm Pre Complete Disassembeled

Palm Pre is just around the corner and will be available very sooner in the stores for US Sprint Subscriber. GSM is the predominant wireless technology throughout the world and it is also used by AT&T and T-Mobile in the US. If the European GSM model is “quad-band”, then an “unlocked” version would be functional with any US sim card. Sprint is CDMA based carrier and GSM users may have to wait till September for Pre GSM edition as many companies started bookings for a Unlocked Palm Pre GSm edition phone. It’s a good news for peoples like me who never want’s to be bound with a specific carrier. MobileCityOnline is the one of vey first who claims to provide Unlocked Palm Pre GSM edition phone which is supported with 3G AT&T Standard , 3G EURO Standard, Quad Band 850/900/1800/1900. The Pre is available on Pre-order/Backorder @ $699.99. But the providers are unable to provide Expected Arrival Date at the moment.

Mobile City Online lists the retail price  as $899.99, and their ‘cheaper’ price at $699.99.  Elite-Electronix also lists the unlocked GSM Pre as having a $699.95 USD price tag with an expected ship date as June 2009.

Please note: This phone is unlocked and can be used with any SIM card. No activation required (check carrier frequency requirements)

• Carrier: AT&T (GSM based), T-Mobile, and Other GSM carriers* (*Please check compatibility with your service provider)
• Technology: 3G AT&T Standard, Quad Band 850/900/1800/1900
• Feature: 3+ Megapixel Camera, A2DP, Bluetooth, Calendar, Camera, Candy Bar Form, Edge, Email Client, High-Speed Data GPRS, Megapixel Camera, MPS, Qwerty Keyboard, Slide Form, Smartphone, Speaker Phone, Touch Screen, Video Capture, Video Clip, Wi-Fi

Palm Pre generates a lots of buzz since it’s first preview at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. Palm Pre will be available on June 6th, 2009 (Sprint Nextel) and Second Half 2009 (Bell Mobility). Many peoples beleives that Pre is an iPhone killer. Pre features a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen over a 24-bit color 320 x 480 resolution HVGA liquid-crystal display. If you are migrating from iPhone to Pre you will definately miss the virtual keyboard as Pre  features a full QWERTY physical keyboard. Pre is equipied with three sensors Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor and  Proximity Sensor.  An accelerometer will automatically change the orientation of the display between landscape and portrait when the device is rotated in the user’s hands. An ambient light sensor allows the Pre to automatically adjust the brightness of its display. Aproximity sensor allows the Pre to disregard touch inputs when the phone is held close to a user’s face during a call.

The most advanced feature of Pre is Wireless Bateery Charging. The Pre will be one of the first smartphones to feature wireless charging.  Another big new features is something called Synergy, which can pull contacts from all your sites (Facebook, Gmail, AIM, etc…), gather and organize them into one coherent list on the Palm Pre. The Pre is the first Palm device to use webOS. In terms of connectivity Pre is clear winner  and features EVDO Rev. A or UMTS HSDPA, depending on location. The Pre also includes 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with support for A2DP stereo headsets. A-GPS with support for turn-by-turn navigation is also included.

For now the Palm Pre will be available to the US only through Sprint on June 6th. Canada will be getting their Palm Pre through Bell Mobility.  AT&T and Verizon are also joined the race and plans to sell the Palm Pre in 6 months.

Pricing & Availability : Where to buy how to buy Palm Pre? The Palm Pre requires a two-year contract with either the Everything Data or theBusiness Essentials with Messaging and Data plan. You can buy Pre from BestBuy or Radioshack for $199 with a 2-year contract and  instant rebate. If you plan to buy through Sprint retail stores or Sprint.com you will not  get instant rebate, and you will have to pay $299.99 and fill in a mail-in-rebate for $100. And Without Contract Palm Pre will costs you about  $549.99.

Syncing : Like all smartphones on the market today, Pre uses the cloud based services model. Syncing is becoming controversial issue as  Fortune magazine has discovered that if you plug a Palm Pre into a Mac, it will sync content from iTunes with no issues. According to the article, the iTunes Music Store will recognize the Palm Pre the same as it does an iPhone or an iPod. However, it will not load the DRM-protected music that the iTunes Music Store used to sell.Palm has announced that the Pre will be capable of “seamlessly” synchronizing with Apple’s iTunes via its Media Sync feature The Pre is believed to achieve this by switching its USB Product and Vendor IDs to those of an Apple iPod, thereby mimicking or “spoofing” the Apple device.

Gizmodo published about Pre-Tend iPhone theme which turns your iPhone in to Palm Pre look like Interface. Here we we have a simple to use guide on converting your iPhone in to Pre you can download Pre themes here. Before getting started confirmed that your iPhone is Jaibreaked and you have installed OpenSSH in your iPhone through Cydia. If you haven’t jaibreaked  you iPhone then follow our Visual Guide To Jailbreak iPhone 3G 2.2.1 With QuickPwn 2.2.5 For Windows/OSX. Once jailbreaked Install OpenSSH from Cydia and reboot you iPhone. Now Install WinterBoard from Cydia, WinterBoard is an open source application that promises to apply any SummerBoard theme, as well as allow for some new amazing effects (ie. animated/changing backgrounds, theming batteries, sliders, etc.) Next Download WinSCP and find your iPhone’s ip address by going to (on your iphone) settings > Wi-Fi > “Your selected WiFi” > Look under IP Address-Connect to your iPhone using WinSCP  Change File Protocol to SCP. Now type your IP address under host name, user : root and  password: alpine. and click on login now you have the access of your iphone file system.

• Once you successfully log in to your file system then move to /Library/Themes and now drag and drop the themes folder which you extracted on desktop.

• Once the theme copied in iPhone exit the WinSCP and launch WinterBoard and select the theme you wants to apply. I have used Pre and Pre-Tend both.

Here are the Screenshots of Different Palm themes Installed on my iPhone.

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Palm Pre is leading the way for the best alternative of  iPhone.Palm Pre is showcased in CES 09 and expected to hit the market very soon.Palm pre is based on Web OS which supports Multitasking yes the first ever multitasking capable phone at a very nice interface.Palm have never been ones for producing groundbreaking handsets, but all that could be about to change with the Palm Pre 3G.

Palm handsets of old run on Windows Mobile, but the Pre wanted to do things different, which is where the new webOS browsers comes in. First impressions of the phone and OS are good, and the phone works smoothly with this new software.In the short words Palm pre is the next alternative for iPhone lets take a look on the some features of both smartphone’s.

1. Screen: Both phones have capacitive & multitouch Screens The Pre’s glowy little “gesture area” has dropped the touchable real estate all the way down to the bottom of the phone.

2. Multitasking: In the case of Multitasking Palm is the clear winner & iPhone lagging miles behind.

3. Developers : Again Palm pre is leading with WEBOS because it supports JavaScript, HTML and CSS.While Apple has provided OS X-based SDK.

4. Web Integration: Bang Palm Pre again with WEBOS it supports to share your contacts of Facebook, Gmail, IM and and scanned for duplicates also.Truly Web Interface.

5. Applications : Here Apple gains the advantage of Third party appllications Via App store or Cydia there are tons of free & paid applications available for iPhone while it may take time to Palm Pre to have this type of support.

6. Camera: The Pre has an LED Flash for its 3MP camera, something  iPhone lacks. Flash cellphone photos are ugly, but for a lot of people, they’re good enough. So Palm Pre gains another advantage.

7. Keyboard : Palm Pre has Physical QWERTY Keyboard while iPhone has pretty Virtual Touch keyboard.For the exixting iPhone user like me it’s a bit hard now to use QWERTY Keyboard so iPhone gains another advantage.

8. Battery: Apple’s comes with their non-removable battery while Palm pre comes out for a spare swap too.

9. Copy & Paste: Yes, Pre’s got it. iPhone still doesn’t & not expected in near future.

10. Browser: Both iPhone & Palm Pre use a browser based on WebKit, which has become the standard for the mobile web.

Conclusion : Apple must have to work on the Third version of  iPhone to compete with Palm Pre other wise palm pre has the potential to grab a good amount of Smart Phone market.

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