It’s been more than 3 months since I first got my hands on the Palm Pre. Yes, I’m technically a blogger, and yes, I received this awesome phone from Palm so stop worrying FTC. As one of 10 winners of the “Real Reviewers Program,” Palm provided me with a Pre (along with an unlimited plan) for 6 months! Palm did not tell me to blog about it, but I can’t help myself. The truth is that I was a believer since the day it was announced and I am totally a fan. Popular Mechanics ranked the Pre as one one of the 10 most brilliant products of 2009 so I don’t think I need to tell you that this phone is amazing.

Palm has made some really interesting announcements recently, including the Palm Pixi, the second WebOS device on the roster. The Pixi is a more affordable, more artistic version of the Pre that should be released soon. Palm is also releasing the Palm Pre in various countries and networks, including a GSM version in Spain on October 14th.

In addition, paid apps are now available and Palm is going to allow open and closed source version of Pre apps to be distributed (which is drastically different better from Apple’s app approval process). With over 120 apps and soon to grow exponentially, Palm is finally able to say that it has a good quantity of apps on its catalog. And the quality of the apps is great so far (see below for examples).

Also exciting is the fact that Adobe Flash might be coming to the Pre much sooner than I expected. Yes, you heard that right. Flash Player 10.1 tailored for the Palm Pre. That means Hulu, YouTube, BlogTalkRadio, etc. Sweet. Double Sweet.

But, what’s it like having a WebOS phone? Good question…

Here’s a summarized example of how I use the Palm Pre on a regular basis:

7:00am- Wake up. I’m not very good at waking up so I have 5 alarms that go off every 5 minutes with different songs.
7:25am – Check my Gmail account, which is beautifully integrated with the device.
7:28am – Check my Hotmail account, which is integrated almost as nicely, but with 5 times the spam. (more…)

Doug Aamoth is the Reviews Editor for CrunchGear.com, a TechCrunch blog that covers gadgets, gear, and computer hardware. TechCrunch started in 2005 and CrunchGear was added to the network in 2006 when Michael Arrington expanded the site to include a blog that focused on gadgets. Doug has been with the CrunchGear team since 2007 and he now also hosts the CrunchGear live podcast on Wednesdays at 3pm Eastern.

Doug spends a lot of his time reviewing products so I asked him about some of his favorites. He mentioned the Acer netbook 751h and he also told me that he just got iPhones on a family plan with his wife. “It’s hard not to talk about the iPhone. It’s still so far ahead of other phones.” But not all of his reviews are about phones and computers. I’ve noticed that he often writes about random things and deals, from sandals with metal detectors to left-handed underpants. “We try to have something up at the very least every half other so it’s hard to fill a day some times.” CrunchGear as a site does about 50 posts and Doug writes about 5-10 per day.

A lot of Doug’s work is reactive. 10% of the time Doug contacts a company, while they will contact him the other 90% of the time. Doug wakes up every day without really knowing what he’s going to write about because about 90% of what goes up on CrunchGear is reactive. And reactive can mean hard work. “It’s not the picture that most people get of bloggers waking up at noon. I wake up at 7am and work full steam.. until about 9 at night.” (more…)

I’ve been using the Flip UltraHD for a little over a week and I’ve been thoroughly impressed. While this portable camcorder is simple and easy to use, it is also quite powerful. I gotta say that this video camera makes me want to take it everywhere.

Why I think you’ll love it too:

• Simplicity: The trademark flip-out USB connector makes it easy to charge and easy to import. Straight to the point user interface. 3 main buttons (big red one to record, side buttons to play and delete). Incredibly intuitive so you can quickly browse through your recordings and import to your computer.
• Size: Pocket-sized and lightweight with 8 GB of built-in memory.
• Speed: You can turn it on as soon as you put in the AA-size NiMH rechargeable batteries it comes with (can also run on standard AAs). Very fast boot-up and response times.
• Cool factor: The camera looks and feels cool. You feel proud when you pull this baby out.
• Quality: With 720p (1,280×720) high-definition video, the Ultra HD looks great on its small LCD screen or a huge HD TV. It shoots beautifully, even in low-light. Oh and, it sounds great too.
• Convenience: HDMI output. FlipShare software is built-in and works with PCs or Mac. Good enough for quick edits and a few fun extras (easily upload to YouTube, impress your girl with a video greeting card, and trim video files).
• Fun: This camera lets you be fun and spontaneous, and so far for me, people have been more than willing to let me record them. Not sure if that’s because of the camera or because of me, but either way, it’s pretty fun (more…)