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.
7:30am – Check my Calendar (which includes my Google Calendar appointments) to make sure I know what I have going on that day.
7:35am – Listen to Pandora while getting ready for work.
7:50am – Open up Tweed, Spaz and Twitter.com to check my @replies and DMs.
8:00am – Drive to work streaming  a podcast on Stitcher Podcast Radio (which already has TSNS!)
9:30am – After a meeting with a client, take a photo of the whiteboard. I also write a few notes. Evidence is always good.
9:45am – Can’t mentally multiply 482 x 330 quickly enough to impress anyone so I use the Pre’s Calculator (which looks freakishly real).
11:00am – Get an email on my Gmail account with a spreadsheet. Download the .xls file, read it, do a few edits, and reply with the updated version attached.
11:50am – Get on Tweed to talk to some friends and random people on Twitter.
12:00pm – Open up the browser to read some favorite web sites in their full splendor (including AdAge, TechCrunch and
12:05pm – Head out for lunch with a friend. Check out restaurant reviews using the GoodFood and Yelp apps.
12:10pm – Use the Sprint Navigation (GPS) app to get to the restaurant.
12:45pm – Show off my Palm Pre by opening up the Sprint TV app. People get more excited about videos than WebOS. Little do they know.
2:0opm – Charge my Pre. Pandora will be heavily used for the next 3 hours because I have some Excel crunching to do.
2:25pm – Check out my photos of the whiteboard from the meeting that morning. Update my notes with further thoughts.
3:25pm – Get a call from my friend Alex. He tells me about his Palm Pre. Hang up. The Pre immediately goes back to Pandora. I LOVE Pandora.
4:00pm – A friend who likes Nascar walks around. I show him the Nascar app just to show off. I don’t like Nascar. And I can’t seem to be able to delete the app so I might as well use it for something.
5:05pm – Head to the printer to get some reports and accidentally drop the Pre. No worries, it didn’t shatter like an iPhone.
6:25pm – At another meeting. Take more photos of the white board and email them to everyone in the meeting.
6:50pm – Check out the mobile version of Facebook to leave messages for a few friends.
7:05pm – Check out the weather on the AccuWeather app. I don’t check the weather much, but it’s raining tonight so might as well.
7:25pm – Call my wife, who is already at the gym waiting for me.
7:45pm – Work out while listening to Pandora. It seems like Pandora knows me.
7:48pm – I realize that I won’t be home to watch a TV show I like. So I schedule a recording using DIRECTV’s DVR Scheduler online.
9:30pm – Drive home. Stream the “The BeanCast” podcast directly from their site.
9:45pm – Hang out with Michael J. Fox. Ok, not really. But if I did and Palm had something to do with it, I would disclose it to the FTC.
10:00pm – Make plans to watch a movie on Friday. Check out the Rotten Tomatoes reviews using Flixster.
11:00pm – Open up the browser to head to IM+ for Skype, a web app where I can talk to anyone using Skype all over the world.
11:30pm – Open up the browser to sign in to my blogtalkradio account and schedule a new show.
11:35pm – Make sure my alarms are all on. I need to wake up early the next day.
This is just an example. There are many other apps I use regularly (including FlightView, AP Mobile, Mileage Monitor, etc.). More great free and paid apps ARE coming to the Pre so skeptics beware. So far, the only app that I think is really disappointing is Concerts because it NEVER displays shows in my area (it thinks I’m in Sunnyvale, CA, which is not helpful at all).

The Pre might not be perfect (believe me, I’ve tested hundreds of mobile phones and none of them are), but I wouldn’t change it for any other option in the market today. With increased competition, enhanced user experiences, and continuous innovation, it will be exciting to see where smartphones go from here.

From its foundation in 1992 to being acquired by U.S. Robotics (which in turn was acquired by 3Com), and finally becoming publicly traded in 2000, Palm has quite an interesting history. Palm’s innovation in hand held devices has given it a memorable past, but the company seemed comfortable lagging behind RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone in recent years. That all changed at CES this year, when Palm announced a new device called Pre.

The CES presentation created a lot of buzz, hype, and rumors because the wait for a cool Palm phone was almost over. It wasn’t only Palm’s new hardware that made news, but also the new OS (WebOS) that looked like nothing else in the market. No wonder it won CNET’s “Best of CES” and “People’s Voice” awards.

I quickly became very excited about the Pre and applied to be part of the “Palm Real Reviewer Program” at Palm’s blog. I received a call a few weeks afterwards from Palm. I was a finalist! After a few more calls and a letter from the company, I received a Palm Pre in the mail two weeks ago. I was one of 10 “Real Reviewers“. While I have tested hundreds of mobile devices, I have only owned a few smartphones, so I cannot express how excited I was to have the opportunity to use a Pre for 6 months. I had huge expectations for this phone and I have to say that the Pre has exceeded them. I will write about my thoughts on the Pre on this site from time to time, and I will also do so on Twitter and Palm’s Facebook Discussions. Let me start with first impressions…

The Pre arrived in a nice looking package. I love usable, attractive, purposeful design. From the shape of the box and the colors of the carboard throwaways inside the box, Palm put time and effort into the details.

The device itself looks and feels great. Palm was not kidding when it said this over and over again. When closed, it is small enough to easily carry around everywhere, and when opened, it simply makes much more sense than other phones. This may be the first time a smartphone doesn’t feel like a brick to me. And the combination of a 480 x 320 touchscreen and a QWERTY physical keyboard begs the question “why didn’t anybody else do this earlier?” Or maybe… “Why didn’t anyone do this SO WELL in the past?”

The black, glossy, and nicely shaped phone should be appealing to almost anyone. My wife likes the Pre almost as much as I do. But she absolutely hated carrying any of my old smartphones around. “Too manly,” she’d say. The Pre looks stylish, no matter who you are. And that’s even before you turn it on.

With the user interface, Palm again goes all out with the details. With readable and stylish fonts, great use of spacing, nice transparencies and images, the old ugly Palm UI is gone and gone forever. While the screen does not look as good on a sunny day (especially not if you’re at the beach), it is bright and colorful.

WebOS goes beyond looking cool to rethinking the way we use mobile phones. Cards, gestures, syncing with Gmail/Facebook, combined messaging, and the launcher make for an awesome experience that makes sense and is actually fun to use. Multitasking is taken to a new level; you can open an app like Pandora to listen to music while tweeting, sending txt messages, browsing sites, getting notifications, and more. Opening cards/apps is easy, switching from one to another is even easier, and closing them is, well.. extremely fun. This may sound weird, but I just love swiping my finger to send an app into oblivion. No more pressing a bunch of button to close a window/app. With the Pre, I just swipe away upwards. Fun times.

What else? The touch sensitivity responds well, and I like that it doesn’t try to constantly correct me all of the time. I may miss an apostrophe here and there, but I know how to spell, thank you very much. I guess my only huge problem with the Pre is that the battery cannot keep up with the multitasking and it will take a while before you can use it again once it is charging. I have no choice but to charge the phone at various times during the day to really be able to use it as I want to. There are a few other things I’d like to have (like video), but overall the Pre is an awesome experience and I cannot recommend it enough.

The hype around the Pre created a little skepticism in me before it launched on June 6th, but now that I have one, I wonder why the hype wasn’t even greater.  Sure, the tech community made a big deal out of it, but the average consumer might still not be fully aware of its existence nor its power. It will take some time to make Palm what it once was, but it sure looks like the future is bright. The Pre really is as good it seems and you’d be surprised about how quickly you get used to it. Without an expensive cost of ownership (as other phones in the market), and with an OS that is truly innovative and usable, the Pre changes everything. Palm is back because it has created a functional and unique product that people can be excited about.

In future posts, I will write about the Pre’s awesome 3.2 megapixel camera, the sound quality, the “wave”, marketing and advertisements, available apps, features like copy/paste and universal search new things I like or don’t like, news and 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 :)

A few drawbacks:

• No image stabilization. Looks a bit shaky. Highly recommend you get a monopod/tripod to reduce this.
• Zoom is smooth but could be better.
• No expandable storage-slot. Not good if you need to record over 2 hours.
• Who wants to upload anything to MySpace anymore? How about some Facebook Connect or Twitter integration instead next time around?
• Mini-HDMI connectors only. HDMI cable not included. Would prefer to pay a little more and get it included, but I guess it would make the box bigger.
• Batteries don’t last very long.
• You will still need Adobe Premiere, iMovie or other video software if you really want to edit.
• Does not come in socialnerdia-ish purple color (props to the Sony Webbie for going purple).

The bottom line:

• The Flip UltraHD is an easy and fun to use portable camcorder that stands out amidst a category that the original Flip (by Pure Digital Techologies, recently acquired by Cisco) created. The camera creates vibrant recordings that look and sound great. Even though there is no image stabilization, the other drawbacks are minor. When compared to HD portables by Sony, Kodak, and others, as well as the Flip MinoHD, this camcorder is the best of its kind.
• Sample Video: See a video we made: “Video: Why I / You / We Tweet.”
• Another Sample Video: See a video that was recorded in 2 mins, edited in 2 more, and uploaded to YouTube using FlipShare in a couple more: “Choripan + Cupcake Test the Flip UltraHD.”
• Some photos and screenshots:

The Windows Mobile 6 Facebook App was released today. While WinMo users have been able to check out Facebook using a mobile web browser at m.facebook.com, a downloadable app has been expected for a while.

The good news is that it’s finally out. The sort of bad news is that it was developed by Microsoft (not Facebook).

As usual with Windows Mobile apps, this one came out later than other versions (iPhone, BlackBerry), and without all the hype.

So, here’s our take:

- Intallation: Not as intuitive as anyone would like. You need to connect your phone to your computer; download the app; open it with File Manager, and hope it installs.

- Performance: The first time we loaded it, it froze. This has Windows all over it. It did ok the second time, but it was a bit slow.

- News feed: This might be a matter of preference and the device you’re using, but we believe the mobile web site is simply smoother and easier to view. The mobile web version also gives you the ability to “comment” and “like“, while the WinMo app does not. Not cool.

- Photos and Videos: This is the best part of the WinMo app. You can easily view all photo updates.

More importantly, you can capture a photo or video, and immediately upload it to Facebook. This is awesome and maybe the only reason to keep the app.

- Multi-tasking: Another plus for the WinMo app is the top navigation bar, which lets you toggle between Home, Wall/Profile, Friends, Inbox, and Phone Numbers.

- Profile: Just like with the mobile web site, you can’t really update your profile info. This is less than stellar.

- Status Updates: Very easy to update, just as with the mobile web site. Good.

So, bottom-line, the Windows Mobile Facebook App is great for posting photos and videos on-the-go. It’s also great for giving your  FBcontacts a phone call.

For everything else, stick with Facebook’s own m.facebook.com.