OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/21616/Palm_Pre_Review_Hardware_Could_Be_Better_WebOS_Solid Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2013, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 20 May 2013 12:48:00 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com Multitask & Battery Life http://www.osnews.com/thread?366987 http://www.osnews.com/thread?366987 Everybody knows that that is just a lie only Apple fanboys believe.

Not to multitask was a design decision. Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kragil) Comments RE: Multitask & Battery Life http://www.osnews.com/thread?366989 http://www.osnews.com/thread?366989 Multitasking does use more battery life. It's not a "lie". The more the processor is in a non idle state, the more battery power it uses. Most mobile processors (such as the ARM class processor in the iPhone) will go in to a low power idle state when not being used.. this runs just the bare essential processes to keep the OS running. If your processor can't sleep, it will draw power constantly. This will use up your charge more quickly, hence worse battery life. Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (memson) Comments RE: Multitask & Battery Life http://www.osnews.com/thread?366993 http://www.osnews.com/thread?366993 from the summary :

The bad:
... Battery life drains quickly and the smartphone can be sluggish at times ...
Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sanctus) Comments RE[2]: Multitask & Battery Life http://www.osnews.com/thread?366995 http://www.osnews.com/thread?366995 Running in the background != multitasking

In theory tasks that run in the background can effect battery life. Practice has shown many times it doesn't effect battery life significantly.

And btw: I recently got my old MDA Compact (HTC Magician) back. It runs WinMo 2003. The UI is crap but I is able to multitask just fine. And battery life isn't effected by how many apps you run. They all just sleep when you don't use the phone.


Edit: Much better review:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/03/palm-pre-review/ Edited 2009-06-04 14:07 UTC Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kragil) Comments WANT ONE!! http://www.osnews.com/thread?367004 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367004 So, so bad... :| C'mon Palm, what about Europe? Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sardaukar) Comments Comment by majipoor http://www.osnews.com/thread?367007 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367007 The iPhone can do multitasking: Safari, Mail, SMS and other Apple applications do run in background.

It is indeed possible to allow multi-tasking without draining the battery too quickly... provided that all developers implement it carefully.

And this is the problem Apple is facing as well as other devices which allow third party applications: it is impossible to ensure that all applications will behave correctly. Apple just does not want to take that risk.

Let's see what happens with the Pre as soon as many thrid party applications are available. Currently only a few applications are available and Palm has for sure ensured that all of them behave well. Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (majipoor) Comments RE[3]: Multitask & Battery Life http://www.osnews.com/thread?367011 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367011
Running in the background != multitasking

In theory tasks that run in the background can effect battery life. Practice has shown many times it doesn't effect battery life significantly.


Only one task can be the foreground application in every major OS with a GUI. Anything not running in the foreground (with focus) is running as concurrently as a background process would. There's little difference, other than the fact that most background processes are not displaying their UI.

But you're right, multitasking is not the same as running processes in the background (or indeed concurrently.) A process can be made up of one or more threads. Processes, by definition, will use at least one thread, but potentially more that that. There is nothing within the iPhone SDK that prevents multithreading, nothing at all. But multithreading is not the same as running multiple processes; I believe this is where your argument is a little confused? Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (memson) Comments RE: WANT ONE!! http://www.osnews.com/thread?367012 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367012 GSM version out In September for Verizon.

Should be in the UK for Christmas... Question is, what price? How?

Live and tell... Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (capricorn_tm) Comments other reviewers + video http://www.osnews.com/thread?367017 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367017 http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/review-palm-pre-has-revo...

http://www.tightwind.net/2009/06/palm-pre-reviews/

David Pogue likes it:

Walt Mossberg likes it, too, except for the App Catalog:

Jason Chen loves the OS, but hates the hardware:

Video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRnlzbuLRwM

http://www.youtube.com/user/PreCommunity Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Moulinneuf) Comments more + video http://www.osnews.com/thread?367018 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367018 Palm Pre Full Video Tours :

http://gizmodo.com/5126752/ Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Moulinneuf) Comments RE[2]: WANT ONE!! http://www.osnews.com/thread?367019 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367019
GSM version out In September for Verizon.

Should be in the UK for Christmas... Question is, what price? How?

Live and tell...


Verizon is still a CDMA provider and the Sprint exclusive runs through the end of 2009. I've yet to see any mention that Palm has a GSM version close to ready, though they would be fools not to do it.

I wonder why Palm can't design a decent keyboard. The keyboard on the Centro is also far too cramped to be used easily by most adults. Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bousozoku) Comments RE: other reviewers + video http://www.osnews.com/thread?367025 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367025 Funny, because Walt Mossberg stated in his review how long (up to 8-9 seconds) some apps take to open when there's already running apps!!!

App Store apps that can erase your contacts/emails?!

From the user experience, how is running multiple apps and then receiving an "out of memory" error = good usability?

I think a lot of these reviews fluff it a bit. Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (badtz) Comments WebOS = BEOS+??? http://www.osnews.com/thread?367029 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367029 BEOS aficionado may recall that Palm owns the source code to BEOS. Although it may be a stretch to think that BEOS became WebOS, it's much more likely that BEOS is the internal Godfather to WebOS... Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (AndrewZ) Comments RE: WebOS = BEOS+??? http://www.osnews.com/thread?367030 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367030
BEOS aficionado may recall that Palm owns the source code to BEOS. Although it may be a stretch to think that BEOS became WebOS, it's much more likely that BEOS is the internal Godfather to WebOS...


Nope, Palm no longer owns any BeOS intellectual property, that has all been transferred to ACCESS. Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (umccullough) Comments Nice, but if I can't sync it with my *nix desktop..NO http://www.osnews.com/thread?367032 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367032 I lately lost all my contacts from my first smart-phone, the Nokia 7710 which was a joy to use, and I swear I will never purchase a smart-phone again if I can't connect it to my *nix desktop.

Never again.

So if this Palm thing will synchronize smoothly with my *nix desktop, I might give it a chance. If not, pass on. Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (djangoxl) Comments RE: Comment by majipoor http://www.osnews.com/thread?367033 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367033
And this is the problem Apple is facing as well as other devices which allow third party applications: it is impossible to ensure that all applications will behave correctly. Apple just does not want to take that risk.


How would you know that? Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bibe) Comments RE: Nice, but if I can't sync it with my *nix desktop..NO http://www.osnews.com/thread?367045 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367045 That is one of the reasons why I now live in XP. Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (moondevil) Comments RE[2]: WebOS = BEOS+??? http://www.osnews.com/thread?367046 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367046 Who is Access? Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (AndrewZ) Comments RE: Nice, but if I can't sync it with my *nix desktop..NO http://www.osnews.com/thread?367053 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367053 There is no OS specific software required for Palm Pre. Pre acts as a USB drive when connected to a computer. So, it will definitely work with any *nix system.

(I know you can sync with iTunes. But I am pretty sure in Linux, Amarok and other media players sync music to any USB storage device.)


This is my favorite feature of Palm Pre.

-Vijay Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vijayd81) Comments RE[3]: WebOS = BEOS+??? http://www.osnews.com/thread?367070 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367070 Google. You already should've Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:54:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Lobotomik) Comments Comment by kaiwai http://www.osnews.com/thread?367086 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367086 I hope we'll see the Palm Pre appear in New Zealand on Telecom's new XT Network (WCDMA). Its painful to see vendors who have this US Centric way of doing things - as though the US are the only viable market to be involved with. Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kaiwai) Comments RE[3]: WebOS = BEOS+??? http://www.osnews.com/thread?367104 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367104 I was going to be funny by posting a lmgtfy link but couldn't find an obvious one on the page without lots of sifting...

so here is the direct link FYI ;)

http://www.begroovy.com/wordpress/?p=573 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Nossie) Comments RE: Multitask & Battery Life http://www.osnews.com/thread?367186 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367186 As strange as you might think of my opinion, I actually *really* appreciate the fact that iPhone OS is *not* multitasking. I used WinMo for years until I changed for an iPhone last year. The one thing I hated the most with WinMo was precisely the fact that it would multitask by default, keeping apps running even when I quit them or switch to an other app, slowing the whole machine down, increasing instabilities, etc.

I love the fact that when I want to run an app on my iPhone, it has all the resources possible offered by the hardware, and I cross my fingers that Apple will NOT fall for the pressure to make iPhone OS a multitask one. Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (chiwaw) Comments RE[2]: Nice, but if I can't sync it with my *nix desktop..NO http://www.osnews.com/thread?367368 http://www.osnews.com/thread?367368 Whilst it's a good thing that it presents as a (I presume mass-storage) USB device, that alone does not ensure it can *sync* with *nix desktop - particularly with regards contacts as the GP mentioned.

Unless the contacts and other DBs on the Pre are in a format that can be accessed and synch'ed with then being able to connect to the device will be a little pointless in that case. Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (crimperman) Comments