Jaunted

Technology / iPhone / Palm Pre / Travel News / → All Tags

Will The Palm Pre Kick The iPhone Out Of Your Carry-On?

The long-anticipated Palm Pre, widely considered to be the first credible challenger to Apple's insanely popular iPhone, finally drops into Sprint stores this weekend. We've been following the hype with an eye towards whether it'll appeal to frequent travelers. The results thus far: a very definite, very firm maybe.

The Palm Pre's removable battery has gotten a little bit of play, half because it's genuinely useful and half because it's a poke in the eye to Apple. A removable battery is less important today than it used to be, since batteries these days last and last. But if you're on an international trip and your smartphone doubles as your mp3 player, a removable battery isn't exactly insignificant. Plus we just get physically nervous traveling without a spare battery for each peripheral.

We're also of two minds about the Palm Pre's camera. On one hand no real traveler is going to use a smartphone camera for serious photos. On the other hand, people who are supposed to know about these things have been positively agog about the Pre's LED flash and the software-side image processing.

more ›