Let’s face it, a new device from Palm is long overdue, so any glimmer of hope will get us excited. Our friends at PreCentral have received a tip about a device codenamed ‘Mansion’ that might do just that. The original Palm Pre was apparently codenamed ‘Castle’. There have been no visits from Mr.Blurrycam® as of yet, so we’ll take this with a grain of salt. The report says the Mansion will feature an 800×480 display and no physical keyboard. Seems like a major departure from Palm and perhaps they are caving due to mounting pressure in the marketplace to deliver a device with a big display. With such a device, it will be critical that webOS 2.0 deliver an excellent on-screen keyboard, with support for multi-touch.
This device, if real, needs to get released this year. On October 11th, Microsoft will announced a slew of Windows Phone 7 phones. Couple that with the iPhone 4 and the steady stream of Android phones, competition in the smart phone marketplace is getting tougher with each day.
Anyone opposed to losing the physical keyboard in favor of an on-screen keyboard?
Yes! I am very opposed!
With the first debutof the Palm Pre replaying in my head as I read this article. “those cheesy virtual keyboards just won’t cut it.”
So hopefully they’ve come up with an on-screen keyboard that will cut it.
I am also opposed to lack of physical keyboard. I don’t mind trying a virtual kb on occasion, but definitely need both. In my opinion the intensity of this virtual kb/big screen form factor is a passing fad. Hopefully developers will consider different people have different preferences, and offer a variety of form factors to make everyone happy.
I’ve been salivating for a new Palm handset for over a year. So far I’ve been able to control the very strong impulses to jump on Android. If Palm doesn’t release a handset which fits my tastes in 2010, I’m afraid I’ll need to abandon my burning love for WebOS.
I like my keyboard but I would not mind the lost of the keyboard if they could make a bluetooth keyboard to go along with the new phone.