Stupid Palm.  We tried to stop by their ‘booth’ at CES, but come 4pm on Saturday they had already packed up and headed home.  I guess they didn’t think that their struggling company needed more than a few hours of press attention.  Additionally, they couldn’t even bother to place a sign up saying they had gone home and left it up to the semi positive security guard to inform us of the news.  But, who would I be TO not at least post on the device.

So yes, Palm released an all new touchscreen device called the PRE.  It’s running something they call a webOS and from some of the videos I’ve seen it looks pretty slick.  A big advantage over the iPhone is its ability to run more than one application at a time.  Much like the iPhone they’re offering threaded text messages, but have taken a queue from RIM and placed AIM and texts into one application (emails are not included in there) and are launching an app store. At the foot of the phone is a touchpanel that perhaps looks more complicated than its worth, but without a true hands on I can’t really say.  Like all Palm phones they’re is a slide out QWERTY keyboard.  I’m not sure where they got the technology from, but much like Powermat tech we saw, Palm has included a wireless charging stand – called the ‘Touchstone’ -  that uses magnetic induction. No word on price or release date, but rumor says about $399 without a contract and $149 with a contract.  The phone is expected to hit Sprint stores this summer, but another rumor says production will be limited to a few hundred thousand due to screen shortages.

Specs:

• Palm webOS
• 3G EVDO Rev A
• 3.1-inch touchscreen (320×480)
• QWERTY slide out keyboard
• Microsoft Outlook with PUSH for email
• GPS
• Accelerometer
• Media player compatible with a variety of codecs
• WiFi b/g
• Bluetooth
• 8GB on board storage
• micro USB input
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 2.3×3.9x.67-inch (WxHxT)

Official product page here