Will O2's Palm Pre really be an
'iPhone killer'?
The Palm Pre: More like a PC than a phone
The battle of the smartphones - mobiles which also work as email and internet devices, satnavs and pocket entertainment centres - hots up today when O2 releases the Palm Pre.
Its makers hope the Pre will be an 'iPhone killer' - a reference to Apple's phenomenally successful gadget, which dominates the multi-million pound smartphone market.
So does it live up to the hype?
Well, I've been lucky enough to lay my hands on one and I can report that as many expected, and Apple feared, the Pre is a beautiful little device.
It is like a small smooth stone, much more comfortable to hold and use as a phone than either of its established rivals, the BlackBerry and the iPhone.
The Pre's electronic brain is actually a bit larger than its competitors' and - a big advance - it's possible to keep several programmes on the phone working simultaneously, making it more like a miniature PC than a phone.
On the downside, users in America, where the Pre was released in the summer, have complained about the battery life being puny.
The price of the Palm Pre looks like being similar to that of the iPhone - free with an expensive monthly contract; £100 or so with a cheaper one; or around £400 if you buy it outright.
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Two areas where the Palm will struggle are music playing and 'Apps' - the wildly popular mini-programmes invented by Apple to turn your iPhone into anything from a Scrabble set to a barcode reader.
While there are nearly 90,000 Apps available for the iPhone, there will be just a handful for the Pre when it launches.
Only if it becomes as 'cool' as the iPhone will it be worth software developers' time designing Apps especially for the Pre.
And that's a big ask, even though this is an excellent attempt.
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