We’re declaring the Palm Pre Plus as the 2010 Phone of The Year.
First, we’re bumping up our timing of the award this year to be in-line with CTIA Wireless expo. Why? A couple of months ago, we started contacting every phone manufacturer with a simple offering; show us what you’ve got, and we’ll see what’s best. By announcing the award now, you’ll know you’re getting a phone that will last you for the full year at the top of the heap. It also gives us the latitude to pick a old phone, a current phone, or even one that isn’t shipping yet.
Why’d we chose the Palm Pre Plus? Read more to find out.
Learn more about the Palm Pre Plus at Verizon Wireless
Times haven’t been very fair to Palm, but this award was not given based on sympathy. The Palm Pre Plus simply has more built-in functionality than any other phone we’ve seen. In addition to answering the featuresets of iPhone and Android, there isn’t any major features that even Windows Phone 7 Series can claim as beating Palm’s webOS. From an always updating push notification service, to comprehensive (and free) sync services, webOS is on top.
That wasn’t true almost a year ago, when webOS first shipped. Without Palm’s PDK, the webOS platform was really in a similar position to the original iPhone’s standing. Users were asking why there wasn’t any native code on the platform, and getting a lot of non-answers in response (Palm, like Apple, was pointing to how the web browser is the end-all-be-all of everything, which nobody really buys).
With that taken into account, the Palm Pre Plus builds on the original Pre in key areas, though the Pre benefits from most of the benefits via updating. From Unreal 3 gaming, to improved charging port compatibility. Big or small, the Palm Pre Plus defines what you should have in a modern smartphone. In addition, Mobile Hotspot service is simply unparalleled.
Yes, we have stated time and time again that tethering is legal, and no, you don’t need a new plan. But for Palm to embrace both tinkering and mainstream users is key. For a mainstream user to have the convenience of paying an extra $1 per day, and being able to turn their phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot (supported by the carrier, no less), is unprecedented in America. It gives the average mobile user the ability to demand more from their carriers, and ask why they should ever buy an aircard, MiFi, or any other unconverged device again.
So why did the Palm Pre Plus beat out the HTC Supersonic and Motorola Droid, the other two phones contending? Couple reasons there.
First, the HTC Supersonic does have 4G. And since we were the people who coined WiMAX 4G almost five years ago (long before most people had even heard of 3G), you’d think that would be a lock. Well, here’s the problem. By the end of 2010, only about one in three Americans will have access to WiMAX on Clear/Sprint 4G service. That means, to most of you, Supersonic is simply a fast Android phone. And, with 4G just getting started, we suggest waiting for 4G to be in your area before upgrading to a 4G phone. That means, for most people, HTC’s Supersonic just isn’t the solution.
The Motorola Droid on the other hand, is an excellent all-around runner up. However, Motorola’s choice to force the Droid to carry “with Google” branding, the loss of MOTOBLUR availability (which much cheaper Android phones from Motorola carry) as well as the lack of multi-touch in nearly every application is what pushed us to the Pre Plus. There are some tradeoffs, the Droid carries a microSDHC slot, while Pre Plus has Mobile Hotspot service built-in.
In short, the Palm Pre Plus is likely to stay on top for 2010, and we think it’s the best buy out there. The Palm Pixi Plus is also a great choice, though it has a smaller screen, and comes down to personal preference for many. When gaming or going into a rugged environment, the Pre Plus is worth the extra fifty dollars, especially when staring down a two year contract.
Palm’s troubles may have also created some of the most attractive pricing options for smartphones of this caliber to-date. Not only is the Palm Pre Plus priced below the likes of Motorola Droid and iPhone 3GS, it does so without dreaded mail-in rebates. This also makes it a prime candidate for upgraders on Verizon, who often are prohibited from taking advantage of mail-in rebates.
Great write-up! Love my Palm Pre!
Palm Pre Plus is a great phone:)
My original Palm Pre was awful. I hope this 1 is better.
It’s nearly certain that Palm will be closing later this year. (A company can’t lose customers and money forever.)
Then what happens to my Palm when the company doesn’t exist?
Why not name the best phone for 2010… right on January 2nd of each year?
It would be just as senseless as doing it in March.
You can’t *POSSIBLY* tell what phones will be coming out during March – December.
> tethering is legal, and no, you don’t need a new plan.
You need to pay *ANOTHER* $360 per year… on top of any/all fees you are already paying for voice and data and text.
Why make it sound like it’s “free” (no new plan needed)… or make it sound like “oh, it’s only $1 (per day)”.
> we suggest waiting for 4G to be in your area before upgrading to a 4G phone
So we should all buy a very expensive phone now… and sign a 2-year contract today… only to buy *ANOTHER* even more expensive phone… and sign ANOTHER 2-year contract. (Or pay $500 for a non-subsidized phone.)
Great advice. (If you are made out of money.)
Why not buy a 4G phone NOW… use it with 3G… and you are all set on the very DAY that 4G comes to your area.
The Pre Plus is one awesome phone! The others are great too, but have to agree Pre+ comes out on top, nice review!
Palm’s stock is horrible… and they won’t be around much longer.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/03/rip-palm-its-over-and-heres-why.ars
@ Chris:
The Droid does tethering too – for free even. Not sure why you scored that as an advantage for the Pre Plus when the Pre Pactually charges extra for it.
@ Betty:
There is no point in me buying a Sprint WiMax phone right now because by the time we get Sprint WiMax in my area there should and probably will be way better phones than the Supersonic on the market. I’m better off buying a top notch 3G phone right now, and then looking at 4G phones when I can actually use 4G. My city is not on Sprint’s ridiculously small list of cities getting 4G this year. So assuming I get it next year (which is a pretty big assumption) then I would bet there are better phones than the Supersonic next year. Hopefully something with a keyboard.
The point that stocks aren’t doing well has nothing to do with this story troll. The whole point is that this was the best phone to come out in 2010 and i agree %110 percent. The first few thousand had bad build quality but if you walk into any store and buy one now all of those issues are gone. The fact that they take the base phone and make it better and better via firmware/software updates can’t touch anything that apple will do. Apple makes you pay for OS Updates, Pay for new phones when in all reality you can just keep upgrading your old model with new software/firmware.
Palm isn’t going anywhere. Their investors might shift around or they could be bought out but the OS itself is not going anywhere for a while.
had my sprint pre for over 9 months now and i love it.
by the way, i tether for free too, mytether! no monthly charges 🙂
How can you even give a fair analysis on the Supersonic, when no one has made a review on it. If the Supersonic arrives with 4G, and 3G service is able to be used, why wouldn’t it be a viable solution until 4G is launched every where. I would buy a Supersonic, and use the 3G service and not have to buy a 4g phone later. To buy a Palm Prix over the Supersonic, based on a lack of 4G every where isn’t a good reason to exlcued it. What if the area I live in offers 4G service; would I still want a Prix over the Supersonic. The Prix is a very capable phone, but the screen is way too small for web surfing in portrait vewing IMHO, and the QWERTY keyboard is way too cramped. The sliding key board should have been made to slide in the land scape position, and I think the Prix would have been a real super star! However; to discredit the Spuersonic with out a fair reivew is just wrong!
I traded my iPhone for a Palm Pre, and I’m loving it more than my iPhone. iPhone was nice, but the Palm Pre is better and ideal. The GSM Palm Pre Plus for AT&T is going to be the best deal with the ability to use outside of the U.S. It may not include the HotSpot plan but that doesn’t matter; I use the no-monthly HotSpot WiFi Tethering plan (lol). That means I can share my Internet access or Network drives on my laptop with my friends instantly anywhere. It should be able run up to 50 apps at the same time with it’s multitasking cards feature and still run the high-end 3D games flawlessly. I suspect a considerable number of AT&T iPhone owners looking to switch to the Palm Pre Plus when it comes out.
LOL the Droid runs circles around the Pre in every aspect. This has to be a joke. Let’s face it the Pre is a pretty crappy phone with a decent OS. It got a bad rep because Palm dropped the ball from the get-go. The Pre Plus should have never been made after the failure of the first Pre. That was a lost oppurtunity for palm to recover. The Pre is a nice phone for moms and doesn’t really stand out enough. It’s a hard lesson to learn but they will eventually figure it out: that there is nothing that special about webOS to pull Palm out of the hole and it really doesn’t offer anything over the other OSs except a different way to multitask. Excellent competitive hardware should have been a high priority as well as fundamental OS features like video and sound recording among others that made it way too late to the game. Sorry to say it but Palm missed the bus and is trying to catch up on foot- not going to happen.
I’m wondering how much the author got paid to do this article, and who paid him..if you’re trying to tell people why the pre plus is the best phone you should state the reason why, I didn’t see anywhere on the article where it tells me its a better phone than most, and the title is the worst, its not even half the year yet, you don’t even know what the new iphone is going to be able to do or any other phone coming out. I have the droid and I love it(of course better than the iphone to me) I would be glad to be enlighten on why the pre plus is better than my droid, what can it do that any new 3g phones can’t?
so let me get this staright…. Pre gets slight edge over the droid because of the following…..
“Motorola’s choice to force the Droid to carry “with Google†branding, the loss of MOTOBLUR availability (which much cheaper Android phones from Motorola carry) as well as the lack of multi-touch in nearly every application is what pushed us to the Pre Plus.”
Hmm lets see….
Pre – tether $1 day = $365 year
droid can tether fot 1 time charge of $30 with PDAnet
Droid has multitouch (default browser/gallery coming with 2.1), in the mean time, dolphin browser, google maps, many 3rd party browsers allow multitouch
android apps 30k+
pre apps 1k+
Droid loses points for not having Motoblur? Makes no sense considering the 2.0 interface can be fully customized to whatever you like with plenty of widgets (facebook, twitter, TFLN, weather, power management,to name a few) . Plus the fact that most people walking into VZW to buy a pre, ends up walking out with a droid, doesnt bode well for your “2010 Phone of The Year”
Hi folks, wanted to clarify something about Mobile Hotspot versus free tethering options.
Any reader of PhoneNews.com knows that we have been the largest supporter of free tethering options in the mobile media. We’ve taken a lot of heat with the carriers for that. We’ve become the black sheep of the mobile media in large part because of supporting things like that.
However, free tethering options can only penetrate the market so far. At some point, you’re dealing with consumers that don’t know how to install a driver for PDANet, handle Bluetooth pairing for BT PAN, or know how to root their phone so they can install My Tether.
So, that said, we give a lot of credit to Mobile Hotspot service on the Pre Plus. It’s supported by the device and by the carrier, so you can pick up the phone and have tech support walk you through setting it up if you need help. Or take it into the store. Or have the sales rep show you while you buy the phone.
We realize this feature isn’t for the tech savvy. That wasn’t the point. It’s about opening up a feature to the very low-tech audiences, so they can enjoy what you can do for free. And we’ll continue to fight for your ability to tether for free with all the options out there.
P.S. We received zero money from Verizon or Palm for this article.
After deciding the winner of the Phone of The Year, we do offer them some sponsorship tools to help spread the word, but considering the state of Palm and Verizon relations at this point, it’s not rocket science to see why they said no to those as well. As other have noted, we didn’t make this call for fame, profit, sympathy or anything else than our editorial reasons stated in the article.
I agree with you adam, maps already have multitouch and so does the dolphin browser, personally I don’t use the multitouch so whatever, and we’re getting all that in android 2.1 anyway, you could also tether for free, not that I needed but I have looked it up, this is by far the worst article I have ever read and that’s saying a lot since I read a least 20 articles a day(not exaggerating)
So in short, the Palm Pre was picked as phone of the year because they broke new ground by charging customers $30 per month for something they should be including for free?
Wow, not sure I can agree with that.
Chris, don’t get me wrong, the mobile hotspot included with pre is badass, but not enough to put it over the droid, even for the “casual crowd”.
Again, to be clear, no single reason “put it over”.
The last comment was merely a response as to why that was a factor in our decision making.
john you sound like somebody who lacks knowledge of what the palm pre is actually capable of doing…. it runs the same 3d games that the iphone does, and can do just about everything the iphone does. this is coming from an ex iphone user. and saying that flash is in fact released this month puts even more on the table for this underrated phone.
Well now that Sprint has announced my city as getting WiMax this year, I am reconsidering my position on Sprint and the Supersonic. I still think the Supersonic needs a keyoard in order for me to seriously consider it, but at least I can justify almost considering it. Hopefully they release a version with a keyboard.
Now, as for phone of the year… How was the Nexus One not the phone of the year? If you think the Palm Pre charging for tethering was breaking new ground- even though several phones have had carrier sold phone as modem in the past, then you have to look at the Nexus One as not only breaking new ground, but possibly changing the game.
The Nexus One is available on all the carriers, and not sold in any carrier stores. You can buy it directly from Google, and activate it without a contract. If you think the non techie crowd was new to tethering on a smartphone, well Google just introduced them to the wonderful world of unlocked phones and contract free plans. Not only that, but they did it with the most powerful phone currently on the market, and the arguably best smartphone OS on the market. And yes, it tethers too.
It needs a keyboard, but there is no way the Palm Pre broke more ground than the Nexus One.
Interesting that you cite WebOS as being a key reason why you have awarded a 2010 phone of the year (prior to the end of the year’s 1st Qtr)… This coming at the same time rumors are flying that Palm is ready to drop the “failed” WebOS in favor of the Android platform.
Don’t get me wrong…I have had a few Palm devices in the past and have liked each of them. But, to say that the Pre is better than the Droid, iPhone, or even Nexus One would seemingly indicate some bias. The timing of this award is a bit curious as well.
I would like to see you support your argument with a side by side software and hardware comparison for each competitor and future competitors to come this year. You might find that, if you do your homework and wait until sometime towards the end of the year, you’ll pull back the award and offer it to another device…based on a real comparison of course.
I agree with you Saltydog……I am getting 4G any time now here in NY, and I have the Mogul, and I waited for a phone like the Supersonic, or a TP3 Andro or Win 7 TP3 for a long time. Someone has made a hack to dual boot Android on the TP2. That hack coupled with the new Win6.53 update makes me lean a bit toward the TP2 with the keyboard. Even if 4g wasn’t introduced I needed a phone for quite some time, and a Supersonic 3G/4G fits the bill even if I must wait a little longer for the 4G to be implemented. The capeablities of what it can do; paired with a 4.3″ viewing screen makes it top on my list. Tooooo bad it doesn’t have a keyboard.
“You can buy it directly from Google, and activate it without a contract. If you think the non techie crowd was new to tethering on a smartphone, well Google just introduced them to the wonderful world of unlocked phones and contract free plans.”
– You are kidding right? How many people do you know that buy celular phones “off from the internet”, pay in advance a wait for their sets… people want to go to a store, buy it, and if possible connect it in-store??
– And if you plan to use the data plan… why not stick to a contract that offers discount on the entry fee that is the price of the mobile equipment? (the possibility of choice??… with the hassle of having to port your number between operators if you choose another one???)
The article isn’t baddly written… But it sure should be more assertive on the facts that made the choice.
I don´t own a pre, I’m a magic kind of guy, and apple gadget lover, but what I see from the Palm Pre PLUS is that it has a great user experience from moment 0, WITHOUT any 3rd party app, tinkering or hacking.
That IS the definition of a good phone in a unbiased manner…
Not what you can do with some time, tinkering and 3rd party apps. for this and software expansion… just say that it exists and it runs any native aplication that 3rd party developer throw at it… And you have the world.
Better yet as it is a much unexplored terrain, developers have a lot of ground to cover and earn some €€ from this platform.
Now where palm sucks big time… worldwide availability. They have CDMA and 3g versions. Thy should be everywhere… many operators got stuck with “no iphone” policy due to lack of size. They would be great marketing partners for this phone… but Palm wasted the oportunity.
Chris,
you state “Again, to be clear, no single reason “put it over”, but in the article, the reasons you pointed out that put it over the droid was the multitouch. Droid does (no pun intended) support multitouch, and will have its default browser/gallery when 2.1 finally rolls out. Even without 2.1, as i mentioned earlier, Maps already does, and there are 3rp part apps for gallery & browsers.
So if this is the only thing that pushed pre over droid, does that mean when android 2.1 comes to droid, that you will change your mind?
@ Joao Carvalhinho:
You said:
“- You are kidding right? How many people do you know that buy celular phones “off from the internetâ€, pay in advance a wait for their sets… people want to go to a store, buy it, and if possible connect it in-store??”
Uh, that is precisely my point. Google totally changed the game with the Nexus One. It’s the most powerful phone on the market right now, running the hottest new OS on the market right now. And it is ONLY available online. SO the average joe better get with the program.
As for why I would want to get the device without a contract- because I don;t want to be stuck with Sprint (or whoever) if they don’t treat me right. I want to have the freedom to leave on a moment’s notice. Not only that, but you end up paying a lot MORE when you take that subsidy discount. T-Mobile has it right.
T-Mobile is another game changer with their new plans, by the way. They were also the first carrier to have the Nexus One. Combine the 2 of those, and that is your phone of the year. Way more groundbreaking than the Palm Pre. Also a way better and more powerful phone.
The Nexus One is selling tons of units. So out of all the units that it has sold, there just HAS to be some people that had never bought an unlocked phone before.
And speaking of groundbreaking- the Nexus One on AT&T is a regular Android phone. It’s not locked down like the Motorola Android phone on AT&T.
@ SaltyDawg…I agree with much that you have said…except for “The Nexus One is selling tons of units”. That hasn’t happened yet (at least on the scale of Droid and iPhone). As far as hardware is concerned, the Nexus One is a pretty serious machine. The only thing it lacks, for me, is a physical keyboard. I’m a Droid owner and previously have owed a Blackberry 8830 and a Palm Treo, and can’t see myself going away from a physical keyboard completely…but, that’s strictly a user preference thing.
@ Mark
I agree with you about the keyboard. That’s the only reason I don’t own a Nexus One right now- I need a keyboard.
As for it not selling as much as the Droid or iPhone- true. I know it isn’t selling that much. But it is certainly selling as much as the Palm Pre Plus.
All of you webOS haters are probably people who have never even owned a Pre. I’ve owned several phones on several platforms, and even just 10 seconds of playing with the Pre and you will know that it’s FAR superior to that of any mobile operating system on the market.
The arguments of why?
– True, EASY, multi-tasking ( 100 times better than iPhone, probably 30 times better than Android, undoubtedly)
– Multitouch
– It’s the easiest, sexiest, simplest operating system on the market
– Custom functionality is easy, free, and allowed by Palm (preware.org). Mess something up? Easy, just get webOS Doctor and in 15 minutes you’re back to a fresh start (oh, but of course all of your data, contacts, and settings are preserved via the Palm Profile backup/sync built into every webOS phone)
– The best user community in the world – http://www.precentral.net
Here’s a good writeup:
http://www.mobilitysite.com/2009/01/palmpre-vs-iphone-vs-winmo-vs-android-vs-blackberry-fight/
Android still has alot to prove in the market. For one having different versions for different carriers has presented problems for developers because the carriers have to spend money to make the upgrade to the newer versions which they dont want to do. Hence the reason fro delays to 2.1 with certain Android phones. The more apps you have doesnt make the phone better. Pre is a solid phone but screwed up with advertising and marketing in the beginning which hurt it. By the time a new WEB OS phone or Pre comes out, there will be bandwagon riders. Just because a phone sells alot doesnt mean a damn thing. IPhone suffers from a piss poor network on AT&T who is only now spending the 5 billion dollars to upgrade their network. Different phones for different tastes and uses. You dont see dedicated Blackberry users ready to jump ship cause Android is the new thing. RIM still outsells IPhone. Does that mean I should rush and get a Blackberry. I think google and palm have solid offerings just don’t get caught up in marketing hype. I love my Phone (Pre) and Plan with Sprint. I love the concept of the Nexus one but it still has to prove itself. A fast processor is only part of the story.
O’bey, You make some good points regarding the android platform as a whole, but I fail to see how this relates to the Pre being phone of the year vs droid, HTC supersonic, iphone3gs
Ridiculous. Why not name the record of the year, or car of the year, in March? Really now.
2010 Cars of the Year are announced at the end of 2009. We’re simply responding to how the industry announces phones. And, they announce them in March-April in general. We give all manufacturers a chance to get their best into us at that time, and then we decide.
So, yes, really now.
…… difference is, in the car industry 2010 cars start coming out in the middle of 2009..
Fail
great job eric. That link you sent us to was written in Jan 2009. Before android 2.0.
“Here’s a good writeup:
http://www.mobilitysite.com/2009/01/palmpre-vs-iphone-vs-winmo-vs-android-vs-blackberry-fight“
@Adam simple. Just like the other 50+ people on here went off on a tangent about Nexus One and the Iphone, I interjected my perspective on the whining about how the Pre made phone of the year and examples of how people are so amazed that Motorola Could be edged out. Funny thing is they have failed to see how the Droid is not even considered the best Android phone out there for several reasons. The Supersonic hasn’t prove itself yet save 4g whichwe can’t get excited about until it covers more areas. The pre’s OS in my opinion was innovative and definitely worth a vote. Do any of these compettiors even plan on being compatible with Flash? IPhone sure aint but the Pre is. I had to add those perpectives with all the hype about 2.1 etc. Bottom line is it didn’t come with the phone. Most phones miss out that’s why they update. So why would they bring that up as an argument. Hope that clears why I went in detail with those points
Adam I loved the comment about the cars, I was thinking about that to.
I’m not saying the pre is a bad phone but its just retarded to call it the best phone of 2010 because we all know it will be passed by a whole bunch of other new phones, just like my droid and the nexus and the iphone.
None of this matters…..The HTC Supersonic AKA dubbed EVO 4G max announced at CTIA……to be released this summer……that blows….but I am waiting for this review to turn around then with a accurate head to head review!
The pre plus is the best hands down! I know the droid sells better at verizon but thats because the salepeople are getting spiffs for everyone they sell! so if i worked at verizon i would push the inferior phone also to get my spiff! The reason verizon does not care that the employees do this is because palms app calalog revs = a 30% palm 70% developer where the android = verizon getting a % but i am not sure how much! so if verizon sells droids it = more money for verizon and its employees! i do not know about you but i think verizon makes enough from their high rates that they do not need money from apps too! they should lower their prices to sprints!
@ Ron Great points! I concur!
If you can’t pay for a good reliable network then get a better job instead of whinning..
Yea I pay over 200 bucks on verizon for two lines unlimite data, and messaging, with limited minutes but I never come close to using half of them since most people I know have verizon. Verizon can keep their prices since they have the most reliable network, I have never dropped a call or had crappy distorted calls like I did with att a few years back.
Well after njews of that Supersonic broke, I think it deserves strong consideration for phone of the year.
It’s by far the most powerful phone ever sold in the USA. Man I just wish it had a keyboard. I might actually get one anyway after seeing the specs on it.
Hahhahhahaahaah….the palm…hahhahaahaahaahaaha
None of the information on EVO 4G was new to us, except for the name. We knew all these specs and had access to the device pre-announcement. We actually gave more credence to the device on the off change it was going to roll out with Android 3.0 (based on its launch window).
Also, based on the chipsets in the Pre Plus, we expect it to get features such as high quality YouTube via software update. There’s no reason any of the modern “superphones” can’t process H.264 HQ/HD video.
Sounds like you couldn’t wait till June or you would have to give it to the next generation iPhone. Then you would have zero chance to get Apple to buy your “sponsorship tools.”
@ Christopher…
very bad analogy to compare phone of the year to car of the year. The car of the year awards are based on model years and the model year for most vehicles starts in the third quarter of the calendar year previous to the model year. So, the organization/publication that makes a car of the year award decision has an opportunity to assess the vast majority of the product that is available in a given model year.
just sayin’
We disagree completely. This gives us the foresight to tell you if you should wait for a phone that’s about to come out, or if you should stick with a phone that’s already released.
By announcing around the industry’s largest trade show, the industry has a chance to tell us if you should wait or not… before you buy a phone that is supposed to last for 12 to 24 months. This way, we minimize the chances of disappointment down the road.
We have more foresight by announcing the winner now, not less.
“…choice to force the Droid to carry “with Google†branding, the loss of MOTOBLUR availability (which much cheaper Android phones from Motorola carry) as well as the lack of multi-touch in nearly every application is what pushed us to the Pre Plus.”
1. …choice to force the Droid to carry “with Google†branding- How does this negatively affect the Droid? If anything, it increases the allure of Droid because it shows the close integration of the two in creating the phone. By far the most idiotic point in your whole argument.
2. the loss of MOTOBLUR availability- MOTOBLUR IS POINTLESS first of all, especially with 2.XX. Secondly, having a skinned OS (which is what MOTOBLUR is) means that when updates are sent, Motorola must first update BLUR, then push it out (which is why the Devour is 1.6).
3. the lack of multi-touch in nearly every application- Maps already has it, as well as many third party apps. 2.1 will rectify the browser issue, although personally I prefer the tap to zoom for one-handed used.
However, I do believe WebOS is a solid OS (great integration and web syncing), but the hardware is absolutely terrible. It’s so laggy compared to Droid, Nexus one, iPhone, etc. I personally wouldn’t even consider buying one in the near future. If palm even survives, it will be some time before they have my confidence in purchasing from them, especially knowing that they only have enough cash on hand for 12 months. As for 3D gaming, it is of no use to me on my Droid, and I’d rather have a solid OS with excellent hardware, along with an exponentially better screen.
On the other hand, if Palm somehow makes it through all this, comes out with much better hardware for their next devices, and gets some traction in their app catalog, I could one day own another palm device (had treo some time ago).