Palm Pre clone comes with TV and buttons, without webOS 42

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 4:43 pm EDT

It was only a matter of time, but we’re surprised that the first Palm Pre clone to pop up is such a bad copy. Running the OPhone operating system, the phone is being marketed as more of a combination of the iPhone and BlackBerry lines than a Pre clone, even though it’s quite obvious where the design’s inspiration came from. This phone does come with several features absent on the Pre, including analog TV, FM radio, two hard buttons on the front and what appears to be a five-way navigator, though it is safe to say from the pictures that this sucker is not running webOS. Either way, it’s been a long long time since we’ve seen any Palm device that the sneaky cloners in China thought was worth duplicating, so all things considered this isn’t a bad thing.

Check out a few more shots after the break!

[via: PMP Today]

Category:

News

Tags:

42 Comments

Posted by bradyloveland on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 4:51 pm EDT

Funny :)

Posted by PreDogs on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:36 am EDT

LOL, end of the road for Sling. Caught napping it would seem.

Posted by petbull on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 4:52 pm EDT

Man, that would look so good with the Rolex I just picked up!

Posted by capt4chris on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 6:24 pm EDT

I was thinking more of a Folex or Rolecks HAHA!

Posted by Q on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 6:32 pm EDT

Or Rollex... "Yessirree, a ginuwine Rollex!"

Posted by rangerova on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 4:56 pm EDT

This is such a bad copy, it looks like a blind guy with no thumbs designed this thing.

Posted by GoNinjaGo on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 4:57 pm EDT

I saw this story on Engadget first

Posted by neve on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:00 pm EDT

I think referring to the Chinese cloners as "sneaky" could be seen by those more uptight than myself as "culturally insensitive".

Posted by bansormin@hotma... on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:24 pm EDT

here! here.
johnflo88.

Posted by ananimus on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:14 pm EDT

Gramatically it seems it's the "sneaky cloners" that are sneaky, though they are also in China. But maybe I'm not reading enough into it.

Posted by thewolf on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:05 pm EDT

Nice to see a D-Pad replace the useless center button.

Posted by organix on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:19 pm EDT

So it is a good thing that they replaced the useless center button with a useless d-pad?

Posted by ananimus on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:13 pm EDT

Indeed. I made a comment to that effect over on Engadget today. And I'll repeat it here:

Dear manufacturers, capacitive screens are nice and all, but give us our damned D-pads back!

And re: useless... hardly! I love, love, love my D-pad on my Mogul and fear losing it when I switch to a Pre. For fine selection or moving about short strokes, it's way the hell faster and more accurate than a touch screen. But even HTC is moving away from the D-pad now. Ugh!

Posted by Horpto_G on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:22 pm EDT

Wrong.

Posted by ananimus on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:20 pm EDT

Hmm. Compelling point.

Posted by myxptlyk on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:35 pm EDT

re:re: Useless... hardly!....

If a touchscreen phone's engineers can't develop the phone and gestures in a way that makes the d-pad obsolete then they failed. A d-pad on my Pre would be pointless and a waste.

Posted by ananimus on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 2:09 am EDT

Now that sentiment I can agree with. Even after a lot of time messing with Pres and (blech, Apple) iPhones, I still would prefer to have a D-pad available. But yeah... if there were just a couple other things tweaked...

There's just one or two other gestures I'd like to see Palm add to the gesture area. I'm really surprised we haven't seen them do more with that yet. It has so much more potential!

Posted by biggnaa20 on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:10 am EDT

i wish the center button could be used to scroll or something. I have gotten better with putting the cursor ALMOST where i want it, but i still miss and want to scroll back a letter or two. but i can't.

Posted by trigonman3 on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 1:00 pm EDT

Hold down Orange and swipe right or left to move a character at a time.

You can also hold Shift and swipe right or left to select text (in editable fields).

Posted by marktaylor on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:10 pm EDT

Analog TV...hmmm, for what?

Posted by Pre_WM_or_Andro... on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:19 pm EDT

I can't tell, does this thing even have a touchscreen?

Posted by Swimmer on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:32 pm EDT

Is that a camera on the front of the phone by the ear speaker? Possibly a way to do video calls via cell phone?

Posted by sjcea on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:35 pm EDT

That is the cheapest looking phone I have ever seen , what a joke LOL !!!

Posted by mikenuvision on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:43 pm EDT

This phone looks rediculous!!

Posted by BAMF1500 on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:47 pm EDT

is the reason for the d pad because there in no touch screen? It looks like everything comes up in a list form.

Posted by dansochor on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:53 pm EDT

*sigh* the chinese really piss me off when they do this...

Posted by louboy23 on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 5:54 pm EDT

I think its funny, looks like a kids toy :)

Posted by jewel on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 6:09 pm EDT

Ugly!

Posted by froggersloth on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 6:32 pm EDT

Until it can slice cheese as well as the real deal, I'm not interested.

Posted by Pre101011 on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 6:34 pm EDT

This could be a great upgrade if it has no oreo effect!

Posted by stevewu99 on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 7:30 pm EDT

I wonder what the battery life on that thing is? Damn them sneaky Chinese ;)

Posted by pogeypre on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 7:41 pm EDT

The Pre has finally made it. You can't call your phone legitimate unless it has a chinese knockoff.

Posted by xKorozuhn on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 9:27 pm EDT

wow ppl from the other side of the world wana be just like the palm pre
1. it looks like crap
2. y do we need tv? if some of us has the youtube app
3. its d pad looks shity
4. it looks thicker who would want a thicker phone?.
5. y would we need fm/am radio if we got apps that can download music or the sprint music store or youtube.
6. it doest even look like a pre! it looks like one of those cheap pre-paid phones or those toy phones that light up and plays little stupid music.

CHINA U FAIL!!!!
it makes me piss off that ppl wana grab our phones and make them look like crap.

Posted by jccello1 on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 1:47 am EDT

You're right. Analog TV doesn't compare to youtube but it wouldn't be a nice option. Also I love my local FM radio stations here. I wish the pre had a FM tuner on it plus a FM transmitter. I held onto my old fusic and my muziq cell phones for way too long just because I couldn't find a FM transmitter replacement.

Posted by biggnaa20 on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:08 am EDT

I would love to have TV on my Pre. But since the US doesn't do Analog anymore, I guess that's a non issue.

I would take a thicker phone if the battery lasted a little longer.

I would love FM radio too. Pandora, Amazon and Shoutcast can't tell me where the party is in my neighborhood tonight.

Posted by t.tokarczyk01 on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 3:25 pm EDT

The Pre Does do FM Radio (sort of) refer to my post on this forum page http://forums.precentral.net/webos-apps-software/197712-am-fm-radio-app....

Posted by ananimus on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 5:59 pm EDT

Bah, not the same. Streaming AM/FM radio over the internet is like ice cream from the store instead of ice cream from the ice cream man.

And besides, a real radio option was nice on phones because it hardly ever put a dent in the monster battery.

Posted by texagg01 on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:01 pm EDT

Analog TV? Damn! I was hoping I'd be able to use that phone here in the US. Guess not. I'll have to settle for my real Pre instead. Settle? Who am I kidding? I LOVE my Pre. And thanks to the Homebrew community, I am MADLY in love with it. I'm so glad I didn't go the iPhone route. I really am.

Posted by l0v3mon3y08 on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:48 pm EDT

it looks wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better then the palm pre*IMHO*

I HATE PALM PRE HARDWARE......LOVE THE SOFTWARE

If it wasnt for WEBOS i would have NEVER picked up a PALM device PERIOD