@@sucotronic I'm not sure where it is these days but I'm sure it's out there. If it weren't for how well put together the Windows Phone SDK was I would have never gone into programming and my life would've probably been completely different. I did look into developing for WebOS and BlackBerry 10 at the time but for me Windows Phone was by far the easiest to learn with no programming experience.
I shed a tear when I saw the thumbnail, and over the course of watching this longform video love letter to Palm and webOS, the deep heartache never left my chest. The Palm Pre was my first smartphone, one that I had to import to Singapore. I acquired at great cost each and every new iteration of webOS hardware, and even when HP ran their fire sale I gladly went down with the ship. There was a glorious harmony of hardware and software, and real gadgetiness in its very core. I'll treasure those months in the late noughties when Palm offered a compelling, intriguing and humane vision into what mobile computing could've been.
I wanted a Palm OS but where I come from I had to import from China, and at those times there were no knowledge on how to do that. I wish Palm succeded... ç_ç
what sucked about back then is peaople were brainwashed to think you NEEEDED an effing overpriced data plan when could just use wifi, seems they still belive this but to a lesser extent.
Loved my Palm Pre! WebOS was so ahead of its time and the pebble form factor felt so good in the hand! Plus there was something so satisfying about hanging up by sliding the phone shut.
things would really feel very well rounded and nice. now the phones cut into my hand. i dont know why we went down the route of form and minimalistic ui. like those cards look so much more nicer and humane.
After a phone broke I bought a cheap Palm Pixi (late in its life) as a placeholder while deciding what Smart Phone I really wanted.... and kept it for years because it was just really good. Still have it.
I got a Palm Pixie just to mess around with because I heard WebOS was easy to modify and it was I think only $50 by that point. I definitely liked using it more than the (low end) Android phone I had at the time.
I remember standing in line on launch day to get the Palm Pre. I still have it with all of its accessories. I also recall standing in line at Best Buy to buy my HP Touchpad at fire sale price. What a nostalgic episode, Michael!
I took my 3-year-old daughter with me on an adventure around the city to find a fire sale TouchPad, and I'm glad to say she was game. Palm is one of the few tech companies that I associate with happy memories.
I remember my local Best Buy (then a Future Shop) had almost 20 TouchPads in stock the day before the fire sale, but that stock mysteriously dwindled to only a handful just before the doors opened on sale day.
Same! I have a Palm Pre and a Palm Pre 2 with a bunch of accessories. I bought a TouchPad at launch, full price, but I was able to take it to BestBuy when they announced the fire sale and 'return' it, only to immediately buy it back again at the fire sale price!
I still have my Pre+ but have lost the touchstone wireless charger. I also went around to 3-4 Best Buy’s during the tablet flash sale and it was a great web browser tablet for a few years. Really sad about the alternative universe where Palm “won” the smartphone wars.
The quality of writing, especially in the 2nd half of this video, with that uplifting music, is absolutely singular on RUclips. Congratulations, Michael, and please keep this up. Outstanding!
Ah. A video on the phone that fully threw me into the pool of being a tech nerd instead of my previous state of toe dipping with my treo. The WebOS blew my mind. It’s so crazy how it’s still ahead of OUR time.
100% agreed. They had literally the best form factor of any phone imo. I really miss my Pre now and if there was something like a Google Pixel Pre I'd buy it immediately.
The best feature of WebOS was adding a note to a contact, so whenever that person sent a text or called me that note would pop up on the screen along with the notification. What I would give to have that feature on the iPhone! I was such a thoughtful friend in my Pixi/Pre era
@@illsmackudown Yeah, you can run a terminal that could interface with the PS3 at the time. Accessing a Linux backend of the Playstation 3 and with that exploit using it to Jailbreak the PS3. Absolutely nuts and crucial for young me at the time. And that PS3 still works and is still jailbroken to this day :)
I've waited so long for this video because only MrMobile could do justice and make a video dedicated to such an important but quirky device. I was a teenager when this phone came out and I spent many hours using them in my favorite Sprint store that I would wander into while my mother would be shopping in a store next door. The touchstone charger blew my mind and using the webOS interface felt like the future for someone who grew up trying to figure out how his dad remembered Palm's written scribble language for their Palm Pilot's. Thanks for what definitely has to be your best video yet!
I was a palm loyalist. From the treo 600 to the Palm Pre 3. I missed the magnetic inductive charging so much until just recently. I even had the tablet. Those were the days.
Palm Pre was my first 3G smartphone and also my first device with an incredible camera. I remember taking a picture of my son the minute we got into the car after we left the Sprint store. My wife and I were floored! Ended up rooting mine so it flew like a jet. Loved that device.
This was my first smartphone, and I loved it so much that I convinced my friend to get one too. I still keep my OG Pre, and my Pre3 with me. The Veer is begging for an episode!
Oh my God. You have struck a chord here. I still painfully miss my palm pixi. The UI and the physical keyboard and every single thing was awesome. The homebrew apps and the back skin, oh my God. I'm crying 😭 out of nostalgia
So glad you're still here years after Pre/webOS Central. This was the best, most fluid, least distracting but still fully functional phone OS I ever used to this day. Still have my Pres 2 and 3 around here somewhere. Truly ahead of its time. o7
YEES this phone literally changed my life and my perception of what a phone can actually become i had it at a young age mind you! my mother was a airplane cleaner so many blackberry's have lived in my house and my sis was a major phone buff she worked and went to school so she always stayed up to date on the latest phones (accept iphone we are team android) so ive had many generations of phones you bring up but this one seriously is special literally the iphone 1st gen with a keyboard that made your thumbs happy lol i digress after that i had the HTC G1 another phenom wish i could find it and give it to a fellow NYC native thank you for always pulling the right nostalgia strings .
14:50 As someone who had trouble justifying buying a new phone in the late 2000s, let alone buying a new _smart_ phone, I have to say, yeah, wow, the smartphone ads of the time were entrancing - not just Palm's. I was mostly mucking around ripping DVDs and recording TV shows to my desktop PC, and curating my music collection on my iPod. Where phones were concerned, I was happy enough with simple calls, text messaging and a basic camera on a hand-me-down Motorola Razr. I finally bought myself a smartphone in 2010 to see what the app stores and newer camera modules were all about... I bought a woefully "economical" HTC Wildfire S in mid-2010, and hoo boy, even _that little thing_ had me chuffed. Suddenly I didn't quite need my Garmin GPS or my iPod anymore, and while that crappy Wildfire didn't outperform my digital camera, it sure did start to make it feel like extra baggage. Those old adverts weren't that wild; they were heralding an entire new era of phones as much as they were selling their own products, and I honestly can't say that they exaggerated all that badly in the grand scheme of things. They were so, so right; that now, your smart phone could do everything, and tie it all together in ways that might as well be magic.
I remember mine. It was amazing - no slow downs at all, snappy as hell, and had the same wow factor as when you saw a folding phone for the first time.
I remember holding an iPhone and a Palm on my hands, and thinking how ahead the palm was. The functionality and features were ahead! Another great video!
I was lucky to be the technical support of palm pre. We got to play the device and was amazed by the cutting edge gestures that are way ahead of its time.
Those who grew up in the 80's, became young adults in the 90s, and adults in the 2000's....lived through some of the most exhilarating tech wars in the history of tech itself (console wars, PC wars, then phone wars). It was chaotic. It was fascinating. It was amazing. What a time to be alive
God I loved this phone and company. It felt like the way phones should work, and it turned out the rest of the industry agreed. We we lucky to experience the future all the way back then, I suppose.
I don't know what was more fun to watch: the iTunes support ON-OFF battle, or the pointing out of Apples features that pre-existed on WebOS. This one was quite the episode.
I was a palm die hard. I had to wait a year till the Pre came to AT&T. Thankfully my Palm Centro battery worked in the Pre along with its spare battery charger. Then I got the Pre2 with the flat glass screen. Then I had to buy 2 of thr unreleased Pre3 when they came out so I could use one as a spare battery charger while I used the other one daily. After 2 years of the Pre3 I had to make my first move to Android to the Galaxy S4.
I absolutely loved this phone! I waited 2 hours at a Miami Sprint store on launch day (it was 97 degrees at 9am) and I was completely bedazzled by this phone. My brother and I still talk about this phone! He has the notification "bong/bong" on his current Pixel. Thanks for the video!
As someone who had one the only thing I really remember about it is how sharp the plastic was along the keyboard slide out. I actually sliced my finger open on it one time. Edit: Typed this in the first few seconds of the video and think it’s hilarious that it was mentioned
I can't believe something as simple as having the notifications on the bottom of the screen instead of the top blew my mind. Seriously if they can do this on a screen that small, they can do it with modern phones. Is there something I can install on android to achieve that same effect? Watching this really makes me fired up to customize my android like the good ol days.
I just pulled my old pre 2 and pixi out for my daughter to play with. Definitely fun to see my Star Trek communicator app make a couple of small cameos in the video. Definitely miss webOS on phones, but still get to use it on my tv so there’s that I guess :D
This was such a great video. I truly miss those days when, like you said, companies cared about delighting and engaging with their customers. I still have my Pre. It's a fond relic now but still stirs hope that we can get back to something like that again someday.
I pitty everyone who has to use a touchscreen keyboard on their phone. It's pure torture then autocorrect changes what you typed to something rly stupid
As someone that actually still has a Windows Mobile 7 phone (back when the OS or ecosystem was called “Mango”), there’s something about going home again to old tech that evokes nostalgia and conversations past. I never owned a Palm, but I can definitely respect the feeling in this video and the inevitable trips down memory lane that it took. Thank you, Michael. Even if we can’t truly go home again, we can sure remember what it was like.
I remember forcing WebOS onto my palm treo just before the palm pre came out. It was absolutely stunning. I could not believe what was happening. It felt like i entered into another universe, and I was huge into tech as a 22 year old active duty service member who always wanted the coolest new device I could get. Amazing era to have lived through.
I wanted one so bad but it wasn't on Verizon at the time and I was just a kid on a family plan. That interface always looked like magic to me and seeing it here again, it was way ahead of its time.
The very first smartphone I purchased with my own money. I remember wanting a Centro and not being able to get one being a broke teenager who wasn't working, and Once I did in fact started working and finally getting my Pre I remember the pure joy.... This phone will always be the best phone ever!
I was an early adopter of the Pre. It was an amazing phone. I even developed an app for it that was in the official app store. It had so much potential and was way ahead of the game in many respects.
@7:37 one can easily switch on 'swipe down anywhere on screen' in Android os to access the quick panel. One handed-mode is also super useful for reaching notifications.
Damn this whole topic on the channel deserves soooo much more attention! I was hesitating to watch as this is technically not a mobile review; but this is flawless, with MrMobile's person and charisma, entertaining to watch and i didn't notice how 30 minutes passed. Going to watch the rise and fall of Sprint now
When I tell you that this is my favorite phone I’ve ever owned. I loved it so much that I hunted the tablet down after I already had an iPad forever ago 😂 and I got my TV because it runs webOS 🎉if they still needed a sponsor I’d volunteer as tribute hahaha
I still have a pile of Touchstone chargers lying around on my desk... and a TouchPad still sits in my living room running Android 4. Surprisingly the battery hasn't blown up yet. The vertical slider form factor should make a comeback, if my BlackBerry Priv wasn't too slow to use and the Android version started have apps breaking, I would be still using it. Together with a later version of Android it would have been as close to the Pre as it can.
The Palm Pre was so far ahead of its time. It took too many years to find a phone experience to rival it. It was perfect for me. It made me feel like a rock star. I miss it so much. I'd trade the fold for a modern Pre tomorrow!
Thank you Captain 2 Phones. As this Palm Pre video started my thoughts went back to my own experience with Palm and the Pre. I was so excited for it and it didn't disappoint...both the phone and the video. The Palm Pre was the phone I had the most fun with at the time. Wish I could find mine again . Thank you so much for posting.
*This* effing phone 😊😊☺️ I had the OG Prē from damn near the moment it came out. I remember at the time, my friends with both apple and android would say things like, "why can't my phone do that?" Software (webOS) wise. Hardware wise though... Oof! The plastic felt so cheap, and I had to replace it twice. Once because I accidentally knocked it off of my desk at work and a huge chunk of plastic broke off, exposing everything. The second time because I fell asleep with it under my head & arm, and the sweat from my head *destroyed* it. The third and final one I had, the charging port loosened over time and eventually broke to the point where I couldn't charge it. *But..* all wasn't lost. I just had to order a special battery cover and a wireless inductive charger to go with it, and it was all good. Last thing about the hardware is that the keyboard felt amazing. God, I miss those days. I still have that thing btw. I whip it out sometimes when I'm feeling nostalgic 😌 *ETA:* For me, where I worked and lived Sprint was a plus because it had the best service compared to the other two bigger carriers. With AT&T being notable for being the worst at the time.
I still remember where I was when I enjoyed the chuckle from listening to Natalie Delconte and crew chat about the pronunciation of webOS on their coverage of the announcement on Buzz Out Loud. Good times!
If ANY company re-made the Pre as a modern smartphone (probably a bit bigger, and probably they'd replace the physical keyboard with a touchscreen so you on-screen keyboard doesn't take up as much screen space), I would buy it in a heartbeat. I never loved a phone as much as this one. It was just the most perfect design and fantastic functionality. I miss it.
My dad was working at HP around the time they acquired Palm so he had a Pre 2 and we basically got a play by play of the whole thing falling apart so this is oddly nostalgic
wow what an amazing and insightful video!! I never knew so many modern smartphone features are directly/indirectly derived from Palm. Michael, please make more videos like this..
I remember my gf at the time bought a Palm Pixi and we used to love it to bits, then when HP launched the Touchpad i bought i discounted one on eBay and loaded android on it.
I bought the Palm Pre Plus upon launch in 2010 (already was using an iPhone 3GS and Moto Droid). The UX was second to none. Something that comes to mind was how easy it was to share media (for example taking a pic and emailing it). In the early IPhone OS days it was a nightmare. Ps: and yes, I had three carriers (ATT for the 3GS, Verizon for the Droid and Sprint for this)
Palm Pre was my first smartphone! I absolutely loved it. It was my primer for a sliding phone and demand for a touch screen. Samsung enticed me to the Epic 4G LTE, and I haven't looked back since.
Since Palm devices were never available in my country, I've never used or even seen one. But I've used Android since it was released with the HTC Dream. But I have to say, current day Android and iOS are miles closer to the software you show in this video than they are to their initial versions 15-16 years ago. The software in this video feels more of a precursor to what I'm using right now than the software on the HTC Dream running Eclair residing in my desk drawer right now. And it truly saddens me that they went out of business. Just imagine what kind of software they would've been putting out today if this is what they created 15 years ago. They were truly ahead of their time.
my father had two palm pres and the larger one later, and i noticed how similar the overlay was when i got my ipad air back then, was a really nice phone back then. he also had a tablet that was hp branded and was also running webos i played so much asphalt 6 and assasins creed back then on it
If there were two devices I wish could still use, just with updated software. 1) Palm Pre for personal use 2) BlackBerry Passport for work use They really nailed their use case.
I am quite convinced no current or future mobile OS will ever replace webOS as my favorite. I moved to webOS from two Windows Mobile phones, the last being a Treo 800W, which I had only owned for 9 months when the Pre came out, so I had to wait until September to buy my first Sprint Palm Pre. Absolutely fell in love with it, and haven't looked back. I used a Pre or FrankenPre2 as my daily driver until late 2015, when too many things were breaking to not carry something else as my main phone. For many years after that, I always carried a Pre or Veer with my password manager (Keyring - still the only one I have ever used) on it -- I guess I was a member of the captain 2 phones club too. :) I finally got lazy a couple years ago and started letting Google store my passwords as I changed them, and I still feel guilty about it.
Man, I was so into the Pre. The magnetic wireless charging was amazing! Sprint was the absolute best. Had NONE of the issues mentioned in this video. Also, those ads were amazing!
Brought a tear to my eye. Had the Treo on Sprint and received an invite to the Pre introduction event at my local store. I was already sold. Inadvertently mentioned that I didn’t like the changed ringtones from the Treo only to later find out that I had said it to their creator. Loved WebOS and stayed with it to the end when I bought an iPhone 5 on ATT. Using a 13 ProMax on T-Mobile now, functional, large and heavy but I would never refer to it as “fun.”
The script, the speaking, execution of the script, videography, animation - everything! Top notch video as always. Content creation aspirants should look up to this channel and efforts of the team behind it. Been enjoying since 2016 (maybe??). I was quite young and have been following your videos (on & off, though). I had a question since I have not looked up or been a very avid follower (pardon me). Is this youtube channel a part of a collection of other contents (such as yt channels, blogs) etc? Also, is this run by a team only working on this youtube channel? If so, is this youtube channel a daughter concern of some parent youtube channel/team/organization?
I loved my Pixi. It had a major issue with the headphone jack. If you used it, eventually it'd get stuck in headset mode and you couldn't hear or be heard during phone calls without a headset plugged in. That was around the time when everyone switched to texting anyway.
Bro you have no idea how badly I wanted a Palm in 9th grade, I'm a size queen for my screens now but something about its size, the slide up keyboard, it was just so captivating back then... This video is reminding me how much I miss sliding physical keyboards on smartphones.
Great segment..brought back many memories when I work at Walmart’s cell phone department back in 2005-2009…I activated many Palm pre’s and Palm trio’s for sprint..
Now that the Pre video has finally come. Mr mobile, could you *please* do a video on the Nokia N9? I don't know if you are aware of it's existence or not (highly unlikely you aren't) but it's the progenitor of Nokia Lumia phones and arguably one of most innovative phones ever in terms of both software and hardware.
Dear Mr. Fisher, I believe you have a special and unique talent in narration. Your calm, comfortable and mature voice plus your genuine way of explanation with confidence can shine in documentaries and movie story-tellings beside your youtube activities. Best of luck for you
I started working at Sprint just before the Palm Pre launch. I had been a long time iPhone user (long time meaning I'd had the first gen and 3G model) but I really liked this, a lot more than the Blackberry which was our best smartphone at the time. You could definitely see the iPod design in the handheld and packaging from the folks who left Apple for Palm. I think it could've been a great competitor for iPhone and Android if they'd launched on more carriers but such is technology. The WebOS was really ahead of the curve on multitasking for a smartphone and consumers still wanted that keyboard (which was why the Blackberry was killing it still). Good video Mr Mobile
I snagged an HP Touchpad during their fire sale back in the day, and I was SO impressed with WebOS. I looked at buying a Pixi because of how much I liked it, but couldn’t justify it if the company wasn’t going to continue supporting it. There’s definitely an alternate universe where Palm/HP are #1 in the mobile space. Their designs, ideas, and software still hold up today.
Palms always get me so nostalgic despite not having one myself. But my dad did, it wasone of those with the stylus and it was just so fun to use, also the first phone I ever used as a video player. I downloaded a ton of Monty Python episodes on it and borrowed it to watch them when we went on a vacation one time.
![MrMobile [Michael Fisher]](http://yt3.ggpht.com/Bf8B_79jyHxP6CVnjV5WKws93l9Vxlk0d7aPmcBygTBDKzgsGrpazdJRFUrfg1sUNlo8YX8rji8=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)
Palm-os crawled so a lot of companies could run
Ha - a variation of that was on my headline possibilities list.
lol Except, Microsoft/Nokia, which crawled alongside Palm (in arm and leg casts) so everyone else could run.
Crazy how PalmOS is now the base code for LG’s TvOS
Technically this is Palm WebOS, which is quite a different thing from the earlier Palm OS. But this statement is true for either, really.
Jogged! Always nostalgic for palmOS
As a developer, Palm had the BEST documentation about mobile development and guides to build proper mobile apps, a LOT berfore ANYBODY.
I think Windows Phone had better documentation
@@GoogleDoesEvil never take a chance to read it. Is it available somewhere?
@@sucotronic I'm not sure where it is these days but I'm sure it's out there. If it weren't for how well put together the Windows Phone SDK was I would have never gone into programming and my life would've probably been completely different. I did look into developing for WebOS and BlackBerry 10 at the time but for me Windows Phone was by far the easiest to learn with no programming experience.
Why did palm lose badly to apple and android?
@@JG90984 most probably bad business decisions and the lack of liquidity in general. Apple had tons of money from iPods and Google from search.
When you finally say "when phones were fun" at the end of each episode, it really hits
I get legit chills across my back
It does. Modern phones are so devoid of life. They are just boxes best designed to run whatever software Google throws at them.
I agree.
I shed a tear when I saw the thumbnail, and over the course of watching this longform video love letter to Palm and webOS, the deep heartache never left my chest. The Palm Pre was my first smartphone, one that I had to import to Singapore. I acquired at great cost each and every new iteration of webOS hardware, and even when HP ran their fire sale I gladly went down with the ship. There was a glorious harmony of hardware and software, and real gadgetiness in its very core. I'll treasure those months in the late noughties when Palm offered a compelling, intriguing and humane vision into what mobile computing could've been.
Yes indeed such innocence@@illsmackudown
I wanted a Palm OS but where I come from I had to import from China, and at those times there were no knowledge on how to do that.
I wish Palm succeded... ç_ç
what sucked about back then is peaople were brainwashed to think you NEEEDED an effing overpriced data plan when could just use wifi, seems they still belive this but to a lesser extent.
Only Mr. Mobile could make a 30 minute long video dedicated to the Palm Pre.
Just realised it was 30 mins! And yet, it didn't feel like it!
And he's damn good at it.
He should make another about pocket pcs these devices were amazing
A 30 minute video that’s worth watching, nonetheless!
and make us watch it ❤ cause he rocks 💞
Loved my Palm Pre! WebOS was so ahead of its time and the pebble form factor felt so good in the hand! Plus there was something so satisfying about hanging up by sliding the phone shut.
yes exactly! that form factor!
things would really feel very well rounded and nice. now the phones cut into my hand. i dont know why we went down the route of form and minimalistic ui. like those cards look so much more nicer and humane.
After a phone broke I bought a cheap Palm Pixi (late in its life) as a placeholder while deciding what Smart Phone I really wanted.... and kept it for years because it was just really good. Still have it.
RIP, Eos
That's exactly why I had a pre. My Samsung Galaxy died and I was broke so off to eBay I went.
I got a Palm Pixie just to mess around with because I heard WebOS was easy to modify and it was I think only $50 by that point. I definitely liked using it more than the (low end) Android phone I had at the time.
I remember standing in line on launch day to get the Palm Pre. I still have it with all of its accessories. I also recall standing in line at Best Buy to buy my HP Touchpad at fire sale price. What a nostalgic episode, Michael!
I took my 3-year-old daughter with me on an adventure around the city to find a fire sale TouchPad, and I'm glad to say she was game. Palm is one of the few tech companies that I associate with happy memories.
Was so fun scoring a touchpad at that price!
I remember my local Best Buy (then a Future Shop) had almost 20 TouchPads in stock the day before the fire sale, but that stock mysteriously dwindled to only a handful just before the doors opened on sale day.
Same! I have a Palm Pre and a Palm Pre 2 with a bunch of accessories. I bought a TouchPad at launch, full price, but I was able to take it to BestBuy when they announced the fire sale and 'return' it, only to immediately buy it back again at the fire sale price!
I still have my Pre+ but have lost the touchstone wireless charger. I also went around to 3-4 Best Buy’s during the tablet flash sale and it was a great web browser tablet for a few years. Really sad about the alternative universe where Palm “won” the smartphone wars.
The quality of writing, especially in the 2nd half of this video, with that uplifting music, is absolutely singular on RUclips. Congratulations, Michael, and please keep this up. Outstanding!
I watch all of his videos even if I don't care about the products. It's just so calming!
lol dude get a life..
Ah. A video on the phone that fully threw me into the pool of being a tech nerd instead of my previous state of toe dipping with my treo. The WebOS blew my mind. It’s so crazy how it’s still ahead of OUR time.
The Pre and the Pixi were such good designs that I would buy it again in a HEARTBEAT if it had modern components. Smooth chunky love, that thing was.
100% agreed. They had literally the best form factor of any phone imo. I really miss my Pre now and if there was something like a Google Pixel Pre I'd buy it immediately.
honestly i agree
The Unihertz Jelly Star almost has the same design and size. The only downside is the lack of software updates.
The best feature of WebOS was adding a note to a contact, so whenever that person sent a text or called me that note would pop up on the screen along with the notification. What I would give to have that feature on the iPhone! I was such a thoughtful friend in my Pixi/Pre era
I remember loading homebrew and overclocking my Pre. I loved that phone so much.
Yep, I even used it to Jailbreak my PS3 that I still play on to this day 😊
@@CallMeRabbitzUSVIyou did what?
@@illsmackudown Yeah, you can run a terminal that could interface with the PS3 at the time. Accessing a Linux backend of the Playstation 3 and with that exploit using it to Jailbreak the PS3. Absolutely nuts and crucial for young me at the time. And that PS3 still works and is still jailbroken to this day :)
@@CallMeRabbitzUSVI the PS3 was originally supposed to be hackable. That's probably why it had an open shell port.
I've waited so long for this video because only MrMobile could do justice and make a video dedicated to such an important but quirky device. I was a teenager when this phone came out and I spent many hours using them in my favorite Sprint store that I would wander into while my mother would be shopping in a store next door. The touchstone charger blew my mind and using the webOS interface felt like the future for someone who grew up trying to figure out how his dad remembered Palm's written scribble language for their Palm Pilot's. Thanks for what definitely has to be your best video yet!
I was a palm loyalist. From the treo 600 to the Palm Pre 3. I missed the magnetic inductive charging so much until just recently. I even had the tablet. Those were the days.
Palm Pre was my first 3G smartphone and also my first device with an incredible camera. I remember taking a picture of my son the minute we got into the car after we left the Sprint store. My wife and I were floored!
Ended up rooting mine so it flew like a jet. Loved that device.
This was my first smartphone, and I loved it so much that I convinced my friend to get one too. I still keep my OG Pre, and my Pre3 with me. The Veer is begging for an episode!
If the TouchPad gets an episode, the Veer certainly should!
@@TheMrMobile werk! Thanks for doing this episode, king 👑it unlocked some serious nostalgia for me
I still have my Pre. Fired it up just now. I remember standing in line for it on launch day. This is a great walk down memory lane.
Oh my God. You have struck a chord here. I still painfully miss my palm pixi. The UI and the physical keyboard and every single thing was awesome. The homebrew apps and the back skin, oh my God. I'm crying 😭 out of nostalgia
Just one word for this content : Amazing.
Thank you - a 90s kid turned tech nerd from India
22:02 lol now we know where the idea for NameDrop came from. Even the animation!!!
fr
I'm only just finding out about this as well. Crazy how Palm is still making waves in one way or another, even fifteen years later.
Man!! I had the Palm Pre... And Palm made some of the best phones I've ever enjoyed!! The nostalgia!!
So glad you're still here years after Pre/webOS Central. This was the best, most fluid, least distracting but still fully functional phone OS I ever used to this day. Still have my Pres 2 and 3 around here somewhere. Truly ahead of its time. o7
Thanks for this video brought back so many memories.
Palm Pre was so iconic but half baked at the same time. So much potential. Long live Palm Pre.
YEES this phone literally changed my life and my perception of what a phone can actually become i had it at a young age mind you! my mother was a airplane cleaner so many blackberry's have lived in my house and my sis was a major phone buff she worked and went to school so she always stayed up to date on the latest phones (accept iphone we are team android) so ive had many generations of phones you bring up but this one seriously is special literally the iphone 1st gen with a keyboard that made your thumbs happy lol i digress after that i had the HTC G1 another phenom wish i could find it and give it to a fellow NYC native thank you for always pulling the right nostalgia strings .
14:50 As someone who had trouble justifying buying a new phone in the late 2000s, let alone buying a new _smart_ phone, I have to say, yeah, wow, the smartphone ads of the time were entrancing - not just Palm's. I was mostly mucking around ripping DVDs and recording TV shows to my desktop PC, and curating my music collection on my iPod. Where phones were concerned, I was happy enough with simple calls, text messaging and a basic camera on a hand-me-down Motorola Razr. I finally bought myself a smartphone in 2010 to see what the app stores and newer camera modules were all about... I bought a woefully "economical" HTC Wildfire S in mid-2010, and hoo boy, even _that little thing_ had me chuffed. Suddenly I didn't quite need my Garmin GPS or my iPod anymore, and while that crappy Wildfire didn't outperform my digital camera, it sure did start to make it feel like extra baggage.
Those old adverts weren't that wild; they were heralding an entire new era of phones as much as they were selling their own products, and I honestly can't say that they exaggerated all that badly in the grand scheme of things. They were so, so right; that now, your smart phone could do everything, and tie it all together in ways that might as well be magic.
I remember mine. It was amazing - no slow downs at all, snappy as hell, and had the same wow factor as when you saw a folding phone for the first time.
I remember holding an iPhone and a Palm on my hands, and thinking how ahead the palm was. The functionality and features were ahead! Another great video!
I was lucky to be the technical support of palm pre. We got to play the device and was amazed by the cutting edge gestures that are way ahead of its time.
Those who grew up in the 80's, became young adults in the 90s, and adults in the 2000's....lived through some of the most exhilarating tech wars in the history of tech itself (console wars, PC wars, then phone wars). It was chaotic. It was fascinating. It was amazing. What a time to be alive
if they grew up in the 80s, in the 2000s they were 1020 years old
God I loved this phone and company. It felt like the way phones should work, and it turned out the rest of the industry agreed.
We we lucky to experience the future all the way back then, I suppose.
A shame their Ideas got stolen by bigger greedier companies
@@Matanumiand neither Apple nor Google have done it as well Palm did it in its first try.
I don't know what was more fun to watch: the iTunes support ON-OFF battle, or the pointing out of Apples features that pre-existed on WebOS. This one was quite the episode.
I was a palm die hard. I had to wait a year till the Pre came to AT&T. Thankfully my Palm Centro battery worked in the Pre along with its spare battery charger. Then I got the Pre2 with the flat glass screen. Then I had to buy 2 of thr unreleased Pre3 when they came out so I could use one as a spare battery charger while I used the other one daily. After 2 years of the Pre3 I had to make my first move to Android to the Galaxy S4.
I absolutely loved this phone! I waited 2 hours at a Miami Sprint store on launch day (it was 97 degrees at 9am) and I was completely bedazzled by this phone. My brother and I still talk about this phone! He has the notification "bong/bong" on his current Pixel. Thanks for the video!
Might be my favorite of your "when phones were fun" just for pure nostalgia. I had an iphone 3g but I remember thinking the Pre looked very cool
As someone who had one the only thing I really remember about it is how sharp the plastic was along the keyboard slide out. I actually sliced my finger open on it one time.
Edit: Typed this in the first few seconds of the video and think it’s hilarious that it was mentioned
I can't believe something as simple as having the notifications on the bottom of the screen instead of the top blew my mind. Seriously if they can do this on a screen that small, they can do it with modern phones.
Is there something I can install on android to achieve that same effect? Watching this really makes me fired up to customize my android like the good ol days.
i had the same reaction. why hasn’t anyone made this happen again
Palm Pre was my first smartphone I ever personally bought - it was a true sea change for me and I love that it’s getting its’ due here! Thank ya!
I absolutely loved all my Palm devices. That was a good era.
I just pulled my old pre 2 and pixi out for my daughter to play with. Definitely fun to see my Star Trek communicator app make a couple of small cameos in the video. Definitely miss webOS on phones, but still get to use it on my tv so there’s that I guess :D
We need skeumorphic UI designs again ffs.
This was such a great video. I truly miss those days when, like you said, companies cared about delighting and engaging with their customers. I still have my Pre. It's a fond relic now but still stirs hope that we can get back to something like that again someday.
Sorry, buttons are still superior.
I pitty everyone who has to use a touchscreen keyboard on their phone. It's pure torture then autocorrect changes what you typed to something rly stupid
Don't apologize for being correct.
Not in this generation sorry
@@morgantrias3103i cannot honestly recall the last time autocorrect changed words to something stupid. Probably would’ve been pre 2014.
As someone that actually still has a Windows Mobile 7 phone (back when the OS or ecosystem was called “Mango”), there’s something about going home again to old tech that evokes nostalgia and conversations past. I never owned a Palm, but I can definitely respect the feeling in this video and the inevitable trips down memory lane that it took. Thank you, Michael. Even if we can’t truly go home again, we can sure remember what it was like.
I remember forcing WebOS onto my palm treo just before the palm pre came out. It was absolutely stunning. I could not believe what was happening. It felt like i entered into another universe, and I was huge into tech as a 22 year old active duty service member who always wanted the coolest new device I could get. Amazing era to have lived through.
I wanted one so bad but it wasn't on Verizon at the time and I was just a kid on a family plan. That interface always looked like magic to me and seeing it here again, it was way ahead of its time.
Brand new to the channel. Fantastic editing on this!
The very first smartphone I purchased with my own money.
I remember wanting a Centro and not being able to get one being a broke teenager who wasn't working, and Once I did in fact started working and finally getting my Pre I remember the pure joy.... This phone will always be the best phone ever!
This is why this is one of the best RUclips channels
I was an early adopter of the Pre. It was an amazing phone. I even developed an app for it that was in the official app store. It had so much potential and was way ahead of the game in many respects.
@7:37 one can easily switch on 'swipe down anywhere on screen' in Android os to access the quick panel. One handed-mode is also super useful for reaching notifications.
Damn this whole topic on the channel deserves soooo much more attention!
I was hesitating to watch as this is technically not a mobile review; but this is flawless, with MrMobile's person and charisma, entertaining to watch and i didn't notice how 30 minutes passed.
Going to watch the rise and fall of Sprint now
I had a Palm Pre 3. I bought it weeks before HP killed the entire brand. It was so smooth. The Palm Pre 3 was already ahead of its time.
This made me so nostalgic! I’d forgotten about Palm Synergy (8:41) so its mention brought back some good feels.
The Pre really was a fantastic device.
Every time I watch your videos I travel back to my teenage times, what a time machine is your material
When I tell you that this is my favorite phone I’ve ever owned. I loved it so much that I hunted the tablet down after I already had an iPad forever ago 😂 and I got my TV because it runs webOS 🎉if they still needed a sponsor I’d volunteer as tribute hahaha
I still have a pile of Touchstone chargers lying around on my desk... and a TouchPad still sits in my living room running Android 4. Surprisingly the battery hasn't blown up yet.
The vertical slider form factor should make a comeback, if my BlackBerry Priv wasn't too slow to use and the Android version started have apps breaking, I would be still using it. Together with a later version of Android it would have been as close to the Pre as it can.
Palm Pre is the reason I continue to look at iOS and Android with a critical eye and go 'they had on the Pre 15 yrs ago!
The Palm Pre was so far ahead of its time. It took too many years to find a phone experience to rival it. It was perfect for me. It made me feel like a rock star. I miss it so much. I'd trade the fold for a modern Pre tomorrow!
Gosh, I LOOOOOOVED my Palm Pre2 and webOS. The interface and synergy were so, SO ahead of their time and partly still are...
As one of Palm's original Real Reviewers when the Pre came out, I LOVE this! Thank you!
Thank you Captain 2 Phones. As this Palm Pre video started my thoughts went back to my own experience with Palm and the Pre. I was so excited for it and it didn't disappoint...both the phone and the video. The Palm Pre was the phone I had the most fun with at the time. Wish I could find mine again . Thank you so much for posting.
In the Netherlands all lights going green on your way to work is called the green wave. Yes it exists and is awesome.
*This* effing phone 😊😊☺️
I had the OG Prē from damn near the moment it came out. I remember at the time, my friends with both apple and android would say things like, "why can't my phone do that?" Software (webOS) wise.
Hardware wise though... Oof! The plastic felt so cheap, and I had to replace it twice. Once because I accidentally knocked it off of my desk at work and a huge chunk of plastic broke off, exposing everything. The second time because I fell asleep with it under my head & arm, and the sweat from my head *destroyed* it. The third and final one I had, the charging port loosened over time and eventually broke to the point where I couldn't charge it. *But..* all wasn't lost. I just had to order a special battery cover and a wireless inductive charger to go with it, and it was all good.
Last thing about the hardware is that the keyboard felt amazing.
God, I miss those days. I still have that thing btw. I whip it out sometimes when I'm feeling nostalgic 😌
*ETA:* For me, where I worked and lived Sprint was a plus because it had the best service compared to the other two bigger carriers. With AT&T being notable for being the worst at the time.
I still remember where I was when I enjoyed the chuckle from listening to Natalie Delconte and crew chat about the pronunciation of webOS on their coverage of the announcement on Buzz Out Loud. Good times!
If ANY company re-made the Pre as a modern smartphone (probably a bit bigger, and probably they'd replace the physical keyboard with a touchscreen so you on-screen keyboard doesn't take up as much screen space), I would buy it in a heartbeat. I never loved a phone as much as this one. It was just the most perfect design and fantastic functionality. I miss it.
The Palm Pre and my touchstone charger were LEGENDARY!!
I miss this phone. I went from an iphone to the pre and it was night and day back then.
My dad was working at HP around the time they acquired Palm so he had a Pre 2 and we basically got a play by play of the whole thing falling apart so this is oddly nostalgic
wow what an amazing and insightful video!! I never knew so many modern smartphone features are directly/indirectly derived from Palm. Michael, please make more videos like this..
we need this company and their devices back more than ever
I remember my gf at the time bought a Palm Pixi and we used to love it to bits, then when HP launched the Touchpad i bought i discounted one on eBay and loaded android on it.
I bought the Palm Pre Plus upon launch in 2010 (already was using an iPhone 3GS and Moto Droid). The UX was second to none. Something that comes to mind was how easy it was to share media (for example taking a pic and emailing it). In the early IPhone OS days it was a nightmare.
Ps: and yes, I had three carriers (ATT for the 3GS, Verizon for the Droid and Sprint for this)
Palm Pre was my first smartphone! I absolutely loved it. It was my primer for a sliding phone and demand for a touch screen.
Samsung enticed me to the Epic 4G LTE, and I haven't looked back since.
Since Palm devices were never available in my country, I've never used or even seen one. But I've used Android since it was released with the HTC Dream.
But I have to say, current day Android and iOS are miles closer to the software you show in this video than they are to their initial versions 15-16 years ago.
The software in this video feels more of a precursor to what I'm using right now than the software on the HTC Dream running Eclair residing in my desk drawer right now.
And it truly saddens me that they went out of business. Just imagine what kind of software they would've been putting out today if this is what they created 15 years ago.
They were truly ahead of their time.
Oh my lord, I remember Palm. I had an HTC Dream, and also loved the Pre. Bring back physical keyboards!
As an aspiring nuggeteer, I infinitely appreciate the mates keeping the old software repos and documentation going to this day.
my father had two palm pres and the larger one later, and i noticed how similar the overlay was when i got my ipad air back then, was a really nice phone back then. he also had a tablet that was hp branded and was also running webos i played so much asphalt 6 and assasins creed back then on it
I had one of these and it was excellent. Loved the proper keyboard.
If there were two devices I wish could still use, just with updated software.
1) Palm Pre for personal use
2) BlackBerry Passport for work use
They really nailed their use case.
Palm Pre was the only device I ever lined up to purchase on release day. I loved that thing so much.
I loved my palm pre and pixie. They were so cool and still look cool now.
I am quite convinced no current or future mobile OS will ever replace webOS as my favorite. I moved to webOS from two Windows Mobile phones, the last being a Treo 800W, which I had only owned for 9 months when the Pre came out, so I had to wait until September to buy my first Sprint Palm Pre. Absolutely fell in love with it, and haven't looked back. I used a Pre or FrankenPre2 as my daily driver until late 2015, when too many things were breaking to not carry something else as my main phone. For many years after that, I always carried a Pre or Veer with my password manager (Keyring - still the only one I have ever used) on it -- I guess I was a member of the captain 2 phones club too. :) I finally got lazy a couple years ago and started letting Google store my passwords as I changed them, and I still feel guilty about it.
Man, I was so into the Pre. The magnetic wireless charging was amazing! Sprint was the absolute best. Had NONE of the issues mentioned in this video. Also, those ads were amazing!
I love this video so much, it's nerdy, historic, documentary-esque and personal. You're the best Mr. Mobile!
Brought a tear to my eye. Had the Treo on Sprint and received an invite to the Pre introduction event at my local store. I was already sold. Inadvertently mentioned that I didn’t like the changed ringtones from the Treo only to later find out that I had said it to their creator. Loved WebOS and stayed with it to the end when I bought an iPhone 5 on ATT.
Using a 13 ProMax on T-Mobile now, functional, large and heavy but I would never refer to it as “fun.”
The script, the speaking, execution of the script, videography, animation - everything! Top notch video as always. Content creation aspirants should look up to this channel and efforts of the team behind it. Been enjoying since 2016 (maybe??). I was quite young and have been following your videos (on & off, though).
I had a question since I have not looked up or been a very avid follower (pardon me). Is this youtube channel a part of a collection of other contents (such as yt channels, blogs) etc? Also, is this run by a team only working on this youtube channel? If so, is this youtube channel a daughter concern of some parent youtube channel/team/organization?
I loved my Pixi. It had a major issue with the headphone jack. If you used it, eventually it'd get stuck in headset mode and you couldn't hear or be heard during phone calls without a headset plugged in.
That was around the time when everyone switched to texting anyway.
i loved the palm pre. i even waited in line to get one
Bro you have no idea how badly I wanted a Palm in 9th grade, I'm a size queen for my screens now but something about its size, the slide up keyboard, it was just so captivating back then... This video is reminding me how much I miss sliding physical keyboards on smartphones.
Great segment..brought back many memories when I work at Walmart’s cell phone department back in 2005-2009…I activated many Palm pre’s and Palm trio’s for sprint..
Thanks for enlightening that Palm played such an important role in moulding what we take for granted in our current poison OS
Now that the Pre video has finally come. Mr mobile, could you *please* do a video on the Nokia N9? I don't know if you are aware of it's existence or not (highly unlikely you aren't) but it's the progenitor of Nokia Lumia phones and arguably one of most innovative phones ever in terms of both software and hardware.
Dear Mr. Fisher, I believe you have a special and unique talent in narration. Your calm, comfortable and mature voice plus your genuine way of explanation with confidence can shine in documentaries and movie story-tellings beside your youtube activities. Best of luck for you
I started working at Sprint just before the Palm Pre launch. I had been a long time iPhone user (long time meaning I'd had the first gen and 3G model) but I really liked this, a lot more than the Blackberry which was our best smartphone at the time. You could definitely see the iPod design in the handheld and packaging from the folks who left Apple for Palm. I think it could've been a great competitor for iPhone and Android if they'd launched on more carriers but such is technology. The WebOS was really ahead of the curve on multitasking for a smartphone and consumers still wanted that keyboard (which was why the Blackberry was killing it still). Good video Mr Mobile
This phone is SOOOOO iconic. Haven’t seen a better phone since . I miss it so much!
Mr. Mobile truly makes some of the greatest content on the internet. Perfectly written, perfectly shot, perfectly edited… it’s really quite absurd
I snagged an HP Touchpad during their fire sale back in the day, and I was SO impressed with WebOS. I looked at buying a Pixi because of how much I liked it, but couldn’t justify it if the company wasn’t going to continue supporting it. There’s definitely an alternate universe where Palm/HP are #1 in the mobile space. Their designs, ideas, and software still hold up today.
Palms always get me so nostalgic despite not having one myself. But my dad did, it wasone of those with the stylus and it was just so fun to use, also the first phone I ever used as a video player. I downloaded a ton of Monty Python episodes on it and borrowed it to watch them when we went on a vacation one time.
I adored my pre plus. It was my first smart phone ever and will always hold a special place in my heart.