Inside the Palm Pre lounge

After the Palm Pre announcement, company representatives handed out small VIP lounge passes inviting attendees to take a closer look at the new smartphone in a private meeting room.

Assuming we'd get some actual hands-on time with the webOS-based device, we stopped into the lounge an hour before closing and got to watch employees give us one-on-one demos. The closest we got to actually holding the Pre was when I asked the demonstrator if it was okay to take those Xperia X1 comparison shots. It was disappointing, sure, but we got our questions answered and took a bunch of pictures, so I'm glad we went.

The lounge had a cool Zen-like feel to it with "stone" furniture, simply presented food, and lots of room to flow around the four draped couch areas. Have a look.

Two Palm employees, stationed in the front corners of the room, stood behind tables with projectors hooked up to large flat-screen TVs. Beneath the projectors were Palm Pre smartphones.

Beside one of the projectors was an early prototype retail box.

It's a shame that the Touchstone wireless charger won't be included in the box. I like that the Pre "sticks" to it and that the speaker automatically turns on if a call comes in while the phone is charging.

Now on to the Palm Pre.

Here are some quick notes I jotted down on the back of my CES preshow planner (yes, very professional!) during the demo:

• Capacitive touchscreen
• No memory card expansion because Palm "provided all the storage you need" with 8GB
• Larger capacity models could be released in the future
• WebKit-based browser with no Flash support
• 1200mAh battery; no battery life figures being announced yet
• No soft keyboard for when device is in landscape mode
• All apps auto save
• Apps do not need to be manually closed; just flick "card" up/off the screen
• Web browsing over WiFi can continue when using the phone
• Keyboard is narrow; the demonstrator had trouble typing on it
• Not sure if keyboard is backlit
• Palm is very proud of the removable battery and standard headphone jack (they mentioned it several times)
• Forgot to ask about backwards compatibility with Palm OS
• Phone shape reminds me of Motorola Pebble
• UI is very slick, though comparisons to the iPhone are tough to shake
• More impressed with software than hardware
• Should've asked about the rationale behind the Pre name

Anyone going to get one? I admit that Windows Mobile 6.1 looks clunky and unintuitive in comparison, but I'm not giving up my Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.