Why This Writer WON'T Be Buying a Palm Pre

The latest and greatest tech gadget is the Palm Pre. Boasting 8GB of storage, a large, high resolution display, an innovative operating system, and a revolutionary way of charging, the Pre seems poised to bump the iPhone from its perch as the must have gadget for techys like me. But is it really worth all the hype?

I think not.

The Pre has a lot of really nice, new features that everyone is getting excited about, but so did the first generation iPhone. Same thing for the Samsung BlackJack, the Blackberry Storm, and the HTC Tilt. But what happen next with all of those will happen with the Pre. People will figure out where the features are lacking, and there will be cries for an update. This update will come out in less than a year, along with a price drop for the Pre, and be branded by all as "what the first Pre should have been."

Look at the original iPhone for proof. It had no 3g support, minimal internal memory, and the inability to run third party apps. All for around four hundred bucks. Less than a year later, they doubled the capacity, speed, and dropped the price in half. Now we are about to see a third generation iPhone, which finally upgraded the camera, and has enough memory to actually be used as an iPod.

To go along with the iPhone, the HTC Tilt, a much less popular phone, has gone through the same development. HTC has now released the HTC Touch Pro with an improved screen, a completely overhauled operating system, and a price drop over the original Tilt.

It is obvious that every new product has to go through these steps to continue improving, but that's the reason I won't be getting a Palm Pre. With a third generation iPhone right around the corner, and a second generation Blackberry Storm in the works, I can't imaging that the first generation Pre will be any more technologically advanced than either of those two devices.

I will admit that the Touchstone, the wireless charger for the Pre, seems pretty amazing, but that just won't sell me. I want to believe that the Pre will be a game changer, but being a first generation product gives me doubts. The Pre has a lot of potential, and in a year or two may be the game changer that people are hailing it as now, but right now, it's nothing more than a new first generation product with a few nice, new features with which to play.