Better than iPhone? Ok, you need to judge that. A new comes a touch-screen phone with better software: the Palm Pre.

Palm Inc. was a company that was something of a has-been. It has developed a phone operating system that is more user-friendly and elegant. The Pre will be available for sale on Saturday. The cost is $200 at Sprint stores.

Palm’s new operating system, webOS will allow you to keep multiple applications open at once. These applications are organized like a row of cards and you flick the screen and can switch between them.

Apple Inc.’s iPhone permits you to run only one application at time. If you want to switch between two applications, then you will have to go back to the main menu every time.

Unlike the iPhone, webOS notifies you of events that need your attention even though you are in a different application. Notification icons for events (e-mails, calls and others) appear at the bottom of the screen and you can access them just by tapping.

So webOS does multitasking right and it is not as slow as users perception of Windows Mobile.

webOS aggregates contacts and calendar items from multiple sources (Google, corporate Exchange servers, and Facebook). It automatically pulls your contacts’ Facebook photos into your contacts list.

Palm Pre Features

Pre is well put together, slightly smaller and chubbier than the iPhone

The screen diagonal is 3.1 inches ( iPhone’s is 3.5 inches)

A keyboard slides out from under the screen (many people think it is much easier to use than the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard)

Battery life may not be so good

The camera in Pre comes in 3-megapixel

Other smart phone features in Pre: Wi-Fi, Global Positioning System and an online store for applications.

It works as an iPod when you connect Pre to a Macintosh or Windows PC with iTunes and you can transfer your own music library and photos.

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