The most spectacular thing about the Pre is its new operating system called webOS. This was written from the ground up and it shows. Attention has been paid to every detail. Everything on the screen is well-designed. As shown in Figure 12, the windows and screen have visually appealing rounded corners, taking the harsh edge off of  the Pre experience.

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Figure 12: An open application in Card mode.

In developing this new OS, Palm really thought outside of the box. Certain portions are truly unique. For instance, the Pre uses what they call a Card for each open application. You can expand, contract, and switch Cards at will. So you can see and control everything that is running, which you cannot due in any other mobile operating system. webOS uses screen gestures similar to those used on an iPhone where you spread two fingers apart or pull them together on the screen to control the size of the text on the screen. Like the iPhone you can swipe your finger across the screen to go from page to page and perform other functions. To close an application you simply put your finger on its card and flick it off the screen with an upward motion.

The gesture area below the screen is used to navigate. For instance, you drag you finger across it to the left to go back a page. When you first pick up the Pre, doing things like closing an application by flicking it off the screen or using the gesture pad to navigate screens may not be intuitive, but once you learn how everything is done, it is both easy and fun.

This new OS, functions very well. In fact, it puts operating systems like Symbian and Windows Mobile to shame. It goes in direct competition with the Apple iPhone OS, and is some cases, comes out on top.

One of the most innovative features of the WebOS is Synergy. This OS feature consolidates information from all of your sources into one area. For instance, if you have information about a contact in your exchange email and have other information on him in your Gmail and he has a picture in Facebook, Synergy will grab the information from all those places and pull it into your contact file. Synergy works amazingly well and it is very useful.

webOS also has an excellent universal search that helps you find almost anything from any screen. So if you want to find an application you simply begin typing the first letters of the applications name and the results pop up.  The Pre’s universal search doesn’t search email like the iPhone does, but this limits the search results making them more valuable for other areas.

After you use the Pre for awhile, you start to see how useful the integration of webOS, Synergy, universal search, and the Pre’s built-in applications is. For instance if you need directions to a friend’s office, you just dial the first few letters of his name. Tap the name from the list to open his contact card. Tap the address on the screen to launch the Maps application where you can easily get directions from your current location.

When you start your Palm you are asked to create a Palm Profile. This creates a copy of your basic information on the Palm servers. The Pre can sync data to and from the Palm Profile service, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Exchange. This means that you will have a backup of all your contact names, telephone numbers, etc. It also means you will not have to tether your Pre to your computer for updates, so it is very useful.

The webOS includes just about everything you will need for the phone and applications to function, including cut and paste. Although we found the cut and paste to have a little less functionality and to be a little more difficult to use than the cut and paste on the newest version of the OS for the Apple iPhone, it is still useful.