Should I get the Pre over the iPhone? WIll it make a good replacement for my old Phone?
It depends. I'm glad you're educating yourself by reading this FAQ, but read our Palm Pre review full of videos, fresh photos and a complete run down of how this phone stacks up.

PALM PRE LAUNCH
When and where can I buy It?
June 6, and you can buy it at Sprint Stores, Best Buy or Radio Shack. Sprint Premier customers—if you don't know what that is, you're not one of 'em—will be able to hit up a special launch party in select cities on June 5.

How much is it gonna cost me, really?
Sprint's touting $199. That's with a two-year agreement and $100 mail-in rebate (which we think is pretty irritating). However, if you buy it at Best Buy or Radio Shack, the rebate is instant, so it'll be $199 out the gate at either of those fine establishments. If you don't want to deal with an icky contract, most signs point to $549, though Sprint hasn't confirmed that.

It will require an Everything Data or Business Essentials With Messaging and Data plan, both of which start at $70. If you're special and have a Sprint's Everything Plus referral plan, which starts at $60, that'll work too.

Will I have to camp outside?
Good question! Mostly 'cause we're not exactly sure, for a couple of reasons.

For one, we don't know how many are gonna be available at launch. Sprint's CEO talking up just how badly they wont' be able to meet demand doesn't make us feel any better, even if he's just trying to add to the hype. And there were some scary numbers floating around, like 30-40,000 total, with 3-4,000 allocated to Best Buy. The latest we've heard on the Best Buy front is that "large box Best Buy stores will only have at most about 15-20 and smaller stores at best 7-10" units.

We've got fairly solid info Radio Shack is getting 11,000 units, so 30,000 total seems a bit low, since it seems like Best Buy would get at least as many as Radio Shack—if not more—and Sprint's definitely going to keep the bulk of the phones for themselves.

From what we've heard, not every Best Buy or Radio Shack will have one. On the Best Buy front, we're told the allocation is going to depend on how well they've sold other high-profile phones, as well as general Sprint stores. Some won't get any at all, at least at first. Supposedly, the stock will get more plentiful in July/August. We're not sure how Radio Shack is divvying up their stock, just that not every Radio Shack will get one.

Demand is the other part of the equation. Will it match the hype? Hard to say!

Do I Really Have to Go With Sprint to Get Some Pre Action?
If you're in the US of A, it looks that way, at least for 2009. But that doesn't mean you have to go Sprint to get a phone with the Pre's WebOS. Palm's confirmed there's more than one WebOS phone in the pipeline, and the Centro of the family—the Palm Eos—has already leaked out. Rumor has it this little WebOS phone will hit AT&T this fall, maybe as cheaply as $99 (after contract and rebate voodoo).

SPECIFICATIONS
• Linux-based Palm-built WebOS operating system and UI
• 3.1-inch, 320x480 capacitive LCD multitouch screen
• Vertical slider form factor with full QWERTY keyboard
• 8GB flash storage
• Multitouch gesture area
• 3G EV-DO rev. A and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR w/ A2DP stereo support and GPS
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 3-Megapixel camera
• LED flash
• Texas Instruments OMAP 3430 CPU (ARM-based, likely at 600MHz)
• Micro USB connection with mass storage support
• Supported formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV; MPEG-4, H.263, H.264; GIF, JPEG, PNG BMP
• Wireless induction charger
• 4.8 Ounces

HARDWARE
Innovative Design
Palm's Pre smartphone is unusual in that it slides vertically to reveal the QWERTY keyboard. It uses the same curved sliding action found on phones like the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. The vertical keyboard was used partially to stand out from other phones, and partially to adhere to the philosophy of easy one-handed use. The phone has a multitouch screen and, when the keyboard is hidden, just three physical controls: A top button, a side volume rocker, clickable button at the bottom. It also has a 3.5mm headphone jack, 3MP camera on the back (w/LED flash) all in a 4.8-ounce package. It's smaller than the iPhone in surface area, but it's noticeably thicker—even thicker than the BB Bold.

Gesture Area
The gesture area is the black space that extends below the screen of the Pre. Like the screen itself, that area is fully multitouch-capable, and allows you to perform various gesture-based actions within WebOS. Palm said they implemented the gesture area because they feel one-handed control directly on the touchscreen itself can be difficult at times. They say the gesture area will make it easier to move through WebOS without the need for a second hand.

One touted use for the gesture area is the wave dock, which appears whenever you drag your finger up from the gesture area to the screen. Up pops the dock—viewable in the homescreen but otherwise invisible when you're doing stuff—for a quick change of activity. (This is a bit reminiscent of the Mac OSX Dock.)

TI OMAP Chip
The TI 3430 OMAP chip is the great wizard running the show in Pre's Emerald City. It's an ARM-based CPU likely clocked at 600MHz with built-in graphics acceleration that's high-powered enough to handle multiple apps running (15-20). Let's just hope that performance doesn't cost too much in battery life.

Touchstone Wireless Charger
Touchstone is a wireless charging base for the Palm Pre, one of the first magnetic induction chargers to make its way out of the bathroom. (Sonicare and Oral-B toothbrushes power up using a similar system.) It's referred to as "The Puck," and you just click the back of the Pre onto its flat surface and the juice starts to flow. It'll be $70.

SOFTWARE
Cards
Cards, whose flick-friendly interface promises to make smartphone multitasking simple, are arguably the biggest revolution in the WebOS interface. Each app is represented by a panel or "card" with all its relevant info. To the side of each card are similar cards for other running apps. You can flick your way from one to the next, and do things like pause a song, or launch a new email. If you tap the card, you can enter the full app and really get to work. WebOS is designed to handle many apps running at once, and the Palm Pre has the power to support that. (Image via Palm Goon.)

Synergy
Despite its lame 1990s corporate-culture name, Synergy is a very cool feature that integrates contact info, calendars, messaging clients and search capabilities into a seamless menu system.

Synergy takes contact info from sites like Gmail and Facebook (plus any other site that takes advantage of the SDK), and presents all that info for any contact on a single screen, then shows all the ways you can contact that person electronically. Most of this is done automatically, but if WebOS can't detect multiple online accounts for the same contact, you can manually link contacts together.

Even better, whether you're texting, emailing, or IMing, all those conversations are placed into one chat style screen, so you can see all the conversations you've had with a person over a given period of time.

Universal Search
The entire contents of your phone are searchable. Whether it's contacts, old conversations, appointments, media file, etc., you can easily find what you need on your phone with all the results provided in a single screen. But if what you're looking for isn't on the phone locally, you can take that same search to the internet with a tap or two of the screen, where it will be run through sites like Google and Wikipedia.

Notifications
Palm tried to master that all-too-fickle smartphone feature: background notifications. The problem is, notifications tend to be either too distracting or not distracting enough. Palm's notification system pops up on the bottom half of the screen, but the app UI adjusts so you can still carry out whatever you're doing. Obviously, you'll have to acknowledge the message (or cancel it) eventually, but this feature will definitely save you some frustration.

Multitouch Browser
WebOS's browser is the first since Mobile Safari to support multitouch gestures. And like the iPhone's Mobile Safari and Android's browser on the G1, it's built on top of WebKit, which means you can expect the same speedy, responsive performance found on those phones. (Image via Palm Goon.)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
(Many of our answers were pulled from our interview with Palm during our Pre hands-on.)

Will there be a GSM Palm Pre?
Yes, but it will be a UTMS, Europe-only phone available later this year. No announcement for a US GSM phone has been made as of yet.

What kind of internet connectivity does the Palm Pre have?
The Pre has an EVDO rev. A mobile broadband chip (for average connectivity upwards of 1Mbps) in addition to Wi-Fi (b/g).

How long will the battery last between charges?
Palm hasn't officially revealed any info on this yet, but Pre Central, based on photos of the battery, have made a highly educated guess that the battery is identical to that found in the Centro (1150mAh-1350mAh).

As John Herrman points out in his post, the Treo Pro has a 1500mAh battery that goes about two days between charges; the iPhone has a 1400mAh battery that's okay but sometimes runs out too fast; and the G1 has an 1150mAh, considered woefully inadequate in the eyes of many.

A Palm PR rep told PalmInfoCentral to expect the battery to have a 1200mAh life, though how long that lasts in real time depends on the processor and the demands of the OS.

Is the battery removable?
Yes.

What does the top button do?
The dedicated button found on top of the phone not only slides between silent and normal modes, but you can also press it to turn airplane mode on or off.

Does the Pre's screen auto-rotate between portrait and landscape mode?
Yes, like most other high-end smartphones, the Pre has built-in accelerometers that are quite responsive.

Does the Pre have a standard headphone jack?
Yes, the Pre uses the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, located on top of the phone, that works with all mainstream portable headphones.

Does the Palm Pre have expandable storage?
Nope. The 8GB that comes with the phone is what you're stuck with.

Did Palm discuss the availability of a 16GB or 32GB Pre?
No.

Will apps from the older Palm OS (aka Garnet) work on WebOS?
This was a total surprise, but yes. The Pre's got an built-in emulator coming to run classic Palm apps. Don't expect everything to work 100 percent amazingly, though.

Does WebOS have an on-screen keyboard?
No specific mention has been made, but from what we have seen so far, it does not. This could be a specific omission, since the Pre already has a physical keyboard. It would be hard to believe that WebOS does not have provisions for a software keyboard in future phones.

Is HTC involved with the design or manufacturing of the Palm Pre?
No. The Palm Pre and WebOS were designed entirely in house, using only Palm employees. Some worked on the original Palm OS, while others were new to the project this time around. As for manufacturing, Palm hasn't revealed who is assembling the phones, but it has been confirmed that it isn't HTC.

Does the Pre record video?
Palm said the Pre will not have video recording capability when it first launches, but it is something they are looking into for future updates.

Is there visual voicemail?
No.

Whaaat? What about MMS?
Yep.

Is there Flash support on the Pre/WebOS
Probably not at launch, but it's definitely coming.

Do apps really run in the background?
Yes. Any app will be allowed to function in the background. They won't close out or go dormant when you switch to another app or return to the home screen. This is different from the iPhone, which can only run Apple-created apps in the background at this time.

How many can run at once?
No official number has been given, but Palm thinks it's reasonable to assume the Pre will be able to run 15 to 20 apps simultaneously.

I CAN HAZ COPY AND PASTE?
Yes, the Pre has copy and paste (now enough with the LOLspeak, dammit).

How will I get apps? How much will they cost?
There will be a central apps store that will serve as the only method of distribution for the Palm Pre and future WebOS phones. As of now, pricing models have not been released, but we assume there will be free and cheap apps.

Will you be able to sync apps via computer?
No. The app store will function entirely within WebOS.

Is there an app approval process? Will it be as strict as Apple's?
Yes, there will be an app approval process for WebOS apps. However, according to Palm, they're less concerned with what the apps do, and more focused on making sure there aren't any security exploits or stability glitches. (Here's how it stacks up with every other mobile OS store.)

Will the SDK be open to everyone?
Yes, Palm will make the SDK available to anyone who wants to develop apps.

Will apps be as good as those on iPhone or Android?
That's a question still up for discussion. Palm's SDK, as we understand it so far, will allow developers to create apps that lie somewhere between web apps and native apps in complexity. While apps will be installable directly to the phone, developers will not have the same level of hardware access that iPhone and Android developers have.

What does this mean? The average Yelp/Mint/Pandora type app will probably work, look, and act the same on WebOS as it would any other mobile platform. But when it comes to those trying to code resource-heavy apps—video and gaming apps for example, that require optimization and special hardware access— they will probably run into development issues using the SDK alone. Palm says they'll work with selected developers to give them more access to the intricacies of the phone, such as Telenav on the GPS app, for example.

Where can I get a closer look at some apps?
Palm Goon has some suspiciously good—like a little too good—screencaps and walkthroughs of Google Maps, the web browser, Tasks and Memos apps. We got some hands-on time with Google Maps and Pandora.

Will the Pre sync to PCs via Outlook or some other desktop program?
There's no special client application that we know of. You can connect the Pre as a mass-storage device and drag-and-drop media (music, video, photos) into preexisting folders made for those files, allowing them to appear in the media player. As for other types of syncing, such as Outlook, we're not quite sure how that will work yet. We've heard and seen things about it having online backup and remote wipe through a "Palm profile."

Does WebOS have a thin and beautiful figure?
Well Palm doesn't like to talk about its own software, but they did manage to imply that Mobile OS X is an obese, Crisco-guzzling lard ass.

CES ORIGINAL HANDS-ON IMPRESSIONS
Neither the Pre hardware or WebOS software are anywhere near final, so it's tough to draw too many conclusions from our brief exposure, but I can say that Palm is rivaling Apple in the user experience department with this new phone.

The screen is responsive and accurately detects the position of your finger. I didn't feel like I had to pay special attention to what I was touching or how I went about it. The multitasking cards for app management are really intuitive, letting you zoom in and out, add and remove, and cycle through cards with a mere flick of a finger. And having the WebOS desktop sit as a sort of frame around the cards prevents you from feeling too overwhelmed by the amount of data you might be flipping through (sort of like Xbox 360's newly revised "blades").

The gesture area below the screen interacts really well with the onscreen UI. I never had a problem launching the wave dock from that area, for instance.

The hardware feels like it's a quality build. It's plasticky, but it doesn't feel too light or cheap, and the phone's size works well for one-handed control. The hinge design is smooth, though it would have been nicer to have a spring-loaded design—it does not. The buttons are reminiscent of those found on the Treo Pro, that is, not spectacular but good enough not to be a nuisance. The phone's design is a little too pebbly and roundish in shape for me personally, but as far as usability goes, that's hardly a problem.

Media Gallery

Historical Background
Palm has come a long way since their days making PDAs for the business crowd, and as the saying goes, to truly understand where Palm is going with the Pre, you've got to understand where they've been. So here's a brief recap of software, devices and events leading up to the Pre/WebOS announcement.

Palm OS/Treo
Palm OS, the first major platform for the company was first designed for the Pilot line of PDAs back in 1996. The early Palm OS (1.x-4.x) releases had forward-thinking features such as stylus touch control, handwriting recognition, a grid-based app home screen (adopted by most handset UI designers in the following years), eventually adding mobile internet support, mobile web clippings, email and USB support.

Handspring's first Palm-based phone—the Treo—came out in 2002. It caught on among the smartphone crowd, with mainstream features such as high-res color displays, threaded text messaging, multimedia playback, homebrew apps such as NES emulators and arguably the worst mobile browser ever, Blazer.

In 2003, Palm bought Handspring and launched the first Palm-branded Treo, the 600. Palm continued to build phones with QWERTY keyboard on the front, SD card slots, and cameras. (Fun fact: Palm CEO Ed Colligan left the company, which he helped establish, in order to create Handspring; he returned to Palm only when they bought Handspring in 2003.) The Palm Centro, launched in 2007, was the last Palm device to run the Garnet OS (v5.4.9). But by then the software—as well as the hardware—had begun to show signs of aging, prompting calls for a new OS and industrial design.

Palm OS II Announcement
In May 2007, Palm announced they were working on a completely new, Linux-based operating system for their future phones, tentatively calling it Palm OS II. No other details were given at the time.

Between Summer 2007 and Fall 2008, Palm OS II was constantly pushed backed, delayed and ignored as Palm's stock tumbled. Many believed the company would disintegrate beyond repair before the OS would reach market.

Nova
In the fall of 2008, Palm OS II rumors resurfaced, this time mentioning the platform carried the codename "Nova." Later news confirmed it would be revealed at CES 2008. Still, many remained skeptical as to how much of Nova Palm would show, if anything at all.

Shortly before CES, rumors started popping up about a Palm phone which would accompany the Nova OS. The phone was said to be a squarish, touchscreen device with a slide-out keyboard.

CES Unveiling
On January 8, 2009, Palm announced the Pre smartphone and WebOS platform at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas to much fanfare. Multitouch functionality and seamless web integration were the two big points of emphasis for their new product.

What's the Palm UI Animation Like? See these walk through videos taken at CES.

If you have any questions about the Palm Pre that you think we can answer, shoot an email to tips with the subject line "Palm Pre Question."

Student Kyle Buckner made this 3/4 scale model out of wood, with real working hinges and everything, and hand-drew the Dock, icons, keyboard, trackpad, and even the little Philips screws on with a pencil. It also features a magnetically-attached "screen" that has a pull-tab underneath. When pulled, the tab shows a very cool film strip drawing with illustrations of the wonders of Mac. Check out the gallery below for more shots. [Kyle Buckner, thanks Kyle!]

On the plus side, Hypermac is offering some smaller capacities at more affordable prices: like a 60Wh version for $200, a 100Wh for $300 and a 150Wh for $400. There's also a car charger for powering up your Mac on the go for $150. The devices can be pre-ordered now and are expected to ship by the end of the month. [HyperMac via Pitchengine]

CORRECTION: Sprint lost 182,000 customers during the first quarter of this year, not 1.3 million. It lost 1.3 million customers the previous quarter. Apologies for the error.

The talks with Ericsson could still fall through, but the $2 billion outsourcing agreement—which would have Ericsson maintain its cell sites—could save it a bunch of money it spends on "cost of services." The thought is that it could use the extra money on things like products and people, and outsourcing this kind of work is common in Europe and Asia.

The 1.3 million 182,000 customers it bled are still unique to Sprint—every other carrier is still adding customers every quarter while Sprint loses 'em. As tough as it was for everybody last quarter—with Microsoft's profits shrinking over 30 percent, Mac sales flattening—Verizon and AT&T managed to add 1.3 million and 1.2 million customers, respectively.

Can the Pre really save a carrier this badly wounded? Saving one nearly dead company, Palm, will be a feat. Two would be a miracle. [WSJ, WSJ]

Those surveyed gave the iPhone top marks in all the categories save one: Battery life, where it scored a below-average two out of five. The survey measures ease of operation (30% of final score), physical design (30%), features (20%), and battery life (20%). Apple's total score was a 791, above the industry average of 751, with RIM and HTC at 739 and 744, respectively.

As far as dumbphones, LG scored a high 772, with Samsung nipping at its heels with 759. Motorola tanked, which we all should have expected, with a far below average 659.

We should note, of course, that this survey does not include satisfaction with the wireless service provider at all, which we suspect would have brought the iPhone's scores down to Earth. But at the moment, the iPhone seems to be top dog. [JD Power via CNET]

The Price: $500 for style, connectedness and decent—but not perfect—video file support

The Verdict: It's a crazy, unexpected piece of hardware, so thin and light that the press photos don't really do it justice. Still, since it basically does the same thing as Samsung's cheaper BD-P3600, and LG's new wired and wireless Blu-ray players, I can't help but think the $500 sticker price will be a bit prohibitive for anyone not using it as a decorative wall-hanging piece.

Setup was easy. It comes pre-loaded with Netflix and Pandora, and I first connected it via Ethernet to a sweet Linksys Powerline adapter which ran downstairs to my router, and was running with HD 30 Rock episodes in no time. Not forgetting what Samsung wants us all to remember, that this is a Blu-ray player, I popped in T2, and soon saw Arnold emerging naked from a molten sphere of energy.

Despite its thinness, the rear fan (which you see in the gallery) was not noisy at all. I had a movie playing at a low volume, and could hear everything, and couldn't distinguish the fan's white noise from the other white noise in the house.

My only trouble I had was with networking. It says on the box "Wireless" but when you open it up, you find it requires a separate Wi-Fi dongle. My head quickly did the math: "Consumer-electronics software plus plug-in dongle equals call to tech support." Sure enough, even though it recognized my SSID and let me input a password just fine, it was unable to connect. (The solution, it turned out, was to enter my network password under WPA2 instead of WPA.) The other weird thing about the wireless dongle is that it clearly wasn't designed for this wall-hanging player—if you have it plugged in on the side USB port, you can't press the player flush against the wall.

The pleasant surprise was that the video decoder can read XviD and DivX movies, at least the ones I tested. It wasn't down with DivX 7 MKV, but it liked some older AVIs. It also didn't like H.264, but for some reason that seems to be a hard codec for these off-the-shelf software players to master. MP3s played fine, though it was filenames only—no metadata for you.

What's the takeaway? For movies, even ill-gotten ones, it's a good box. Netflix and Pandora are surely only the beginning, too. If Amazon Video on Demand is already on Panasonic, Sony, TiVo and Roku products, it's surely a matter of time before they sign with Ole Sammy. Ditto for Rhapsody, which seems to find its way into a lot of connected devices.

In the end, it makes sense if you have a simple bedroom setup that you don't want to mess up with a big "entertainment center." But bear in mind, when you wall mout, you still have to worry about the wires coming out of the back, and until they make a sleek glassy cable box to go with, you're always gonna have something bulky under your TV set. [Product Page]

In Summary
Not only stylish, but quiet and lightweight—easy enough to hang on a wall.

Netflix and Pandora are currently the only net media streaming apps, but we expect more to come.

Wi-Fi and other networking features are not for amateurs, but if you figure it out, you can watch XviDs streamed from a PC.

Price is pretty damn high, and many functions can be found in other products.

• AMD tried to kill the megahertz myth before Intel. During the Pentium 4 days Intel kept pushing clock speeds higher and higher, before it hit a wall and abandoned the Prescott architecture. The message was clearly, "more megahertz is more better." AMD's competing Athlon XP chips, while clocked slower, often beat their Pentium 4 rivals. Ironically, AMD was the first to 1GHz, as some commenters have pointed out (don't know how I forgot that). Obviously though, AMD's performance lead didn't last forever.

• AMD beat Intel to 64-bit in mainstream computers. And we're not just talking about its Opteron and Athlon 64 processors. AMD actually designed the X86-64 specification, which Intel wound up adopting and licensing—so AMD's spec is used Intel's 64-bit processors to this day.

• AMD was first to consider energy efficiency in processor designs. Okay, this is kind of an extension of point number one, but during Intel's Pentium 4 'roid rage period AMD's processors consistently used less power than Intel's. Intel's performance per watt revelation didn't really start until the Pentium M (which was actually a throwback to the P6 architecture), which set the tone for Intel's new direction in its successor, the Core line of chips.

• AMD beat Intel to having an integrated memory controller. A tech feature AMD lorded over Intel for years: AMD's processors started integrating the memory controller with its processors years ago, reducing memory latency. Intel's first chip to use an integrated memory controller is the Core i7—before, the memory controller was separate from the processor. (Here's why Intel says they held off.)

Athlon XP and Athlon 64—those were the good old days, AMD's cutthroat competitive days. The days they were ahead of Intel. I miss them—at one point, every hand-built computer in my house ran AMD processors. I felt like a rebel—a rebel with faster, cheaper computers.

Unfortunately, I don't run AMD chips anymore. Intel came back, and came back hard. But here's hoping for another resurgence, and another 40 years, guys. Share your favorite AMD memories in the comments.

The new skins bring the total to over 200 different designs from a collection of artists. Here are a few of my favorites from the new batch:

[Dell via geeksugar]

Are your Facebook updates all about your experience with your phone? Do you know what "FP" means? (And are your blog comments a bit more substantive than that?) If you can tweet your opinions about Palm phones in 140 characters or less, we want to hear from you. We're looking for a few "Real Reviewers" to share their opinions about Palm phones across the blogosphere, social networks and beyond.

To get in there you have to fill a survey. According to John, you have to be just yourself, fanboy or skeptic. They just want you to tweet or blog or facebook your opinion. Obviously, they are pretty confident the end result will be great. Or maybe it's lies lies lies. LIES. Whatever it is, they will notify the elected Real Reviewers on May 8. [Apply here via Palm Blog]

I'm not trying to be all namby pamby, like "Oh, you're each so special in your own ways, it's so hard to choose!" but I can't stress enough how solid both the Nikon D5000 and the Canon Rebel T1i are. For the price—$850 for the D5000, $900 for the T1i, both including beginner-level 18-55mm lenses—either one will work fine, whether you're a beginner looking to learn about photography, or a veteran with investment in a few lenses but not enough cash for a step-up Nikon D90 or D700, or a Canon 5D Mark II. (I highlighted their spec differences here.)

In fact, the differences between the D5000 and the T1i tend to be more about button layout and interface design than picture-taking ability. If you basically know what you're doing, you can take essentially the same picture with either camera, except in certain situations mentioned below.

Handling

Like I said, there are differences in interface. Unlike fancier DSLRs, both have single dials on the right-hand side, and both have just one large full-color LCD screen for managing settings, setting up shots and reviewing them later. The Canon's is a little bigger with a lot more resolution, which makes a big benefit when you're shooting video or focusing in Live View, but is otherwise irrelevant.

In interface design, however, the better design goes to Nikon. As you can see below, the organization of information on the screen is much more palatable and less arbitrary. Nikon users who are used to having the second LCD screen up top for basic info—plus specialized buttons—can quickly learn a new behavior, getting all information on the big LCD, using the "i" info button for making most quick setting tweaks.

The Canon interface is similar to previous Rebels, and is pretty durn fugly, and the extra buttons only help in some cases where they are clearly labeled. (And even when the buttons are clearly labeled, there are some hidden functions—hitting the ISO button while shooting video will lock the auto exposure, for instance.)

Automatic Modes

I tested each camera both in full-manual mode and on some of the automatic modes. I've heard from a lot of uppity photographers who don't like people discussing auto shooting, perhaps as a way of trumpeting their own apparently stellar knowledge of the workings of photography. But it's important to remember that these sub-$1000 cameras are aimed at untrained entry-level shooters, and many of those people tell me that they almost always leave it in auto.

In this case, Nikon has six auto modes, plus a SCENE setting with like 14 different options, in each case including a photo. The Canon is shy on this point, with just five presets. The scene modes are helpful to newbies who can't translate what they see into camera settings. Still, anyone who buys a camera like this should do so with the intent to learn manual settings, and may benefit more from just taking 100 shots in each setting, like I do, changing settings all along.

What I did find is that even in semi-automatic modes, the Canon and Nikon were more different than better. For instance, when I set the White Balance on Cloudy, both got the white more or less right, but the Canon tended to look more pink, while the Nikon was more green, as you can see:

ISO Noise

Everybody bitches about how more megapixels don't matter and that optics determine picture quality more than anything, and they're right. But sensors still matter, especially when shooting in low light—which you do by jacking up the ISO. As you can see below, while both cameras handle relatively noise-free shooting at ISO 800, they both start to get noisy by 1600, and at 3200 they are both noisier still. But the Canon is less noisy in this case.

It stands to point out that I shot this with both cameras on the default "normal" aka "basic" noise-reduction settings. Both cameras let you jack up noise reduction more, or take it off entirely, but in each case, you probably have to consult the manual to learn how, hence me testing on the default settings.

Live View

Live View was last year's ace in the hole, something first championed by Sony and Olympus, which Canon then took and ran with, followed, only recently, by Nikon. Now everybody's got it, and it's okay, but it's not great, and it's certainly not the preferred shooting mode for either of these cameras.

The problem is, when you have a live picture on your LCD, the typical auto-focus mechanism doesn't work, because the mirror inside the camera is lifted up, exposing the optical sensor.

Canon and Nikon have different ways of handling this. Canon says "screw it" and drops the mirror for a split second, letting the camera use its normal AF sensor and getting a nice tight focus.

The Nikon, from what I've seen in my testing, can't do this. Instead it uses secondary auto-focus techniques that are annoyingly slow. The fact that the Nikon has a flip-out "vari-angle" LCD to make Live View more useful is actually silly—by having to wait for the damn thing to autofocus, and by not guaranteeing as good an autofocus, you lose any advantage you'd have by watching this happening in the LCD. I think the mirror-drop technique used by Canon and the vari-angle LCD would be a good combination, however, and my guess is, Nikon is exploring this even now.

Video

This year's killer upgrade is video, specifically, high-definition video. The Nikon D5000 has 720p at 24 frames per second; Canon's T1i shoots 1080p at up to 20fps. The question is, will you use it?

I said it before and I'll say it again: Shooting higher-res video with larger sensors and big honkin' lenses is awesome. They wide-aspect shots have a cinematic quality, and make better use of light in the room for a more natural feel.

BUT—yes, big ole "but"—the fact that autofocus is pretty borked when you're shooting videos means you get naturally lit cinematically scoped blurry videos, unless you and your subject remain perfectly still.

Like with standard Live View, Nikon and Canon take different approaches. Nikon says "no AF during shooting whatsoever," meaning you focus first, then hit record, then, if you have to, start manually refocusing as your toddler, cat or ginormous model rocket starts to make its move. Having lived with the D90 for a while, I want to say I got good at manually focusing, but I did not.

As is the case with Canon's 5D Mark II, the T1i does let you autofocus during shooting, but it's not the nice instant refocus you get while shooting stills. It's the wiggy servo-noisy zoom-zoom-zoom-zoom kind of contrast-based AF that takes too long. So while you're shooting, you not only see the auto re-focusing in action, but you hear it too.

While Canon's noisy AF is by far the better option of the two for shooting videos, Canon does something in the T1i that might piss off serious photographers: It disables shutter, aperture and ISO controls for video shooting. It's full auto, unlike the Nikon D5000, which, like the D90, gives you a certain degree of camera control while shooting video. While the Nikon lets you choose your ISO for instance, the Canon actually varies ISO settings along with auto exposure every time your video's lighting changes dramatically. I personally don't miss it—and in my experience, Canon does a slightly better job of getting automatic settings like WB right, and is a more trustworthy camcorder maker in general—but you might miss the control.

One overlooked benefit to the Canon is that you can take still shots while shooting video, without interrupting the video itself. You just get a momentary freezeframe, and the recording continues. On the Nikon, when you shoot video, you can take a still pic, but the video recording stops when you do.

In the End

So, why did I pick the Canon by a nose? Mainly the video and the better Live View focus technique, as well as the slightly better high-ISO performance. When I chatted with NYT's David Pogue about his rave review of Panasonic's Lumix GH1—a far better camcorder than either of these because of its quiet lens and full-fledged autofocus—he told me that this kind of half-baked AF makes the video on these cameras a mere "parlor stunt." I reprint his comment because I agree with him for the most part.

Still, as someone who enjoyed the Nikon D90 video mode, half-baked as it is, I look forward to extended testing of the T1i, shooting video whenever I can. Because in the YouTube era, we're not looking to go remake Dr. Zhivago. I for one just want something to record a quick vid of my kid doing something hilarious (which her mom won't let me post on Giz). What I find is that the best video camera is the one built into the still camera I already use. And that's why, parlor stunt or not, DSLR video is going to be important from here on out. Here's hoping both Nikon and Canon keep working to make them better.

In Summary

Nikon D5000

Great all-around entry-level DSLR camera

Well-designed user interface; more friendly to beginner photographers

Vari-angle LCD rendered less effective by slow auto-focus in Live View

Can't autofocus during video shooting

High ISO settings have more noise

Canon T1i

Great all-around entry-level DSLR camera

Live View autofocus technique is fast and effective, and you can also auto-focus while shooting video

Less noise at high ISO, better automatic-shooting results

Interface can be confusing to new photographers

Autofocus in video mode is noisy (as in "audibly annoying") and slow, so it's a better perk than the Nikon but not a hands-down win

Product Pages:

Nikon D5000



Canon EOS Rebel T1i

He's probably right. The two cameras I am evaluating at this very moment—Canon's $900 Rebel T1i and Nikon's $850 D5000—are damn fine still cameras with particularly attractive prices, that draw from the competitive legacy of their two makers, and are compatible with hundreds of lenses in each company's respective armory. But for shooting video, they're not exactly easy. Or even good.

Pogue's point is this: The "micro four thirds" standard is pimpin' for this particular task. It has the larger sensor and the full controls of an SLR while allowing for quality 1080p video with active autofocus. The two cameras I'm reviewing can't refocus without a lot of trouble during video shoots. The GH1 even comes—mind you, at its sky-high $1500 price—with an amazing lens for camcorder work. And it bears stating that if you're going to buy a still camera that you'll use as much for video, then Panasonic is probably gonna do you a solid, since it's a leader among the handful of pro video camera makers. (Alton Brown once told me he swears by 'em.)

But where does this leave camera shoppers? The problem I have with Pogue's piece is that I still don't know what to buy. And it makes me even more concerned for my own recommendation on the Nikon and Canon. I've placed a lot of weight on that video capability, as a reason to upgrade, but in light of the potential video quality demonstrated by the GH1, wouldn't it be worth buying a clearance DSLR and a frill-free Flip camcorder and wait until this while mess gets sorted out, and video quality the likes of which Pogue rhapsodizes is available in SLR cameras we actually want to own?

Tune in tomorrow for my final thoughts on this subject, and my verdict in the Nikon vs. Canon entry-level DSLR battlemodo. [NYT]

Let me say first that I did not use either of these cameras in their ideal conditions—namely, outside, underwater while swimming. For some reason, Canon and Panasonic did not tailor the release dates of these cameras to coincide with my trip to Egypt a few months ago, which is where I wanted to test them out (why not guys??). Back here in New York, any outdoor body of water is way too frigid right now, and there's something pretty creepy and ultimately unacceptable about taking an underwater camera to the YMCA for test shots. So, instead of the verdant coral reefs of the Red Sea off the Sinai coast, which were straight out of Planet Earth, our test shots are of me playing with a Kraken Attackin' Lego Pirates playset in my kitchen sink. Which is a cool playset, but, you know, not the same.

But still, we've gathered enough data I think to inform your decision, if you're thinking of picking up a waterproof toughcam for this summer. Here are the main points of differentiation I see:

Form Factor/Interface
Both cameras are waterproof, but the Canon D10 is protected up to 10 meters (around 32 feet), where the Panasonic TS1 is only protected up to three meters (around 10 feet). And that's immediately apparent in their shapes:

The D10 looks like it was designed by Ringo on the set of Yellow Submarine—its bulbous shell and porthole-like screws drive home the fact that this baby is going underwater. But on land, it'll be tough to fit it into a pants pocket without some serious bulging.

It does have some nice, easy-to-press buttons for changing into video mode, for instance, and the icons on the LCD screen are nice and big, easily spotted through a snorkeling mask. There are some superfluous button presses to lock in settings which could be tedious underwater, but the UI is not horrible, and you'll easily get used to it. The D10 also has come big screw-mounts on each corner for mounting various underwater grips and other accessories that you can buy from Canon.

The TS1 takes a totally different approach, with a sleek rectangular slab shape that at first glance is hard to distinguish from regular non-tough weeniecams. The buttons are a bit smaller, but not prohibitively so, and shootings modes are selected with a thumb dial instead of dedicated buttons—I didn't see anything I couldn't operate with a bit of practice while snorkeling. A basic locking wrist-strap comes in the box.

The important thing is that the TS1 is not at all out of place in non-toughcam situations, where the D10 may be. But if you're a deep snorkeler, three meters may not be enough for you compared to the D10's 10 meters (I imagine if you're a serious SCUBA diver, you'll need something beefier than either of these), but where you lose usability under water with the TS1 you will gain it on land. Consider that.

Video
Another big difference, if not the biggest, is that the Panasonic TS1 shoots 720p in the AVCHD format, where the Canon only does 640x480 VGA vids. The TS1 video recording mode isn't the most polished—there's a good two to three second delay from when you hit the dedicated video button to when recording actually starts and stops, and it's unclear exactly when everything does start, but if you're OK with that, the HD video mode is awesome. I mean, underwater HD in such a tiny package—that's a no-brainer right? I would kill to have some HD clips of my friends and I swimming around in crazy schools of neon fish in Egypt.

Here are some sample clips from the sink:

TS1 720P Clip:

Note: There is a current bug with the TS1 that makes video imported into iMovie '08 and '09 play at double speed. I had to do some conversion to avoid this, which is a pain. Panasonic says they're working with Apple on this to include a fix in future versions of iMovie.

Canon D10 VGA Clip:

Keep in mind that the AVCHD format is kind of annoying, in that you might have to install special codecs and import video straight into your video editing software of choice and then export it in friendlier formats, rather than just grabbing an AVI or MOV clip from the memory card and uploading it to YouTube.

And yeah, the quality of these videos is pretty bad, but the difference in the actual output is clear: 720p underwater rules.

Shooting
Both cameras are 12-megapixels, for full-res shots at 4000x3000. Both have the same size CCD sensor, but the TS1's ISO goes up to 6400 where the Canon D10's only to 1600. I didn't do a thorough sensitivity test with either camera, but I would imagine you don't want to go much higher than 800 on either one, so the difference is probably fairly moot.

A difference that does matter is the TS1's wider-angle lens: it's a 28mm-128mm f/3.3-f/5.9 effective focal length zoom, compared to the D10's 35mm-105mm f/2.8-f/4.9.

As you can see, color reproduction via the TS1's Leica lens is far better than the D10s, which has to fight through a bit more protective plastic. Also, the TS1 tends to autofocus underwater with much greater ease—important, because you won't always be able to look at the LCD when composing shots while snorkeling.

Conclusion
Like I said, I only played with these cameras in the sink, so I didn't push their waterproof capabilities to their max. But having a waterproof and shockproof camera around the house is kind of cool in its own right—imagine taking bath time photos of your kid without having to worry about getting the camera wet, or taking shots with dirty hands while you're barbecuing, or anything like that. You can always dunk these cameras underwater to clean them off. It's nice. You don't have to be a snorkeler to use them and have fun with them.

Which is why for me, the balance shifts heavily toward the Panasonic TS1. Its form factor makes using it on land a lot more convenient, and the added HD video option is a huge plus. And my ears hurt if I go down much further than three meters underwater anyway. At a premium of only $70 ($400 list vs. $330 for the D10), I'd say it's well worth spending up for.

Panasonic Lumix DSC-TS1
HD video capture

Unobtrusive form factor good for both land and sea

28mm wide-angle lens

Buttons perhaps more difficult to use underwater

Only waterproof up to 3 meters

Canon PowerShot D10
Super-rugged body waterproof up to 10 meters

Big, simple buttons and LCD icons

Only shoots video at 640x480

Very bulky

Let's go over the basics. The cameras, with 18-55mm image stabilizer lenses, have MSRPs within $50 of each other, the Nikon at $850 and the Canon at $900. Spec-wise, that extra $50 goes a long way:

• Nikon has a 12.3-megapixel CMOS, while the Canon has a 15.1 megapixel CMOS.

• The Canon's 3" LCD screen has 920,000 dots; Nikon's 2.7" LCD only has 230,000 dots, but it gets bonus points for the "vari-angle" adjustable mount.

• HD video shooting is the selling point for both, but while the Nikon can handle 720p, the Canon can shoot up to 12 minutes per burst of full 1080p high-def video (though at a minimal 20 frames per second). Both have HDMI outputs, to prove how dedicated they are to high-def video.

• ISO wise, they're pretty evenly matched, from 100 to 3200, with a Hi ISO bump at 6400. (The Canon has an additional ISO 12800 high setting.) The key here is which one is noisier at the higher levels; I have my guesses, but we'll just have to see.

• Getting deeper into camera-nerd territory, the Nikon has an 11-point autofocus, compared to Canon's 9-point AF. They both boast the usual proprietary engines, for Canon the DIGIC 4 imaging processor, and for Nikon, the "exclusive" EXPEED image processing system. And obviously, both can be fitted with a huge number of lenses from their specific manufacturer, lens compatibility usually being the deciding factor for people who already have huge glass investment.

What does it all mean? I have no doubt that both cameras are worthy sons of bitches, and like their predecessors, many of their idiosyncratic ticks—visual menus vs lists, etc.—are well known and documents. Some conclusions are already in sight, given the fact that the D5000 is a direct descendant of the D90, whereas the T1i comes straight from the 5D Mk II's loins, both heavily reviewed already.

Still, over the next day, I'll be shooting hundreds of photos in different lighting conditions, in order to make sense of this two-headed temptation. Here's some further reading While U Wait:

News announcements on Giz:
Nikon D5000
Canon EOS Rebel T1i

Product Pages:
Nikon D5000
Canon EOS Rebel T1i

The thing has a 4.3-inch screen, almost the same amount of face and shoulder buttons as the PSP, but it only supports "NES, Famicom, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Super Famicom, SEGA MegaDrive and some sort of 32-bit ROM." No actual PSP playing here—but that's not the point, is it?

Then again, if you already HAVE a PSP, you can always just hack it and play emulation games that way. [Chinagrabber via Technabob via Slashgear]

: Samsung just sent us the specs, and they're kinda gross, from the looks:

Normal mode: 720x480/60i
Web mode: 640x480/30p
Digital still photos: 800x600, but increased to 1600x1200 by interpolation.

You're not imagining things if you have a sense of deja vu—Samsung's HMX-R10 was the first to pull of the alien eye look.

The vital specs—oddly, as Engadget notes, sans resolution, but most likely 1080p—include 10x optical zoom, 230,000-dot 2.7-inch screen, 2 hour 40 minute record time (battery-wise), and hyper image stabilization (so you can eat sugary cereal worry-free before you shoot). The C14 has 16GB of internal flash, expandable via SDHC, the C10, you need that SD card. They'll be out in July for...I don't know, Samsung did not say.

SAMSUNG FOCUSES ON ERGONOMICS WITH TWO NEW DIGITAL CAMCORDERS

New SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 Offer Industry-Leading Style, Design and Ease-of-Use

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. – April 29, 2009 – Samsung Electronics America Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today announced the SMX-C14 and SMX-C10, two new ergonomically designed, compact digital camcorders offering industry‑leading style and design. The new SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 also feature Samsung's stylish Touch of Colorä (ToCä) finish that was first introduced in the company's line of flat‑panel HDTVs. With ToC design, a hint of color is naturally blended into the deep black body for an attractive crystalline appearance.

The SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 are ideal for the on-the-go consumer and offer an impressive 10x optical zoom paired with Hyper Image Stabilization to help reduce blurry footage. Both camcorders also feature a 230,000-dot, swiveling 2.7-inch wide LCD screen, which allows users to effortlessly frame their subjects and review their footage. Similar to the full-HD HMX-R10, the new SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 boast Samsung's Active Angle Lens. This unique design helps reduce fatigue by allowing consumers to grip the camcorder in a more relaxed manner, easing the overall stress on their wrist and elbow. Unlike traditional camcorders, the relaxed grip also removes the LCD screen from the user's line of sight, enabling them to always keep an eye on their subject while recording.

"The SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 are truly unique camcorders, starting with their eye-catching ToC design," said Reid Sullivan, senior vice president of Audio/Video and Digital Imaging Marketing at Samsung Electronics America. "In addition to being ultra-compact, ergonomic and stylish, these camcorders offer a host of advanced, yet easy-to-use capabilities that encourage consumers to integrate video recording into their everyday digital lifestyles."

The new SMX-C14 features 16GB of internal Samsung flash memory and is expandable via an SD/SDHC memory card slot. Thanks to H.264 compression, which drastically enhances recording times when used with standard definition video, users can record over six hours of footage directly to the SMX-C14's 16GB of built-in memory. The SMX-C10 does not feature internal memory and requires the use of SD/SDHC media. Both the SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 also offer substantial battery life, providing more than two hours and forty minutes of record time on a single charge.

The SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 also incorporate Samsung's play-edit-sharing program called intelli‑studio. The built-in intelli-studio program allows consumers to connect the camcorder to any computer via USB and edit and play their video without having to install supporting software. intelli-studio also facilitates the process of uploading users' content to popular video‑sharing Web sites. For added convenience, a one-touch "upload" button, available directly on the SMX-C14 and SMX-C10, provides a direct connection to YouTube™, further reducing the number of steps needed to upload footage. In addition, the camcorders also allow basic on-camera editing, including the ability to merge and split video files.

Samsung also enhances the video recording experience for end-users thanks to several unique features, including time-lapse recording, animated thumbnails and a versatile charging system. Time-lapse recording allows users to program the camcorder to record at a pre-set interval of one image every one, three, five, 10, 15 or 30 seconds. Time-lapse recording is especially useful for condensing extremely long events, such as rolling clouds on a sunny day, into a short, easy‑to-view video.

Samsung's animated thumbnail feature simplifies the way users search for video clips on the SMX-C14 and SMX-C10. Each video clip saved on the camcorder is represented by a small thumbnail on the LCD screen. When scrolling through one's videos, each thumbnail will provide a short playback of the video file when highlighted by the user. The SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 also feature a versatile charging system. Users can either recharge the battery by connecting the camcorder to the supplied AC adapter or via USB while the camcorder is connected to a computer.

The SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 will be available in July 2009.

[Samsung]

As we already knew from our hands-on, it looks lickable. Head to Pre Thinking for the complete gallery, all taken through the Palm Pre emulator. [Pre Thinking]

Fine! This video further vindicates Samsung's choice to design the I7500 in the tradition of their handsome SGH feature phones, rather than like the Instinct, a literal brick.

The inclusion of Android 1.5 "Cupcake" is no surprise, and nothing distinctly new is discovered, but the video does help give us the sense of where the I7500 will stand at launch. It'll fare well in the broader cellphone wars, because, well, it's a new, high-spec Android handset . In the smaller war against other Android-laden phones—basically a battle of hardware minutiae—it will fare equally well, with a comparatively attractive screen, storage and camera features. Disappointingly, this war's theater is European, so all we can do is watch. [Tinhte via Android Community via Slashphone] —Voiceover by Android Community

The app costs $3 and is just designed to interface with Google Voice. You can dial directly out from your GV number (either using the dialpad or through your normal iPhone contacts list), send texts from your GV number, and access your GV number's voicemail.

Text and calls go through properly and voicemail is as close an approximation of your iPhone's visual voicemail as it gets. Fairly accurate transcripts of your voicemails can be sent via text to your phone as well. History is funky, however, since it shows "Unknown" for all my calls. You can control which phone numbers incoming calls dial, and also which phone you want to "call out" from.

If you're a Google Voice user, the $3 is well worth it to be able to text and call from behind another number. It allows you a layer of privacy, so that people don't know your real number and you can block callers from the main Google interface. The only thing left is to wait for Google Voice to open up to the public.

There's also a free version that allows you to just dialing, which is good enough for most people. The pay version is here.

It starts at $700 but tricking it out with a Blu-ray drive, Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics and 750GB HDD bring it up to just north of $1200. So as much as Dell designers weren't born for the camera, on the surface, it can be a nice all-in-one for the money. Correction: Originally said that blinged configuration cost a meager $999—it's a little pricier than that, obviously. [Dell]

All three sizes of the ProBook s-series will offer either an AMD or an Intel processor, SD card reader, optional Blu-Ray drive, and HDMI out for presentations. The two larger models offer a numeric keypad as well, which is always a nice thing to see for the number-crunchers. They also allow the choice of having Linux pre-installed instead of Windows Vista, which might be a first for HP, and come with the somewhat surprising option of a ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics card, in case you want to do a little low-level gaming instead of working.

HP hasn't offered concrete pricing or availability information, but we do know that the ProBooks will start at $529 and be released soon, probably in June. Oh, and they're available in both "noir" and "merlot," because French names are classy and businesspeople like wine, right? [HP's Press Release, Gallery]