Palm Pre clone spotted

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Comments Posted on Oct 09, 2009 Posted by Song Jiang

The Palm has only been available in the West for a matter of a few months, plenty of time for an ambitious shanzhai manufacturer to get his act together and design his own version. Details are thin on the ground regarding exactly who is behind it, but apparently the price point is a cool 600 RMB, or about 88 dollars US. Any takers?

Marketed in China as a half iPhone, half Blackberry device, this Pre clone is apparently loyal to the original in terms of dimensions and weight, although the buttons on the front are a little different. Looking at the images it appears to sport a relatively sophisticated iPhone-ish OS, which I'm guessing is the latest Ophone OS, surely reaching some level of maturity by now.

Analysis:

The Palm Pre clone was destined to arrive some day soon, and this first attempt is not too far off. It could well be the result of months of reverse engineering and tweaking, and I bet it heralds the start of a Palm Pre clone avalanche, i.e. you're going to see many more of these in months to come, hopefully getting closer to the quality of the original with each iteration.

Conclusions:

The combination of iPhone touchy-ness combined with a hardware keyboard may, or may not be a winner on the Mainland. Either way Palm Pre clones will be a winner. Smart clone phones still take considerable investment I bet, but at these prices points that investment that will eventually pay off.

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