The release of Palm’s new Pre was received with great enthusiasm at the International Consumer Electronics Show. The device was presented by the company’s Director of Product Marketing, Mr. Paul Cousineau, who even though did not allow visitors or journalists to touch the Pre, gave all the needed details about the phone.

Its size when closed is a bit smaller than the iPhone, while opened the device is a little bigger than a BlackBerry Bold. The touchscreen allows users to pinch and expand photos and also Web pages, providing access to menus, toolbars, applications, go back, or advance. The screen is extremely sharp with its half-VGA resolution (320 x 480).

The phone’s operating system appears to work perfectly, showing no signs of lag. Its full QWERTY keyboard is another plus for the device, as users appear to be attracted to the devices with physical buttons. The Pre provides integrated Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 (also with support for stereo Bluetooth), and EV-DO Rev. A. Users have 8 Giga Bytes of storage, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and high-speed USB 2.0.

"We think it's perfectly balanced," said Palm CEO Ed Colligan during the presentation.  "It's not just for work, it's not just for play. ... We think it's the one phone you can use for your entire life," he added, referring to the segment chosen by the company, as it targets the market left out by the iPhone and the BlackBerry, each focused on different things - fun and media for Apple and business for Research in Motion.