Palm Pre hands-on: video

In this video, get a close-up look at Palm's Pre: the company's Linux-based attempt to win back the smartphone market and it's answer to Apple's iPhone and Google's Android.

The Palm Pre is a touchscreen phone with a slide-out keyboard than runs WebOS, Palm's long-awaited new operating system, formerly code-named Nova. Sprint will be the exclusive US launch carrier for the Pre, which comes with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a 3.1-inch display, GPS, and 8GB of storage, among other things. Palm did not announce a price for the Pre, but said it should be available in the US some time in the first half of 2009.

Like the Apple's iPhone, Palm's Pre has a single button when the slide-out keyboard is shut. Everything on the screen can be controlled by gestures similar to the ones used on the iPhone, and the homescreen has four icons at the bottom for the most frequently used tasks, such as the phone, e-mail, and calendar.