It’s no mystery that Palm hasn’t been on the top of most mobile phone shoppers even though they have consistently produced some decent handsets in recent years. The fact that their phones were a bit boring in appearance was reason enough that there was never much buzz about their newest phones, until now. At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, Palm introduced their entry into the touchscreen handset market with quite some fanfare. But will it be enough to change this company’s future as a player in mobile phones?

To look at the Pre’s specs you’ll see that it comes with some pretty impressive features. It doesn’t have the largest screen when it comes to mobile phones, but at 3.1 inches it’s adequately large as well as bright and clear. For those that are heavily into texting, you’ll like the fact that it does have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, so you can be all thumbs without being ‘all-thumbs’. Yes, this is a 3G phone that also has Wi-Fi capabilities as well as TeleNav GPS, and to make this phone a contender in this ever-expanding phone category, it was needed.

Currently the Pre is reported to only come in a one size model, 8GB which is not bad, but other phones on the market already offer more storage. As well, it can not accommodate expandable memory either, which seems to be a bit of a non-starter for some people. On the upside the Pre does have a 3MP camera as well as stereo Bluetooth connectivity. We can pretty much expect that it does have a music player, but there’s no word on an FM tuner or satellite radio support. If it’s entertainment features are as good as we hope, then this will be a popular phone to have.

Overall the Palm Pre is a really sleek-looking phone with plenty of features to like, but we’ll have to see what the customers will have to say about when it comes to market sometime in the first half of this year. The Palm Pre will be available through Sprint with a contract of course, but with Sprint’s flat-rate monthly fee you won’t get any unsuspectingly large bills. So, for now Palm is grooving on the buzz that this phone is producing, and we hope that this is just the beginning.

Sanyo Katana DLX 8500 Champagne Phone (Sprint)

If you’re always on the lookout for a unique phone, then you’ll be interested in checking out this Sanyo phone with its sleek look and rare champagne finish. This is the latest generation of the the Katana line of phones, and it will please the style conscious as well as the feature fans. With features like a 1.3 megapixel camera for still images and video, Bluetooth connectivity, speakerphone and audio player the DLX 8500 has everything you need with a price so low that it may be hard to pass up. With EV-DO mobile broadband compatibility, you’ll be able to download and stream high-quality video of news, sports, and entertainment straight to the Katana DLX 8500 and your favorite songs from the Sprint Music Store. If you’re looking for a feature loaded mobile phone in an ultra-thin design with an extremely low price, then buy the Sanyo Katana DLX 8500 and do more than talk on your phone.