Given the devices’ UK launch today I’ve republished and updated this JtBP review for your perusal…

For once the hottest smartphone on the planet isn’t made by Apple. Even more incredibly it’s made by Palm, the comeback kid so far of 2009.  On TrustedReviews I have already guided you through the wonderful plus points of this handset but could there be any good reasons not to be buy it?

Read the Rules if you aren’t familiar with my already seemingly cult and contentious reviews’ system. In short, with JtBP I save the gushing praise for every other review you’ll read and bring you the bullet points on any potential deal breakers with something before you commit to the long winded waffle on your favourite sites/publications. It’s a time saver.

After I managed to grab more than an hour with this stunner here’s the JtBP review:

Palm Pre in the wild

Just the Bad Points Review: Palm Pre

• It may be superbly innovative but at 138g the Palm Pre isn’t light
• The 3MP camera has above average image processing, but it hardly competes with dedicated camera phones
• The Palm Pre ‘App Catalog’ has made a slow start to life with very few apps and teething problems launching paid apps.
• The Pre is not compatible with previous Palm third party apps
• Lacking business support (office document compatibility, editing, etc) though Microsoft Exchange is there
• Battery life is poor with heavy use requiring two charges per day
• Build quality isn’t great with a cheap plastic finish and wobbling sliding mechanism
• The keyboard is neat, but the keys too compact if you have large fingers.
• No microSD/SDHC slot limiting you to 8GB of onboard memory. Why oh why?
• Video recording functionality is not ready in time for launch

Apologies to all for the lack of updates since my arrival at CES this week. As you might expect it has been manic and TrustedReviews has to take priority but you can see the vast array of stories that Riyad, Andy and I have been producing on our dedicated CES page.

Highlight so far?

That’s easy. Surpassing every expectation was the Palm Pre and the company’s stunning new Web OS mobile platform. In short it takes the best of Android, mobile OS X and the INQ1 and combines it with some genuinely innovative features. Palm shares rose an incredible 35 per cent following the unveiling, if that doesn’t say people are impressed I don’t know what does. Here’s the full write-up.

Biggest Disappointment?

The Sony and Microsoft keynotes were both dull as dishwater and we didn’t get much of a look at Windows 7 but with the public beta now available that doesn’t matter too much.

Honourable mentions?

In truth, they tend to fall in line with my CES Preview: affordable SSDs (OCZ and SanDisk are leading the way at present), ultra slim HDTVs (Samsung, Sharp, Panasonic and more take a bow) plus the Sony P Series netbook for daring to try and do something different with this much-of-a-muchness category (even if using Vista as the OS when picking an Atom CPU is complete madness).

I’ll be back with more soon and I’ll also see if I can get you gets the very first JtBP review of the Palm Pre as an apology for the lack of updates.

Pre-guessing a major consumer electronics event can be akin to shooting in the dark but I’m going to take a brief stab at it.

I’ll be jetting off on Tuesday to Las Vegas to begin my coverage of CES for TrustedReviews and I’m beginning to spot a few trends I expect to see built upon in those huge halls at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). Most notably LED panels in both monitors and TVs, further refinement in the netbook sector and finally the emergence of affordable solid state hard drives (SSDs) for laptops.

The indicators are already out. Last week LG announced the world’s thinnest LED High Definition TV only to see Samsung a few days later claim it will produce a model more than 3x thinner.

In the meantime PQI has joined this we-can’t-keep-our-lips-shut club to proclaim a range of wallet friendly SSDs with capacities up to 128GB. This is more than enough for the average user, especially when combined with the technology’s significant benefits (faster performance, greater durability, silent running, zero heat build up and lower energy requirements).

Then comes the cert: yet another flourish in the sardine-crammed netbook sector. With most manufacturers onto generation three we should find slimmer, more portable and more powerful machines than ever before. Many likely to carry onboard HSDPA along with the ability to playback HD content, making them mini-media centres for one and all.

The common theme in this diverse trio? Thin and light. Essentially CES 2009 looks set to build on technologies we’ve long had (LED backlighting, solid state drives, HSDPA, HDMI, portable laptops) but push them into ever more convenient forms.

TVs will be wall mounted in the future more often than not, our primary PCs will go everywhere with us and our components will be faster, stronger and more efficient than ever before. Heck, even the neck and neck hot tips for the overlapping MacWorld are between an even smaller Mac Mini or a Mac netbook and you know what they say about where Apple goes?!

It’s the battle of thin and light people, get ready to enjoy it…