Technology continues to amaze us, with innovation sprouting left and right. Sprouting, actually, is an appropriate term, as I think about the ways that these new technologies aid in moving towards a greener future.

Palm has recently revealed their upcoming Palm® Pre™ phone, and I started thinking about how mobile devices (such as this) help better the environment.

See, the Pre™ is like similar gadgets like the iPhone and the Blackberry, combining an organization tool with a telephone, email, and internet. But it’s taking things a step further for those, especially who have to balance everything together.

Calendars, contacts, messages, and information are at your fingertips, yes, but it combines everything – all areas – into one. So if you have your personal appointments logged into Outlook, business information in Google, and social calendar in Facebook, it brings them all together, making it a lot easier to balance your life.

Email and Internet are still there. So is GPS, notifications, messages… Everything that goes on in your life is packed and organized for you, conveniently and easily.

But because of all of the extra features, the Pre™ can nearly replace a home computer. A lot of people us their PC just for email and simple web searches. With the Pre™, these two things are done with ease – and can just as easily become your main source of technology.

The  Pre™ features what Palm calls “an incredibly fast browser” combining the wonder of the internet with their built-in applications. Palms gives the example of buying movie tickets; purchase them on the browser, and the times automatically are added into your calendar. With this integration is available, no one will even want to use their PC anymore.

As I mentioned, most people also use their computer just for quick searches. I seldom pick up the phone book anymore, or even use my Roledex (yes, I have one) for address and contacts. I just type it in Google, and they are there for me. The  Pre™ features a Universal Search, an all-in-one system that searches your contacts, applications, Google, and even Wikipedia. This saves time (something we all tend to savour these days), but also other things: less energy, from using a home computer, less waste, by not having to have a phone book, and saves you money, from investing in other forms of contact organization.

It also features Synergy, a combined messaging program that keeps all conversations together from the same people (regardless of if they were instant messaged, texted, or emailed. So many times I’ve emailed from various emails or dropped a quick IM, and fished around to find out where all my messages went. Synergy easily keeps this clean.

Mobile devices also lend their hand in aiding to the environment anyway. How? It (inadvertently, probably) promotes public transit.

My wife, for example, works in the city – we live on the outskirts. She used to drive 45 minutes, to and from work, when traffic is optimal. Needless to say, she sometimes takes a couple hours to get home in the evening. For her job as lawyer, this is time well-wasted. Since starting a commute (about an hour each way, starting from a three minute walk from the house), she has time, using her mobile device, to communicate with work, type up short reminders and memos and stay in the loop (without causing a potential car crash). And the extra two hours of work she gets done? She’s not doing it later at home – leaving more time for the family.

A side note – most people are so addicted to their handheld that these extra two hours of furious thumb typing sounds quite intriguing, doesn’t it? What’s great about the  Pre™ is the slide-out keyboard, a little more convenient to be able to jot down points, reminders, and replies, than smaller ones. The widescreen also allows for a little extra room for an easier visual on the eyes.

Alternatively, laptop users can tether the Pre™ to their laptop. Commuters, or even those who prefer to work out of the home (like at a coffee shop), can easily plug their laptop into their Palm, and can get the work done via the laptop connected to the built in wireless internet.

I look forward to the Palm® Pre™ for a fresh update on my old one if the price is right (they still aren’t listing it). And I do believe that the advent of an increasing numbers of these all-in-one mobile devices are better for the environment then we might think.

Do you find your phone gives back a little more when you think about it? Tell me – chances are, my hypothesis is right.

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