CrunchGear revealed Radio Shack Black Friday ad and they will have the:
Palm Pixi Cell Phone (w/2-Year Agreement) – $99.99
Palm Pre Cell Phone (w/2-Year Agreement) – $99.99

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MobileCrunch has a review of the Palm Pixi, here are the highlights:

What we like:

The build quality is outstanding. It’s one of very few candybar phones I enjoy holding.
Generally, webOS as an operating system is the pinnacle example of user experience. It is (usually) functional and gorgeous without sacrifice, and we’ve got hope Palm can de-suck the Pixi by fixing the lag issues.
The keyboard blows the Pre’s out of the water
Multi-touch in the browser
Sprint Navigation is included in the price of data, and it’s pretty solid. It’s essentially the same powered-by-Telenav navigation app you’ll find on other phones.
The design of the webOS IM/messaging system is fantastic

What we don’t:

No Wifi
Lag. Lots and lots of lag, throughout the entire OS. Hopefully they can fix this with an update, because it’s incredibly distracting.
The new Facebook application is lacking, as is the Youtube client.
The App Catalog is far too limited
The battery cover is way too difficult to pull off, and the cover over the microUSB data/charging port makes me want to smash.
No video recording

Who should buy it: Anyone coming from an LG Envy, Samsung Alias, or other such messaging-oriented feature phone who wants a bit more functionality without diving into a more expensive and more complex smartphone. Sprint’s got some of the cheapest pricing when it comes to plans – this $99 smartphone is $500-$1100 cheaper than a $99 smartphone on AT&T or Verizon in the 24-month long run. If I had a early/mid-teenage sibling or kid, I could give them this without feeling like I was giving them junk that they’ll hate in 6 months.

Who shouldn’t buy it: Anyone looking for a fully capable smartphone. I love this operating system to pieces, but the lag, the lack of applications, and the absence of WiFi keeps me from ever recommending this phone to anyone who needs it for much more than texting, casual browsing, and growing into a full-fledged smartphone.

AppCatalog · Facebook · Handhelds · Operating system · Palm App Catalog · Palm OS · Smartphone · WebOS

Online phone retailer Wirefly is launching the Palm Pixi at a price lower than you’ll find anywhere else: $24.95 for new contract customers. Current Sprint customers won’t left out in the cold either – they’ll be able to pick up the Pixi from Wirefly for a mere $99.99 with a renewed contract. Both new customers and current Sprint subscribers will be treated to a rebate-free experience.

[Source: Pre Central]

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While we are still waiting for the Pre and the Pixi to come to Verizon, here is the Pixi ad:

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The Palm Pre’s little brother, the Palm Pixi, is due to hit the market this Sunday, November 15th, and retailers are already offering the phone at discounted prices.
The Palm Pixi will be Sprint’s second webOS-powered smartphone. It features the same touchscreen and gesture-support that came with the Palm Pre. However, screen size is smaller at 2.6 inches as it has a slate-style QWERTY keyboard, compared to the Palm Pre’s slide out keyboard.

Other features include a; 2-megapixel camera, GPS, 3G data, 3.5mm headphone jack, and 8GB of onboard storage. The Pixi does not come with WiFi, but as long as you’re within reach of Sprint’s network, you’ll get 3G data speeds.

If you get the phone on Sprint, it will cost $99.99 on a two-year contract with a $100 mail-in rebate, but there are already better deals out there.

Walmart’s partner LetsTalk.com is offering the phone for $30 for a two-year contract without the mail-in rebate Sprint asks for. The only catch is that this needs to be a new contract, not an upgrade.

[Source: ibtimes]

Handhelds · Palm OS · PalmPixi · PalmPre · Smartphone · Sprint · Touchscreen · WebOS

webOS 1.3.1 is now available on the Palm Pre and will be available on the Palm Pixi.

• Yahoo! now appears as a Calendar/Contacts/instant messaging synchronization account.
• You can forward a text or multimedia message by tapping the message > Forward.
• A new option is available for restarting the phone: press and hold power > Power > Restart. The prior restart method (Device Info > Reset Options > Restart) is still available.
• Widescreen videos (including YouTube) now display in widescreen mode on the phone by default, instead of being cropped.
• If you tap to play a YouTube video embedded on a web page, the YouTube application launches and the video plays in the app.
• You can select a unique ringtone for new message alerts: Open Messaging > application menu > Preferences & Accounts > Sound > Ringtone.
• While listening to a song with album art displayed, you can tap the screen below the art to display a playback slider. Dragging the slider jumps forward or backward in the song.

[Source: Engadget]

Engadget · PalmPixi · PalmPre · Video · Web page · WebOS · yahoo · YouTube

Palm shares are on the rise again with renewed speculation that cell phone giant Nokia is interested in acquiring the Sunnyvale company.

Palm’s shares have risen about 9 percent today to about $12.50 a share. It’s unclear that there is anything new to the Nokia rumor, which has surfaced before.

In late September, Palm’s shares hit an almost two-year high when the Nokia talk surfaced. Palm’s stock peaked above $17 a share before subsiding.

There is differing opinion about whether it makes sense for Nokia to buy Palm. Nokia already owns a commanding lead in the global smart phone market with its devices based on the Symbian operating system. It’s also developing a new Linux-based operating system called Maemo that could vault it into the smart phone market in the U.S.

Nokia, however, might see the much lauded Palm webOS as a way to jump ahead, especially in the U.S. where Nokia is a minor presence. The Palm webOS is a very good modern operating system that, with the right support, is a legitimate challenger to the iPhone OS.

So, we’ll see if Palm can hold out any longer. They just released the Palm Pixi, the follow up to the Palm Pre. And Palm is slated to release the Palm Pre on more U.S. carriers early next year including Verizon Wireless. With the iPhone and BlackBerry still strong and Android coming on in a hurry, Palm may need the backing of a bigger company to compete.

[source: SF Gate]

Nokia

Pre Central has a great review of the Palm Pixi, we can’t wait for the Pixi to come to Verizon:

The $99 Palm Pixi will be unleashed upon the world this Sunday and after using one full-time for two days, I can say it’s a great smartphone for anybody who hasn’t made the jump past feature phones. The Pixi comes in a tiny, almost bite-able form-factor that’s immediately appealing — all the more so because inside that little frame is the elegance and power of webOS.

For current smartphone owners, however, there are a few compromises that, all combined, lead me to suggest that most those interested in webOS should still opt for the more powerful Pre.

The Pixi is Palm’s best attempt yet to broaden their base of smartphone users by picking up former feature-phone users. Its competition isn’t meant to be so much the iPhone 3GS, the Droid, or even the Pre – though in reality, of course, they are a healthy part of the competition. Palm wants to position it more as a killer of the ‘near-smartphones’ out there, your Samsung Instincts and LG Rumors and whatnot. By that metric, the Pixi absolutely wins.

The Pixi is a good phone for anybody looking to step up to a their first smartphone without breaking the bank. As a phone for SMS, IM, some Facebook, and web browsing, it’s great and stands well above any non-smartphone or ‘near-smartphone.’ Centro owners: You are going to love this phone.

Should Pre owners switch to the Pixi?
No.

Conclusion

Now that I’ve worked all of the gripes out of my system, it’s time to come back to the main thing. The Pixi is a marvel of a little smartphone. It’s tiny, fun, and does more than a lot of phones at its price. That price is just very close to the ever-lowering cost of high-end smartphones.

If the Pre didn’t woo Palm Centro owners, the Pixi has a much better shot. The only question is whether or not it will achieve its real goal: winning new users who have never used a smartphone. I think it has a shot.

Pros:
Small
No, seriously, it’s small!
Only $99
webOS 1.3.1
Cons:
No WiFi
Slightly slower than the Pre
Slightly smaller screen than the Pre

Facebook · Handhelds · iPhone · Palm Centro · Palm Pre · PalmPixi · Smartphone · WebOS

With the Palm Pre going for $99 in Canada and the awesome HTC DROID Eris selling for $99 on Verizon, is anyone really going to spring for a $99-priced Palm Pixi?

Pictures from BGR:

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While Flash will not be included in webOS 1.3.1 (despite the groundwork currently being laid), there does seem to be a timetable out there. Adobe delivered Flash 10.1 for mobile to manufacturers last month, and now they want you to know that it should land on webOS devices in the first half of next year.

Users have reported getting the above message when they click on links to Flash videos or got to Adobe’s Flash website. Amusingly, iPhone users are also greeted with a message when they visit the Flash page, though it’s not quite as encouraging.

[source: Pre Central]

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