Palm this afternoon sent an invite to members of the press to attend a keynote on January 7th, the first official day of CES. The company has provided no clues as to what it’s expected to release other than “new” developments. Last year was the company’s first CES keynote in a long time and saw the introduction of webOS and the Pre, both of which were key to revitalizing the struggling phone maker’s business.
Likely candidates for new introductions are a new phone model as well as adaptations of the Pixi or Pre for other carriers, including a Pixi with Wi-Fi for Verizon and other devices that end Sprint’s exclusivity in the US. A major webOS update is also a possibility and could address some of the remaining criticisms for the platform, such as its lack of 3D games and other truly native apps.

Source Electronista

Handhelds · Palm OS · PalmPixi · PalmPre · Sprint · Verizon Communications · WebOS · Wi-Fi

Palm demonstrates webOS platform and UI on the new Pre smartphone.

Engadget · Handhelds · Palm · Palm OS · PalmPre · Unix and Linux · Video Games · WebOS

Finally some good Palm-Verizon news for us:
A second CDMA-flavored Palm Pixi just cleared the FCC and we can say with confidence it’s not coming to Sprint this time around. Better yet, Palm’s model P121EWW matches up with that P121 code we saw leaked a while back for Big Red (Sprint’s model is P120EWW), and this one got tested for 802.11b/g WiFi.

Source: Engadget

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• Sprint touts Palm Pixi’s nonexistent WiFi (engadget.com)

Handhelds · Palm · Palm OS · PalmPixi · pixi · Sprint Nextel · Verizon Communications · Wi-Fi

PhoneDog’s Adriana Lee had the unique opportunity of messing with the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi in the same video session. She compared both devices in a 10 minute dogfight, that can be checked out in the video below. Slim candybar phone meets the original slider. Who wins?

Source: GSM Dome

Handhelds · Mobile phone form factors · Palm OS · Palm Pre · PalmPixi · Shareware · Unix and Linux · WebOS

A Palm Pre user is suing Palm and Sprint Nextel, alleging they caused him to lose most of the data from his phone, and he wants to turn the suit into a class action.

The suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in San Jose, is the latest black eye for the Palm Profile cloud-based synchronization service, which debuted with the company’s webOS on the Pre earlier this year. Palm and Sprint last month said “a small number of customers” had had trouble transferring their data from Palm Profiles to new Palm devices and that they were working on a solution.

Read the full story on PC Magazine

Handhelds · Palm · Palm OS · Palm Pre · Palm Profile · Sprint Nextel · United States District Court for the Northern District of California · WebOS

Checkout Pre Central round table about the Palm Pre and the webOS; here is a highlight:
What was the most important event for Palm in the last six months, and what will be the most important in the next six months?

Craig: There has been no single big event from Palm since the the Pre was introduced but there are dozens from the user community. In July, WebOS Quick Install and fileCoaster threw open the door to homebrew apps like Solitaire and Checkers but none rocked like Music Player (Remix). Then came Preware and our world exploded. In September themes and patches came to the masess and suddenly our Pre phones could do almost anything. Oh, and somewhere along the way Palm released some updates and the Pixi.

Hopefully the biggest events ahead for Palm will be incorporating user patches and introducing the Pre 2. Imagine if Palm incorporated key user patches in one area each month: Messaging, Email, Phone, App Launcher, Browser, and Top Bar. Add in the Music Player (Remix) and the Pre and Pixi would suddenly have world-class apps, users would be a buzz, and the pundits would be blown away. Users could provide an endless source of patches. But if fragile Palm egos prevail, the Pre 2 will be irrelavent.

Derek: More important than the Pre launch in the long term will be the Pixi. Despite what Palm keeps saying, the Pre is a smartphone for smartphone geeks. The Pixi, however, has much more mass-market appeal, ala the Centro. In the 18 months after Palm launched the Centro they sold more than three million units, which is an awful lot for Palm. The hope, and expectation, is that the Pixi will replicate that success. Like the Centro, it’s the smallest smartphone on the market. Like the Centro, it’s a scaled down version of its big brother, the Pre. Like the Centro, it’s a new smartphone at a very attractive price-point: $100. And like the Centro, it’s an approachable cute phone. Assuming that Sprint’s exclusivity on the Pixi isn’t too long (they don’t seem to be making a big marketing push behind it), the Pixi’s eventual landing on multiple carriers will make it a serious contender in the mass-appeal smartphone market.

While the Pixi’s launch may be the most important of the last six months, the next six months will be all about webOS and the successor to the Pre. While I have absolutely no evidence apart from industry trends to back up this assertion, I believe that summer 2010 will bring both the Pre II and webOS 2.0. Assuming that the Pixi performs as well as we expect, Palm will be well positioned for an iPhone-style global launch of the Pre II. What makes the hypothetical Pre II important is that it will demonstrate whether or not Palm has learned lessons on the hardware front. Software is easy enough to correct, but once the physical phone is out there, there’s nothing that can be done to correct design deficiencies. The Pixi has shown that Palm does indeed know how to design a solid phone, but it remains to be seen whether that will be a fluke or the start of a trend.

Handhelds · iPhone · Palm · Palm OS · Palm Pre · pixi · Smartphone · WebOS

One serious flaw that the WebOs has and many will probably attest to is the fact that there’s a memory storage cap on apps, and this applies to both webOS-enabled device – the Palm Pre and Pixi. Android doesn’t have one and even more so the iPhone. However, this may soon change once webOS 1.3.5 hits the scene. This webOS firmware update is the solution every Palm Pre users out there has been waiting for which will finally lift the storage limit on apps. As to when this will be released, nobody knows for sure, but given that Palm webOS 1.3.1 is out and about already, it should be just around the corner.

Source: PMP Today

android · Firmware · Handhelds · iPhone · Palm OS · PalmPre · Smartphone · WebOS

Best Buy doorbuster special deals have just gone live and one of the special Black Friday 2009 deals includes the Sprint Palm Pre.

You can buy the Sprint Palm Pre on Black Friday for only $79.99, at the moment when you shop Best Buy is offering the Palm Pre for $149.99 so just sit back and wait until Black Friday and get it a lot cheaper.

The special doorbusters special price will be available in stores November 27 and online on November 26, you will get it for the low price mentioned above after savings with an upgraded or new 2-year agreement with Sprint and activation through Best Buy.

[Source: Phones Review]

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Consumer Reports recently released their annual top products list, which had 398 items. The Palm Pre is on the smartphone section. The Pre was given a score of 67, while the first place had a 73.
The low score was taken by the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 on Sprint, with a 59. That puts the Palm Pre right in the middle, which by the way, has the old sticker price of $200. If they had use the newer price, the Pre could have gained some extra points.

[Source: My Pre]

Blackberry · BlackBerry Pearl · Handhelds · Palm OS · PalmPre · Smartphone · Sprint · Video Games

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.

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