The Palm Pre 2 will soon be available from Verizon Wireless (can be pre-ordered now), but the HP Pre 3 is the WebOS smartphone that truly represents the new beginning for WebOS as far as embracing mobile professionals is concerned.

Where the Pre 2 offers a 3.1-inch HVGA screen, the Pre 3 offers a 3.6-inch WVGA screen. That’s in line with other smartphones targeting mobile professionals. Other key specs include a 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor, 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p HD video recording, VGA front-facing camera, 512MB RAM, as well as 8/16GB internal memory. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi Wireless-N, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR as well as Wi-Fi Mobile HotSpot functionality for up to five devices. The HP Pre 3 also offers dual-mic noise cancellation for improved voice quality.

If you happen to buy the HP TouchPad, the Pre 3 will offer Touch-to-share with that device. HP says you’ll be able to simply tap your Pre 3 phone to the TouchPad to share Web addresses between devices. A Touchstone charger that is sold separately also supports WebOS 2.0′s Exhibition feature, which lets you use specifically designed apps while charging the phone (such as accessing the phone’s calendar). Additionally, the HP Pre 3′s Web browser supports Flash Player 10.1 beta.

Read the full story on Info Sync World

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• Palm Pre 2 vs. HP Pre 3: what’s changed? (engadget.com)

Nearly four months since the initial “in the coming months” Pre 2 announcement, the long-delayed Verizon Pre 2 will finally hits the market today, February 10th.

This quiet bit of news, straight from the mouth of Jon Rubinstein via yesterdays webOS event, is especially ironic considering that the long-awaited iPhone 4 hits Verizon stores on the exact same day. No word as of yet on pricing but last week’s reported $100 on 2-yr contract figure seems to be just about right. It’s unclear whether or not the free wi-fi hotspot feature found on the existing Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will be maintained with the Pre 2.

Read the full story on Palm Info Center

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• No Web OS 2.0 for Palm Pre, Pixi, or Plus devices (venturebeat.com)

PreCentral is running a piece from an anonymous tipster which includes a few screenshots and some brief initial impressions of the AT&T Pre Plus. The Pre Plus in question is running WebOS 1.4.2 and the AT&T Pre Plus is reportedly subjectively faster than the similar Verizon Pre Plus.

Barring any last-minute surprise spec bumps, the only two major remaining unknown factors are the devices’ release date and pricing. Speculation for the AT&T webOS launch has ranged from May 10th per FCC documentation research to the 14th to the 16th. At any rate, it appears nearly certain that the official AT&T launch for the WebOS twins is imminent at some point later this month.

Source: Palm Info Center

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• AT&T will release the Palm Pre Plus and the 3G MicroCell on May 16 (mobilecrunch.com)

Can Palm turn itself around by raising more cash and tweaking its strategy? The only promise for Palm’s future is a buyout. And the only buyer that makes sense is BlackBerry maker Research In Motion.

Many attribute Palm’s failure to bad decisions. There was the WebOS operating system that was open to only a limited number of developers initially. There was the wrong choice of first carrier in Sprint. And there was the bad launch timing of the Palm Pre Plus with Verizon Wireless right after the launch of the Google-powered Droid as well as some manufacturing and design issues.

Whatever the reasons for its failure, it’s chances of catching up again without an acquisition are slim.

Read the full story on NY TImes

Palm could be asking a fan of its Pre mobile and webOS platform for advice after he made a professional-looking ad for the phone that many believe to be superior to the official campaign. His labour of love has already gained plenty of attention on social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter and has been attracting thousands of hits on YouTube.

the Palm Pre Plus is now up against the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700 in Laptop Magazine’s March Smart Phone Madness contest. Let’s help give Palm some good news to write about and push them into the Final Four.

Source: ZD Net

To attract more customers, VZW even floated the BOGO offer where the Pre Plus could be taken for free on the Pixi Plus purchase. The current listed price for the VZW Palm Pre Plus is a shocking $30 which tells you the entire story.

The BOGO offer also couldn’t do much good for VZW and hence the prices had to be dropped severely. The Pre Plus was available for $70 a couple of weeks ago at Walmart and at that time, no one expected an ‘amusing’ $40 further price drop. Even Amazon has listed the Pre Plus for $39.99 on a two-year contract.

Source: Device Mag

A video review of the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi Plus webos smartphone on Verizon.

Source: 7touchgroup

Verizon Wireless has jettisoned its $100 mail-in rebate requirements for its Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus smartphones, possibly smoothing the way for shoppers to snap up the gadgets.

The Pre Plus is now available for $149.99 and the Pixi Plus is going for $79.99. The devices in January were introduced at $149.99 and $99.99, respectively, after a $100 mail-in rebate.

Source: Kansas City

Wood TV has a review of the New Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus. Here are the highlights:
These phones are magical. That’s right. With the push of a button your phone becomes a WiFi hotspot. The utility of being able to turn your phone into a WiFi hotspot is amazing.

No other phone has ever had this capability offered at retail. You can tether other phones to your laptop via a USB cable or Bluetooth, but the software on the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus turns your phone into a WiFi network.

I tested it out in the food court in the middle of one of the local malls. Where there was not other WiFi network present, I connected to the Pixi Plus’ network without a hitch and was able to check email and do some light browsing. I had two friends with me, who were also able to browse without an issue.

The App Catalog has grown. At the launch of the original Pre, there were just 30 apps. Fast forward to December of 2009 when I reviewed the Pixi, 774 apps were cataloged. As of this writing, there are now 1,516 apps. This number is likely to grow as Palm has released a more developer-friendly set of tools for writing apps. The 100,000+ apps of Apple’s App Store, and the tens of thousands of apps in Google’s Android Marketplace overshadow the small number in the App Catalog.

The screen sizes and resolutions are identical to the non-plussed counterparts. That means the Pre Plus sports a 480×320 resolution and the Pixi Plus has only a 400×320. From the original Pixi review: “At first glance, 80 pixels may not seem like that many, but it’s really noticeable. Cycle through to one of the images that shows the comparison of how much you’re losing on the Pixi compared to the Pre to see just what I’m talking about.”