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

Related articles

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

Hewlett-Packard · iPhone 4 · Jon Rubinstein · palm pixi · Palm Pre 2 · PalmPre · Verizon · Verizon Communications · WebOS

CNN Money has an interview with Palm’s CEO; here are some of the highlights:

The conventional wisdom is that Palm has blown it and either is going to run out of money or get sold or both.

Clearly we’ve hit a speed bump. No question about it. It’s really disappointing, and it’s frustrating. But, the company has tremendous assets.  We’ve got a great team we’ve built over the last couple of years.  Remember this whole thing was a transformation story.  It  wasn’t like we took something that was working and didn’t run it well.  We started off with a company that had no future, and we have been transforming it. We have arguably the best mobile operating system out there. It’s clearly the easiest to use and has the most intuitive user interface. We’ve got good products that get critical acclaim.  It’s in its early stages still, but we’ve got great quality of apps, and new apps coming all the time.  By the time you get this published, we’ll have commerce going in Europe, which is a big milestone for us.  We’ve got good relationships with carriers.

We’ve got all those things going for us, and what we need to do is get more commercial success and get to scale.  And that’s going to take longer than we’d hoped, obviously, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get there.  We do have $590 million in the bank, and we have a plan that carries this company forward. Now, we need to be frugal and we need to invest in those areas that have the best return for us, but when I read that we’re going out of business or our stock is worth zero or those kinds of things, it defies logic to me.

One Wall Street analyst says the [Palm] webOS no longer is a major differentiator because there are enough good mobile operating systems. You obviously disagree.

I would disagree.  Look, webOS, has all the capabilities you’d expect from a world-class smart phone. It does email and messaging. It does Web browsing and video capture.  And then it has some things that most don’t have: capabilities to share and edit video, and immersive 3D gaming.  There’s a whole list of things that you’d expect the top tier to have, and we have those all in webOS. Then we have additional things, like real multitasking. So, if you’re playing 3D games and you want to go check your calendar or email, you can just switch between tasks and come back to your game.  And then if you have multitasking, you really need unobtrusive notifications so that when you’re doing something you can get a notification of what’s going on in the world without interrupting what you’re working on.  We also have a feature called Synergy that gives users the ability to have a single view of their data from various sources in the cloud, from Facebook and LinkedIn and Exchange and Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO). We have universal search, so you just start typing, which goes back to Palm’s original DNA of really minimizing the number of steps you have to take to accomplish it. And it goes on and on.

Please forgive the downer questions, but here’s another …

That’s okay, go ahead.  I’m bummed out too, by things like not taking off at Verizon.  One of the analysts on our earnings call asked if we had launched when Droid launched, and Droid launched when [we] launched at Verizon, would the story have been opposite?  I said I think we have a better product than Droid, and customers would have been happier with it.

Was it a mistake to debut with Sprint in the first place?

Hindsight is always 20/20, but you have to understand that we had a long-term relationship with Sprint. Sprint wanted to do an aggressive launch on webOS.  They were willing to invest significant marketing dollars.   But the quid pro quo for that is that we had to do an exclusive with Sprint. Now, if I sit today and I kind of roll back the clock and go, okay, now if I could have launched in October with Verizon, and done a shorter exclusive with Sprint, and the world would be completely different today, yeah, I mean, that’s easy to say. But you don’t know these things at the time. And Sprint has been a really good partner for Palm.  They continue to be a really good partner for Palm.

Business · Handhelds · Palm · Palm OS · Sprint · Sprint Nextel · Verizon · WebOS

Verizon slashed the cost of its 3G Mobile Hotspot feature for the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus all the way down to $0, effectively giving you a broadband modem for your laptop, iPod touch, and up to three other devices for $60 less per month than you’d pay with a MiFi that accomplishes exactly the same function (and $50 less than any other tether-capable Verizon handset). Here’s Verizon’s official statement on the matter:
“Customers who purchase or upgrade to a Palm Pre and Palm Pixi will get the Mobile Hotspot for free. Existing customers who already have the service will find charges on their next bill will be $0.00.”
Add that in to the fact that the Pre Plus is now $49.99 and the Pixi Plus is now $29.99, both with buy-one-get-one-free deals tacked on.

Source: Engadget

3G Mobile Hotspot · MiFi · palm pixi · Palm Pre · PixiPlus · Pre Plus · Verizon · WebOS

AT&T announced this week that it is going to be offering the Palm Pre Plus in the coming months. This model was on display at the CTIA tradeshow this week, and Bright Hand has a preview for the phone. Here are some of the highlights:
AT&T’s version of this device isn’t going to be dramatically different from the one Verizon released in January. What makes it significant is that it will bring the webOS to a third wireless carrier in the U.S. The Pre Plus offers a 3.1-inch, HVGA, capacitive touchscreen, HSPA 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a sliding keyboard. It is a decent device, but would be better if it had a larger keyboard.

at&t · CTIA · Model · Palm Pre · Palm Pre Plus · United States · Verizon · WebOS

“I coulda been a contender,” said Brando’s character, Terry, a washed-up boxer, lamenting his fate.

Compare that to what Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein said Thursday during his company’s third-quarter results call with analysts:

“If we could have launched at Verizon prior to the Droid, I think we would have gotten the attention the Droid got. And since I believe we have a better product, I think we could have even done better,” Rubinstein said.

Yes, except for that Verizon problem, Palm’s CEO thinks his company “coulda been a contender.”

Of course, customers have decided that Palm doesn’t make a better product, and they made that decision well before the Droid burst onto the market last October. By then, the Pre had been on the market for four months.

CNNMoney.com took note of the company’s plight in a headline that sums up my opinion, too: “Palm’s new price target: $0.”

“Palm’s future already looked bleak,” the financial news site commented. “But after reporting worse than expected results for the third quarter Thursday, some analysts think the company’s stock is now essentially worthless.”

Read the full story on ARN

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• Palm: We coulda been a contender (mobilecrunch.com)

Droid · Handhelds · Jon Rubinstein · Palm · Palm OS · Palm Pre · Verizon · Verizon Communications

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

Source: 7touchgroup

Handhelds · Palm OS · Palm Pre Plus · PalmPixiPlus · PalmPre · pixi · Verizon · WebOS

Palm Pre (and Pixi) Plus users with Verizon—your 1.4 update is now available as well.

Via: Gadgetell

webOS 1.4

Release date: 27 February 2010

New applications

NONE

Feature changes to existing applications

Amazon MP3
When you download a song, the application shows the estimated download time.
If you purchase an album containing two or more identically named songs, Amazon MP3 now downloads all of the songs correctly.

App Catalog
An application developer can feature a video in App Catalog by providing a YouTube URL for the developer’s application. The URL appears as a link on the app details screen. Tapping the link opens the video in the phone’s YouTube application.

Bluetooth
If you create a conference call from two outgoing calls, you can now end the conference call from a headset, if the headset model supports this feature.

Calendar
You can customize calendar notification sounds in Preferences & Accounts. The options include Mute, System Sound, Ringtone, and Vibrate. The Ringtone option includes new notification sounds to give you more customization choices.
With this release, future occurrences of repeating Calendar events consistently appear correctly.
If you create an event and enters a phone number as the event name, location, or description, you can tap the phone number on the event details screen to dial it.
A new Select All application menu item is available when the cursor is in an editable text field.
A new Sync Now application menu item gives you a second way to manually synchronize your calendar accounts (in addition to the Sync Now button in Preferences & Accounts).
This release improves Calendar synchronization performance in poor network coverage areas to optimize battery life. It also increases the default interval for synchronizing with online calendar accounts other than Exchange accounts.
Editing a Google calendar event on the phone no longer sets an email reminder in Google on the web.
This release contains improvements to the visual calendar display, including a clearer indicator of AM and PM and improved current time display.
If you set VZW Navigator as the default application for mapping calendar event addresses, tapping the Event Location > Show On Map application menu item in Calendar correctly launches VZW Navigator.

Camera
You can record video whenever and wherever inspiration strikes with the new camcorder feature in Camera. After recording a video, you can edit the clip in Videos, upload the video directly to YouTube or Facebook, or send the video by email or multimedia message.

Contacts
Global Address Lookup now appears as a contacts search option when you perform a universal search.
If you import a Mac Address Book contact, all contact fields display correctly in the Contacts application.
If you select the Select All application menu item, text in all contact entry fields is selected.
This release improves Contacts synchronization performance in poor network coverage areas to optimize battery life. It also increases the default interval for synchronizing with online contacts accounts other than Exchange accounts.
Email addresses for Yahoo! contacts now have descriptive labels such as Home and Work.
Phone numbers labeled Other for Yahoo! contacts now appear with the Other label in the Contacts application.

Device Info
You now have two partial erase options: Erase Apps & Data, which erases all installed applications and associated data, and Erase USB Drive, which erases files stored on the USB drive.
This release includes a new Secure Full Erase option. A secure full erase takes considerably longer than a regular full erase.

Email
You can customize calendar notification sounds in Preferences & Accounts. The options include Mute, System Sound, Ringtone, and Vibrate. The Ringtone option includes new notification sounds to give you more customization choices.
A new Sort application menu item allows you to sort the message list in any email folder. The sort options are By Date, By Sender, and By Subject. Tapping the currently selected sort option changes the sort from ascending to descending or descending to ascending. Tapping another sort option sorts by that option in ascending order.
When you receive a message with one or more attached files, the first file to be fully downloaded opens automatically.
You can tap a phone number in the subject line of an email message to dial it, or tap a URL in the subject line to open the web browser to that page.
If the message body contains a phone number and you tap and hold the number, a menu appears displaying options to Call, Text, or Add To Contacts (if the number is not already saved in a contact).
If the message body contains an email address and you tap and hold the address, a menu appears displaying options to Email or Add To Contacts (if the email address is not already saved in a contact).
You can sign in to an email account with a domain of up to six letters (such as .museum or .travel).
For POP email accounts, a new preference lets you choose to delete a message on the phone when it is deleted on the server. The default is that messages deleted on the server are not deleted on the phone.
If you forward a message that contains attachments, and the attachments are not downloaded, the Email app first downloads the attachments and then forwards the message with the files attached.
In an Exchange account, if you delete one or more attachments to a received message and then forward the message, the Email app no longer includes the deleted attachments with the forwarded message.
You can successfully move a message from the Trash folder to the Inbox in a Yahoo! account.
If you send a message with an attachment from a Hotmail account to another Hotmail account, the message is sent correctly with the attachment.
If you send an email that contains periods from an SMTP account, the periods display correctly in the recipient’s email application.
If you reply to an email message with a large number of recipients, the reply screen opens scrolled to the message body so you can begin typing the reply text right away.
If you search a Global Address List for a contact in the Email app, the app returns the same set of search results as if you were searching in Contacts.
Special characters display correctly in the subject line of a received message.
If you are working in one application and perform an action that opens the Email application—for example, by tapping an email address in Contacts to compose an email message—when you complete the action, the Email application displays full-screen (not as a card).
This release offers improved account setup for Yahoo and Gmail hosted domains.
You can select and edit text from a message that you are forwarding.
This release includes multiple performance improvements in Email, including improved handling of message replies and forwarded messages and quicker response times to gestures.

Location Services
If you turn off the Use GPS and Use Google Services options under the Locate Me Using application menu item, the Locate Me Using menu item remains available.
Memos

If a memo contains a phone number and you tap and hold the number, a menu appears displaying options to Call, Text, or Add To Contacts (if the number is not already saved in a contact).
If a memo contains an email address and you tap and hold the address, a menu appears displaying options to Email or Add To Contacts (if the email address is not already saved in a contact).

Messaging
You can dial a phone number directly from a conversation by tapping Text or the IM account name displayed in the upper-right corner and tapping the phone icon next to the number you want to dial. Phone numbers include the type of number: home, mobile, and so on.
You can attach a video to an outgoing multimedia message.
You can forward a text or multimedia message via email by tapping and holding the message and tapping Forward Via Email in the menu that appears. The Email application opens in compose view with the message text as the body of the new email message. If the message was a multimedia message, the multimedia message appears in the Subject field of the email, and any attachments from the multimedia message appear as attachments in the email.
If a message contains a phone number and you tap and hold the number, a menu appears displaying options to Call, Text, or Add To Contacts (if the number is not already saved in a contact).
If a message contains an email address and you tap and hold the address, a menu appears displaying options to Email or Add To Contacts (if the email address is not already saved in a contact).
In a conversation, incoming and outgoing messages are labeled with the phone number or IM account used.
You can now send a multimedia message over the Verizon Wireless data network when the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Palm mobile hotspot
After update 1.4, Palm mobile hotspot is available as an application on the Launcher. You no longer need to download the app from App Catalog, and the app is no longer available from App Catalog. Note that Palm mobile hotspot requires a mobile hotspot data feature (available from Verizon Wireless for a monthly fee) that is separate from your phone data plan.
If you turn on Wi-Fi when Palm mobile hotspot is on, Wi-Fi turns on and Palm mobile hotspot turns off.

Phone
Multiple sequential calls to and from the same person are now grouped as a single entry in your call history.
You can tap the contact photo or icon in a call history entry to display options for that entry, including dialing an alternate number, sending a text message, opening a contact, or adding the number as a contact. The expanded display also includes call details such as call length and phone number type.
If you create a conference call from two outgoing calls, you can now end the conference call from a Bluetooth headset, if the headset model supports this feature.
If you access the list of countries from the International Dialing preference, you can search the list by entering the first few letters of a country name.
If you are on a call with a contact, tapping the contact photo on the active call screen no longer opens the contact entry.

Photos
Photos you copy onto the phone now appear correctly rotated in Photos, regardless of their initial rotation.

Screen & Lock
New blink notifications (a blinking light in the gesture area) alert you when email, text message, or other notifications arrive. You clear the blink notification by turning the screen on and off or unlocking the screen. The blink notification preference is on by default; you can turn it off in Screen & Lock > Blink Notifications.
Screen lock now supports any timeout interval assigned by a corporate Exchange system administrator.

Sounds & Ringtones
This release adds new user-selectable notification sounds under Ringtone.

System
This release offers better overall performance, including faster loading time for apps and increased battery life across a wider range of user scenarios.
A startup card appears when you tap an icon to open an application.
Global Address Lookup now appears as a contacts search option when you perform a universal search.
If you tap an open contact record in universal search results, the record closes and does not scroll off the screen.
If you are playing a game and a phone or calendar notification arrives, the game pauses while the notification is coming up.
You can quickly unlock the screen by dragging up from the gesture area across the onscreen lock icon.
This release improves the speed of downloading applications and files.
The title bar icon indicating a high-speed data network now shows 3G instead of Ev.

Updates
If an update becomes available when you are on a call, the update notification displays only after you end the call.

Videos
You can upload a recorded video to YouTube or Facebook on the web.
Videos you record appear in the Video roll folder.
You can edit recorded video. You can also delete recorded video, video copied from a computer, or video received as an attachment to an email message.
You can attach a video to an outgoing multimedia message.
If you tap the option to share an uploaded video, you have the option to send the link via email, text message, or Facebook.

Web
If a web page contains a phone number and you tap and hold the number, a menu appears displaying options to Call, Text, or Add To Contacts (if the number is not already saved in a contact).
If a web page contains an email address and you tap and hold the address, a menu appears displaying options to Email or Add To Contacts (if the email address is not already saved in a contact).
This release includes support for the Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta plugin. Note that the plugin is a standalone app that will be available in App Catalog.

Wi-Fi
A new Sleep Settings application menu item allows you to change a setting so that if Wi-Fi is on and the phone screen turns off, the Wi-Fi feature turns off. By default, if Wi-Fi is on and the screen turns off, the Wi-Fi feature stays on.
If you turn on Wi-Fi when Palm mobile hotspot is on, Wi-Fi turns on and Palm mobile hotspot turns off.

Security
This release implements a security fix to the developer portal. It now uses HTTPS to protect all sensitive data. We’d like to thank Andrew King and Michael Siroskey for reporting this issue.

Individuals interested in contacting Palm to report suspected security issues can find more information at palm.com/security .

Facebook · Google · Google Calendar · Hotmail · Verizon · Web browser · yahoo · YouTube

To spur sales of the Palm Pixi Plus, Verizon has discounted the Palm Pixi Plus by $20 to $79.99 online.

Source: Phone News

Handhelds · Palm OS · Palm Pre · PalmPixiPlus · pixi · Verizon · Verizon Communications · WebOS

mlive has a review of the Palm Pre Plus Vs. the Motorola Droid. Here are the highlights:

Just say no to the Pixi – First off, I’d advise staying away from the Palm Pixi.

Design: Advantage Droid
• Both devices have slideout keyboards. While I didn’t like the Droid’s flat keyboard, it does have the option of an onscreen keyboard. And with a bigger 3.7-inch screen, typing on the screen is OK.

User interface: Advantage Pre
The Android operating system has a strange system in which the user has a hard time telling whether an application has been closed, which keep several applications running in the background unintentionally. The Pre webOS “card” system is an elegant way to switch and close applications. Check out the video (skip to about the 1 minute mark) below to see it in action.

Overall
The first Pre was released last summer, so I didn’t expect a completely new device on the market for Verizon. But I wish they could have done more to improve the battery life. I also wish Palm hadn’t wasted their time with the Pixi (which was released in the fall), and I hope they can turn out another interesting device this year.
Both the Pre and Droid are fun and powerful devices, but battery life and apps are clear advantages for Droid.
Two more Android devices (Motorola Devour and Google’s Nexus One) are coming to Verizon in the next few months. If Palm doesn’t offer improvements, the application gap could squeeze Palm out of the smartphone market.

android · Google · palm pixi · Palm Pre · pixi · Smartphone · Verizon · WebOS

Forget moms, let’s talk software! With Valentine’s Day in the past, Verizon has now turned their attention and considerable marketing muscle to advertising the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus they way they’re meant to be advertised: as feature-packed smartphones. In 30 seconds time Big Red manages to cover more than Palm managed in their entire series of launch commercials.

Source: Pre Central

Advertising · Palm Pre · Palm Pre Plus · pixi · Smartphone · valentines day · Verizon · Verizon Communications