Engadget Mobile Gallery

Palm Pre price keeps sinking on Bell, down to $100

by Darren Murph posted Nov 7th 2009 at 7:41PM

Just weeks after Palm's Pre sunk to CAD $149.95 on Bell, the outfit's first-ever webOS phone has now stooped to just CAD $99.95. That still requires a 3-year contract, of course, but man -- a single bill for a smartphone like the Pre? Anyone tossing out guesses on how long it takes Sprint to follow suit (and embarrass the Pixi)?

[Thanks, David]

Palm demos web-based Ares SDK for webOS

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 5th 2009 at 6:50PM

Currently, mobile entrepreneurs wishing to hawk their wares on the Pre (or Pixi, or unnamed webOS device of the future) use a software development kit from Palm called Mojo, a stack of Java-based tools that must be installed, studied, understood, loved, and respected before serious development can get underway. Palm sees that as a barrier of entry for web-oriented developers who want to make the leap to mobile apps, though, which is why they've crafted a new SDK called Ares that's based entirely on web technologies -- in fact, there's no install at all, apparently. Much of the interface is said to be drag-and-drop with enough JavaScript exposed to make your local .com designer feel right at home, potentially opening the app landscape to a whole new set of folks -- and considering that the App Catalog is tens of thousands of goodies behind the App Store and Android Market, they can use every loyal dev they get.

Palm: webOS speed fix in the 'immediate future'

by Thomas Ricker posted Nov 4th 2009 at 3:31AM

Palm device owners have little to complain about when it comes to webOS; not after enduring Garnet and empty Access promises for so long. Still, that OS which relies so heavily upon web technologies like HTML 5, JavaScript, and CSS can be surprisingly sluggish when compared to other smartphone OSes. Now we have a hint as to why thanks to Palm's Ben Galbraith and Dion Almae who made an interesting admission Tuesday related to the Pre's UI latency compared to the iPhone 3GS -- a phone based on the same ARM architecture. According to the duo, "the path to the GPU didn't exist" in webOS, something that will be solved in the "immediate future" using CSS transforms to modify visual elements thus freeing-up CPU cycles for other tasks. Hmm, immediate future sure sounds like a webOS update to accompany the Palm Pixi release on November 15th.

[Via Everything Pre]

Sprint touts Palm Pixi's nonexistent WiFi

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 1:14AM

Sprint has a time-honored tradition of screwing up its ads. Remember the Palm OS-powered (yes, Palm OS, not webOS) Motorola Q2? How about the Pre's mythical tethering capability? Here's a new one to add to the history books: the "WiFi capable" Pixi, yours for just $99.99 after mail-in rebate. Count us in.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Palm Pixi definitely shipping with a new webOS version, but which?

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 31st 2009 at 2:44PM

Whoa, is that webOS 2.0 we see on the horizon? No, sorry, it definitely isn't -- but we can say with relative confidence that the upcoming Pixi will be shipping with a newer, slightly more feature-rich version of webOS than its Pre brethren around the world; if nothing else, Synergy supports Yahoo on the new model, as PreCentral observes. What remains to be seen is the exact version number that'll be shipping out of the gate -- recent DSLReports user agent logs suggest that 1.2.9 might be the gold build (for the record, the Sprint Pre currently rocks 1.2.1), but apparently there's some chatter going on about a 1.3 as well. Doesn't seem like much of a difference, but a 0.1 increment usually means more features, fixes, and changes than a 0.01 increment does, so naturally, we're pulling for a bigger number. There isn't any intel on what this mythical 1.3 might contain just yet or whether it'd be heading to Bell, Sprint, and O2 Pres, but we'll keep an eye out.

Palm Pixi on sale November 15 exclusively at Sprint for $100 on contract

by Darren Murph posted Oct 26th 2009 at 10:27AM

Just as we'd heard earlier this morning, today's the day that Palm and Sprint come clean with their undercover plans for the former's second-ever webOS device. The Pixi, which we toyed with back on our first Engadget Show, is slated to hit Sprint stores, Best Buy, RadioShack and select Walmart locations on November 15th for $99.99, but that's after a $50 instant rebate and a $100 mail-in rebate that you'll be waiting ages for. Nothing here is all that surprising -- after all, we knew it'd be on shelves before the holiday season -- but the $100 price point is downright depressing. The Palm Pre can be had right now for just $150 (also on contract), and beyond that, both webOS devices are being offered on the exact same network. Throw this thing on Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile, and you've got a whole new wave of Palm customers; as it stands, who's really buying this with the Pre just $50 away?

Bell drops Pre by $50, now down to $149.95

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 23rd 2009 at 9:02AM

Anyone in Canada who took a wait-and-see approach with the Pre can do a little dance of joy now that Bell's finally dropped the phone by CAD $50, which means you're now looking at CAD $149.95 (about $143) on a three-year deal. That's still a far cry from the $99.99 you can pay these days on Sprint, especially considering that you're talking about a two-year contract there, but who knows -- maybe Bell's not bothering to compete too hard on the CDMA arena as it starts putting some serious marketing force behind its HSPA spectrum in the next few months. At least this gives the Pixi some breathing room on pricing if Bell decides to launch it, we suppose.

[Via Palm Infocenter]

Unofficial patch lets you hang up Palm Pre calls by closing the slider

by Donald Melanson posted Oct 19th 2009 at 5:46PM

You know how easy and natural it is to hang up a call on a cellphone by sliding it closed or flipping it shut? It's a small satisfaction that's been lost on touchscreen-only phones, but it would seem to still make sense on something like, say, the Palm Pre -- just not to Palm, it seems. Well, it looks like unofficial patch maker KeyToss has now finally stepped in and done what Palm hasn't, and produced a patch that does nothing more than let you end a call by closing the slider on your Pre. Who knows? You might even start hanging up on people just for the fun of it. Hit up the link below for all the necessary details on installing the patch.

Verizon confirms: Palm Pre hitting Big Red "early next year"

by Darren Murph posted Oct 17th 2009 at 11:41AM

Oftentimes a picture shouts a thousand words. Other times it belts out precisely a dozen. Straight from Verizon Wireless' official Twitter account comes this, a confirmation that the Palm Pre we knew was coming to Big Red, well, is coming to Big Red. If you can hold off through the tempting holiday rush, you'll find Palm's first-ever webOS device on VZW "early next year." Huzzah!

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Palm Pre now available on O2 UK

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 16th 2009 at 3:43AM

And the Telefonica rollout of the GSM Pre continues. Starting today, those gorgeous people populating the sinking, but still glorious, isle of the United Kingdom can get their hands on a Palm Pre by hitting up their nearest O2 store. And by hitting up we mean becoming customers, not robbing the place. Anyway, the cheapest (or least expensive) 18-month tariff on which the Pre can be had for free is £44.05 ($71) per month, which throws in 1,200 free minutes and "unlimited" data and WiFi. That monthly price drops to £34.26 ($55) if you go for a two-year contract, but the bundled minutes are also fewer at 600. There's also an option to pay £96.89 ($157) for the handset upfront, which cuts the cost of the subsequent price plans, full details of which can be found at the read link.

[Thanks, Cuan B.]

First GSM Palm Pre now on sale in Germany, with new Euro-specific apps in tow

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 13th 2009 at 5:15AM

We knew it was coming, and here it is -- the glorious first showing of the Palm Pre in its GSM garb. From today, our Deutsch comrades can grab a Pre and do whatever they want to do to it, courtesy of O2, its exclusive German supplier. The device will set you back €481 without contract, with the O2 My Handy option letting you finance it via 24 monthly payments of €20. Check out the online store link below for full details and available calling plans. Pre Thinking have also noted the arrival of two new free apps in the Pre catalog -- ran and VZ-Netzwerke, both in German -- and the likely prospect of even more coming along as the Pre starts its long-awaited rollout across Europe over the next few days.

[Via Engadget German]

Read - O2 Germany Palm Pre launch announcement
Read - O2 Germany online store
Read - Pre Thinking

Palm Pre coming to Spain on Telefonica on October 14

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 7th 2009 at 10:36AM

The European operators are really liking mid-October for their Pre launches, and that trend continues now that Spain's Telefonica has unveiled an October 14 availability date for Spain's very first webOS device. The phone's being offered on plans that will bring the cost of the handset itself down to anywhere between €0 and €219 (about $322) -- and if you're wondering exactly what you have to do to get it for absolutely free, well, you'll be shelling out €60 or more a month in voice plus €15 in data. You'll be able to pick it up both online and in your friendly local Telefonica shop, so it'll be interesting to see if any lines start forming -- just how many Palm fanatics are their in Spain, anyway?

Palm pulls paid apps due to major bug allowing free app downloads

by Paul Miller posted Oct 6th 2009 at 12:02AM

After mere hours of App Catalog-stravaganza, the paid apps have been removed for the time being by Palm due to a major flaw in purchase verification. From what we've gathered from the seedy underbelly of the internet, an exploit involving building your own dummy application with the same name as a paid application allowed folks to download a free "update" to these falsified shells and score for-purchase apps galore without dropping a cent. Whether or not this was the only exploit afoot we're not sure, but it sounds like plenty of folks found ways to nab apps for free because Palm has clamped down hard on distribution for the time being. Optimistically, the company claims it should have the Catalog back up by tomorrow morning, but if the failure is really as severe as it sounds, we won't be holding our breath.

Update: And... they're back.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in; picture courtesy of glamajamma]

Palm throws the doors open: review-free app distribution over the web, open source developers can hop in for free

by Paul Miller posted Oct 5th 2009 at 11:47PM

Well, things just got interesting. The very evening of the App Catalog's launch of paid apps, Palm has made a very different kind of announcement: it's going to let developers skip out on the App Catalog if they so choose. Devs will be able to submit an app to Palm, who will turn around and give them a URL for open distribution of the app over the web -- without a review process getting in the way! The App Catalog will still exist for those who want to use it of course, with a $50 entrance fee to get an app inside -- and we're guessing it'll remain the only way to distribute paid apps -- but the new URL distribution should decentralize things just a little bit. In other good news, Palm will be dropping the $99 annual developer fee for folks building open source apps, and hopefully that free ride applies to App Catalog entry as well, though now there's web distribution to make it less of a sticking point. Palm's also going to open up its analytic data to developers, and even is giving away Pres and Touchstones to the audience members of the little shindig privy to this announcement -- clearly the company is making a strong play for developers, and who doesn't like to be loved?

[Thanks, Lawrence]

Paid apps now live in webOS App Catalog, Air Hockey comes first

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 5th 2009 at 4:25PM

The first paid apps are finally starting to filter into Palm's App Catalog, giving us all another great reason (after our daily caffeine fix has been properly handled, of course) to blow a buck or two every day of our lives. First up is none other than Air Hockey, an app genre that seems to be taking every platform by storm -- we never really thought that the true Dynamo experience could translate well to a couple of fingers on a phone's display, but we're just $1.99 away from finding out for sure.

[Thanks, Joe]