The Palm Pixi is (just about) here. The little brother to the Palm Pre is now on sale at Amazon. It’s currently offered at just for just $25, with a contract of course.

If you want just the phone, you’ll have to shell out $360 without a contract

How long will it be for the Pixi to be free?

Here’s another video of the Palm Pixi :

It’s uncanny how much Palm has emulated Apple in terms of product packaging, but if you’re going to copy anyone, might as well copy the best, right?

You can expect an automatic over-the-air update to webOS 1.2 over the next few days, and you can find more info on the update in the release notes on the Palm website.

You can buy the Palm Pre smartphone from Amazon at $100 (with contract)

Palm has just announced their second webOS phone, the Palm Pixi. Based on the form factor, this smartphone looks to be the replacement for the Palm Centro.

The Pixi sports a candybar form factor (no slider) and has a QWERTY keyboard. This new smartpone also runs on the Sprint network. I like the look of the Pixi, although I am disappointed that it’s not GSM.

Here are the specifications :

Operating system Palm webOS™ platform
Network specs1 Dual-band CDMA2000, 3G: EvDO Rev A
Display 2.63-inch touch screen with a vibrant 18-bit color 320×400 screen resolution Sub-HVGA display
Built-in GPS
Digital camera – 2 megapixel camera with LED flash
Ambient light, accelerometer, and proximity sensors
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
8GB memory
Dimensions
Width: 55.0mm (2.17 inches)
Height: 111.0mm (4.37 inches)
Thickness: 10.85mm (0.43 inches)
Weight 99.5 grams (3.51 ounces)

Palm has also announced that the Palm Pre has dropped in price to $150 (with contract).

Update : Precentral has a quick write-up. Here’s their hands-on video, comparing the Palm Pre with the Palm Pixi:

If you have a Palm Pre from Sprint, you’ll soon be able to update to the latest version of the operating system, webOS 1.2.0. Sprint has revealed the release notes for 1.2.0

The upgrade is a mix of bug fixes and also new enhancements.

webOS updates and enhancements:

* Enhanced copy feature added to browser and email (shift key + tap and drag to select text).
* Improved global search to catch synonyms. For example, “Movies” brings up YouTube and Videos.
* Send/Receive vCards via the contacts application (tap left menu drop down)
* LinkedIn enhancements
* Filter search in email
* Bluetooth for expanded car-kit support
* Improved auto-linking of contacts
* Save inline images in email
* Resume support for podcasts and long songs
* Download files in browser
* Backup/Restore of web browser bookmarks
* Support Amazon MP3 over WAN (not just WiFi)
* Photo Albums sync via Media Sync

Bug fixes:

* Capability has been added to dial phone numbers from a calendar notes field.
* User interface now displays “updating PRL” correctly when you tap on Update PRL in Phone Preferences.
* Device will no longer reboot while attempting to download music when there was not available user memory.
* Real-time updates on Yahoo Finance now work properly.
* Sprint Navigation is now able to use free form addresses for navigation, including addresses from personal email accounts.
* PDF files can now be opened from a browser link.
* If the device receives a notification alert (for example an SMS), a clock alarm would not play unless the notification alert was dismissed.
* If a calendar event is snoozed then moved to a future time, the event notification will now appear at the proper time.
* When editing or creating a calendar event and toggling to another application before saving the event, the event will no longer be duplicated.
* On Google calendar, all day events that are changed to timed events on a computer are now properly updated.
* If a cancellation is received for an event and the user selects “Remove from Calendar”, the event is now removed from the device and desktop.
* If large attachments are sent in an e-mail, the e-mail is no longer sent twice.
* When setting email sync time to manual the device will no longer automatically sync the email accounts.
* Certain properties of tasks that can be set via the computer (but not displayed on the device) will no longer be deleted on the server.
* When two contacts were linked (one with a last name and one without) you will now be able to find them in SMS and email.
* Syncing issue with personal accounts has been resolved.

If you don’t have a Palm Pre yet, you can get one for US$200 (with contract) on Sprint.

[ via PreThinking ]

A lot of people are waiting for Palm to release their new smartphone, the Palm Pre, with carriers/operators other than US-based Sprint. While there were rumours of a second webOS-based device, the Palm EOS for GSM networks, it turns out that Palm is sticking exclusively with the Palm Pre for a little while longer.

We know that Verizon is keen to offer the Palm Pre. The rest of the world is waiting for a GSM version of the Pre … it looks like we have to wait for a few more months.

Palm has announced that the Palm Pre will be available in Europe “in time for the holidays”. No, not the summer holidays, unfortunately.

International mobile giant Telefonica is the European launch partner for the Palm Pre. You will be able to get the Palm Pre in UK, Ireland and Germany on Telefónica’s O2 network, and in Spain on Telefónica’s Movistar network.

As for the rest of the world, we wait.

First off, Palm’s App Catalog has been doing well. The App Catalog is Palm’s version of the Apple App Store. Even though the number of applications is still small, Palm Pre users have been downloading apps at a steady pace. Medialets reports that although we only have about 30 apps right now, these apps have been downloaded over 600,000 times. That’s certainly a good start — as the number of Pre users grow, we should see a similar explosive growth in app downloads.

Why are there so few apps right now? It turns out, Palm won’t be able to release the full SDK to developers until later this summer. Engadget reports that the software and developer services to support the SDK just aren’t ready yet.

When the iPhone first launched, for the first year all we had was web apps. Those apps are still around. So until the developers can get cracking on native webOS apps, you can take advantage of many web apps which work well with the Pre web browser.

For early adopters of the Palm Pre, Palm has already released a software update. webOS 1.0.3 makes some improvements in the built-in Email, Calendar, and Contacts apps, among others.

One of the most anticipated smartphones for this summer is the Pre from Palm. Palm Pre runs on a brand new operating system, webOS. On April Fool’s Day, Palm announced an expanded early access to its Mojo SDK (Software Development Kit).

With Mojo, developers will have the ability to integrate their applications into core webOS functionality, such as linked contacts, layered calendars, multitasking, notifications and GPS capabilities. Palm is showcasing new apps from Pandora and Fandango on their website.

Palm also announced that it would deploy its first Palm branded cloud service, which includes the Mojo Messaging Service. This is an XMPP publish/subscribe service that allows developers to push live content to their applications or services.

If you’re a developer, Palm’s CTO Mitch Allen and the WebOS development team have written a new book : Palm webOS : Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Mojo Framework. This book is currently available on pre-order from Amazon for US$24.

If you’re a veteran Palm user who has invested in many Palm OS applications in the past, you can still use them in webOS. MotionApps will be offering Classic, a Palm OS emulator for webOS. Classic should run Palm OS apps on the Pre about twice as fast as the Treo 700p — that’s really fast.

So overall, good news for users and developers. Many developers jumped to the iPhone platform over the past year, while Palm OS suffered a slow death. Maybe we’ll see more Palm developers like MotionApps return to the Palm fold — if Palm can bring them enough exposure (and revenue potential) like Apple has done through the App Store.

The only Palm OS powered device in the coming year will be the Centro, which is still being released in new territories worldwide. The Palm Pre looks like a great device, but now I’m more looking forward to a Centro replacement — something small and fast at the $100 price point.

You can find the contest details here.

The journey to Nova was long and winding, with a few setbacks in between. Palm has been riding on Palm OS Garnet for six years now, it’s way past the time to move on to something new. Palm has a lot of high expectations to meet; let’s hope they don’t disappoint. Just 3 more weeks to go.