Palm Pixi » News

Free Verizon Palm Pixi Plus…

brian — Tue, 11 May 2010 00:27:52 +0000

... with two year contract of course. (Come on, you had to know that was coming.) Of course you may have already seen that it was a penny from Amazon for a little while now. This isn't the biggest news in the world.

However, if you don't like to wait and pay for shipping, this is better than relying on Amazon. For a phone that offers free mobile hotspot with a $70 plan, that's very good functionality. Word has it that AT&T is launching the Palm Pixi Plus as well this Sunday. Early guess is that it is going to cost $49, so Verizon pricing will be the cheapest Pixi Plus option barring any surprises. Rumor has it that a Touchstone will be bundled with the AT&T Palm Pre. Let's hope they also bundle a Touchstone with the Pixi Plus to keep up with Verizon.

Thoughts on HP buying Palm

brian — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:20:15 +0000

I was so shocked buy Hewlett-Packard buying Palm this week that I had to take a few to days to gather my reactions. Here's what we know:

Purchase Price - Hewlett-Packard will be purchasing Palm for $5.70 a share or 1.2 billion dollars.
HP Loves Palm WebOS - HP has said that they intend to invest heavily in to the OS
Palm should stay relatively unchanged - HP has said that it will create it's own business unit for Palm, so the structure may go relatively unchanged.

In my view, this was possibly the best thing that could have happened to Palm. HP's 121.87 billion market capitalization is certainly less than Google's 167 billion, Microsoft's 267 billion, and Apple's 237 billion (as of now), but it's at the same scale where one can see HP playing with the big boys. It's also a good deal ahead of RIM's (Blackberry) 39 billion.

Let's look at the competitors again in comparison to Palm:

Apple vs. HP-Palm

Apple is certainly the leader with it's iPhone, iPod, and iPad group of mobile devices.

iPhone vs. WebOS - I covered many reason why Palm Pixi is better than iPhone previously. It was a bit of stretch and overall there's little doubt that the Apple iPhone is the better phone. However, that gap could narrow quickly. A Palm Pre 2 on Sprint's upcoming 4G network would certainly do a lot to the change the game. Other new hardware would really push the envelope their.
iPad vs. WebOS Tablet - It's hard to see how this may play out until we see what the WebOS tablet is going to be. HP has hinted very strongly that it plans to use WebOS for its upcoming tablets. Because WebOS won't have the same entrenched application store, I would expect it to come with all the bells and whistles that Apple leaves off like a camera for video conferencing. We do know that when the WebOS Tablet comes to market it will have great multitasking and very likely Flash support.
iPod vs. WebOS PDA - Let's face it, the iPod Touch is essentially a PDA, not an MP3 player at this point. It's a great PDA with an app store and music store behind it. A WebOS version of the iPod doesn't look to be in the works. I don't think this is going to hurt WebOS much in the long run... I imagine that most people will move away from PDAs towards smartphones.

Android vs. HP-Palm

I think that Android, long-term, is probably the strongest of the smartphone platforms. It's hard for other smartphone OSes to compete with the price of free. It's even harder when Google can leverage all its applications (Gmail, Maps, Voice, Docs, etc.) for it's advantage. However, there are a couple of chinks in Android's armor. First, HTC is paying Microsoft royalties. Second, Android has to deal with the problem of supporting a lot of different hardware.

Microsoft vs. HP-Palm

Microsoft is coming to the game more than a year late. I realize that they have a lot of money and a lot of influence - but they have no app store (Palm's biggest problem). In general there are far too many questions to ask - until we have answers I think that Microsoft doesn't have the advantage.

Blackberry vs. HP-Palm

RIM's Blackberry has recently "entered to the game" with their OS being where Palm's was 3 years ago. I heard that the new OS is very good, but we'll see how that works. In the meantime they need to show what they can do.

Final Thoughts

In the end, I think we can expect that HP-Palm's WebOS will grow greatly. It now has the finances of HP and the flexibility to run on CDMA as well as GSM networks (GSM should be coming via AT&T in a week). The tight interlinking of hardware and software will allow a complete end-to-end experience for the consumer.

Palm Pixi Plus Heading to Europe

Matt — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:47:48 +0000

It's official now. Palm Pixi Plus (along with Palm Pre Plus) is heading to Europe. Both phones would be available in Germany on O2 and Vodafone networks starting April 28. In UK, Palm phones will launch on O2 network later this month and they are expected to be available to Vodafone UK customers in May, 2010. Further, it is believed that both these phones will also be available in France on SFR network starting April 27th. For French customers, the Pixi Plus will carry a €49 up front price tag, while the Pre Plus will cost €149, or €99 including €50 mail-in rebate.

Palm Pre has been reasonably successful in Germany so it was a matter of time before Palm decided to revamp its portfolio with Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus. However, going by how Palm Pixi has been tariffed in the U.S, it would have been better to price it between €25-35. Palm has been a victim of aggressive pricing in the past and I'm wondering if the same story would be repeated in Europe as well.

Europeans love slim and sleek phones with social media capabilities. Palm Pixi Plus is Palm's thinnest phone to date, fits easily in pockets and has impressive social networking capabilities. Given Palm's sorry state of affairs, I dearly hope that Palm Pixi Plus (and Palm Pre Plus) does well in Europe.

Fingers Crossed!

Palm Pre Plus to Win Laptop Magazine

brian — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:51:07 +0000

We previously mentioned that Palm Pre Plus Beat the Nexus One in Laptop Magazine's March Madness poll. Well, it's moved on to bigger and better things since then. It beat the Blackberry Bold (9700) and the new HTC HD2. So now the Palm Pre Plus finds itself in the final match with Motorola Droid.

The Pre is ahead by a good margin, but in the past we've seen that margin close at the end of the voting. With voting ending early tomorrow morning, you will need to get your vote in soon. Please take a little time out of your Easter Sunday schedule and hop to it (bad pun intended). I've included the form below to make it easy for you.

Palm webOS 1.4.1 Arrives on Bell Canada and Sprint

Matt — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 13:42:12 +0000

Palm has released webOS 1.4.1 on a number of networks including Bell Canada and Sprint. There is no official word by either Palm or Verizon as to when webOS 1.4.1 would be available for Verizon customers. The biggest welcome change that webOS 1.4.1 brings for subscribers is that it allows them to purchase and download paid apps. I'm sure all Bell Canada users will be delighted with this announcement. Apart from the App Catalog change, here's what else the webOS 1.4.1 has in store for you.

Feature changes to existing applications

Bluetooth

This release fixes an issue so that the phone now correctly connects with supported BMW car kits.

Camera

This release corrects a lag in the shutter sound when you take a picture.
This release fixes an issue so that newly taken photos and videos do not overwrite existing ones.

Contacts

If you crop a picture before adding it to a contact, the picture appears cropped correctly in the contact entry.
If you previously assigned either the Z or the B key as a speed dial, you can now continue to create speed dials.

Doc View

If you open a file and perform the back gesture, the app now returns to the file list screen.
Pinching in/out to zoom out/in now works correctly.

Messaging

If you try to attach a video to an outgoing multimedia message, the list of available videos now displays only videos you recorded.

PDF View

If you open a file and perform the back gesture, the app now returns to the file list screen.
Pinching in/out to zoom out/in now works correctly.

System

This release fixes an intermittent issue so that the volume slider no longer appears onscreen incorrectly.
This release fixes an intermittent issue so that after the screen more reliably turns on after a single press of the power button.

Touchstone charging dock

When the phone is on a Touchstone charging dock, the screen now consistently turns off correctly (displaying the lock icon and the time) after the shut-off interval.

Videos

If you record a video, upload the video to YouTube, and send a link to the video via email, the email recipient can click the link and view the video. Previously, clicking the link displayed an error message.
This release fixes an issue so that when you upload a video to YouTube, the file always includes both video and audio.

Web

The forward gesture now works correctly in the browser.

Verizon Offers Free 3G Tethering on Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus

Matt — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:50:49 +0000

Though April Fools Day is hardly the best time to make any genuine announcements, Verizon Wireless did so yesterday. And it made not one but two major announcements yesterday. Both these announcements also figure on the Official Palm Blog.

Verizon is now offering Free 3G Tethering, courtesy the Palm mobile hotspot app. The first 5 GB of data each month now comes at no extra cost. The app lets your Palm Pre Plus or Palm Pixi Plus share your 3G bandwidth with up to 5 other Wi-Fi devices. The purchase process lists the Wireless Internet Access (aka 3G Mobile Hotspot) to be priced at 0$. So, while the smartphone data plan is unlimited, but tethered usage isn’t.

Verizon has slashed the prices for Palm's Pre Plus and Pixi Plus smart phones. Verizon Wireless website now lists the Palm Pre Plus priced at $49.99 and Palm Pixi Plus priced at $29.99. Both require two-year contracts for a Voice Plan with Data Pak $29.99 or higher. What's more, you can actually get two phones by just paying for one.

If you are a Verizon customer and a Palm Pre or Palm Pixi fan, Christmas has surely come early and that too on April Fools Day!

PalmSpot Contest – Just What Palm Needs

brian — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:00:52 +0000

Everyone I know who has used a Palm WebOS device thinks it's by far the best smart phone they've used. The biggest problem seems to be Palm's ability to market WebOS. It's hard to show Synergy in 30 seconds... and that's just one of the features. How do you begin to show off multitasking in 30 seconds? Palm decided to side step the problem completely and show some freaky alien woman. It didn't work and I think Palm is feeling the effects of it.

All is not lost. Palm's loyal fan base have created their own commercials. WebOS Roundup has commissioned a contest to see what commercials people can make. While one may expect amateur quality... you might be surprised. Check out this video:

We think Palm would do well to pick one feature of the phone and show it off. For instance you could show off Universal Search in 30 seconds by having three people compete game-show style to answer a question about Ted Williams. Where Apple needs to shorten the sequences of it's commercials because of it's lack of multitasking, the Palm Pre could smoothly take you through several applications solving a real-world problem.

Palm Pre Plus is the Only Perfect Gadget on Attack of the Show

brian — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:00:45 +0000

The awards never seem to end for the Palm Pre Plus. The poor Palm Pixi is looking more and more overshadowed. In the last week, the Palm Pre Plus won Phone of the Year and knocked the Nexus One out of the March Madness tournament. I had forgotten to mention that it's the first perfect gadget (phone or otherwise) on G4's Attack of the Show.

I have to admit that they made a pretty brilliant case for the Palm Pre Plus. They are open with WebOS being their favorite smart phone operating system and the price of $30 on Amazon is just incredible. The editors went out of their way to point out that you can actually make calls on the phone... a well-publicized issue with the iPhone on AT&T in many densely populated areas.

Check out the whole clip below... it's worth the four minutes:

Palm Warns Users Against Overclocking Patches

Matt — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:14:54 +0000

Palm has officially warned users to stay away from the overclocking patches that promise to spur Palm Pre's performance. It is interesting to note that one of the overclocking patch boosts the Palm Pre's clock speed from 500 MHz to a whopping 800 MHz. There's another patch which overclocks the Palm Pre to 720 MHz. Two hackers code named 'unixpshycho' and 'caj2008' are the authors of these overclocking patches. The patches are believed to work on Palm Pre phones running on webOS 1.4.

On Sunday, Palm issued an official warning regarding these patches on the Palm Developer Center Blog. Palm's 'statement on the overclocking patches' mentions

"Palm is working hard to improve the speed and performance of webOS, as shown in our recent 1.4 update. While we appreciate the effort the webOS community has put forth to try and help us along that path, the use of this application is neither endorsed nor recommended by Palm and will likely result in a voided warranty. Palm encourages webOS users to let Palm release official updates that provide safe, reliable, over-the-air features that improve their device in a number of areas, as we have in the past at a rate of approximately once per month."

Many users who applied the patch have reported a substantial speed boost on their Palm Pre. Some users have reported that their Palm Pre randomly shuts down after applying the patch. All in all, the patch has evoked mixed reactions from Palm Pre enthusiasts.

Have these overclocking patches exposed Palm's lackluster performance tests? What do you think?

Palm Pre Plus Beats Nexus One in Laptop Magazine Poll

brian — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:05:44 +0000

The Palm Pre Plus is really feeling it oats these days. Not only did it win Phone of the Year for 2010, but it followed that up by knocking off the Nexus One in Laptop Magazine's March Madness Poll.

We like to take these polls with a grain of salt as they are little more than popularity contests. However, when you have a great product with disappointing sales, that's exactly what you are looking for - popularity. It's a big win for Palm's WebOS to knock off Nexus One and it's speedy Snapdragon processor and it's all-powerful Google brand behind it.

Up next for the Palm Pre Plus is the BlackBerry Bold 9700 on T-Mobile. The Bold barely knocked off the Sprint Palm Pixi (yes the one with no wifi). Actually the Palm Pixi got more votes, but Laptop Magazine said the ballot was stuffed and declared the Bold a narrow winner. The Palm Pre Plus shouldn't have much of a fight on it's hands.

And in case you were wondering, the Apple iPhone got thoroughly trounced by the Blackberry Tour. The best phones (iPhone and Nexus One) on the biggest smart phone operating systems (Apple and Android) are already knocked off. Things are definitely looking up for Palm.