If you’re a German who for whatever reason has been waiting to jump onto the Palm bandwagon, O2 Deutschland is doing their best to make sure you can get one for cheap. They’ve cut the price of the Palm Pre Plus down to 360€, while the Pixi Plus and the original Pre (with a Touchstone charger and back) can be had for 240€.

Now you might be thinking those are high prices, but we’ll take a moment to remind you why O2 Germany’s system is the one that we envy so hard: these phones can all be had for free upfront: You’ll pay 10€ a month over 24 months for the Pre or Pixi Plus, while the Pre Plus will cost you 15€ monthly. Yes, you pay precisely for the subsidization of your specific phone, and once you’ve paid it off, you’re done. It’s a clean and transparent model that we seriously long for. Oh, and all of these phones are sold unlocked. How’s that for awesome?

Additionally, we’ve been tipped that O2 Germany has received its last shipment of Pre Plus phones. This lines up neatly with the ceasing of Pre Plus sales at SFR and O2 UK. Europe, it would seem, is clearing way for the Palm Pre 2. We can only hope that the same is happening back here across the pond.

Source: O2 Germany; Thanks to Valentin and John for the tips!

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As best as we can see, there aren’t a whole lot of reasons not to buy yourself a smartphone, especially one running webOS. Maybe we’re a little bit biased, but that’s just how we see things. And seeing how prices seem to keep falling on Palm’s current offerings, the list of reasons why not to just keeps getting shorter.

Of course, we can empathize with those who don’t want to get tied into a long-term contract. Fortunately, if you are in the UK and have been tempted by the Palm Pixi Plus, you can scratch contractual obligation off the list. O2 UK now is offering the Pixi Plus will on Pay & Go for a mere £109.99 upfront. So you can now get your teeth into the remarkably tasty webOS pie (mmmmm…) without having to worry about any monthly fees. Not only that, but O2 will throw in a limited edition Artist Series battery cover (worth £29.99) for free.

If Pay & Go is not your style, then fear not, the Pixi Plus is now free on £25 a month contracts with it’s big brother, the Pre Plus available for free on a £35 a month contract.

In true O2 UK style, they haven’t publicized this new offer very well, with no mention of it on their website, even though it was supposed to be available online from today, but it has appeared on a number of sites including the Palm UK Facebook page, so you can either pop down to your local O2 store or wait a few days for it to appear on their online store.

Source: Palm UK on Facebook

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It was bound to happen eventually, and we’re somewhat surprised it took this long. O2 Germany has confirmed to PreCentral forum member rot that the original Palm Pre has been declared end-of-life (EOL) on the network. With the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus also available on O2 Germany, the EOLing of the older Pre was to be expected.

According to rot, while O2 will continue to replenish their supply of Plus devices, they have no intention of ordering any more original GSM Pre after their current stockpile runs dry. So, if for whatever reason you still want one, you can get one. And it’s sold as a bundle with a Touchstone back and charger (the Plus comes with a Touchstone back standard) for 240€, the same price as the Pixi Plus, while the O2 Germany Pre Plus will hit your wallet to the tune of 361€. O2 Germany is following in the footsteps of O2 UK, who quietly stopped selling their original Pre without our even noticing.

Now: wouldn’t it be nice if Sprint could get caught up with the rest of the world and get some Plus action?

Thanks to rot in the forums for the heads up!

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Our English friends can finally jump onto the Plus bandwagon, as the chaps at Engadget have noted. The Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus are officially available on O2 UK, even through their website. That’s assuming you weren’t lucky enough to grab one a day early. Interested customers can snag both phones for free depending on the tariff (plan) you select. The Pixi Plus can be had for free with any plan, with plans starting at £30.00 a month for 100 minutes and unlimited text and data. That same plan will get you a Pre Plus for £99.00, if you want it free you’ll have to spring for the 600 minute £40.00 a month plan. Sweet, eh?

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So there you have it, the Palm Pre Plus and its box, of the GSM variety that’s headed to O2 Germany. After nearly a year now, the packaging hasn’t changed a bit, nor have the included goodies: suede-ish bag, modular charger and cable, various how-to pamphlets, etc. The Pixi Plus, also of the O2-bound GSM variety, is unboxed after the break by the folks at Pre Ticker of Germany.

Thanks to Shadow-360 for the tip!

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There’s no getting around it, we love O2 Germany, and we don’t even live anywhere near Germany. Our love for O2 Germany comes mainly in form of their advertising, which has been worlds better than what we’ve seen on the North American continent, and tends to peak out early. Let’s not forget Palm fans in Germany, we love you too, especially when you take pictures of these peaking-out-early ads. In this case, it’s a rather large O2 Germany poster, with the Palm Pixi, QWERTZ keyboard and all, standing front-and-center before devices like the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, the Motorola Milestone (known as the Droid stateside), and devices from Nokia and LG.

Looking at the ad, there’s no indication whether or not this is a Pixi Plus or the Wi-Fi-less Pixi as seen on Sprint (there’s no Wi-Fi icon in the top bar, but this is stock imagery here). The folks at German phone reseller 7mobile.de may have the answer and then some. They have a listing for a Palm Pixi, complete with UMTS data and Wi-Fi. Then again, they also say it will support video calls and T9 predictive texting. Either way, we would be stunned if the Pixi Plus was not the device that made it oversees, as that’s the device that AT&T is getting (albeit with different radio bands). 7mobile.de also claims an amusing "hours" of standby time and "minutes" of talk time.

At this point we have little doubt that the removal of Wi-Fi from the Pixi was Sprint’s idea, and not something that Palm wanted to do. While releasing the Plus on every other network is little consolation to Sprint Pixi owners, it’s still better than nothing. And it is worth noting that when and if the Pixi hits O2, it’ll be the first time it’s been available outside the United States, some six months after the Pre first hit European shores.

Thanks to gizmo21 and Jens for the tips!

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