If you were in the market for a Verizon Pre Plus, you might want to start a desperate search, because it seems that the device has all but fell down the online retail memory hole. Both it and the Verizon Pixi Plus no longer show up in the HP Wireless Central store. The Verizon Pre Plus is also no longer available from Amazon.com, and has disappeared from Verizon’s own online store (the Pixi Plus is still available at both). This follows the recent EOL’ing of the Sprint Pre.

We wouldn’t fret, however, as we know there’s a replacement coming. It’s called the Palm Pre 2, and it’s due out sometime in “the coming months” - though, really, shouldn’t it have appeared by now? 

If Verizon’s managed to run down their Pre Plus inventory to the point that it’s no longer available, perhaps its glass-screened gigahertz processor brother isn’t far behind to take the Verizon webOS throne (assuming it hasn’t gotten lost).

Source: HP Wireless Central, Amazon, Verizon; Thanks to kepaloa and Brian for the tips!

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Current Pre, Pixi, and Plus variant owners: relax, you’re getting webOS 2.0 too. Same “coming months” line as before, though hopefully we won’t have the same debacle that we had with the super-long webOS 1.4.5 roll-out. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Speaking of updates, @webosinternals noticed that "the fine print" on HP’s massive webOS 2.0 / Palm Pre 2 Press release makes it clear that the Pixi and Pixi Plus are not compatible with Flash:

(6) The Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta is compatible only with Palm Pre devices; not compatible with Pixi or Pixi Plus.

That’s a situation we’d like to see fixed but, deep down, don’t think will be.

Source: Palm (Pre, Pixi); Thanks to everyone that sent this in.

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It’s a happy headline, and a sad headline, all wrapped into six delightful and painful words that boild down like so: Skype support is finally coming to webOS, but it’s only coming if you’re on Verizon. Thanks to an exclusive deal between VoIP giant Skype and American cellular behemoth Verizon, only phones on Big Red get to have access to the sweet Skypes. Blessedly, at least current Verizon webOS devices should also get access to Skype, as soon as the webOS 2.0 update is pushed down to the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on that network.

Read the Press Release

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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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While HP may be the biggest consumer PC seller out there, they’re also tops when it comes to business purchases. We’re talking both big corporate and small shop buys – this is what we in the business refer to as “diversification” and “scale,” wherein HP is capable of selling their products to large and small groups across multiple industries and revenue levels.

With such scale, we’re pleased to see HP using their multitudinous business contacts to push webOS. In fact, not that long ago the HP’s “Small Business Education Series” email newsletter heavily and exclusively featured Palm smartphones. Very smartly, the email focused on the benefits of webOS, noting:

• webOS multi-tasks like no other. HP was sure to put emphasis on flicking between “apps & docs,” as business users don’t just care about multi-tasking with browsers and games.
• You can add up to sixteen email accounts. Yeah, we didn’t think about that either, but we can see how some small businesses can have multiple accounts (sales@, support@, admin@, etc) with one person managing them all.
• Touchstone!
• Wireless cloud syncing magics, otherwise known as Synergy. No need to plug in, unless you want to transfer files, that is.
• “Zero-touch IT support,” as in Palm manages for you the security “from the server, to the cloud, to your phone. Simple.” Granted, that’s a big of an over-simplification, but we’ll allow it.

And then there’s noting that every Palm phone, be it a Pre, and Pixi, or a Plus variant of either, is available for free on your choice of major American cellular carriers (excepting T-Mobile, of course). And the oh so lucrative accessories too, like the above mentioned Touchstone charger, fancy colorful backs for the Pixi, and the requisite cables, batteries, and Palm-branded cases. Though we’ll take the opportunity here to point you to our own PreCentral accessory store for that – we’ve got a bit more diversity and scale in that department.

Source: HP

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Most people celebrate their birthdays with gifts from people the people they know and love, but psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw of his self-titled Dr. Phil talk show wants to celebrate his 60th birthday by giving stuff to the people he loves. Specifically, the audiences that attend tapings of his show. And during the week of September 13th, Dr. Phil is planning to give away Palm Pixi phones to the tune of 300 units to his live studio audiences. No word on which carrier those Pixi phones will be on, but if we had to guess it’s probably the original Pixi from Sprint and not the Pixi Plus available on Verizon and AT&T. Of course, we’d love to be wrong (nothing against you Sprint Pixi, but we likes us some Wi-Fi).

Source: HP on Twitter

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It really wasn’t all that long ago (i.e. yesterday) that we were talking about the possibility of Verizon offering prepaid plans for the Pre Plus, Pixi Plus, and other smartphones. Instead of spinning off a new sub-brand (ala Sprint and Boost Mobile), Verizon’s leveraging their own brand name and phones to offer prepaid contract-free wares, and now they’re adding smartphones to the mix.

The list of phones is by no means exhaustive, but it is comprehensive. In addition to Verizon’s webOS offerings, customers can also pick up their entire Android line-up and a whole slew of BlackBerry smartphones and several multimedia feature phones. All of these phones are eligible for a $30-a-month unlimited data pack (multimedia phones can opt for a $10 for 25MB (really) data pack) to be added onto one of Verizon’s already-existing pre-paid options.

If you’re mostly using your phone for web access and run with limited calls and texts, then this might be the option for you, as Verizon’s prepaid voice plans work on a day-by-day system where if you don’t use the service for a day, your pre-paid allotment isn’t charged for that day. In fact, if your peeps are on Verizon you could get away with paying $40 a month for unlimited Verizon-to-Verizon calls and texts ($10) and unlimited data ($30). Not a bad call, eh?

Source: Verizon; Via: PhoneScoop

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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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If you’re the contract signing type, HP has the deal for you. Through their newly-launched HP Wireless Central store you can snag a Palm Pixi Plus or Pre Plus on AT&T or Verizon for the upfront sum of free, with free shipping via FedEx. Of course, you are still locking yourself into a two-year contract to save those bucks, but saved bucks are saved bucks, right? And if you spring for the Pre Plus (it’s just as free as the Pixi Plus, so why wouldn’t you?), HP will also throw in a free Renegade Bluetooth headset (valued at $49.99), an Axiom leather case ($29.99), and a car charger ($19.99).

Strangely, Sprint is still stubborn as usual on their pricing, with the more-than-a-year-old Pre still retailing for $99.99 and the Wi-Fi-less Pixi at $19.99. With all this cash you’re saving, we’re going to point you towards the PreCentral accessory store where you can pick up some more sweet gear, like a Touchstone charger or a better Bluetooth headset.

Source: HP Wireless Central, thanks to sepherous for the tip!

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