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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Earlier this month we reported that those who had imported the SIM-lock free German Pre for use on a non-O2 network were unable to access the App Catalog after updating to webOS 1.3.1. We hypothesized that Palm wouldn’t provide a remedy to the issue other than a rather convoluted work-around involving multiple Palm profiles and SIM cards, but it appears that Palm has been addressing the issue on their side, as a number of importers have been reporting that they once again have access to the Catalog.

The issue has to do with the way the GSM Pre is activated, and the way in which applications are certified for certain countries.  If you were to activate your imported Pre with a SIM card from a Swedish network for example, you wouldn’t be unable to access the App Catalog.

Having access to the Catalog is important for all webOS users, and hopefully bringing paid applications to markets outside of the US is a top priority for Palm in 2010 as they expand the number of countries and carriers selling itsproduct.

Importers: can you access the App Catalog again?

[via Palminfocenter]

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Still interested in getting your paws on an unlocked GSM Palm Pre, but don’t trust retailers with whom you’re not familiar? We don’t blame you – the world of internet commerce is a scary place, so we’re happy to point your to the most reputable of online retailers: Amazon. Their German outlet is selling the unlocked German QWERTZ Pre for just €399,99 – that’s $598.19 in Yankee coin. That frankly isn’t a bad premium over the $550 a Sprint Pre will cost you, and that can’t even be unlocked.

The unlocked Pre for sale on Amazon does come through reseller Spieleparadies Rüstem, so you’re not getting it direct from Amazon. And there’s one more catch: you’re going to need a friend in Germany to serve as a shipping intermediary, as Spieleparadies Rüstem apparently doesn’t do international shipping. But it’s a start, eh?

Dank an akitayo für den tipp!

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So you decided to take the risk and grabbed a QWERTZ GSM Pre off the internets and had it shipped to the States. And wonder of wonders, it works! But, it’s a Pre and it stands a chance of being breaking itself just by you looking at it the wrong way. And then it happens. The phone crashes when you close the slider, your power button stops responding, or you oreo all the way around. Naturally, since you’re not in Germany and not on O2, you wouldn’t turn to O2 Germany to get the phone fixed, right?

Wrong. Palm won’t fix your phone. In fact, the only way you can get your Pre repaired or replaced is through the carrier’s own systems. So if you were brave and bought that unlocked German O2 Pre, well you’ll have to send it back to O2 Germany if you need a replacement. So be extra extra careful. Maybe you should just not look at the phone to be safe.

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So the good folks at O2 Germany are the only people selling the GSM Palm Pre without a SIM-Lock on the phone. As of now, if you want an unlocked GSM Palm Pre in the US (or anywhere else for that matter), they’re your only option. One problem: the German Palm Pre has the QWERTZ-style keyboard, not your standard English QWERTY. How dare people speak and use other languages, right?

Right, well if that layout is keeping you from importing, Rod Whitby of WebOS Internals has the solution coming soon. It uses the WebOS Internals Meta-Doctor (which coincidentally can be used to get any Pre working without a data plan, should you need a WiFi-only Pre) but the entire process takes some Linux knowledge, a Linux desktop, and a healthy dose of gumption.

Technical details to follow tomorrow, but the good news is that the technique persists across OTA updates and most resets. The bad news, again, is that it’s a pretty non-trivial hack. Still – anybody who’s hard-up for a GSM Pre outside Europe take note: the details will be posted in our forums, right here.

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