If you live in the United Kingdom and consider yourself to be a fan of British television, then we may very well have the ticket you’ve been looking for. TVCatchup is looking for Palm webOS beta testers for their live streaming service. Currently they have both an iPhone app by the same name that allows you to watch the UK’s top 15 channels live, and they’re looking to expand that service to modern smartphones including the webOS platform. Testing is expected to take only about 5-10 minutes, though you’ll be free to watch as much live streaming TV as you like. Wi-Fi and 3G will be required of all testers, as will UK residency. Time to put that brand new O2 Pre Plus to use, eh?

Thanks to Martin for the tip!

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Europe, Canada, and Mexico, hold on to your hats, because in one week you’ll be able to buy apps from the Palm App Catalog. Palm has informed developers that March 31st is the go-live date for the international App Catalog e-commerce program. Developers wishing to distribute their apps in other countries are encouraged to resubmit their apps with an update that will provide localized content and/or meta-data. But if you don’t want to do that, Palm’s cool with that too.

In order to get as many paid apps in the various international App Catalog incarnations as possible, Palm’s Developer Relations Team will expedite the review process for apps tagged for international distribution (so expect plenty of updates in the coming week with no version change for the app). Apps submitted for sale in the United States, Canada, and Mexico will receive payment in US dollars, while apps submitted for Germany, Spain, the UK, and Ireland will receive payment in Euros (and from Palm subsidiary Palm Global Operations Ltd). Additionally, Palm is now accepting applications submissions for the upcoming launch of the webOS on SFR.

Developers: start your submission engines. International webOS users: start chilling the bubbly, for next Wednesday we celebrate.

Thanks to anonymous tipsters!

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The folks over at Top 10 Mobile Phones in the United Kingdom got their hands on that hotly anticipated Palm Pre and did a quick video unboxing and overview, and as we’ve come to expect, there’s very little different. Well, except for the GSM radio and associated bits, but otherwise its practically the same phone. Top 10 Mobile Phones also has put together a gallery of the GSM Pre, giving us our first up-close non-blurry shots of the phone.

Thanks to brum for the tip!

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[ youtube link ]

While the Germans were busy getting the Pre out into the hands of anxious customers, O2 United Kingdom decided to celebrate the launch with a party featuring a slew of UK celebrities like Matthew Horne, Alphabeat, Mel B (aka Scary Spice), VV Brown, and Jade Jagger. Members of the press, O2 employees, and some invited special O2 subscribers hopped onto the roof of the fashionable Shoreditch House in London. So a ton of celebrities got their hands on the phone early, and the rest of the UK, along with Ireland, will have to wait until Friday to get their own. Meanwhile, the cats on Telefonica in Spain can buy the Pre today, as in now.

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The fine folks over in Europe are finally getting in on the review fun that we had over here during the summer. Over at Golem.de they got some extended quality time with the phone, long enough to write up a 20-page review that covers just about every aspect of the phone. The conclusions are pretty much the same as ours, though there seems to be little difference between webOS 1.1.3 on O2’s Pre phones and the 1.1.0 version that we had on Sprint and Bell before webOS 1.2 hit. It is worth noting that webOS 1.1.3 does not come with the iTunes sync fix that 1.2.1 brought, so the Pre will be hitting Europe sans out-of-the-box music synchronization. An update to correct that and “bring parity” with the North American Pre is expected some time next month.

Heise.de aren’t the only ones that got their hands on the GSM Pre, as Trusted Reviews also put the phone through its paces. Their extensive review covered a lot of nitpicky items, but it’s the sign of a good product (or at least a product with good potential) when nitpicks are what take up space on the page and not huge glaring problems. Strangly, O2 sent United Kingdom-based Trusted Reviews a QWERTZ (i.e. German) Pre for their review. Slashgear did take a look at the UK edition and found no surprises.

Generally the reviews have come to the same conclusion as most stateside observers: the star of the Palm Pre is webOS. The build quality still leaves something to be desired, though we can easily point to the moving parts slider design as the culprit in the feels-flimsy category.

Thanks to Gizmo21 and Terry for the tips!

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While they call it a review, in reality it’s more of a preview, but it is the first European preview of the GSM Palm Pre. And unsurprisingly (and thankfully), The Times’ impressions are little different than ours: they see the Pre as the first legitimate iPhone fighter. And while the Pre hasn’t quite measured up in some regards (like sales numbers and apps), it offers many on-par and superior features that, as The Times says, means that European smartphone shoppers now have “a decision to make.” Of course, you know which way we’re apt to push you. Thanks to Paul for the tip!

Slashgear finds little different from the CDMA version, though they do confirm that the UK Pre is shipping with webOS 1.1.3 and ‘parity’ with the Sprint version will come ‘later on in 2009.’

Vowe confirms the German Pre also is on 1.1.3, and is ‘loving this already’ despite battery reservations.

Arne Hess over at the::unwired has several videos up, from unboxing, to a a jammin hardware overview, a software hands-on, and a photo gallery.

Update: Gizmo21 points us to this 19-page golem.de review (here’s the single-page version)

In all, it sounds like the GSM Palm Pre doesn’t bring any surprises beyond the disappointing version of the webOS (but we knew about that already). It seems as though the Pre is getting about the same reception (reviewers, not signal) that it did in the states. Now the test is whether or not being on a larger carriers in these countries will translate into larger sales.

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O2 announced today that the GSM Palm Pre will be launching in Europe in the middle of next month. The staggered release will see Germany getting their hands on the hot little smartphone on October 13th, with the United Kingdom and Ireland getting it on October 16th. Yup, that announcement really did come quickly.

Plans will vary by country. United Kingdom O2 customers will have several plan options for the Pre. On an 18-month contract you can sign up for a minimal contract of £29.38 a month (75 minutes, 125 texts, unlimited data) and get the Pre for £96.89. Alternatively, they can pay as little as £44.05 a month (1200 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited data) and get a Pre for free. Customers signing a 24-month contract for a minimum of £34.26 (600 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited data) will also get a Pre for free. All available plans for the Pre come with unlimited data on O2’s HDSPA network and access to 7500 affiliated WiFi hotspots.

German shoppers can pay €1 upfront for the Pre on a 24-month contract, with the rest of the phone subsidized at €20 a month over the contract. In total, you can expect to pay €481 for the phone, or an extra €2 to get the Pre contract-free (no word if that also means its SIM-lock free). The Pre will be available on any contract with O2 Germany, though they recommend you sign up for at least the €10/month data plan (otherwise you’ll be loaded down with by-the-kb data charges). O2 Germany is also giving away 10 Palm Pre phones.

In Ireland, you can sign up for plans ranging from €40 (175 minutes, 100 texts, 10 MMS, 1 GB data) to €65 a month (450 minutes, 150 texts, 15 MMS, 1 GB data) for 18 months and get a Pre for just €99, while forking over €100 a month (700 minutes, 250 texts, 25 MMS, 1 GB data) for a year and a half will get you a Pre for free. All plans are limited to 1 GB of data month, though they do also all come with unlimited access to O2’s WiFi hotspot network.

The German O2 website has also confirmed that the GSM Pre is indeed a Quad-band phone, with dual-band UMTS support (all told, we’re talking EDGE, UMTS, and HSDPA). Apart from that, the phone is practically the same as the CDMA Pre seen on Sprint and Bell Mobility.

Thanks to everybody that sent this in!

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[ youtube link ]

You may remember that soothing morning coffee video from way back when we were still waiting for the Pre to launch over here in North America. In preparation for the impending invasion of Europe, Palm has redone that video in Spanish (as seen above), German, and The Queen’s English for Ireland and the United Kingdom. While it doesn’t quite cover the gamut of O2/Telefonica’s European coverage area, it is one more sign that the European (and thus GSM) launch of the Pre is indeed on the way, even if we don’t get to take any pictures.

Oh, and don’t bother translating the videos – they all say the exact same thing (funny how everybody has business in California these days).

Thanks to Akitayo in our forums for the tip!

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Europe, it’s time to celebrate. As previously rumored, Telefonica has scored the rights to distribute the Palm Pre in Europe, on the O2 network in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany and on Movistar in Spain. Palm’s official press release (after the break) says that the first GSM webOS phones will launch “in time for the holidays,” but according to O2’s German update notification sign-up page, the Pre will be launching in October. So far the only published (and expected) difference between the Pre that the Telefonica networks will be receiving and that made for Sprint and Bell Canada is the GSM radio, which will come complete with HSDPA (3G GSM). It’s as-yet unclear whether or not the European Pre will support the 3G bands in the US.

Thus far there’s been no mention of price or plans, but if our experience with other smartphones in Europe is any indication, it’s not going to be cheap.

Update: Gizmo and Enzo let us know that that O2 Germany changed their date from October to Fall 2009. Update Update: Goyena notes it’s now changed to "In time for Christmas."  We’re just going to say end of the year, OK O2?

Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

read more

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Palm webOS Blog is proud to announce the first Palm Pre twitter giveaway contest in the United Kingdom!
Contest:
Seen enough of the Palm Pre contests? Disappointed that they are only for the US contestants? No more! …

Related posts:

1. Using twitter to track down Pre sightings – Pre spotted again in the wild!
2. O2 exclusivity confirmed by stores managers, Palm Pre UK release date end of July?

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