Hot Phones, Hot Hotspot

Today’s the day. Go to www.verizonwireless.com or your local Verizon Wireless Communications Store to get a Palm Pre Plus for $149.99 or Palm Pixi Plus for just $99.99. Or better yet, get both. Through Feb. 14, buy a Palm Pre Plus or a Palm Pixi Plus and get a Palm Pixi Plus free (after a mail-in rebate).

 

There’s already some great buzz about the phones -- NYT’s David Pogue says “The polish and panache of both phones are phenomenal” -- but there’s one new feature that Pogue calls “a breakthrough”: the Palm mobile hotspot. It’s super-simple to use -- just one tap turns Palm Pre Plus or Palm Pixi Plus into your own personal Wi-Fi cloud. No need to look for a hotspot when you’re out and about, and no need for a USB connection. For $40 a month (on top of your Verizon Wireless voice and data plans) you can get up to five Wi-Fi-capable devices online at the same time.

 

Take Palm Pre Plus or Palm Pixi Plus for a test drive at your local Verizon Wireless store and see for yourself why Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky calls Palm webOS “a brilliant platform with huge potential to change the way you work and live with your phone...”

 

Paul Araquistain, Palm PR

 

Comments

[Ed]

Why isn't Verizon offering the Buy One (Pre Plus) Get One (Pixi Plus) Free offer? Their website only shows the Pixi Plus w/ a BOGO for a Pixi - the Pre Plus is Get 3 "Select" phones (not a Pixi) free...

[Michael]

Well, that's all very nice (and I'm not being cynical) but when are any of the WebOS devices coming to (the rest of) Europe? Why have them in some European countries but not others? Why close the app store to users outside of these countries? I have been a huge Palm fan since 2000 but I feel Palm has forsaken all it's European users... I want my Pre!

[Jason Lefkowitz]

How about bringing that "breakthrough" to those of us who lined up to get Pre and Pixi through Sprint?

Please?

:-D

[Paul A]

Ed... the BOGO offer is applicable for both Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus -- buy a Palm Pre Plus or a Palm Pixi Plus and get a Palm Pixi Plus free after mail-in rebate. The Verizon Wireless website has been updated.

Paul @ Palm

[Paul A]

Michael... Thanks for your comment. We want to ensure a best-in-class customer experience wherever we launch, so we’re taking a phased approach to expanding webOS to other countries. You’ll definitely hear from us when we have something more to say. You can also follow @palm (Twitter) to be sure you get the latest updates.

Paul @ Palm

[tk421]

This is great and all that, but where is the publicity? There is hardly any mention of the Pre and Pixi plus on the web, and there are no TV adds whatsoever.

I'm rooting for Pam. I think you guys have the best platform out there. I really hope that your add department can help see people see the light of webOS.

Still waiting for correct multilingual input before I can take the plunge. Unlocked GSM would be nice too.

Go Palm!

[DW]

Has Palm announced when the Pre is available on AT&T? I've read that AT&T execs say first quarter of this year, but I can't find anything definitive. I need to figure out if it's time to flip to Verizon or not.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=83301459]

When will the Pre Plus be available for Sprint? As a loyalist to Palm I was quite disappointed to hear the Pre Plus would not be available for those who invested in the first Pre with Sprint. In order for Sprint subscribers to enjoy the Pre Plus one will have to break a contract which is very expensive.

[Rj]

I was really excited to see the new ads...umm where are they? Verizon website didn't even change their homepage for this launch...what's a great phone if nobody knows it exist!

[Wayne]

Unless heard otherwise, I would assume the mobile hotspot feature is a hardware solution using chips that don't exist in the Palm Pre. Thus, there can't be an upgrade. Palm would have to release the phone for Sprint.

Note: This is a great and innovative feature and I applaud Sprint for putting it out.

Sprint and Verizon both use CDMA, there's no reason that the Palm Plus phones could not be quickly made available for Sprint, unless Palm has a warehouse full of the "regular" phones they need to get rid of first.

Looking at the online sprint store, the price for the "regular" Palm phones is the same as the Verizon Palm Plus phones with twice the memory and more features.

If you're an early adopter, you're out of luck if you want the new features "free." This is normal, just ask any iPhone, iPod, or other personal electronics user. New models of personal electronics come out with new features--but usually the old models are discounted. No so with Palm, apparently--lesser featured models cost the same as the new hardware.

If you're a new shopper, go to Verizon. It's a slap in the face to Sprint, who supported Palm's products for many years.

Palm's inability to put out products that match even years-old products (big screen on a PDA, memory card slots, etc), the lack of an online "palm-space" where I can create an account online that links up with Google mail/calendar and the like (inc. online Palm email), the dropping of the desktop app I can use offline, and their sale of the "plus" product only on verizon tells me that Palm executives must have teflon shoes to protect their toes from all the shots fired.

And what's up with making a phone bigger than the Pre, but calling it the "pixi?"

-- Signed, another long-time palm loyalist that is looking other options when the 755p dies if Palm doesn't put out a big-screen, SD or SD-mini enabled phone I can watch DIVX on when I'm flying.

[Curt]

The Verizon phone reps didn't even have the prices for the Pre+ and the Pixi+ till LATE Sunday night.

Nothing personal - but to all the Sprint users: Welcome to my world, as a Verizon loyal idiot I've had to wait all this time for the Pre.

[Jonathan M. Rose]

I purchased the Palm Pre Plus today at a Verizon Wireless store, and they did NOT offer me a free Pixi, nor did they give me a mail-in rebate form to send away for one. How do I go about getting the free phone?

[DW]

When will there be a GSM version of the phone available -- I thought Verizon's version was supposed to support this, but from what I read, it doesn't look like this phone will work when traveling abroad.

[Erik]

An SD card would be nice, so we can increase our OWN memory.

How about releasing your next upgrade as an "unlocked" phone. So, WE can choose our carrier? You would sell more and perhaps keep your present users as loyal customers.

Seriously....... a bit irritated.

[Debbie L]

I've been waiting for the Pixie Plus to be offered By Verizon. Yeah! It is here....BUT when will it be compatable with the Suprakey so I can use it for Real Estate?
I REALLY need a new Phone soon. Mine is a 700 Palm and has started to crash regularly and I'm told it is old technology, BUT I need a phone compatable with my MLS system.

[Totally and Completely Depressed and missing my TX]

what exactly is the empty space above the keyboard in the PixiPlus used for? And why is the keyboard no bigger than a Centro keyboard??? Did you recycle the Centro keyboard that we all hated??

[Ethel Newlin]

I've been using a Centro, & before that a Treo for several years & anxiously awaited the arrival of the PrePlus & PixiPlus on Verizon so I could essentially upgrade.Quickly changed my mind when I found out that I would be required to back up my contacts & calendar online unless I purchased additional software.In the interest of prvacy I don't want my sensitive info anywhere it can be hacked into so it looks like my Centro & I will be together for a long time.

[Totally and Completely Depressed and missing my TX]

I agree with Ethel - some of us can't back up our contacts online/in the cloud. Again another strike against business users. And no desktop software to add contacts in at our pc is not a good thing. these are just gloried media phones.

[RC]

I think it's great that Palm is with Verizon and gives VZ a phone to take on the iphone, what I have been surprised about (disappointed) is that I have yet to see any Verizon television ads promoting either the Pre or Pixi and that it is available on the Verizon network.

Verizon has done a stellar job with their map commercial. I was hoping for a similar high impact commercial for the Pre, but I have not seen one commercial anywhere.

Why are Palm and Verizon being so secretive about the launch? I don't get it as they have a phenomenal product they should be advertising the heck out of it.

[Alex D]

Yeah, agree with Wayne. No ads. Looks like you don't mention Motorola Droid's and Apple's expirience, which shows, that good ad is very, very, extremely important. I'm also very loyal to Palm, want to change my Zire to smth new by Palm.
In fact, when you come to Russia (and I hope, that you come to Russia), you should make very good advertisment and quite good prices: iPhone is sold for $800+ and it's been sold VERY bad.
Don't wanna lose Palm Inc.

[RobAnd]

Bring the Pre Plus to Brazil!

[Tomas]

The lack of an unlocked GSM version of this phone (except for the German version, with a crazy keyboard) ONE YEAR after the press release is highly remarkable. One year is an eon of time in this business. All manufacturers have phones of the same caliber by now. Iphone and high end Androids sell like crazy in Scandinavia. So after a decade of Palm phones it's bye bye. Android, here we go.....

[Greg]

As a 14 yr Sprint loyalist and an early adopter of Palm Pre I want a Palm Pre plus available via Sprint!

[Mark]

Still loving my launch day Sprint Pre (first one out the door in my town). Now that Palm has the low end and middle covered with Pixi and Pre I hope they are working on a true high-end phone for power users. More horsepower/memory, larger screen/battery, better keyboard, and best-in-class build quality come to mind. Keep up the good work. Thanks!

[Totally and Completely Depressed and missing my TX]

I went to Verizon and looked at both the Pixi and Pre. The pixi DOES RECYCLE THE TINY CENTRO KEYBOARD.

During the demo of the pixi, the sales rep tells me to push a number key. I look at it, there is no row of number keys, so i ask how, he says oh, look again, the numbers are on the same keys at the letters. I squint really hard, and sure enough, printed in the sise of speck of dirt are numbers!! Maybe in 1 or 2 point???

Obviously their designers are 22 year olds with perfect vision and perfect hearing!!! 22 yer olds don't make up the majority of the folks living here.

Of course, webpages are so small they are rendered unreadable to a visually impaired person.

Way to be totally unaccessible to the disabled!! I hope someone files an ADA complaint against your company for lack of accessible products.

I did not even bother checking whether I could actually hear on it since if I can't see, it does not matter if my hearing loss is a problem. If Palm does not care enough to make a readable product, is doubtful they made a product that can be heard.

Why can't you make something LARGE LIKE THE PALM TX???? (Maybe the Mini 5 coming out in a few months wouold be cool - it is about exactly the same size as a TX - at least in its beta version. Supposed to come with apps from one of the two big companies that truly have apps. Funny how other companies are bringing out products similar to those Palm abandoned. Apparently there really is a demand for handhelds!!!!!