Palm Pre is definitely one of 2009's hottest smartphones, but what if Palm would come up with a device similar to it, but smaller?

According to TechCrunch and one of their "better sources", the Sunnyvale-based company plans to launch such a device later this year - a Mini Pre - possibly in the third quarter.

Sadly, there are no details about the new handset, other than the fact that it's like a smaller Pre (with WebOS on board, of course).

The latest rumors about Pre's launch come from Sprint Gurus. Reportedly, there are two release windows for the WebOS-based smartphone (yeah, we've heard that before).

One window is around June/July 9, 2009. The date of the second one was not unveiled.

So, basically, there's still nothing confirmed, save for the fact that, as Palm and Sprint have announced at the beginning of the year, the Pre would be available sometime in the first half of 2009.

One thing's clear: Sprint and Palm should come up with the smartphone as soon as possible. Because, well, the competition isn't sleeping.

We don't even have an official release date for the original Palm Pre yet, but already the blogosphere is buzzing about another WebOS-powered smartphone from Palm-a "Mini-Pre," perhaps?

The whispers are coming from TechCrunch, which claims that one of its "better sources" has the skinny on a "second Pre-like device" that is "very far along" in development.

The rumored second Pre ("we're calling it the Mini-Pre") is a "smaller device" than the original-which hasn't even arrived in stores yet, mind you (we're still waiting for a release date from Palm and Sprint)-that will run on Palm's new WebOS platform (same as the Pre) and may or may not feature a physical keypad, according to TechCrunch. The blog also pegs availability in the fall or the "late part of 2009."

Of course, Palm has made no secret of the fact that the Pre, which debuted in January at CES in Las Vegas, will only be the first in a series of WebOS-powered handsets.

Launching a second WebOS phone this year would be an ambitious move for Palm, which as recently as a few weeks ago was still in "polishing mode" with the long-gestating Pre.

Then again, Palm-which has been teetering on the brink for many quarters now-could certainly do with a couple of homers this year, and a bargain version of the Pre might end up as successful as the $99 Centro, which ended up becoming one of Palm's biggest hits.

In any case, the "Mini-Pre" is still deep in rumorville for now. (We've had a lot of hot rumors this week, haven't we?)

Update: The Boy Genius Report has a fuzzy photo of what may or may not be the "Mini-Pre"-check it out and decide for yourself.

Another update: Engadget Mobile has another fuzzy photo, as well as a name ("Eos"), some features (3G HSDPA, 2MP camera, 0.42 inches thick), a carrier (AT&T), and a price ($349, "pre-rebate")-but warns we should "take it all with a grain of salt ... as usual."

o say Palm has a lot riding on the Pre smartphone is an understatement. Amid stiff competition from Apple (AAPL) and Research In Motion (RIMM), Palm's very survival may hinge on the success of the device, expected to reach Sprint Nextel (S) store shelves no later than June 30.

And while it's hard to predict demand for the Pre, preliminary analysis suggests Palm (PALM) will make a healthy profit from the units it does sell. Judging from a preliminary estimate by market researcher iSuppli, the Pre will cost about $138 to build. That would amount to 46% of the $300 iSuppli expects Palm to charge Sprint for the device; Sprint is likely to sell the handset for $200, after a $100 subsidy, iSuppli speculates. Palm declined to comment on iSuppli's analysis.

Announced to great fanfare amid a lot of buzz at the International Consumer Electronics Show in January, the Pre represents Palm's bid to reclaim relevance in smartphones, a category it once defined. After a successful run with the Treo family of handsets that began after it acquired Handspring in 2003, Palm has been left behind by more advanced products, including Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices.

an i-like, multitouch-enabled display

Researchers at iSuppli typically conduct teardown analyses of popular consumer electronic devices to estimate their costs and identify key suppliers. This analysis is an estimate, however, because there is not yet a product to tear down. So far, iSuppli has been able to identify two suppliers, says iSuppli analyst Tina Teng. Chipmaker Texas Instruments (TXN) is supplying Palm with an $11 applications chip from the so-called OMAP family of chips aimed at handsets, and wireless-chip maker Qualcomm (QCOM) is the most likely supplier of a set of wireless chips that will let the Pre run on Sprint's wireless voice and data network. Other suppliers are not definitively known.

One component that will likely attract a great deal of attention is the Pre's display. The handset sports a multitouch-enabled display, similar in some respects to that of Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. The screen and components related to it will be the primary cost-driver inside the Pre, amounting to $39.51, or almost one-quarter of its overall components cost, Teng estimates. "Having seen the demonstrations and its features at the Consumer Electronics Show and elsewhere, we made some assumptions about what it will cost," Teng says. "The materials used on Palm's display may differ from those used on Apple's display. We also think how it works will be different at the software level."

Yet the similarities to Apple's screen caught the eye of Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, who fired a warning shot across Palm's bow during a Jan. 21 conference call by saying that Apple, which has several patents on multi-touch technology, stands "ready to suit up against anyone," it believes violate its patents.

The statement raised eyebrows, especially given that Palm Chairman Jon Rubinstein is a former Apple executive. At the time, Palm noted that it holds several "fundamental patents" on mobile technology, having built handheld devices since 1997, when it introduced the original PalmPilot. The company added that it could easily defend itself against a possible Apple lawsuit.

the bill? 56% of estimated revenue

Other Pre costs include memory. Teng believes the phone will have at least eight gigabytes of flash memory, adding $15.96 to the materials cost. Wireless components from Qualcomm will add another $15.41. A 3-megapixel camera, possibly supplied by Aptina, a unit of chipmaker Micron Technology (MU), is expected to cost $12.39.

The costs of the display, applications chip, wireless components, memory chips, and the camera come to more than $94, or about 68% of Teng's component cost estimate.

Teng has also estimated some non-hardware-related costs that Palm might incur. Licensing software and royalties on patents probably amount to $22.61, Teng estimates. She declined to name potential recipients of patent royalties or payments for software, but likely candidates might be companies that have provided applications to be preinstalled on the device.

Add that to the estimated cost of hardware and components and you get a projected cost of $170, or about 56% of the $300 price at which Palm is expected to sell the device to Sprint.

Now, Palm just needs to get the handset to market. This week, Sprint ran full-page ads in several newspapers showing the Pre. Meanwhile an enthusiast Web site, everythingpre.com, reported a rumor saying that the first shipment of the device left Hong Kong on Apr. 28 aboard a UPS (UPS) plane to Louisville. There is also speculation Palm may seek to try to steal the thunder of rival Apple by releasing the Pre before the next iteration of the iPhone is announced. Apple has said it will release version 3.0 of its iPhone software by the end of June and is expected to unveil a new iPhone around the same time.

via: business week

By Rillo over at http://www.PalmPreForum.org

So I got myself a nice little connection from Sprint. Well call him Frank. Everyone please thank Frank (lol) from here on out.

Anyways. So far I got a little info and some nice little pictures for your enjoyment.

Q: How's the Keyboard?

A: Think of the centro keyboard (wait for it..) but with the keys spaced out a bit better and a tiny bit bigger (maybe my imagination) and now make them ever so raised so that you can easily distinguish them but not raised like the centro where they're so high it makes your fingers get in the way of each other."

Q: Is the phone truly as great as we think it will be, and if you could complain about something what would it be?

A: Well, to be honest, i didnt really get to play with it tooo long, had to wait till store closed and the advocate showed me it and let me mess with it... had to take the pictures without him noticing though lol. anyways, what i mean is that im too much in love with the phone to see anything i hated (i mean, I FINALLY HELD IT!!) but looking back, there just wasnt anything i didnt like... it was very responsive, the gesture are worked great, screen was gorgeous... could be bigger but the way palm went about using the space it provided makes it so the current size is more than enough. obviously couldnt test out the battery but the advocate takes it for training on monday for a day or two, then the store manager gets it for training for a day or two then its in the store till launch.... thinking of how long it took me to get another phone that came out not too long ago, in relation to the release id say first half of june, but i havent heard of a release date yet but youll be the first to know.

And a nice little tid bit on the pouch!

"oh and the pouch is the most retarded thing in the world... its like a sock"

via: palmpreforum.org

The Palm Pre will launch on June 6. There has been a lot of discusion about when the Pre would launch on Sprint's network, but we believe the date is official after spotting Sprint a ad that features a countdown timer to June 6. The advertisements will likely point to Sprint's Now Network Pre landing page.

The ad features a countdown timer that's identical to the counters in Sprint's nationwide "Now Network" advertisements and web site.
The New York Times reported yesterday that the Palm Pre would launch the first week of June.

via: palmpreforum.org

We were excited when we told you that palm pixi was selling for only $30 with 2 years contract on letstalk.com a couple of days ago.  To our surprise, Amazon went out with a even biggest discount, well only $5 cheapers, but yes, they are selling palm pixi for only $24.99 with a contract.

If you haven't hear about the Palm pixi, here's some information.

Technical Details

• 3G-enabled smartphone with intuitive Palm webOS platform, touchscreen and full QWERTY keyboard; easy integration with Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and more
• Sprint Mobile Broadband Network via EV-DO connectivity; GPS turn-by-turn directions via Sprint Navigation; Sprint TV enabled; download music from Amazon MP3 Store
• 8 GB internal memory; 2-megapixel camera/camcorder; Bluetooth stereo music; access to personal and corporate email
• Up to 5 hours of talk time, up to 350 hours (14.5 days) of standby time
• What's in the Box: handset, rechargeable battery, charger, USB cable, quick start guide, user manual

›  See more technical details

Here's link to buy the phone from amazon.com

I don't understand this, why would palm bother to make the lower end Palm Pixi when the palm pre are now selling for only $80 with a contract, while the Palm Pixi priced at only $25, for $55 dollars difference, I wouldn't personally bother with the palm pixi, but to each of their own, I know I will have disagreements.

Regardless, Check out the Amazon site on the Palm Pre for $80 with contract Below.

Palm Pre at Amazon.com

Thanks to engadgetmobile for this news

Palm Inc. said Monday morning that its wireless phones running on the new webOS operating system will be available on the AT&T wireless network. No specific launch date was given for the devices. In a statement, Palm will sell the Pre Plus for $149.99 and the Pixi Plus for $49.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

The phones were launched on the Verizon network in January, but it wasn't selling too well, the stock took a hit last week.  So hopefully Palm will do better on AT&T since AT&T doesn't yet have any android devices except for the Backflip.

source: AT&T

A lot of folks who own a Palm Pre or Pixi were pretty excited when Precentral.net revealed a way to overclock their pre and pixi to get the maximum horsepower from the devices.

Well, Palm just announced today that it's not recommended or endorse by them, if you chose to do it anyway, it will Void your Warranty, so play with your own risk in other words.

Palm is working hard to improve the speed and performance of webOS, as shown in our recent 1.4 update. While we appreciate the effort the webOS community has put forth to try and help us along that path, the use of this application is neither endorsed nor recommended by Palm and will likely result in a voided warranty. Palm encourages webOS users to let Palm release official updates that provide safe, reliable, over-the-air features that improve their device in a number of areas, as we have in the past at a rate of approximately once per month.

source: precentral.net

PalmPreForum.org

Looks like Palm pretty desperately want to get more Palm App developers that they are offering some pretty sweet deals to spice these developers to help them expand the App catalog.  Here's the message from Palm Developer Center:

• These are exciting times for Palm and our developer community. The Hot Apps promotion that we kicked off back in February is about to end with over 400 developers receiving a share of a million dollars. We recently launched the Summer Half Off promotion-a 50% discount for nearly every app in our U.S. catalog, funded by Palm. And we're just getting started.

• In July, we're launching the new PDK Hot Apps promotion-another million dollars to developers, this time focused on the C/C++ apps that were excluded from the original Hot Apps promotion.

• And we have one more program change that will benefit all developers. When we launched the developer program, we introduced a $50 per app fee to submit apps to our catalog. Effective immediately, we're waiving this fee and refunding to all developers any $50 fees collected in the past. If you're one such developer, you will see a credit in your PayPal account in the near future.

• Thank you for being part of the webOS community. We're excited to continue to evolve the Developer Program as together we build an incredible application catalog for customers.

Pretty sweet in my opinion, I sure hope they will be able both maintain and obtain more app developers.

source: Palm Developer Center

Pretty good deal to say the least, as you may already know HP had just bought Palm couple of months ago, and today we see that HP is selling Palm Pre and Pixi on its website (Wireless Central).

Sprint hasn't been able to meet up ATT's pricing when comes to the Pre and Pixi, which they are selling sell the phone for $49 dollars with a 2 years contract.

Sprint charges significantly less each month for the bill, so most phones will cost more up front, simply because they can't afford to subsidize them as much.

but that being said, it may also have more to do with pushing to get the ATT/VZW stock dwindled down to Sprint levels before announcing the new hardware.

source: precentral

French provider SFR have posted an official picture of the Palm Pre 2, but French site MobiFrance has just come by way of with hands-on photos.

A Palm Pre with an improved ridge across the face of a now-flat front that ought to both cut back the amount of cracking we've seen and eliminated that fiddly charger door.

It is working webOS 2.0 and until we're mis-seeing issues, it seems as if the screen resolution is identical 320x480 we've on the Pre and Pre Plus.

We have confirmed that it is working at 1GHz with 512mb of RAM. - MobiFrance suggests early November. Hit the source links for many more shots.

via: engadget

Originally i kind of ignore this story because I thought it was an April Fools joke, but it turns out to be real.    Don't believe me, try pricing a Pre Plus on Verizon's site and add the Mobile Hotspot feature at checkout.

Here's an official statement from Verizon regarding to the hotspots:

"Customers who purchase or upgrade to a Palm Pre and Palm Pixi will get the Mobile Hotspot for free. Existing customers who already have the service will find charges on their next bill will be $0.00."

source: mobile.engadget.com

Not everyday you'll see a service provider giving you a training session on a smartphone device.  Well Verizon has just step and start offering training class to better use your Palm and Android devices including the Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, Motorola Droid, Motorola Devour, HTC droid Eris and HTC droid incredible.

You can register the sessions using the link below, note, these classes are available to the first 20 customers per event based on a first come first serve basis.

https://email.vzwshop.com/servlet/formlink/f?NFOQYABB&

source: phandroid