Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is somewhat strangely pitching its version of the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre – Plus, as a perfect device for today’s moms. The main idea is that the device is “smart enough to keep up with mom” and is in the context of the upcoming holiday a “perfect Valentine’s gift.” Silly me, I thought webOS is for everyone. Go figure…
Anyway, we have two Verizon’s mom-targeting Pre Plus commercials to show you. Enjoy!
Among the first of the Valentine’s Day promos I’ve come across is the new ‘Sweet Deals’ promo via Sasktel. It’s not exactly a barn-burner, but a promo it is. Here’s the deal… You can pick up a BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Pearl Flip 8230, Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Centro, or Motorola (NYSE: MOT) QA30 Hint for free on a three-year contract. You can also choose to pick up a BlackBerry Storm 9530 for only $25. Not bad at all. On top of that, Sasktel will throw in a free skin for the device (in the form of a redemption card).
For all of the details head on over to Sasktel. The promo is on now through February 27th. It’s important to note, an over-and-above charge of $25 will be applied to each new activation. Blarg, those darn activation fees!
The Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre Plus was recently released as Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s answer to webOS fans not willing to hop on Sprint (NYSE: S)’s network just for the Palm Pre. The Palm Pre plus looks and performs a lot like its Sprint predecessor, but nixes the home button and adds gobs more RAM. There’s also apparently another difference – the Palm Pre Plus on Verizon is reportedly giving wonky GPS results for some users. The problem arises when trying to the Palm Pre Plus’s GPS feature with any app outside of VZ Navigator – Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps, for example.
Some users are posting on PreCentralforums, saying that their Palm Pre Plus is giving some inconsistent location data, if any at all, when trying to get a position-lock in Google Maps. Some report that they are getting inaccurate location data, while others are reporting no GPS signal at all.
There’s talk of Verizon going back to their old ways and locking down the Palm Pre Plus’s GPS receiver to work only with their for-pay VZ Navigator turn-by-turn navigation service. There’s also speculation that the GPS receiver is going into sleep mode, which is preventing the Palm Pre Plus from getting a GPS signal.
But, before you get your tin-foil hat out of your panic room, we don’t think the Verizon GPS conspiracy argument holds water too well. Seeing as how the carrier hasn’t locked down GPS service in other recent smartphones, it’s unlikely that they did so for the Palm Pre Plus. As for the GPS hardware going to sleep, some users have had success in turning off Google Services and GPS, rebooting the phone, and restarting GPS to get Google Maps working with GPS. Others, though, are still frustrated.
Have you been experiencing any wacky GPS performance with your Palm Pre Plus?
Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre and Pixi users have a new Gameboy, Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance Emulator to check out. Called VisualBoyAdvance (VBA), developer dtzWill (with some help from webOS-internals) has put together this little gem for those that love them some old-school gaming action. The emulator itself is free, but as always, if you enjoy it be sure to share some love in the form of a monetary donation.
Before you give it a spin be sure to read this wiki page from top to bottom. Inside you’ll find instructions on how to install the app, install ROMS, plus details on gaming controls. The most recent version of VBA now includes skin support, and supports all Gameboy and Gameboy color games. Some Gameboy Advance games still experience some lag/performance issues… But I’m sure dtzWill is working hard on that.
Be sure to check out the video above… and if VBA doesn’t work out for you in the end, you may want to give the gnuboy emulator a look a very capable alternative.
With the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus now available on Verizon (NYSE: VZ), I was wondering how long it was going to take the folks at Mark/Space to launch their syncing solution for these new webOS offerings. Turns out it didn’t take them very long at all.
This morning, I received a note from Mark/Space letting me know that their popular syncing solution, ‘The Missing Sync‘ is now compatible with the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus. You can use it to sync your contacts, calendars, address book, media files and more wirelessly via Bluetooth. The app detects when your device is close to your PC or Mac, and performs a sync. Easy.
Until we get this confirmed with an official press release, this goes into our “rumors” section. But it’s a common sense really, as Palm (NSDQ: PALM) certainly wants to reach AT&T (NYSE: T) users and Europe. Yap, the company is working on GSM-based Pre Plus and Pixi Plus as confirmed by certification company TUV Rheinland, which has two models listed (P101UNA and P121UNA) on their website.
As I said, this isn’t official, but I bet we’ll have some solid deals announced during the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Stay tuned…
Palm (NSDQ: PALM)’s two webOS devices are now available on a second U.S. carrier. Yap, the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are now on the Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s website from where you can grab them for $149.99 and $99.99, respectively. And in case you need two Pixis for you and someone special, there’s a buy one get one free option, which is neat. ‘nough said, here are the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus links.
Come learn how to take full advantage of the advanced hardware capabilities of Palm’s webOS devices–including full OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 support–using the recently announced Plug-in Development Kit (PDK). This technical session will provide an architectural overview of Palm’s hardware and software platforms and then provide hands-on details for how the PDK exposes these capabilities.
The Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre Plus has twice the RAM as Sprint (NYSE: S)’s Pre, double the storage space, and it lacks a home key. What sort of performance improvement can Verizon customers expect with all that RAM? In this video, done by Dieter Bohn from Pre|Central, he demonstrates how on Sprint’s Pre he can only run 13 applications, while Verizon’s Pre Plus can run 50. Now that’s a bit absurd, really, since most people will never have more than 5 applications open at one time, but it shows just how impressive a little bit of RAM can make an already incredible device.
An open question: would you call the Palm Pre a success? How many have you seen in the wild? Do you know anyone who has one? Do you have one?
Palm (NSDQ: PALM) has issued a new update for its GSM-based Pre, bringing firmware version to 1.3.5.2. When compared to the firmware version 1.3.1, the new one rocks. Actually, there are no major features involved, only that everything works much faster. Plus there’s an improved support for prepaid SIMs, OTA update support, revamped App Catalog that can handle multiple simultaneous downloads (even in background), better calendar, email and more. This page on Palm’s website has all the details…
The Palm (
