WebOS 2.0 Now Official, Arriving On Palm Pre 2 "In the Coming Months" In US [Hp]

It’s always nice when rumors actually hold up: HP just officially introduced the world to webOS 2.0 and confirmed its flagship handset, the Palm Pre 2. So this is why HP spent all that money. Let’s take a quick spin. More »

Palm gets official with webOS 2.0 and Pre 2: hitting France on Friday, Verizon ‘in the coming months’

And just like that, the rumor mill smirks. HP has just come clean with a device that we’ve been hearing more and more about over the past few weeks, and with it will come the next generation of webOS that we’ve been hearing about for even longer. The Palm Pre 2 will be the first device to ship with HP webOS 2.0, with the revamped and renamed (presumably to use on more than just Palm smartphones) mobile OS promising “true multitasking,” Stacks (for organizing apps) Just Type, HP Synergy (links your email and social networking accounts), Exhibition (enabling users to run apps designed specifically for the Palm Touchstone Charging Dock) and support for Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1 Beta. It’s also bringing along a new Favorites tagging option, Skype Mobile (on the Verizon version only), text assist, integrated Quickoffice, VPN support, a redesigned launcher and full support for Bluetooth keyboards and SPP peripherals.

As for Pre 2 itself? Little is being revealed at the moment, but we’re told to expect a 1GHz CPU, a five megapixel camera (LED flash, extended depth of field, geotagging, and video capture), glass display and a “sleeker, streamlined design” that still combines a touchpanel with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. In other words, it’s a faster, slimmer Pre, and some would argue it’s what the Pre Plus should’ve been. At any rate, SFR customers in France will get first dibs on Friday, with Verizon and an undisclosed carrier in Canada scheduled to get it “in the coming months.” Oh, and as for US-based developers? They’ll be able to purchase unlocked UMTS versions of the Pre 2 (!) in their homeland, though pricing remains elusive.

Update: The Pre 2 portal is now live, showcasing a 3.1-inch 480 x 320 (HVGA) multitouch display, a black enclosure, Exchange support, built-in GPS, ambient light / proximity sensors, an accelerometer, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 16GB of inbuilt storage space, a battery good for around 5.5 hours of talking and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Continue reading Palm gets official with webOS 2.0 and Pre 2: hitting France on Friday, Verizon ‘in the coming months’

Palm gets official with webOS 2.0 and Pre 2: hitting France on Friday, Verizon ‘in the coming months’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia’s ex-MeeGo chief lands at Palm?

It looks like design heads at Palm and Nokia have more or less swapped roles, as All Things D reports that Nokia’s ex-MeeGo head Ari Jaaksi has just been hired by Palm — a month after Nokia grabbed Palm’s Peter Skillman to head up user experience and services for MeeGo. Fate? Coincidence? As long as both struggling smartphone companies bring us better devices and improved operating systems as a result, we’re not all that concerned. The report also suggests a Samsung VP and several HP executives will be boosting Palm’s team as well.

Nokia’s ex-MeeGo chief lands at Palm? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm Pre 2 coming to Verizon?

It seems like we’re getting closer and closer to the arrival of the Palm Pre 2 and webOS 2.0, and it looks like Verizon will be in the mix — we were just sent this image of Big Red’s internal VZLearn portal showing Pre 2 device training. We still don’t know when it’ll actually hit or what pricing will be like, and we don’t know if it’ll hit Sprint and AT&T as well like the OG Pre, but we’re guessing we’ll find out soon enough — keep a sharp eye, we’ll let you know.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Palm Pre 2 coming to Verizon? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm Pre 2 in the wild?

Okay, now that we’ve got a bigger shot of this thing, we can definitely say that it’s neither a Pre nor a Pre Plus… so assuming it’s not some sophisticated fake, you’re feasting your eyes on Palm’s next-gen model here. Given how close it is to the model it’ll presumably be replacing, we can’t help but feel like the Pre 2 should’ve actually been the phone we call the Pre Plus today — and it should’ve launched six (or more) months ago — but in the event webOS 2.0 doesn’t come to older devices, we suppose that alone will be the impetus some current owners need to upgrade. ‘Course, the 1GHz processor should be nice, too. Hit up the source link for a few more shots of it slinking around the wild; meanwhile, we await Palm’s move on an official announce.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Palm Pre 2 in the wild? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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France’s SFR jumps gun, announces Palm Pre 2: 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, webOS 2.0

It’s unclear if the tiny, little shot posted on French carrier SFR’s Club SFR pour Palm blog is in fact the rumored upcoming Pre 2 or just an old Pre shot, but let’s put it this way: considering that we can’t readily tell the difference, it better be an old one. At any rate, the sparse details in the blog post line up with everything we’re expecting so far, namely that the new model will use a 1GHz processor — presumably a TI OMAP3630 — and will sport a full half gig of RAM on board. Between those two spec bumps, we’d fully expect the refreshed webOS 2.0 to scream… but we won’t really know for sure until Palm gives us something to work with. In the meantime, SFR, thanks for the teaser.

Update: Check out another shot from SFR’s site after the break — it looks like they don’t have any intention to pull the news down, otherwise we have to believe they would’ve done so by now.

Continue reading France’s SFR jumps gun, announces Palm Pre 2: 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, webOS 2.0

France’s SFR jumps gun, announces Palm Pre 2: 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, webOS 2.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft licenses dozens of patents from Access and Acacia, including some Palm inventions

Complete details on the deal are still a bit light, but it’s just been revealed today that Microsoft has licensed a total of 74 patents from Acacia Research Corp. and Access Co. Ltd, some of which come from PalmSource, the software company spun off from Palm Inc. in 2003. While Microsoft itself isn’t saying much on the matter beyond the usual formalities, Acacia CEO Paul Ryan says that the patents licensed by Microsoft are “foundational” in the smartphone market and, as The Wall Street Journal reports, they apparently include some of the very same patents that Acacia has sued other companies over, including Apple, RIM, Samsung and Motorola — those specific patents concern things like email synchronization and “providing phone capabilities from personal computer devices.” Guess that’s one potential patent lawsuit you can mark off your list.

Microsoft licenses dozens of patents from Access and Acacia, including some Palm inventions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP Boss: WebOS Phones in ‘Early 2011′

There are two ways you could take the news that Hewlett-Packard has confirmed WebOS phones for early next year. One is “At last! What took so long?” The other is “Thank God they didn’t rush this thing.”

Speaking at a Conference in Barcelona, Spain yesterday, HP senior VP Eric Cador said “You will see us coming early next year with new phones” and added that Palm’s WebOS is “extremely fundamental.”

HP bought Palm earlier this year, so releasing new phones early next year is still pretty fast. But if we have learned anything from the runaway success of the iPhone and iPad, it’s that these things can’t be rushed: Apple’s devices were in development for years before they launched.

What we’re really looking forward too, though, is a WebOS tablet. Could it be that HP, once known for innovation but now just another commodity gray box maker, is taking its time to come up with an amazing, killer product? Let’s hope so. Right now, there’s only one tablet worth buying, and that lack of competition is not good for the consumer.

HP to launch new webOS phones in early 2011 [Reuters]

Image: New Palm Pre WebOS screenshots

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Palm ‘P102UEU’ hits FCC: the European Pre 2?

Okay, we know what you’re saying: why would a Europe-bound device be getting FCC certification? Well, really, it’s a simple matter of making sure that devices capable of roaming stateside are compliant with all the necessary rules and regulations… and it’s on that note that we direct your attention to this P102UEU model that’s just been approved. In Palm parlance, “P102” refers to the model — most likely the rumored Pre 2 in this case — and “UEU” means that it’s a UMTS 3G device destined for the EU. As you might recall, the similarly-styled P102UNA and P102EWW (North American UMTS and CDMA, respectively) were just spotted in TÜV Rheinland’s database not long ago, so yeah, all signs are pointing to an announce pretty shortly.

Update: PreCentral‘s forum members have swarmed upon the filing and rooted out some juicy details — it’s almost certainly a slider since the unit was tested in both open and closed positions, it’s got an 1150mAh battery (the same capacity as the current Pre / Pre Plus), and thanks to some part number matching, it seems it has exactly the same rear cover (Touchstone-compatible, naturally) as the current models, so odds are good we’re not going to see much form factor innovation here. Most notably, though, the processor is listed at 1GHz, though it’s not clear which specific core is in use; TI’s OMAP3600 series (the same that’s found in the Droid 2 and Droid X) seems probable, though.

Palm ‘P102UEU’ hits FCC: the European Pre 2? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 22:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP: New webOS ‘phones’ coming early next year

Note the plural use of “phone” in that headline quote. It comes from HP’s Senior VP Eric Cador who said, “you will see us coming early next year with new phones,” when speaking at an industry conference today in Barcelona. Of course, he’s referring to smartphones running webOS and not some WinMo followup to the iPAQ Glisten for crissake. Sure, it’s not much, but when you’re as desperate as we are for the next Palm device then every scrap of information counts.

HP: New webOS ‘phones’ coming early next year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 06:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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