Hasta La Gadget!

The name of certification firm TÜV Rheinland may not ring a bell, so allow us to jog your memory: these are the guys that outed the GSM versions of the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus prior to their announcement earlier this year. Hence, the interwebs are paying pretty close attention this evening now that we’ve found US and Canadian certifications for Palm models P102UNA and P102EWW (first unearthed by homebrew hub WebOS Internals), which — following Palm’s typical model numbering convention — would correspond to North American GSM and CDMA versions of some new device, respectively. To put things in perspective, the P101UNA was unearthed in the certification database on January 23rd and announced for AT&T on March 22nd, so we could reasonably still have a couple months’ wait on these… or a couple days. No way of knowing yet how Palm plans to play this. There’s also a listing for a new “inductive battery charger,” which would certainly imply a new Touchstone — which may or may not still bear the Touchstone name.

On a related note, we’ve received a slew of new webOS 2.0 screen shots — and while some of them look familiar, our eyes were drawn to the sexy new “classic” and flip-style digital clocks. Important? Not necessarily, but sometimes it’s the little touches that count. Hit up the gallery for the full show (and don’t forget our first batch from a few weeks back, while you’re at it).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

WebOS 2.0 gets fresh round of screenshots; new Palm phones and Touchstone certified? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 00:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP’s been saying it’ll use webOS on a tablet since the first moment it bought Palm, but it looks like things are starting to pick up ahead of that “early 2011” due date — in an email to the Palm Developer Community, HP’s Peter Helm says webOS will be used on “tablet-style devices similar to the iPad.” Check it:

Now that we are officially part of HP, we are going full speed ahead with our applications initiative. Our proprietary operating system, webOS, is now the OS that will be used in HP’s mobile devices. This includes mobile handsets as well as tablet-style devices similar to the iPad. We will accordingly leverage Palm’s ability to innovate and the scale of HP’s vast install base and distribution network previously unavailable to us.

Yeah, that’s pretty much the Rorschach test of seemingly-innocuous quotes; you can read it as anything from a meaningless passing reference to the market leader to an overt hint that we’ll be looking at an ARM-based device with a 9-inch display and a lengthy battery life. The possibilities are endless — let’s just hope whatever Palm and HP are actually working on delivers on the enormous promise of the platform.

[Thanks, Pierre-Marc]

HP says webOS tablets to be ‘similar to the iPad’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A day before jetting off to London to commence his role as MeeGo’s head of User Experience and Services, Peter Skillman was kind enough to sit down with the design junkies at ZURB and dish out his thoughts on what makes for good mobile design and where it is that most companies trip up. Lest you forget, this is the dude that was in charge of putting the Palm Pre together, so he’s not exactly without credence in these circles. Which is a good thing, because he doesn’t bother with pulling any punches. Peter namedrops Motorola’s Motoblur as an unnecessary layer on top of Android, criticizes the failure of different groups within companies to communicate effectively, and finishes off his treatise with a list of priorities for successful design: consistency, emotional content, and a paranoid fear of mediocrity. Inspiring stuff, we’re sure you’ll agree. Other tidbits of import include the fact that Pete had to withstand nine days of interviews before getting the Nokia job, and also this memorable quote on the topic of smartphones: “if you’re not succeeding at the high end, then you’re absolutely doomed to failure.” We’ve been saying the same thing for ages and it’s encouraging to know that Nokia now has an exec with his finger on the market’s pulse. Now let’s see him deliver on those words. You’ll find the full interview at the source link below.

Nokia’s Peter Skillman talks design priorities, gives us hope for a sunny MeeGo future originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Sep 2010 16:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now this, this is what we call exciting. Nokia has managed to scoop up Peter Skillman from the wreckage of the HP/Palm merger. One of the many senior VPs to leave Palm upon its assimilation into the HP empire, Peter spent 11 years with his previous employer and was in charge of the design team that produced the deliciously curvaceous Palm Pre. Now at Nokia, he’ll be heading up the user experience and services division for MeeGo, which means that if you weren’t excited for the platform already, you’ve now got a very good reason to be.

Update: We met with Marko Ahtisaari, Senior Vice President of Design at Nokia, to get comment on this story. His response? “Right, I just hired him.” So why not announce it, we asked, this is pretty big news? According to Marko, “We have products today, products are more interesting. Peter is looking after the user experience design of MeeGo and services and is a great new addition to the team.” Marko’s team, to be specific. To us this seems like another component that could help Nokia break into the US market with MeeGo.

[Thanks, Dave]

Continue reading Nokia hires Peter Skillman, former Palm Design VP, as MeeGo user experience chief (update: confirmed)

Nokia hires Peter Skillman, former Palm Design VP, as MeeGo user experience chief (update: confirmed) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm first started telling us webOS 1.4.5 was coming “soon” back in May, but after an interminable wait it looks like Pre Pluses on Verizon and AT&T are starting to get an OTA update. The release notes page on Palm’s site is currently down, but we’re looking for better PDK support, some GPS fixes, and improved gaming action. We’ll let you know as soon as we find out anything definite — but for now, let us know how it’s going on comments.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

webOS 1.4.5 for Palm Pre Plus on Verizon and AT&T finally arrives originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 01:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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