Well, Palm promised the British press that a July 7 on the Palm Pre is forthcoming, but word on the street is that the event will be a launch—and that we’ll finally see a GSM version of the Palm Pre go official! Other rumors making the rounds: O2 will enjoy exclusivity, and a European market launch will increase units sold for Palm (Unless, of course, the company doesn’t fix its supply problems).

Courtesy Palm

I can see why: the (hopefully) inevitable debut of the Palm Pre on GSM networks will vastly increase the potential market, allowing use of the smartphone in many more countries throughout the world, in the hands so much more people. Especially since the Pre is easily jailbroken.

At the very least, we’ll finally see just how popular Palm’s last-stand play becomes. No details yet on specs (will they be similar to the CDMA version’s or even surpass it?) nor pricing in the UK. Stay tuned for updates!

Thanks Electronista!

The claim that it’s easy to open up the Palm Pre to third-party software should attract some interest—or raise complaints about its lack of security.

Courtesy High Caffeine Content

Ah, but given how iPhones continue to chug along smoothly despite the breadth of its undeground software ecosystem, such complaints would be dubious at best. In any case, here’s what led Steven Troughton-Smith to claim ownership of “the first jailbroken Pre in existence.”:

On Tuesday, I decided to be adventurous. I was able to buy a Palm Pre from a local Sprint Wireless store without activation or a contract (apparently I hear it’s very hard to do? $602 including tax), so I instantly ran off back to my hotel room to see if I could A) hack the activation out of the OS, and B) get it working so I can develop apps for it and run them on device.

Well, success I gave up Tuesday eve because I couldn’t get the device into restore mode no matter what I did, but on Wednesday morning I figured it out: you have to hold the volume-up button while the device is off before plugging it into USB, and from there you can use Palm’s firmware flashers to do whatever you like with it. As the device can run unsigned firmware (!!!) I was easily able to hack out the activation check, and get up and running and enable the root shell.

He continues. Read more

In attempt to get more people to their website BillShrink recently came out with this well-made digital flyer that compares the so-called “new generation” smartphones:

Courtesy BillShrink

Here’s that table in real-text form:

We already know how much it costs to manufacture a Palm Pre. So why not take a peek inside?

phoneWreck did just that, taking a brand-new Palm Pre apart to analyze the components and how the electronics relate to each other. Want to know how the Baseband Processor links to the Dual-Band RF Transceiver? Want to read technobabble that puts Star Trek’s Data to shame? Look below! (click on the image to see the full-size version)

Palm Pre component flowchart courtesy of phoneWreck

And here’s a picture that is more familiar to our eye-candy-friendly sort of comprehension:

Palm Pre components laid out courtesy phoneWreck

The full mind-boggling details, suitable for consumption by electronics experts, is available via phoneWreck.

Why Palm, why?!? Isn’t your future dependent on how widespread the Pre becomes? How could you let manufacturing problems complicate the Pre launch? Why did you prove all those shortage rumors true?

Everything Pre last May 19: “Shortly after the announcement of a June 6th release date for the Palm Pre, Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse indicated the company did not plan to spend much on advertising and expects supply shortages to develop. “We won’t be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time,” said Hesse.”

Palm Pre Sold Out Courtesy of The Raw Feed

PC World last May 23: “Well, now it’s time for the bad news, because Best Buy is rumored to have only 4250 units in stock for the Pre’s June 6 launch, according to BGR.

That’s a big problem since Best Buy will sell the Pre at almost 1000 of its Best Buy Mobile counters and specialty stores nationwide, leaving an average of just four devices per store. What Best Buy will likely do in this case is, just like Apple did during the early days of the iPhone 3G, direct larger quantities of Pre devices to higher population areas. That means if you live in a smaller city or rural area, you may be waiting a long time after launch day before seeing the Palm Pre on store shelves near you.”

Read more

Syndicating the syndicated: What follows is Boing Boing Gadget’s compilation of Palm Pre reviews from all over the web.

David Pogue, leaked by the Financial Chronicle, at The New York Times:

So do the Pre’s perks (beautiful hardware and software, compact size, keyboard, swappable battery, flash, multitasking, calendar consolidation) outweigh its weak spots (battery life, slow program opening, ringer volume, Sprint network)? Oh, yes indeedy. Especially when you consider that last weak spot might be going away. Verizon Wireless has announced that it will carry the Pre ”in the next six months or so.”

Steven Levy, at Wired:

It’s a huge win … The Pre emphatically shows that Palm has not reached the stage of suffixes. And multitasking rules!

Walt Mossberg, at the Wall Street Journal:

The Pre is a smart, sophisticated product that will have particular appeal for those who want a physical keyboard. It is thoughtfully designed, works well and could give the iPhone and BlackBerry strong competition — but only if it fixes its app store and can attract third-party developers.

Joshua Topolsky, at Engadget:

To put it simply, the Pre is a great phone, and we don’t feel any hesitation saying that. Is it a perfect phone? Hell no. Does its OS need work? Definitely. But are any of the detracting factors here big enough to not recommend it? Absolutely not. There’s no doubt that there’s room for improvement in webOS and its devices, but there’s also an astounding amount of things that Palm nails out of the gate.

Jason Chen, at Gizmodo:

The software is agile, smart and capable. The hardware, on the other hand, is a liability. If Palm can get someone else to design and build their hardware–someone who has hands and can feel what a phone is like when physically used, that phone might just be one of the best phones on the market.

Mark Spoonauer, at Laptop Mag:

We’ve seen many smart phones come and go since the original iPhone, and the $199 Palm Pre is the first device we’ve tested whose user interface not only matches up well to Apple’s offering, but also beats it in some areas. … Palm and Sprint have a hit on their hands with the Pre, and the webOS is a smart phone platform to be reckoned with.

Boy Genius Report:

The OS is great. There’s no ifs ands or buts; it’s really refreshing to see something that’s brand new with a UI unlike anything else out there. The only problem with this is, Palm’s never been a hardware company that anyone’s really cared about. … Couple that with the nation’s underdog carrier at a $299 price-point (before rebate), and we’re not sure how many people are going to be lined up overnight, yet we’re pretty confident once people are able to play a real unit themselves, there will be more than a lot of happy Palm Pre customers.

Bonnie Cha, at CNET:

Despite some missing features and performance issues that make it less than ideal for on-the-go professionals, the Palm Pre offers gadget lovers and consumers well-integrated features and unparalled multitasking capabilities. The hardware could be better, but more importantly, Palm has developed a solid OS that not only rivals the competition but also sets a new standard in the way smartphones handle tasks and manage information.

Ginny Miles, at PC World:

The long-awaited Palm Pre lives up to the hype with a responsive touchscreen and an engaging interface, but a few hardware design flaws keep it from being the perfect smartphone.

Stephen Wildstrom, at at BusinessWeek:

If the Palm Pre had appeared a year ago, it might have turned the smartphone market upside down. It would have beaten out Apple’s iPhone 3G and the iTunes App Store, Google’s Android, the BlackBerry Bold and Storm as well as BlackBerry App World, and possibly taken the spoils. But the field has grown so crowded with clever entries in the past 12 months that the Pre, ingenious as it is, seems evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

Sinead Carew, at Reuters:

The long-awaited Pre has nice new touches, but Palm Inc has a lot of work to do if the device is to be a serious competitor to the iPhone.

Om Malik:

…it is a pretty good-looking device, but it feels a little plasticky and is lower in build quality than a BlackBerry. It is squat, has a nice screen, and is easy to grip. It is round in the right places. However, the slide-out keyboard seems flimsy and cluttered.

Peter Svensson, at the Associated Press:

Move over, iPhone. You’ve had two years on top of the smart phone world. Now there’s a touch-screen phone with better software: the Palm Pre. In a remarkable achievement, Palm Inc., a company that was something of a has-been, has come up with a phone operating system that is more powerful, elegant and user-friendly.

Ed Baig, at USA Today:

The first Palm Pre will certainly give the iPhone and other rivals a run for their money. To be sure, there are areas where it could improve: Bring on the apps. But Palm has delivered a device that will keep it in the game and give it a chance to star in it.

Would you get the Pre? I’m sure long-time Palm fans like myself would enjoy putting a Pre through its paces.

Engadget recently speculated that WSJ tech emeritus Walt Mossberg was actually playing around with the long-rumored new iPhone, giving out subtle hints while honoring a supposed press embargo.

Walt Mossberg (Courtesy All Things Digital)

Unfortunately for Palm, Apple has both a new iPhone operating system and new iPhone hardware coming, likely available within a month, that could obviate many of these advantages.

Apple already has announced it’s adding MMS, universal search, and copy and paste. And, although Apple hasn’t announced any new hardware features, I expect to see an iPhone with up to 32 gigabytes of memory, video recording, a higher-resolution camera, a compass, and greater operating speed. Plus, there are persistent rumors that Apple will announce at least one iPhone at a drastically lower price than $199. [emphasis mine]

Weren’t MMS and copy & paste functionality available on even basic GSM phones way before the “Apple will release a phone!” grapevine existed? And guess what had universal search as early as the mid-90s? Why, Palm PDAs of course!

To be clear, Walt was just reporting on Apple’s publicized future plans. I’m more amused by the realization that it took for Apple this long to integrate what’s been around for years into its phone.

What’s up with Sprint lately? The company is using a mainstream media publication (Forbes) to highlight its readiness for the June 6 Pre launch.

The introduction of the hotly anticipated handset will be Sprint’s biggest product event of the year. As interest in the phone escalates to a frenzy—in part because of rumored shortages—company representatives say Sprint is prepared for the onslaught.

Extra employees will be on hand to manage crowds, says David Owens, Sprint’s director of devices. Sprint is also borrowing manpower from partner Palm, which will dispatch representatives to more than 100 Sprint stores across the country. The additional help will stick around for two months, Owens says.

I wonder if it’s better to simply do a good job, and not broadcast to everyone how you plan to do a good job. The “we’re ready for you” marketing approach sounds like desperation to me for some reason. Hopefully Sprint won’t drop the ball come June 6.

At the very least, each Pre costs $170.02 for Palm to produce, reports the analysts at iSuppli:

• Hardware - $137.83
• “manufacturing and basic test costs” - $9.58
• “software and licensing costs” - $22.61
• “shipping, logistics, marketing and other channel costs” - unknown
• Regaining the developer passion that created thousands of useful apps for the old Palm OS - priceless
• Getting the most out of its partnership with Sprint - priceless
• Marketing the gadget like their lives depended on it (because it really does) - priceless

Oh don’t mind the last three items: those are some of the things I think Palm has to do if the Pre has any chance of making an impact. Regaining the good ol’ glory days—and making money of an app store—can come later.

(image courtesy of Palm)

Interested in the Palm Pre? Precentral’s listed of all known features, what they consider lacking, and the great unknown. Some highlights of what’s known:

• EVDO Rev A (US) GSM 3G (Europe)
• WiFi b/g (OMG! Palm’s creating a tradition of built-in WiFi!)
• 8GB internal flash memory, usable projected at 7.4GB
• 3.1″ 320 x 480 display
• 3.5mm headset port (Yay!)
• microUSB port
• 3 megapixel camera with flash
• Copy & Paste, Tethering via Bluetooth (Ha to the phone-which-shall-not-be-named!)

And that doesn’t even include Palm’s promised information management revolutions. Check out the entire list here.
C’mon Palm, this old Handspring Visor Deluxe user (and sometime I-wish-I-had-a-Treo dreamer) is rooting for you!

(Image from CNET)