Palm Pre coming to the UK and Ireland October 16, Germany October 13, all O2 exclusives
By Vladislav Savov 
posted Sep 24th 2009 3:51AM
posted Sep 24th 2009 3:51AM
[Thanks, Andrew]
Update: Good news for our Teutonic brethren, as O2 Germany has also let slip news of the Pre hitting Deutschland on October 13, with the device priced at €481 without contract or cheaper with.
Palm Pre UK pricing
Palm Pre Ireland pricing
Germany, UK - Scandinavia next please!
WORD !
Wörd!
Word
Wørd.
Half a year too late. Sorry Palm, I really wanted your phone but you're too late to the game over here. Technology moves fast.
here's to hoping the prices will be a bit more reasonable in germany...
does anybody have a clue how these prices could translate for o2 germany?
no need to guess, here's the official info for germany:
http://newsflash.o2online.de/newsletter/promo/2009/20090924_PalmPre_2/index.jsp?xtan=eMSj3LwGWWLJIT6lW3cTJtAd
I'm sick of these bloomin' exclusives. Just had to return an iPhone 'cos O2's coverage was so bad in London. Guess this is another phone I won't be getting.
There are too many similar, maybe even better phones available.
Why should someone get an expensive contract for such a, not that special phone? Other phones have often more features.
I know, and I'm sick of O2 getting all these exclusives. Well, it's the handset makers that'll lose - I won't buy a single iPhone/Palm Pre/Awesome Android device until I can get it on Three. The phones may be good, but they're not worth the hassle of switching and the inferior quality of O2's service to justify buying them.
Seriously? 3 over O2? I've been with O2 for many years now and living in London have had great service, many of my friends on the other hand have had 3 and I can say from trying to use their phones, service was abysmal
@Greg K
My last phone was on 3. Perfect reception and fast download speeds in London.
My iPhone really struggles though. Even when it says it has signal, it won't connect half of the time. 3G is pretty much non-existent inside of buildings too. Maybe it's the iPhone that's at fault but it's easy to blame O2 when they've had so many high-profile outages recently.
I've turned 3G off on my Nokia as it keeps droping or missing calls in central London. There network is overloaded with people being constantly conected on their iphones. I hate exclusives and my next phone will not be on O2.
"That's not exactly cheap in itself, but it's more affordable than hauling in a Hero."
Not really. You can get a HTC Hero on T-Mobile in the UK for £36.50 a month, on an 18 month deal (none of this 2 year crap) with 800 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data. I'd say that was a much better deal, I don't know where all these 24 month contracts have come from all of a sudden in the UK, it's a horrible virus that needs stomping out to be honest.
I know because my brother has just ordered one.
I agree 100%. What ever happened to the 12 month contract?
The best ive seen the hero for (and been very tempted) was T-Mobile £15 for the phone, and then £40 a month (bit less as vat is 2.5% less atm) for with something like 600 mins and 500 texts and unlimited data, but on a 12 month contract.
Palm need to step in as they are going to suffer with lackluster sales like this, but I suppose 02 cant risk undercutting the iphone, all in all just looks like a poor decision with Palm going to 02 :(
I guess Telefonica (O2) offered the best deal to palm.
I am still on 12 month contract with t-mobile renewed year on year. I am sure I am paying that bit more for it but I get bored of my phone after 10 months or so.
Expensive but I was expecting it. It will be mine, finally!
Although, why did you put the "unlimited" between quotes, is it or is it a fake unlimited offer?
We have 3 year contracts in canada...
I had to get a 3 year contract... Its horrible, but thats what happens when you have 2 cdma, and 1 gsm provider....
o, and i payed 200 bucks for the phone...
3 years with the same phone which you still have to pay for upfront?? Wow!!
Who wants to buy a phone from the company that steals USB vendor ID?
The company that practices unethical business who knows what they
will steal from the customers with WebOS.
.... wow... lol 'Stealing' Vender ID. Like Apple will never get it back. That is funny. Anyway great phone. Pretty exciting GSM version is coming out. Web OS is such an awesome OS
Same pric eplan as iPhone !
The horror stories over at precentral have put me off - there are a lot of people on their 5th or 6th pre and lots more saying "well sure I can see inside it when I slide it but..."
I'll wait for the next pre and hopefully they will have sorted out the build quality issues.
O2 is quite possibly the worst mobile phone network in the UK with weak signals, support and line up of phones on sale. The tariffs are also not competitive.
The iPhone is responsible for O2's poor lineup. They spent so much on the exclusive contract with Apple for the iPhone and the subsidisation is costing them so much that they can't afford any other phones. On top of that, it looks like nobody is actually making any money on the iPhone (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/sep/06/telecoms-iphone) so it wasn't such a great deal for O2.
You can't be serious - the iPhone, Pre, Galaxy etc. etc.? Missing the hero admittedly but it's in no way a poor line up of phones. And I've only come across one area where I get a weak signal, let alone none.
Their lineup is poor. Having a couple of trendy high-end phones does not make a good lineup. They are missing plenty of great mid-range phones. Even their flagship XDA lineup has suffered considerably with no XDA equivalent of the Touch Pro2 and Diamond 2 announced yet. They are not carrying any of the Omnias as well.
Their tariffs are getting from bad to awful. I remember a time when £25 12-month contract could get someone 100 mins/200 texts. Even their HSDPA performance is awful. With my HSDPA capable phone, I was regularly capped at 120kbps download speed.
Will be interesting to see how this phone does in the UK. One things for sure, If Palm come with that ridiculous marketing campaign they're using in the states, this phone won't stand a chance. Hate to say it but it's true.
O2 Ireland pricing. http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/Home/Shop/Phones/Palm+Pre/
Epic fail by Palm
Heres o2 Uk Pricing for the Iphone on the exact same tariffs as the Palm.
Tariff £29.38 £34.26 £44.05 £73.41 £34.26 £44.05 £73.41
iPhone 3G 8GB £96.89 £96.89 Free Free Free Free Free
iPhone 3GS 16GB £184.98 £184.98 £87.11 Free £87.11 Free Free
iPhone 3GS 32GB £274.23 £274.23 £175.19 £96.89 £175.19 £96.89 Free
Same price as the Iphone 3G and just £90 cheaper than the far better Iphone 3GS 16GB
I would have got one of these if it had been released a few months ago but now I've got my heart set on the HTC Leo.
Would be surprised if Leo was release on O2 before orange. I wonder if t-mobile are going to screw around a customise it.
yeah, i couldn't wait that long either...
i went android instead and never looked back!
thanks palm!
Don't want :)
I read on another forum that the CDMA Pre will not function AT ALL unless it is connected to the network so I wonder how an unlocked GSM version works.
Prices in Germany:
481€ without a contract (O2 my Handy: 1€ + 24 montlhy rates of 20€)
50€ with o2 mobile flat (with internetflat something about 35-40€ a month)
90 with a o2 contract (internet flat, 100 min to all german phones about 30-35€ a month)
No, not correct.
The 50 € with O2 mobile flat is 30 € per month (when doing the contract online it is 25,50 €) / internet flat included / 24 month
The 90€ with O2 inclusive paket is 20 € per month (when doint the contract online it is 16 €) / internet flat included / 24 month
So these prices are not too bad, except for the 24 month, but that is quite standard in Germany. The Palm Pre seems to be not SIM locked.
The prices you´re mentioning are not quite right. What o2 forgot to mention on the hp: You need to purchase a + mobile (in german"+handy") option which is 10 or 15 € each month depending on the cellphone you choose. But without this extra costs you´re correct that are the prices of the contract (without the cell)
So for eur20 a month on any network you can have "free" any network messages but for 45 eur with a pre you only get 100 text messages. What sort of genius dreams up these price plans?
Any idea if it will be SIM-locked?
In the UK it's sure to be.
In Germany it won´t, if you buy it with "o2 my handy" (481€)
I loathe o2 and hate being tied to an 18 month contract, but after trying out a Palm Pre in the States, it's the phone for me. It's a fabulous device.
And they're still not revealing the technical details. What if people in UK needs to roam to US and needs high-speed data?
I've had an iPhone from day one on O2 and will switch when my contract is up. The major benefit from these phones comes when you have good data connections. Without it they're limited to home or office toys. Vodafone, at least in the areas I travel, have the best 3G coverage and speeds.
Palm is going to find it tough in western Europe. They've never had the brand recognition here and it's already a very crowded marketplace.
Good luck to them though. It'll be a welcome change to see someone carrying around something other than an iPhone/BB/Nokia 5800.
It's a nice phone but it's going up against the iPhone, the N900 and X6 and the Hero.
Not seeing a lot of sales here.
One again too little too late. With a population of nearly 500 million palm should have deals in place with EU carriers 4 months ago.Now the palm pre is just old news.
How about O2 spend some money putting together a half decent network (by far the worst 3G coverage in the UK. O2 motto: "HSPA: we've heard of it") instead of chucking money at ODMs for yet another 'exclusive'.
Does this mean that there will be a GSM version of thhe Pre after all?
I am an American living in the UK, and am a bit confused about phone and SIM locking in the UK.
If I were to buy this phone off contract from CPW or P4U, could I unlock it and use it on another UK provider and use it on a GSM provider in the states?
If you buy the Pre off contract through CPW or P4U will it still be O2 locked? Can the Pre be unlocked and used off O2 in the UK?
@Gowtham
All GSM phones *can* be SIM locked. Most "subsidised" phones come SIM locked. Some phones can be unlocked either by yourself or via unlocking specialists for a small fee. AFAIK no one knows anything about how easy it may or may not be to unlock a Pre - I would be amazed if the Pre wasn't provided SIM locked like the iPhone on O2.
Once your contract is up the phone company has to unlock the device for a small fee on demand.
Once unlocked, you can use any SIM in it, on any GSM network if you have a SIM that works with that network - so you should be able to take it back to the states, stick a US SIM card in it and have it work over there.
very unlikely that it'll be locked if you buy it off contract for the full whack.
i'm pretty sure expansys will be selling them before long.
Can some one tell me how much will palm pre cost me without contract in UK.
it is around 460euro in Germany any idea how much it will cost in UK.
Cheers
Does anybody know what 3G frequencies it works with?
Treating it just like an iPhone in the UK it seems, the price plans are pretty much exact copies. I really wished Palm dropped a sim free version like old times. I simply won't sign up for another 18 month contract. 24 months?....now you're just having a laugh. It seems O2 are trying to become the next AT&T...weak infrastructure/service, gets all the cool phones and wants to rape you for them
Next thing we know it'll be 3 year contracts like our friends up in Canada
Far too expensive, and not a fan of o2 to begin with - what with the data network dropouts of recent times.
I won't be making the switch, and that's a shame, as the Pre's a nice device. Looks like I'll be holding on for the N900 or the Moto DEXT.
why QWERTZ in Germany?!?!? I want QWERTY unlocked :(