Palm Pre coming to the UK and Ireland October 16, Germany October 13, all O2 exclusives

It might be about four months late, but the UK is finally getting its slice of the tasty new Palm pie. There'll be no shortage of outlets to buy this from, with the Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U and O2's online shop all stocked up, but the carrier options are limited to just one. You'll find tables of UK and Ireland pricing after the break, and you'll be happy to know that the Pre can be had for free on two-year contracts charging £34.26 per month, which come with "unlimited" mobile data and free access to the BT OpenZone WiFi service.

[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

[Wally Posted Sep 24th 2009 7:48AM]

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.

[RichyS Posted Sep 24th 2009 8:08AM]

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'.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 8:13AM]

Does this mean that there will be a GSM version of thhe Pre after all?

[gwthm Posted Sep 24th 2009 8:15AM]

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?

[Landwomble Posted Sep 24th 2009 9:02AM]

@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.

[bigshape Posted Sep 24th 2009 9:10AM]

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.

[Kaps2K6 Posted Sep 24th 2009 8:32AM]

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

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 9:18AM]

Does anybody know what 3G frequencies it works with?

[Kanaka Posted Sep 24th 2009 10:05AM]

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

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2009 9:25PM]

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.

[david2tm Posted Oct 4th 2009 9:58AM]

why QWERTZ in Germany?!?!? I want QWERTY unlocked :(