We
knew it was coming, and here it is -- the glorious first showing of the Palm Pre in its GSM garb. From today, our Deutsch comrades can grab a Pre and do whatever they want to do to it, courtesy of O2, its exclusive German supplier. The device will set you back €481 without contract, with the O2 My Handy option letting you finance it via 24 monthly payments of €20. Check out the online store link below for full details and available calling plans.
Pre Thinking have also noted the arrival of two new free apps in the Pre catalog -- ran and VZ-Netzwerke, both in German -- and the likely prospect of even more coming along as the Pre starts its long-awaited rollout across Europe over the
next few days.
[Via
Engadget German]
Read - O2 Germany Palm Pre launch announcement
Read - O2 Germany online store
Read - Pre Thinking
posted Oct 13th 2009 5:15AM
Oh my freaking god. Finally. Now it's time to start refreshing eBay to get one.
you can already find a lot of them on ebay, about 450 euros.
Nah.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3390/3184021446_2fd787842c_o.png
I wonder when the GSM loving will come to TMob USA. I might consider it an option. oth, may be I'll just wait till a decent Win Mob 6.5 (preferably HD2) comes around.
That much $ for no 3G support? Im not sure its worth it.
The 480 is steep, but pricing is actually alright with contract.
$711 (USD) without contract
Yes because 24 * 20 equals the same thing.
Actually its 1 euro cheaper to do the 24 month deal instead of just buying it outright.
Just curious, what's the outlook of importing this one to the US of A? Not fully functional/compatible with the networks here?
In the details for the device it states:
UMTS-Netze (WCDMA 900/1900/2100, HSDPA)
Quadband-Betrieb in GSM 850/900/1800/1900-Netzen
i think you should understand this without translation
...apparently that's no proof that it will work anywhere. The Pre CDMA requires activation before you can have a working phone. Perhaps the GSM version will also require activation, and that activation process may check for an 'approved' carrier before it will activate.
The German Pre has the German specific QWERTZ keyboard instead of a QWERTY. All the letters are there, they're just in different spots. That would be irritating.
@Pangy: yeah you might be right with that one. i think for interested people a little more waiting for news on that would be interesting.
well, they sell it without simlock and open to other networks - PERHAPS it might just work...
Great! I've been following this. Just ordered one today. :)
Decent price for the Pre. I really think the handset has what it takes for a steady amount of sales in the international market.
if this device would have appeared 2 years ago on the european market, the market would look different then today...less ms/apple and more palm .... like it used to be 5-6 years ago!
Awesome, can't wait to get one on Friday here in the UK.
Same here, assuming my local store has any in stock
Just ordered mine this morning, hopefully i was one of the first so I can get a free touch stone as well.
If you ask me, it's too little too late. Not by much, granted, but it needed to launch 3-4 months ago. It'll still sell briskly, but mostly to fanboys. Apple won't be losing sleep, nor will HTC or Google.
The thing is - I think you'd be hard-pressed to find Palm "fanboys" in Europe. The Treo's were never more than an oddity here, so Palm hasn't really been present on the market for years...
I don't understand why it took them so long to offer GSM versions of the Pre anyway. Should have been a no-brainer to launch them at the same time as the Sprint model...
I agree with L, Palm abandoned the European market(s) a long time ago. Either that or it didn't care.
Regardless, Palm has no standing in European markets, the "phones" they made a few years ago were not interesting here. And they're far too late now. The brand has faded from memory here in Europe, but obviously not in the US!
The Pre is nice, but I'll stick to my Nokia (and iPhone).
The build quality is total crap. My slider had deep scratches after 1 day, closed the 2 parts could be moved sideways about 2mm and the battery cover makes noise like its breaking apart.
Total crap, every 25EUR Nokia phone has better built quality than this. Gave it back after 2 days.
That's odd. I've had mine for a month and have barely a 1mm swivel, no scratches since I put a ghost armour and expected noise when removing the cover.
the z and y .....is so weird though i konw it
Cool, now they just need to release one in the States.
Where can I find the spces of the GSM version?
http://palm.cdnetworks.net/support/documentation/en/Palm_Pre_UG_enGB.pdf
Scroll down to "Technical Data" in the PDF. It seems to cover all GSM versions, so the frequency bands are vague.
As a special treat to our American readers, note the monthly flat-rate fee for limitless data transfer. 8.5 EUR is, what, 10 US dollars?
Except that after 200MB of data transfer the speed is lowered. The completely unlimited data plan costs 25€.
Apparently the 2 German apps got pulled. http://www.prethinking.com/home/2009/10/13/new-apps-arrive-in-time-for-the-palm-pre-launch-in-europe-to.html
About those apps... One of the French apps computes optimal Maginot Lines, while one of the German apps mixes train schedules with a death camp calculator. Italians get a virgin detector app, although there are no reports of any finds.
Darn, why do Germans insist on calling it a "handy" instead of "ein mobiltelefon"?
*snicker* "I play with my handy" *snicker*