Verizon prices Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus -- offers a free Pixi Plus for limited time

In case you missed it in our review, Palm has gone and spilled its Verizon pricing info on its official blog. The Pre Plus is hitting shelves at a cent under $150, closely followed by the Pixi Plus at $99.99 -- both after $100 mail-in rebate and on two-year commitments. Available to buy from this coming Monday, the new handsets are also incentivized with a free Pixi Plus coming with every purchase -- a limited offer running until February 14. That's after yet another mail-in rebate, meaning you'll probably be shelling out a cool $450 to get your webOS fix on Verizon, but we can't argue with the final tally after all the paperwork has been done, filed, triple-checked, lost, recovered, and your money's finally reimbursed.

[Leindurstit Posted Jan 22nd 2010 7:43AM]

Now if only the price for Wifi Hotspot wasn't pure abuse. It literally means you're paying $70 for tethering, as opposed to $60 for any other device. And it's not like being able to share a connection to 5 devices is a new thing... what with the Mifi doing it already.

[iamlilysdad Posted Jan 22nd 2010 7:54AM]

@Leindurstit but if you have a smart phone AND a mifi ur paying $90/mo. With the pre plus ur saving $20/mo (with some trade offs).

[Paullll Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:00AM]

@Leindurstit
You US geeks totally are being raped with all these mifi and tethering crap. May I lough, out, loud?

Regards,
"Tethered with Nokia devices already YEARS."

[scyber Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:26AM]

@Paullll

I've tethered with Palm devices, WinMob Devices, and now Android devices in the US for years. W/o paying an extra cent.

[Ruben Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:41AM]

@Paullll : MyTether for WebOS has been available for some time and tethers for free too.

[sycamore714 Posted Jan 22nd 2010 9:21AM]

@Ruben

Not working for me in 1.3.5.1

[iamlilysdad Posted Jan 22nd 2010 9:22AM]

@Ruben it also causes stability issues for a lot of users which is why it isn't supported by the "official" homebrew dev community for webOS.

[Paullll Posted Jan 24th 2010 8:10AM]

@scyber
@Ruben

Sounds great then.
But many losers get cheated with all this crap :(

[Rick James Posted Jan 22nd 2010 7:49AM]

@Jon Rubinstein

So, you're fine with us stealing these phones?

[Nitesh Posted Jan 22nd 2010 7:50AM]

Do you need to get another contract for that free Pixi Plus, or is it on the same bill?

[Dieselboy28 Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:37AM]

@Nitesh Thats what I want to know.

[JeremyBenthem Posted Jan 22nd 2010 9:27AM]

@Nitesh
well for the DROID + Driod Eris, you can buy one get one free on a family plan, so it's probably going to be a similar offer

[Elranzer Posted Jan 22nd 2010 11:15AM]

The "free" phone also needs to be on a 2-year renewal.

This is how all of Verizon's buy-1-get-1-free deals work. It's incentive to get another $39.99/month ($9.99/voice and $29.99/data) out of you by making your individual plan into a family plan.

[iamlilysdad Posted Jan 22nd 2010 7:52AM]

the phones are better than sprint's but the data plans are still too expensive. I'll stick with sprint for now. :)

[ango Posted Jan 22nd 2010 7:54AM]

Verizon= Verizon Communications (55%) + Vodafone Group (45%)
Will PPP(palm pre plus) and PPP(palm pixi plus) come to Vodafone ?
I think yes (45%)
It will be updated webOS ? maybe or not

[Jonathan K Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:08AM]

@Jon Rubinstein Definitely.

I'll be 'stealing' 20.

[Teslanaut Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:14AM]

I wish Palm would make a Pre Player or something. Such a good PMP it could be.

[hollis Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:43AM]

I wonder if BestBuy will take care of those rebates.

[iamlilysdad Posted Jan 22nd 2010 9:17AM]

@hollis they will. It's a perk of buying from them. They don't do mail in rebates on nething. It's a policy.

[AlexNC Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:49AM]

If the battery life was better I would get the Pre. I like the form factor better than the other smart phones out there on the market; but the reports of low battery life have scared me away from buying one.

[iamlilysdad Posted Jan 22nd 2010 9:20AM]

@AlexNC unless you have a blackberry ur gonna deal with battery life issues. Droid, iphone, nexus one, they all last less than a day with moderate to heavy use. I can easily make it a day on a charge with my sprint pre, but when I up the usage (like being on the engadget app :) ) I need to charge it. I'm used to having a charger with me wherever I go. I'm willing to pay the price for a good phone that does what I want.

[JONNNathannn Posted Jan 22nd 2010 9:44AM]

@iamlilysdad The Pre's battery is much worse than the HTC Hero or iPhone 3GS, though.

[iamlilysdad Posted Jan 22nd 2010 10:13AM]

@JONNNathannn at least I can replace the battery on my pre (or hero if I had one). With the iphone you HAVE to have a charger. I'm a heavy user so it wouldn't last for me, either. I've used an iphone 3G (not S) and I had to carry a charger with me.

[AlexNC Posted Jan 22nd 2010 10:43AM]

@iamlilysdad
Not true. I have read many reviews that the Pre has a significantly shorter battery life than the Moto Droid, Nexus and iPhone. Many Moto Droid users in my company are getting a full day to two days of use with their Moto droids. While I have read reports of the Pre not even getting one day, requiring mid-day charges. Right now, I am leaning towards the Moto Droid and Nexus due to the Pre's lack luster battery life, and the iPhones inability to replace the battery on the fly.

[ToniCipriani Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:50AM]

Great. Now Palm, how much will my unlocked GSM Pre Plus be?

[Rod Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:54AM]

What is it with America and it's obsession with crazy 'mail-in rebate' schemes and coupons for everything? It's like Britain in the 50's!

Wouldn't you prefer it if they stopped inconveniencing everyone and just gave it to you for, say, a reasonable asking price to begin with? :)

[ToniCipriani Posted Jan 22nd 2010 11:07AM]

@Rod It's additional income. Do you know how many rebates get rejected?

[EdgeOne Posted Jan 22nd 2010 11:44AM]

@Rod I'll mail in rebates the rest of my life if it keeps me from living in a convenient British society.

[Rod Posted Jan 22nd 2010 12:26PM]

@ToniCipriani That's my point - why should companies make additional income from you this way, it's a very disingenuous way to screw a few more dollars from customers IMO.

@Edgeone - Phew.

[Thinker Posted Jan 22nd 2010 5:43PM]

@Rod

Here is the idea behind rebates. They really do not want to give it to you. But if they have to, they sure will make certain that you work for it and earn it. So for someone on a $20/hr paycheck, the 15 minutes it takes to fill out the rebate form is less than working 5 hours to earn $100. And if you forgot to mail in your rebate, then you really did not need the rebate anyway.

[sycamore714 Posted Jan 22nd 2010 9:25AM]

"That's after yet another mail-in rebate, meaning you'll probably be shelling out a cool $450 to get your webOS fix on Verizon, but we can't argue with the final tally after all the paperwork has been done, filed, triple-checked, lost, recovered, and your money's finally reimbursed."

Also lets not forget the $350 ETF per line in case you want to terminate early.

[Munier Posted Jan 22nd 2010 9:26AM]

Sticking with my Palm Pre until Palm brings out a new device for Sprint.

[shellscape Posted Jan 22nd 2010 9:29AM]

Nice Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference there...

[anfreld Posted Jan 22nd 2010 10:20AM]

Am I wrong or is another step in the nokia-palm direction?

[Johnny Rockets Posted Jan 22nd 2010 11:12AM]

Is the free phone on additional contract for it, or is it really a scott-free ebayable phone?

[iRaNDrOiD Posted Jan 22nd 2010 11:29AM]

Or you can just go to Bestbuy and not worry about stupid rebates

[Kyu Posted Jan 22nd 2010 12:54PM]

If it was my choice I wouldn't get this even if was 3 free phones.
Mainly cause it has something to do with verizon.
Hate verizon for their over charged stupid data rate plan.

as stupid as my comment is, I'm on verizon lol
everytime I try to cancel they throw a even better deal at me, so I get stuck.

[Giantenemycrab Posted Jan 22nd 2010 3:26PM]

Does anyone know how much this costs if I already am on Verizon? What are my options? I just started a new contract 2 months ago, can I resign a contract to get the $149 price? How much is the phone without signing a contract? Thanks

[jascop Posted Jan 22nd 2010 4:41PM]

i wonder if i get a pixi free buying un subsusdised with out a contract......i would pis my pants with glee

[Thinker Posted Jan 22nd 2010 5:33PM]

Ha, Verizon's plan cost is quite competitive if you consider the quality of their network and their service. I am with Sprint, they are good too.

Anyway, I agree - the price is a steal (getting a free smart phone with webOS and WiFi).

[Thinker Posted Jan 22nd 2010 5:37PM]

@Jonathan K

You must have a large family. Or maybe you are an employer. So you buy 20 Palm Pre Plus phones and you get 20 Palm Pixi Plus phones free. That's a great deal (or steal) in my book!

[simbadogg Posted Jan 22nd 2010 6:53PM]

@Jon Rubinstein
steal yeah, but knowing VZWs crazy ETF, they'd be stealing money right back from me if i decided to skip out on the contract. i think for this phone, i'd be willing to pay the full price

[dougieinfj Posted Jan 23rd 2010 10:11PM]

Anyone know if WalMart stores will carry the Palm Pre Plus? Just bought a BB Storm2 from WalMart, and therefore must return/exchange at WalMart.