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Palm Pre official on O2 and Movistar in Europe, launch "in time for holidays"
It's official, Palm just kicked out a press release saying that the UK, Ireland, and Germany will have access to the Palm Pre exclusively on O2 while Spain's Pre will be offered exclusively on Movistar -- so it's all Telefonica, all the time. Unfortunately, launch timing was only narrowed down to "in time for the holidays" which is just another way of repeating Palm's European-launch mantra of before the end of the year. Palm also doesn't provide any prices and chose not to list the radio frequencies for the HSDPA/UMTS with EDGE/GSM version of the Pre. See the 1,260 word press release posted after the break that says almost nothing. Update: Seems as if O2 Germany has word that it'll be launching the GSM Pre in October.Update 2: Hmm, seems as if O2 Germany has swapped out banners to show "Fall" availability. Make up your mind, won't you?
GSM Palm Pre makes exclusive first appearance on Movistar
There it is, the first official press shot (see that HSDPA icon?) of the GSM version of the Palm Pre. The "more information" link isn't working at the moment but it's clear that Movistar has exclusive rights to the Pre in Spain. Of course, Movistar, like O2 in the UK, is owned by Telefonica which so far seems to have clinched exclusivity throughout Europe. We're still waiting for all this to get officially official sometime this week, if not today.[Thanks, Enzo]
Runes of Magic opens closed beta for French and Spanish users
Runas de Magica y el pollo es muy delicioso para la cena! Ok, so our Spanish is a little rusty, we're missing some accent marks, and we probably just said that Runes of Magic tastes good with chicken, but what we mean to say is that the closed beta for Runes of Magic in Spain and France has begun.Now anyone from those two countries, or anyone who wants to have their client in French or Spanish, can enjoy Runes of Magic in those languages. With the closed beta comes the launch of the French and Spanish Runes of Magic websites as well, so feel free to scurry on over and register.The final date for launch for these two countries hasn't been confirmed yet, but the game will be shipping out with The Elven Prophecy, giving their launches a timeframe of either launching with the new expansion or shortly thereafter.
Spanish firm GeeksPhone launches "One" Android set
It looks exactly like a Samsung Omnia, but don't be fooled -- what you're actually looking at here is Spain's first go at producing an Android handset (which is especially ironic considering we just reported on the andromnia project). Our colleagues from Engadget Spanish were live in Barcelona today for the grand unveiling of the GeeksPhone One, a Cupcake-powered phone featuring a 625MHz PXA310 core, quadband EDGE plus HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth, AGPS, 3.2 megapixel primary camera plus a front-facing cam for video calling, and microSD expansion -- sounds great, but the package is marred a bit by the fact that it's rolling with a resistive 3.2-inch touchscreen. Hard to complain with the price, though -- GeeksPhone expects to sell the set for somewhere between €250 and €300 (about $352 to $422) unlocked when it launches this fall.[Via Engadget Spanish]
Toshiba TG01 now available on Movistar in Spain
If you're in... say, Spain, we can understand how you might perceive Japan as being a bit far to go just to put your hands on Toshiba's T-01A Snapdragon powerhouse. Then again, it is the first Snapdragon handset to hit the market -- and it's an absolutely stunning-looking phone -- so we certainly wouldn't blame you for packing your belongings, children, and pets into wooden crates, shipping them via freighter, and hopping the next flight to Tokyo. The good news, though, is that you won't have to: Movistar has now launched the phone locally in its global TG01 flavor, offering 7.2Mbps down, 2Mbps up, a flippin' 4.1-inch wide VGA display, and very likely the snappiest Windows Mobile experience you've ever had. The best part is that you can get it for free depending on your contract and plan pricing, so seriously, what's holding you (other than the fact that you might not be in Spain)?
NTT DoCoMo and Telefonica teaming up on Toshiba TG01 / T-01A launch
It didn't take a keen eye to realize that NTT DoCoMo's recently-announced T-01A from Toshiba was little more than a TG01 rebrand, and it turns out the relationship between the two devices is even stronger than we'd already guessed. DoCoMo just issued a press release today touting the fact that it has hooked up with Spain's Telefonica to jointly launch the phone in both companies' markets -- and furthermore, they're exploring ways to expand their cooperation in the future, including (but not limited to) "a joint study of possible services and applications for open OS handsets." Japanese carriers have a rich history of partnering with their international counterparts -- DoCoMo's investment in AT&T's Hawaiian network, for example -- but unfortunately, very rarely does the partnership result in getting Japanese domestic market hardware launched elsewhere, which is a tragedy as far as we're concerned.
Hannspree 10-inch HANNSnote netbook announced for Spain
Hannspree, best known for some pretty ridiculous products, has just announced its vanilla-as-it-gets HANNSnote netbook. The whole affair looks pretty middle of the road, with a 10-inch 1024 x 600 resolution LCD, Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, Intel GMA950 graphics card, and a 160GB hard drive. It boasts WiFi, Ethernet and Bluetooth, has three USB 2.0 ports, and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. It will come in white and black when it is released in late May, in Spain, for a price somewhere between €299 and €399 ($400-$530). No word on availability outside of Spain as of yet -- there's one more shot after the break. [Via Engadget Spanish]
Nokia Spain taking N97 pre-orders next week, deliveries in June
Our dear colleagues over at Engadget Spanish have learned that the cream of the Nseries crop -- the N97 -- will be available for pre-order on Nokia Spain's site starting next Monday, May 4. Of course, there's a world of difference between a pre-order and actually having a device sitting in your paws, and it sounds like retail units will be delivered at some point in June. We'll take two, Nokia Spain -- giftwrapped and overnighted to the States, please. Thanks!
Vodafone Spain first to launch HTC Magic
In a surprise announcement, Vodafone Spain is set to launch Magic, HTC's 2nd Android handset, in just a few hours. The countdown timer appeared early this morning with local sales set to begin at 1700 hours. That gives Vodafone Spain subscribers an 8 day head start on the rest of the world -- an eternity for Android nerds. Unfortunately, while it's free with applicable contract on Vodafone UK, it's gonna cost you in Spain -- rates our Spanish friends describe as "outrageous." Let's see if our Canadian friends agree.[Via Engadget Spanish]
Capcom looking for a few good Street Fighter IV Xbox 360 players in Europe
Capcom has been combing the desert Europe looking for the best Street Fighter IV players around, Eurogamer reports. Utilizing the new Championship mode to track your Grade Points (which determines your overall rank in the standings, naturally), the contest is open starting today and ends on May 17. Then, on the week of May 30, the best 30 fighters from each of the participating countries -- UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain -- will be matched up to decide the champion of each nation. After that, the five winners will then be flown to a secret location (we're crossing our fingers for inside of a volcano) on the weekend of June 13 to compete for the grand prize: an Aerox R Yamaha scooter and matching SFIV jackets.If you're a Joystiq reader, and you make it to the finals and win this scooter, we suggest you name it Sasha.
Teens take pictures of space with balloon, Nikon Coolpix camera
The closest most of us 'round here will ever get to outer space is blogging about the Lunar X Prize, so our inner astronauts get rather giddy any time an amateur makes it to the cusp of the gravity well. The above photos were taken by the Meteotek team, a teacher and his four students from the IES La Bisbal school in Catalonia, Spain. The group designed and launched a balloon kitted out with a Nikon Coolpix and custom built electronics, intending to get some shots at 30,000 feet. Well exceeding their expectations, the $80 digicam (held aloft by a $60 latex balloon) reached over 100,000 feet, at which point it lost inflation and fell to the earth. As the balloon rose, the team was able to map its progress using Google Earth via the craft's on-board radio receiver. After it fell back to earth, the group "travelled 10km to find the sensors and photographic card," said one of the students, "which was still emitting its signal, even though it had been exposed to the most extreme conditions." [Via Switched]
Telefonica scores global Pre coup?
Carriers and Palm have been absolutely silent on the matter, but let's be honest: there's very likely been one of the most heated, no-holds-barred wars over the past few months to score European exclusivity on the Pre since the Storm and the iPhone -- and with launches broadly expected by mid-year, time is running out to secure a deal. Spanish media is reporting that Telefonica has now locked up that deal, not just for Spain and the UK (where it operates as O2) but for Latin America as well under the Movistar brand. If true, that'd be a nice, big "screw you" to archrival Vodafone, which has the mighty Storm / Magic two-pack under its belt. Even more interesting, though, is the fact that most of Latin America operates 3G on the 850 and 1900MHz bands -- the very same used in the US and Canada -- which means that our assumptions that the Pre would be 2100-only may have been wrong all along. Awesomely wrong. We wouldn't get our hopes up that the Pre will be a walk in the park to unlock and use on AT&T or Rogers just yet, but it's a glimmer of hope that we'll gladly take.[Via Palm Infocenter]
HTC Dream coming to Spain via Telefonica, gets a facelift
This appears to have roughly the same guts as the G1 we already know and love, but Telefonica's version of the first Android handset -- like Optus' -- will get a name change to Dream. This one will also look just a little bit different, getting a more sculpted chin, but we don't believe this to be a totally unique device -- you can see the original model's design DNA shining through above the beltline. It'll be available for between €0 and €199 depending on your current subscriber status and the plan you choose, though we don't have a release date just yet.[Via Engadget Spanish]%Gallery-44593%
Nokia's Comes With Music goes on European tour, Asia next, Americas deemed too boring
It was just yesterday that Reuters predicted Nokia's Comes With Music service was headed for something of a pilgrimage through the wilds of Europe, and now we have the official confirmation of this "pan European" expansion. The company has secured partnerships with music licensing and publishing big-wigs in Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, and is indicating that Singapore and Australia are next on its to-do list. Alas there was no mention of other nations getting any sort of attention, meaning Nokia handsets in the New World are unlikely to come with anything but guilt for the forseeable future.
Blizzard releases EU Wrath launch video
Blizzard has released some launch night video from the Wrath of the Lich King release over on their EU site, and it looks like things were pretty crazy across the pond. There were costumes aplenty, and there were crowds in London, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. Plus, the video even has a nice appearance by the man/demon himself, as you can see above.Unfortunately, the US site hasn't posted any such video yet, so while you can definitely read here on this site about all of the crowds and chaos that went down on this side of the world, there's no video to compare. My guess is that while the EU folks were definitely excited, over there it was more contained to the big events and the big cities, while over here in the US even small towns had lines outside the gaming stores.But it was definitely a night to remember for WoW fans, no matter where you were.[via WorldofWar]
Sogecable's Digital+ brings Canal+ Deportes HD / Dcine HD to Spain
Spain's been dealing with a pitiful lack of high-def content for awhile now, and just a few months shy of a full year since Sogecable's Canal+ HD showed up, we finally have two more making the trip over. The satellite pay-TV operator Digital+ has delivered a new pair that we can only imagine will go over quite well with locals: Canal+ Deportes HD (sport) and Canal+ Dcine HD (movies). Sure, two ain't many, but are you really going to complain about a 300% increase in available HD material? We thought not.
European bands sign up for World Tour
Because Activision loves you all equally, it's decided to offer a bunch of downloadable Guitar Hero World Tour tracks from European bands.Our knowledge of non-UK European music extends to ABBA, Kraftwerk, and, embarrassingly, 2 Unlimited, so we're laughably out of our depth commenting on these (though Swedish group Backyard Babies already appeared in Guitar Hero III, so that name does ring a bell). Mind you, some of them sound pretty good (videos of all six follow the break), and we're certain our millions of Dutch readers are going wild over the inclusion of Di-Rect. 200 Wii points each, if you're interested. "'54, '74, '90, 2010" by Sportfreunde Stiller (Germany) "Dis Moi" by BB Brunes (France) "Por La Boca Vive El Pez" by Fito Y Fitipaldis (Spain) "Mama Mae" by Negrita (Italy) "Degenerated" by Backyard Babies (Sweden) "Johnny" by Di-Rect (Holland) %Gallery-23491%
Telefnica turns on the HD heat with Imagenio IPTV service
Telefónica's on top of its game -- just a few months back, it was testing a no-glasses-necessary 3D IPTV, and now, it's bringing high-def to its Imagenio IPTV service. Everyone who is currently subscribed to a Trío Futura 10 or 30Mbps connection are receiving an HD-capable set-top-box along with the new HD service, though just a single high-def station is currently available (Sony Pictures' AXN). The good news (or, even more good news, actually) is that Canal+ in HD should be arriving soon, and we can only hope that more will be delivered in the not-too-distant future.
World Table Tennis Championships get HD coverage -- can it get any better?
You know high-def is well on its way to "arriving" when the World Junior Table Tennis Championships secure HD coverage, don't you? While the vast majority of you will likely laugh this off as some sort of promotional stunt, we can't help but be pleased at what this could signal about HD adoption overseas. For the first time in the history of the tournament, viewers in Spain with access to the high-def version of Canal+ will be able to see the team and individual finals in astounding clarity. Negotiations are currently underway to get the HD feed beamed out to more nations, and even if you're completely disinterested in the sport, you should probably hope that pans out.
Price confusion over Nokia 5800 XpressMusic mercifully ends (maybe)
It's probably fair to say that no one in Spain had a very good day on Friday when the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic showed up on Nokia.es for €429 (about $550), up from its earlier €279. Well it looks like the zaniness at least kind of has an explanation, though it's not one that's likely to cool any enraged heels. Apparently the base price of the phone was, and is €279, but "each country" can bundle it with whatever they choose, thereby upping the overall price. Sounds fun, right? So, in Spain, they've kindly bundled the 5800 with a €100 Nokia Music Store voucher and a 3-month subscription to Nokia Maps Navigation service. Presumably other countries can follow suit -- though these moves are apparently only valid through the holiday season, because the 5800, all by its lonesome, goes on sale in January for... you guessed it: €279. [Via Unwired View]
