Good news for Palm Pre fans in the Czech Republic. Sometime early in 2010, T-O2 should be releasing the webOS-based Pre for it’s customers once they have finished testing the device on their network. T-O2, a subsidiary of Telefonica, already offers the Pre in Germany, Spain, and the UK, and more European countries should come.

As more carriers and countries offer the Pre, the more entrenched Palm will be in the smartphone world. Hopefully the Pre will be popular in the Czech Republic. What do you think?

source: webOS-France

We may live in a litigious society, but class action lawsuits are often effective in twisting the arms of big companies to make right what they may do wrong, and now Palm and Sprint are in the legal crosshairs. According to a class action suit filed on behalf of Jason Standiford and others similarly affected, the plaintiffs seek “relief for the loss of personal data suffered” when Palm allegedly loses customer data in the backup process.

Palm and Sprint advertise that their webOS-based phones (Pre and Pixi) can reliably backup user data in the case of a lost or damaged phone or other causes of lost data. However, there have been problems with Palm’s backup via Sprint (over-the-air) and important data of customers has been lost. In order to hold Palm and Sprint accountable, the class action suit has been filed. Who do you think will prevail?

source: precentral

In the spirit of Christmas, screaming audience members were more than delighted (crazed, in fact) to receive a free Palm Pixi as part of Ellen’s “12 Days of Giveaways”. Along with the Palm Pixi, the audience members scored several other super-gadgets just in time for the holidays, but the one that is near and dear to our hearts is the Palm Pixi.

It’s nice to see the Pixi get some good airtime on national television and hopefully those audience members will be able to appreciate how lucky they really are. Will a Palm Pixi show up in your stocking in time for Christmas?

source: mypre

Palm released the webOS 1.3.2 update for the Pixi last night, and according to the release notes, you can expect a security patch and a small bug fix for your updating troubles. The phone update fixed a bug where answering and hanging up phone calls with a wired headset button was previously acting unreliably. On a more vague note, the security patch “addresses several security issues with Palm webOS software.”

It may not be very exciting stuff, but it’s nice to see Palm be on top of things by providing these updates on a regular basis. For all of you Pre owners out there, hopefully we will soon see the webOS 1.3.5 update very soon.

source: precentral

It’s only a rumor from an O2 representative in Germany, but we love us our rumors, so here it is: webOS 1.3.5 is coming soon and will fix an SMS bug in the GSM Pre that inexplicably decreases the character limit to 70 when a special character is entered. Other fixes should be included as well, and hopefully the app limit issue will be addressed.

Keep checking your GSM Pre for the app update that may arrive in the middle of this month. Just consider it an early Christmas present from Palm.

source: precentral

If you’re hungry for a Pre and you are unable to abide Sprint, there is a relatively safe, roundabout way to get your mitts on a Palm Pre with it’s webOS magic — from Amazon.com. You can get an unlocked Pre from Amazon via Speileparadies Rustem for EUR 399,99, or about $598.19 bucks. Unfortunately, you will also need a middle-man for shipping because Speileparadies Rustem, a German company, will not ship internationally. Yes, this purchase method does present a couple hoops to jump through, but aren’t a couple hoops worth an unlocked Palm Pre? What do you think?

source: precentral

Weighing in at a hefty 1,500+ pages and over 1,000 annotated screenshots, Made Simple Learning has brought a comprehensive and exhaustive how-to guide book to the App Catalog for only $4.99. Made Simple for webOS is a resource for learning how to use your webOS phone and also covers use of third-party applications and all kinds of tips and tricks. Made Simple also boasts ease of use — they claim that in just two taps, a person can move virtually anywhere in the book for useful information. If you want to become a little more familiar with your webOS device or aspire to webOS guru, you may want to give Made Simple for webOS a try.

source: precentral

Google has announced a new mobile-optimized version of their news site. The new and improved Google News site is now available for iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre users. Additionally, Google News for mobile is now available in 29 languages and 70 editions. According to the official Google Mobile Blog:

This new version provides the same richness and personalization on your phone as Google News provides on desktop. Our new homepage displays more stories, sources, and images while keeping a familiar look and feel. Also, you can now reach your favorite sections, discover new ones, find articles and play videos in fewer clicks. If you are an existing Google News reader on desktop, you will find that all of your personalizations are honored in this mobile version too.

Check out the mobile-optimized Google News at http://news.google.com.

source: Google Mobile Blog

As we all wait with bated breath for the App Catalog to emerge victorious from it’s beta status, we must get by on a limited number of developers and the steady trickle of new apps and app updates. Once again, here is a list of new apps and app updates to be had in Palm’s App Catalog. Just head over on your Pre or Pixi to the App Catalog and give them a try.

New apps: Arlen Ness ($0.99) by Djit – wallpaper gallery of designer-extraordinaire Arlen Ness motorcycles; Stopwatch (Free) by Red Fenix – measuring time in milliseconds with lap counts and email archiving.

Updated Apps: Blocks Lite (Free), Chess for webOS (Free), CL USB Sync (Free), Diet Control ($2.99), Esperanto – English Dictionary ($14.99), Knot Guide ($3.99), Pack ‘n’ Track ($7.99), photoWALL (Free), Radio Hibiki ($1.89), Snake (Free), TealShopper ($4.95), and twoCalcFree (Free).

source: precentral

Leave it to an enterprising precentral forum member, DrewPre, to create backup functionality where Palm and the “cloud” fall a little short. The webOS platform ingeniously remains always-connected to the cloud and stores your critical data in several locations, adding valuable convenience and peace of mind should you lose or accidentally destroy your device. This feature makes it very easy to quickly recover all of your data in the event you must replace your device.

As good as this feature is, it does have a few blind spots. For instance, call logs and SMS conversations are forever lost if you replace your phone, but with DrewPre’s backup utility, all of your data (call logs, contacts, tasks, memos, and SMS conversations) and web browser information (bookmarks, history, cookies) is bundled with your apps and patches into a zip package on your phone’s USB drive partition. Just copy it from there to your desktop and you have a way to replace all of this important data should you need to replace or reset your webOS device.

Learn more about DrewPre’s efforts over here. Hopefully it will be polished and available to the masses sometime soon!

source: precentral