When the Pixi was first released on Sprint, one of the big drawbacks when compared to the Pre was lack of WiFi. Evidence from the FCC suggests that those wanting a WiFi’d Pixi may be in luck very soon.

A CDMA Palm Pixi has been tested for 802.11b/g WiFi by the FCC and given Verizon’s gearing up for Palm webOS-based handsets for early next year, it’s likely a Pixi with WiFi capability will show up on Verizon. Are you headed to Sprint for a Pixi now, or are you willing to wait a little longer to see what shows up on Verizon?

source: engadget

A reliable source has told PreCentral that they spotted an AT&T-branded Palm Pixi out in the wild, more specifically on San Francisco mass transit. There is no picture available to make visual confirmation, so the existence of an AT&T Palm Pixi will have to be taken on faith. Of special interest is the branding of the device with AT&T – branding is usually not a practice performed well in advance of a phone release so if this phone is already branded, then the release may be mere months away.

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

Rumor or wishful thinking? According to a tipster from precentral who attended the Sprint Open Developers Conference, Palm presented a demonstration of the Pre operating on AT&T’s GSM network. Surely this must mean that Palm was using an unlocked GSM Pre, which begs the question — when is it coming to AT&T?

It wasn’t long ago that Palm offered the unlocked version of the Treo Pro on their site, so perhaps we could see the same strategy for the Pre? It would come at a price (unlocked, no contract required), but there are likely many business and consumer users that would pay it. Or, hopefully AT&T will join Verizon in the near future and offer the Pre at a subsidized price. At this point, we can only hope, but Palm running this demo at the conference is a good sign.

source: precentral

The webOS-based Palm Pixi appears to be just around the bend, possibly launching in time for the madness that is post-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas shopping. An anonymous tipster has graced precentral.net with some new information, including spy shots, of Sprint’s inventory system as well as the CelleBrite shot right here that clearly shows “Palm Pixi” as a model for transferring contacts from one phone to another. The Pixi would sure make a good stocking-stuffer. Santa, are you listening?

source: precentral

While we await the CDMA version of the Palm Pixi here in the States (Sprint), a GSM version was allegedly spotted in Vietnam. The GSM version has only 4GB of internal storage versus 8GB on the CDMA model. Yikes. The GSM version likely has a ways to go before we see it in production. Hopefully a GSM version will be available in the U.S. at some point (AT&T?), and hopefully it will have more than 4GB of storage.

source: palm webOS

Friday just wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have a rumor to run through the mill, and this rumor just may possibly be more fact than fiction. The Palm Pixi will allegedly launch in Sprint corporate stores and Best Buy locations on October 20th, less than three weeks from now.

We have no word on pricing yet, and with the Pre falling in price over the last few weeks, it will be very interesting to see how pricing plays out on the Pixi launch. Sub-$100? Free with contract?? The pricing is purely speculation on our part, but hopefully we’re not far off. Anyone interested in a Pixi?

source: BGR

Welcome back to ye old Rumor Mill & Speculation. According to CoolSmartphone, Palm is cutting back and laying off some staff in the U.S. This is unconfirmed and should be taken with a grain of salt, but since Pre sales topped out in August at 375,000 units and the price has spiraled downward, there could be some truth to this rumor if Palm needs to trim down and remain viable.

It seems like Palm’s strategy as the “comeback kid” will require surviving long enough to move from the introduction of the webOS-based Pre, then the Pixi as they move from Sprint exclusivity to other carriers like Verizon and AT&T. Our sister site, PhoneArena, has some insightful comments on this rumor as well. According to CrunchGear, Palm is NOT laying people off but merely “better aligning” their staff. It’s not uncommon for a company to add and subtract personnel with the ebb and flow of their sales cycle and the economy in general, but we all know that Palm has had some tough times and if this rumor is true, it means they are still a long way from being out of the woods.

source: PhoneArena via CoolSmartphone and CrunchGear

Life just isn’t any fun unless you can count on the rumor mill cranking out rumors, only then to be squished flat by the voice(s) of reason. We reported yesterday (along with most of the blogosphere) that Verizon might pass on the Pre. Well, the analysts have spoken and they tell a different story than what The Street was reporting yesterday. According to Deutsche Bank’s Jonathan Goldberg and Morgan Keegan & Co’s Tavis McCourt, all systems appear to be “GO” and Palm’s financial projections and supply chain orders point to a Verizon webOS offering early next year, possibly February. We say “webOS” offering because we don’t know for sure if Verizon will carry the Pre — it could very well be a Pixi or another heretofore-unseen webOS device as Palm is known to do. Bottom line: Verizon Palm-lovers rejoice!

source: engadget mobile

The latest to be churned out by the rumor mill concerns the new App Catalog for the Palm Pre (and soon, the Pixi). According to a tip to PreCentral from an anonymous source, the new App Catalog will be unveiled on September 24th. The significance of the new App Catalog is that users can set up an account with Palm and buy apps directly. No longer will Sprint (or any other carriers) have their mitts in the App Catalog, and we think that’s a good thing. Instead, Palm and the app developers will have control and the app buying experience should be better for all. The 24th isn’t far away so stay tuned.

source: palm webOS