The Palm Pre has finally landed on UK shores, being offered up by O2. If you’re in the UK and have already picked up this webOS-based wonder, then let us know what you think. If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, check out this first-ever Palm Pre UK-flavored unboxing brought to you by Top 10 Mobile Phones. Check it out here.

source: top10 mobile phones

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

The actual launch date isn’t until this Friday, October 16th, but that won’t stop O2 from throwing a rockin’ Palm Pre launch party with performing artists like VV Brown and Danish band Alphabeat. The event was held on a rooftop at the Shoreditch House in London’s East End. There is no word whether Claus made an appearance to guest DJ, but if he had, I’m sure he’d be sporting a Pre.

When Friday rolls around, we hope to hear from any O2 customers about the Pre launch and whether or not you got your hands on one. Congratulations to O2 UK on getting the Pre!

source: palminfocenter

Do you need to track the stock market on the go, even when you’re buried deep into some other applications on your Pre? More Solutions has announced that they are bringing MoreStocks to the webOS platform, including the Pre.

MoreStocks offers live intraday trading information, along with backing up your stocks, transactions, and other preferences in the cloud – no reason to fear resets or having to replace your webOS device altogether in case it decides to take a swim or dive off a high table. With MoreStocks, you will be able to download everything to your new device and pick up where you left off. Keep an eye on the store for this one.

source: pre central

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

The Palm Pre is about to run with the bulls in Spain, being offered up by Telefonica on October 14th. How much will it cost for new Telefonica customers? Nothing at all, depending on the service plan commitment selected. Telefonica is also the current exclusive carrier of the Palm Pre in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany. If you live in Spain and see a Pre in your near future, let us know about your experience! Check out more about the Pre on Telefonica here.

source: palm

Facebook is one of the heavy-hitters amidst the social network phenomenon that has swept the Internet far and wide, and Pre owners have been waiting desperately patiently for an honest-to-goodness Facebook app for their webOS handsets. The wait isn’t over for the stand-alone app, but in the meantime, Facebook has updated the mobile version to make things easier for Pre users.

Some updates to the mobile version include “Like” and “Unlike” updates for status and links, commenting on videos, viewing more photos in photo albums, and viewing application updates. If the mobile version still leaves you wanting, you can always access the full version of the site on your Pre. Hopefully the promises Facebook app will arrive in the near future.

source: palm webOS

Popular Mechanics magazine has shared what we already know – that the Palm Pre is one amazing device. The popular magazine has listed the Pre as one of their “10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009″, stating that the Pre:

…doesn’t break ground with any one engineering advance. Instead, it sets a new standard by putting all the best available technologies together. Most cellphones—even high-end ones—excel at some tasks, while utterly ignoring others. The Palm Pre’s features read like a gadget geek’s wish list: optional inductive charging, a full keyboard, the ability to sync with iTunes—and it can run multiple applications at once. Sometimes more is more.

Sounds like a shining endorsement to us. If you still haven’t checked out the Palm Pre, then maybe you’ll be encouraged to do so after reading what Popular Mechanics has to say about it.

source: PreCentral via Popular Mechanics

You have to look very close and maybe squint a little, but the Pre pictured here is clearly sporting some German text. Since O2 Germany is within a couple weeks of officially launching a GSM version of the Palm Pre, some final production handsets are being spotted out and about, like this one. The only thing wrong with this situation is that there is yet to be a North American GSM version for those Pre fans on the other side of the pond. We hope that O2 Germany users enjoy the Pre – we will be watching with envy and hoping for a GSM version of our own!

source: engadget

Almost as suddenly as paid apps magically appeared in the App Catalog, the apps have been quickly removed by Palm due to a big flaw in purchase verification. This security oversight was allowing certain shady individuals to build dummy applications in order to dupe the App Catalog into downloading free “updates” and circumvent paying for the app altogether. What a shame that some would exploit a weakness in the App Catalog to dishonestly download apps, but on a positive note, Palm pulled the apps until the backdoor can be closed. Palm plans on having the App Catalog back up and running by the morning.

source: engadget mobile, picture courtesy of glamajamma