palm

Palm's Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are now available for purchase in France via retail locations and online. Both handsets have access to Palm's Mobile Hotspot app along with a choice of custom goodies like SFR TV and SFR Wi-Fi, which should help users identify the extensive Wi-Fi hotspot network they're entitled to by virtue of using the phone.

The new Super PreKernel app enables you to overclock your device's CPU to 550, 600, 720, and even 800MHz with just a single tap, and underclock the same way, respectively. See the video demonstration of the whole process below:

Both the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are currently available for $30 from Verizon, along with the "Buy One, Get One Free" or "Buy One, Get Up to 4 Free" options, which allow to choose up to 4 handsets and get them for free with the purchase of on of the Palm webOS smartphones. Moreover, users will be able to to freely use the company's Mobile HotSpot application, though they didn't say for how long.

The devs at jictechnology have released a permanent SIM unlock for the GSM Palm Pre. According to the user feedback the unlock works fine, and can be yours for about £25.

Global Certification Forum (GFC) has approved the European versions of Palm's Plus handsets: models P101UEU and P121UEU, which stand for Pre Plus and Pixi Plus respectively. Both support quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE as well as dual-band UMTS/HSDPA 2100/900MHz radios.

Want to extract more juice from your Palm Pre (Plus) that's been updated to webOS 1.4? There's a major overclock kernel patch available now, which will boost the frequency of the phone's CPU to a whole 800MHz. There seem to be no side effets, according to reports and feedback, the device doesn't crash or explode, performs significantly faster, and the battery is almost as durable as if under normal conditions.

The FCC has certified the North American GSM version of the Palm Pixi (code P121UNA) that's now headed to AT&T. We can assume this was one of the reasons why the carrir didn't release the device earlier.

Sprint is now offering the Palm Pixi at no cost if you agree to sign a 2-year contract on its website. The deal is only valid if you purchase the phone online, but other options should be available soon. The Pixi is Pre's little brother, which unconveniently lacks Wi-Fi.

Here's a fan-made yet professionally made advert for the Palm Pre. It demonstrates the device itself, multitasking, the variety of apps, integrated services and video capabilities, and, last but not least, shows off the beauty and ease of use of WebOS. Palm has much to learn from the guy who made this 30 sec video.

Palm has recently announced that both the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will be available from AT&T at some time in the coming months. These are the same models as the ones available from Verizon and Sprint, except for the support for quad-band GSM/EDGE and dual-band 850/1900 3.6Mbps HSDPA radios. The devices will have branded AT&T apps, such as AT&T Navigation, and will be available for $150 and $50, respectively, both after mail-in rebate.