HP will lay off as many as 525 employees from its Palm division this week AllThingsD reported on Tuesday. HP killed off its webOS mobile operating system in mid-August when it also announced it would discontinue the development of webOS devices such as the TouchPad and Palm Pre family of smartphones. “As part of this decision, the webOS GBU is undergoing a reduction in workforce,” an HP spokesperson explained. “Today’s actions are part of this initiative. During this time, we stand by our commitment to our webOS customers and will work to ensure that support and service for customers are not adversely affected. HP is exploring ways to leverage webOS software.”

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HP announced today that the latest installation in the Angry Birds franchise, Angry Birds Rio, is now available for download from the webOS App Catalog. The game sports 60 different levels across two different episodes, and Rovio promises to provide episodic updates throughout the rest of this year. If you’re tired of killing little green pigs, have no fear, the goal this time around is to attack angry monkeys and free other caged fowl. Angry Birds Rio is available for $1.99 on the Palm Pre, Pre Plus and Pre 2, provided that you’re running webOS 1.4.5 or later.

[Via Mobile Burn]

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When it comes to HP and it’s now Palm-less webOS smartphones, we’ve made our feelings quite clear — we couldn’t be more excited about HP’s upcoming Pre 3, and we couldn’t be less excited about the Pre 2. Don’t get us wrong… the Pre 2 is a fine device in its own right. It’s still way too small and the keypad is still way too unusable for us to even consider owning the device, however. The Pre 3, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. In our hands-on with the HP Pre 3, we called it the webOS smartphone we’ve been waiting for and we meant it — the Pre 3 maintains the Pre’s great form factor but enlarges it; tosses in a bigger, better display; and expands the keyboard just enough to make it usable. But unfortunately, we still have a bit of waiting to do before the Pre 3 reaches the market and for the time being, the Pre 2 is the best webOS fans can do. As announced during HP’s “Think Beyond” event last week, Verizon Wireless made the HP Pre 2 available for pre-order on February 10th. On February 17th, the Pre 2 will be available to all for the somewhat reasonable price of $149.99 on contract. Hit the break for Verizon Wireless’ full press release, and hit yourself in the head repeatedly if you’re a webOS fan who is even remotely considering a two-year contract with the Pre 2 when the Pre 3 looming on the horizon.

VERIZON WIRELESS’ NETWORK TO INCLUDE NEXT GENERATION OF INTUITIVE MULTITASKING PLATFORM WITH PRE 2 FROM HP

Verizon Wireless Customers Have Fast, Fun Access to Work and Play on HP webOS 2.0

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless, the company with the largest and most reliable wireless voice and 3G data network, announced today that the Pre 2 smartphone by HP will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com on Feb. 17.  Pre 2 is the first device to run on HP webOS 2.0, allowing quick and easy multitasking of e-mail, games, music and more.

Key features:

• 3.1-inch glass multi-touch screen with a vibrant 24-bit color, 320 x 480 resolution HVGA display
• Slide-out physical QWERTY keyboard
• Support for Microsoft Exchange e-mail, as well as personal e-mail support (Google Gmail push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP)
• Integrated IM, SMS and MMS
• VZ Navigator capable – Receive audible turn-by-turn directions to millions of points of interest and share the directions with others
• TI OMAP 1GHz processor with 512 RAM
• 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, extended depth of field, geo-tagging and video capture
• Wi-Fi connectivity (802.11 b/g/)
• Bluetooth wireless technology 2.1+ EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
• 3G Mobile Hotspot capability
• Dimensions: 2.34 inches (w) x 0.66 inches (d) x 3.96 inches (h)
• Weight: 5.1 ounces

Lifestyle features:

• Contact Integration via HP Synergy – Customers can keep contacts and calendars up to date automatically with built-in integration for Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Yahoo! and Microsoft Exchange.
• Customized Inbox – Customers can view all of their accounts together or separately to access work e-mail alone or combined in a favorites folder with personal e-mail from places like Gmail or Yahoo! Mail.
• Full HTML Browsing – Customers have access to full websites just like on their Macs or PCs.  They can play video, upload photos, access online banking and much more.  webOS also now integrates a beta of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 in the browser, which provides access to rich, Flash-based Web content.
• With Just Type in webOS, customers can start an e-mail, create a message, update their status and search their favorite websites – all before they even open an app.
• Mobile Music Store – Customers can buy and download music right from their webOS smartphones using the Amazon MP3 app when on a Wi-Fi hotspot.
• Skype mobile – webOS 2.0 supports Skype-to-Skype calls and messaging while in the United States to anywhere in the world, and low-rate calls to international landlines and cell phones.

Pricing and availability:

• Pre 2 will be available from Verizon Wireless for $149.99 after a $50 mail-in Verizon Wireless rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.  Pre 2 customers will need to subscribe to a data plan.  Unlimited data plans are available to customers starting at $29.99 monthly access.  Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.
• For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

Palm has a history of, shall we say, making poor decisions. Hardware components…  launch partners… the Foleo. We had hoped all that would change when HP acquired the struggling company earlier this year, but it looks like it’s going to take longer than we had hoped for the stars to align over Sunnyvale, CA. Exhibit A: the Palm Pre 2. The Pre was a good start for Palm but there were tons of problems with it. The Pre 2 addresses some of those problems — the occasional sluggishness, the cheap plastic screen — but many of the usability issues remain. The display is too small, the keypad is cramped, and so on.

If new rumors surrounding the upcoming Palm Mansion turn out to be true, we have our exhibit B. Self-professed rumor monger Go Rumors cites a “close source” in claiming that an upcoming Palm smartphone, likely the Palm Mansion, will feature a 5-inch touchscreen when it launches in three months. The Dell Streak is a nifty little gadget, but we wouldn’t exactly say it birthed a successful new range of ridiculously oversized smartphones / ridiculously undersized tablets. In fact, we’d say the opposite is probably true. We’re hoping Go Rumors ran with some bad intel but the unfortunate truth is that we would hardly be surprised if a 5-inch webOS phone launched some time in February.

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When the Palm Pre disappeared from Sprint’s website last week, many speculated that the world’s first webOS phone was probably gone for good. Now, a leaked document obtained by enthusiast blog PreCentral.net puts another nail in the smartphone’s coffin. According to the document and accompanying report, Sprint’s Palm Pre has been designated as EOL (End of Life) by the carrier, meaning it will no longer be sold. Remaining inventory, which is said to be in the hundreds, will be depleted by physical Sprint stores and telesales, and then Sprint’s Pre is off to the great gig in the sky. Though no announcement has been made, this could mean that Sprint will soon offer the Palm Pre 2 as a replacement to the original. Of course it could also mean Sprint is shifting focus away from Palm devices for the time being, and onto the Android platform where devices like the EVO 4G have done quite well for the carrier. Sprint did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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This isn’t confirmed, but with RIM rumored to be exploring sliding-QWERTY devices for a pretty long time, one of our BlackBerry connects dropped some info on us and we wanted it to share it. Here’s what we know:

• It’s a portrait-oriented slider. While most people assume a device with slideout keyboard would end up being something like HTC’s devices, we’ve been told this particular handset is more like the Palm Pre in terms of layout.
• The phone will run BlackBerry OS 6.0
• The rumored device will 100% support Wi-Fi 802.11n
• The resolution unfortunately has not improved, it is still 360×480.
• No word on if this will have a touch screen, but we’d assume so, and our source alluded to this possibly being what the rumored BlackBerry Magnum/Dakota evolved into. Not saying there won’t be a Bold-like device with touchscreen, optical trackpad, and physical keyboard, but this might be released first.
• If it does have a touch screen, this could in fact be the mythical BlackBerry Storm slider — picture a Storm 9520 with a slide up Bold-esque keyboard.
• The phone will not be a Verizon exclusive — it’s supposed to be a GSM/HSPA device.

That’s all we’ve got for now, folks. What are you thinking? Does this remotely interest you, or could you care less about the hardware at this point and just hope that RIM can make some pretty big strides as far as their OS is concerned?

Image for illustrative purposes only.

While Sprint’s HTC Hero is housed in a different and arguably less sexy shell than the standard HTC version, the internals are the same. That’s a 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and a whole lot more running on Sprint’s CDMA voice and data network. We’ve put together a bunch of things we loved as well as things we disliked about the Sprint version of the HTC Hero after the break along with some photos.

Why, why, why is our beloved Teflon coating gone? Sprint thought the Hero in its pure form was most likely a bit too edgy (that pun was definitely intended) and opted for a more simple and rounded casing. It’s not all bad, though. The physical buttons we really had issue with are now very workable and the trackball has been replaced with a larger one making scrolling a bit more easy. The screen and screen size are exactly the same and we’re told that the Sprint units run the updated HTC ROM that fixes a lot of the Hero’s initial slowdowns.

Unfortunately, the Sprint HTC Hero is still laggy and a bit too slow to use as a main device by our standards. It’s just not fast enough. Not when you have the Palm Pre or iPhone 3GS to compare it to. We can’t tell you how many times our attempts to simply unlock the phone have ended in it being swift-kicked across the room. It freezes, the browser is clunky at best (that Adobe Flash integration doesn’t seem to be helping), and it’s really frustrating to use at times. Exchange support is great, but it doesn’t do much good if it takes 12 seconds to open a single email. Sometimes, it literally takes 12 seconds. There’s countless examples we could give, but our initial review still stands pretty much true: it’s an awesome phone (even in its new shell) that’s hampered by the CPU it is powered by. Is it usable? Absolutely. Is it as fast as it should be? Not a chance. It’s definitely in the upper echelon of greatness and Sprint’s smartphone lineup is pretty fantastic at the current time. Compared to anything other than the Palm Pre on Sprint, though, especially if you’re not a BlackBerry friend, the HTC Hero would be our choice. It’s available on Sprint starting October 11th for $179.99 with a two-year service agreement.

Following news that Amazon chopped pricing on the Palm Pre to an attractive $99.99, Walmart has swooped in to undercut the massive online retailer — albeit just for the long weekend. Truth be told however, we’re not sure what an extra $20 is going to do if the jump from $200 to $100 wasn’t enough incentive for those debating whether or not to take the leap. What’s more, the deal involves a $100 mail-in rebate whereas Amazon’s $100 price is out the door. Whatever the case, if you’re okay with a smartphone that will cost you $80-$100+ per month, that extra $20 entry fee should hardly be keeping you from snagging a Pre. Walmart’s deal is good through tomorrow so if the hassle of a rebate is worth saving $20 to you, better act fast.

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With all of the money RIM is dumping into its U2 sponsorship, a bit of irony shined through earlier this week when Palm announced its secondary stock offering. The big news that came alongside Palm’s offering was that Elevation Partners, already Palm’s largest investor, gobbled up another 2.2 million shares of Palm for a cool $35 million. The private equity firm now owns a total of 67.8 million common shares of Palm stock in addition to its 376,000 preferred shares, totaling about 42 percent of the company. The irony in all this of course, is that Elevation Partners’ Managing Director and Co-Founder just so happens to be one Paul David Hewson… Better known as Bono. Yep, the leader of the band currently pulling down huge bucks from RIM is busy buying up Palm. One can’t help but wonder which company’s handsets the U2 front man prefers.

[Via Mobility Site]

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If this latest Verizon/Palm Pre rumor pans out, there are going to be a whole lot of angry VZW subscribers and likely just as many chuckling Sprint fans. According to The Street, Verizon has decided to change its plans and skip the highly anticipated Palm handset. Specifically, “[The Palm Pre] had been scheduled to arrive at Verizon in January. But people close to the discussions say Verizon has decided not to support the Pre.” Palm’s first webOS-powered phone had been long-rumored to hit Verizon’s shelves some time in early 2010 and its arrival would have been a massive coup for Palm. The handset is still a Sprint exclusive here in the US and as far as we can tell, sales have been anything but stellar so far. Verizon, with the largest subscriber base in the US, stood to drastically improve Pre penetration but it looks like an insurmountable roadblock of some sort may have squashed those dreams. AT&T on the other hand, is still expected to carry the Palm Pre once Sprint’s exclusivity ends.

Thanks, E!

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After yesterday’s shenanigans we’re not sure how long this offer will stand. Apropos, Pre hopefuls might want to jump on this new price point as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Palm made its second webOS-powered handset official this morning and we suppose there is no better way to celebrate than by buying the compay’s first webOS-powered handset — you know, just to ensure you aren’t eligible for 2-year contract pricing once the Pixi launches. Sprint has just cut the price of a shiny new Pre from $299.99 to $249.99 before the $100 mail-in rebate, meaning when all is said and done you’ll be out $149.99. Retail partners such as Best Buy and Amazon are still pricing the handset at $199.99 so for the time being, the new price is Sprint-only. Bottom line: if you were waiting to see how Palm’s first candy bar webOS phone would shape up before committing to a new contract and the Pixi doesn’t float your boat, Sprint just saved you $50.

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Have you been watching all the Palm Pre coverage in recent months with jealousy, just waiting for the right time to strike? Well boys and girls, that time may be now. From now until October 10th, Sprint has effectively knocked $100 off the price of a shiny new Palm Pre for customers coming over from another carrier. Here’s how it works: Purchase a Palm Pre on a 2-year contract before October 10th and port a number in from your old carrier. That’s it. Within your first three months of service, Sprint will issue a $100 service credit to your account. Call it a welcome present, call it an attempt to boost sales or call it whatever else you want — the bottom line is that you can now effectively score a new Pre for $99 after MIR and a service credit. Any takers?

UPDATE: Consider us amazed. As quickly as Sprint’s offer appeared, it’s now off the table. Sprint’s official comment: “After further internal review today, the offer of a port-in service credit of $100 to new customers who buy the Palm Pre has been pulled, because it was put into the system in error.” Umm, ok. Sprint says it will honor the promo for anyone who managed to snag a Pre during the brief period of time before the promo was pulled.

Thanks, E!

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Remember last month when a developer revealed some hidden functionality in webOS that periodically reports a user’s location back to Palm? Well as it turns out, the reasoning behind the Big Brother-esque move may be even worse than you think. Drum roll please… Location-based advertising. We’ve uncovered a patent application filed by Palm in November of last year that could end up being one of the worst things to happen to webOS since its birth. As described within the application itself, the patent “provides a method and system thereof that can be used to more effectively target advertisements and other services to users of wireless communication devices.” More from the patent description:

Based upon the location data from the appointment and the location of device 310 (or other alternative location provided by the user), processor 340 may then provide advertisement data (step 386), for example, along the driving route between the location of the appointment and the current location of device 310 within a predetermined distance of the location of the appointment and/or the current location of device 310, and so on.

In other words, the system will keep tabs on your location in order to serve ads that will theoretically get you to spend money on the spot. Why not stop off for a coffee in this Starbucks? How about a tasty Angus Third Pounder from the McDonald’s down the block? But wait, it gets worse. Palm’s concept goes even further to pull appointment information out of your calendar in order to serve contextual ads based on your destination location in addition to your current location. While this concept is pretty brilliant, it’s also remarkably invasive and frankly, a bit frightening. Is the future of mobile advertising a gross invasion of our privacy?

Thanks, Darnell!

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It appears as though webOS junkies may soon have a new way to get their fix — two new ways, even. According to a screenshot allegedly depicting Sprint’s inventory system, not one but two new Palm handsets have materialized; the 120 and C40. Let’s look at what we’ve got: Sprint’s Pre is coded as 100, or P100 in internal systems. At Verizon, it’s pretty safe to assume the Pre has been dubbed P101 as we’ve seen several references to it. Both the screenshot above and the shots in this post also depict a device coded 12x — the 120 is listed above and the P121 is reportedly in Verizon’s inventory system right now. We’ve seen the 120 referenced earlier as well, and it was always thought to be the Eos. As both carriers are rumored to be getting Palm’s Centro replacement in the near future, the Eos being designated as 12x might still be a safe bet. As for what the C40 could be however, we’re stumped. If the C40 is actually the Eos and the 120 is a refreshed Pre of some sort, why does Verizon have both the P101 and P121 in its inventory right now? Does Big Red plan to launch 8GB and 16GB Pre models simultaneously, a la older iPhone models? Hit the comments and let us know what you think.

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Behold, ladies and gentlemen: Bell’s new iPhone! No wait, it’s a pPhone. No… The Palm PrePhone? At this point, we’re wondering if there’s a worldwide (or at least North America-wide) conspiracy amongst creative agencies to ensure that each and every Palm Pre commercial to hit the airwaves is absolute garbage. The good news is that Bell’s commercial at least shows off the phone and its features rather than a painfully odd woman mumbling about walking in the park. The bad news is that it shamelessly and blatantly rips off iPhone commercials. In fact, it rips them off to the point where the agency that put this ad together simply shouldn’t be allowed to work anymore. Ever. The bottom line is that the Palm Pre is a great little phone and it deserves better than this. A little side note: Palm, Bell, buddies… When you’re rocking an App Catalog that currently offers less than 50 apps, you might not want to rip off Apple’s “there’s an app for that” run. Yeah, right now on the Pre there really isn’t an app for anything. Hit the jump for the commercial.

[Via PreThinking]