Things we definitively know: Samsung will be introducing the successor to the Galaxy S next month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Things we don’t definitively know: what the handset will look like, what it is named, and what kind of specs it will have. All that, however, hasn’t stopped Korean newspaper ETnews from weighting in with its opinion. The publication claims that the above image is indeed the Samsung Galaxy S2 — name subject to change. The report states the that device will have a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, dual-core processor, and NFC chip; the device will also run on Google’s latest mobile operating system, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). We’re not too sure on the authenticity of the image, but the specification predictions aren’t all that outlandish (especially considering what the Nexus S has in it and some of the dual-core phones we saw at CES). It’s all speculative for now, but your friends at BGR will be in Spain next month to report on all the hotness as it happens.

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Here’s a bit of good news: Hulu has just announced that its Hulu Plus premium subscription service will shed $2 from its monthly price tag. As the press release reads: “The monthly price for Hulu Plus moving forward is just $7.99. Any current subscribers who joined during our preview period will receive a credit for the difference from the $9.99 preview price. This credit will automatically be applied to their next billing cycle.”

But the juice doesn’t stop there.  Hulu has also announced the following promotions:

• One free week trials for all new subscribers. In addition, current subscribers who joined during the preview period will receive a credit for one week of Hulu Plus toward their next month’s subscription.
• Two free weeks of Hulu Plus for both current subscribers and friends they invite through our referral program. Subscribers can learn more by clicking on the “Referrals” tab on their Hulu profile page.
• 11 weeks ($20 worth) of free Hulu Plus with the purchase of a Sony BRAVIA connected TV or Blu-ray player through January 31, 2011. (See sony.com/huluplus.)
• One free month of Hulu Plus with the purchase of a Roku device through December 15, 2010. (See roku.com/hulu.)

The release also notes that the service is launching on Roku today and will be coming to “Internet-connected Vizio, LG Electronics, and Panasonic Blu-ray players and HDTVs; TiVo Premiere DVRs; the Xbox 360; and Western Digital’s WD TV Live Hub Media Center and WD TV Live Plus Network Media Player,” in the coming months. Updates to the Hulu Plus iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Samsung, and PlayStation 3 players will be made available this week.

Anyone reconsidering Hulu Plus after the price drop?

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Oh Palm/HP, why do you continue to taunt those from your home country? Two weeks ago, the Palm Pre 2 — complete with webOS 2.0 — launched on wireless provider SFR in France. Now… before any U.S. company has even gotten a sniff, HP is launching a SIM-free Pre 2 in the UK. Blog Pocket-lint is reporting that HP confirmed the unlocked, unbranded Pre 2 will be available to our friends across the pond starting tomorrow; price was not disclosed.

Rumors — that HP actually started via its Facebook page — indicated that the device would be available to developers here in the U.S. starting November 8th. Sadly, said rumors did not materialize. Looks like those here in the U.S. of A. still longing to get their hands on webOS 2.0 will just have to long a little… um, longer?

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Yesterday, regional wireless provider U.S. Cellular announced a new smartphone plan that they are touting as “the best value in wireless.” The new “Primary Plus Plan” offers smartphone customers 5GB of data, unlimited text, picture, and video messaging, free GPS navigation, and 450 voice minutes with free incoming minutes for a modest $69.99 per month. The plan is aimed at customers considering their first smartphone and those who currently have an intelligentphone but are frustrated by their monthly bill. The offering is part of U.S. Cellular’s Belief Project which launched on October 1st. Hit the jump for the full press release.

U.S. CELLULAR ENTICES SMARTPHONE NEWCOMERS AND PROS WITH VALUE-PACKED $69.99 PRIMARY PLUS PLAN

Carrier Continues to Elevate Customer Experience with the Best Value in Wireless

For more information about the Primary Plus Plan and The Belief Project, visit uscellular.com.

Windows Phone 7 has been getting a lot of press as the new mobile OS on the block over the last few months, but webOS aficionados and smartphone junkies alike know that webOS 2.0 — and the Palm Pre 2 — will be storming the U.S. market in the very near future. How near you ask? Well, according to HP’s Facebook page, just six days from now on November 8th. The company posted the following message:

HP for Students – US: Check out the new Palm Pre Plus 2, pre-orders begin 11/8

It is unclear whether the “pre-orders” the post is referring to will be for the Verizon Wireless Pre Plus 2 or an unlocked GSM device that is rumored to exist for developers. Looks like we’ll find out soon enough!

[Via PreCentral]

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Today, HP announced that AT&T’s Palm Pixi Plus would — finally — be getting the webOS 1.4.5 update. The new bits add several new bug fixes and, most notably, add support for Palm’s Plug-in Developer Kit (PDK). Hit the “Updates” application on your AT&T Pixi to manually grab the new code.

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In a seemingly coordinated strike, Roku and TiVo both announced the availability of Hulu Plus streaming content via their respective set-top boxes. TiVo writes that they have, “teamed with Hulu to provide TiVo Premiere DVR subscribers with access to the full-array of Hulu Plus content streamed instantly to their TVs. The Hulu Plus channel will be available to all TiVo Premiere customers in the coming months.” Like the Roku offering, a Hulu Plus subscription — $9.99 per month — is required. The full press release is after the break.

TiVo Will Offer Hulu Plus on TiVo Premiere DVRs

ALVISO, CA — (Marketwire) — 09/28/2010 — TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in advanced television services including digital video recorders (DVRs) for consumers, content distributors and consumer electronics manufacturers, today announced that it has teamed with Hulu™ to provide TiVo® Premiere DVR subscribers with access to the full-array of Hulu Plus™ content streamed instantly to their TVs. The Hulu Plus channel will be available via subscription to all TiVo Premiere customers in the coming months.*

The agreement solidifies TiVo’s leading position as the only one-box solution on the market that delivers the most complete entertainment content to the TV with the unmatched ability to use one user interface and one remote to access a sea of broadband, linear and video on demand content.

Hulu Plus offers one of the deepest offerings of current TV shows on a streaming platform to subscribers in the U.S., including every episode of more than 45 current hit programs from ABC, FOX and NBC like Modern Family, Grey’s Anatomy, Glee, Family Guy, The Office and 30 Rock. In addition, TV lovers with TiVo Premiere DVRs will be able to enjoy full series runs and numerous back seasons of dozens of classic shows like The X-Files, Law and Order: SVU, Arrested Development, Saturday Night Live, Miami Vice, Ugly Betty, Quantum Leap, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Roswell and Ally McBeal.

“Adding Hulu Plus to TiVo’s content offering was really the key missing piece to the programming portfolio that TiVo needed in order to deliver a truly comprehensive advanced television offering on the market today — bar none,” said Tara Maitra, VP & General Manager, Content Services and Ad Sales, TiVo Inc. “TiVo is the complete TV entertainment solution. No other service is as robust or offers consumers the ability to access live TV, Web video, and video on demand content from one box like TiVo does.”

Pete Distad, VP of Content Distribution for Hulu, said, “We are laser focused on helping people find and enjoy the world’s premium video content when, where and how they want it. Our goal for Hulu Plus is to provide as much consumer choice as possible, and Hulu Plus on TiVo’s Premiere DVR offering is a compelling way for us to drive our mission forward.”

Roku has just announced that they will be adding a Hulu Plus channel to their lineup “later this fall.” As the press release reads: “Hulu Plus offers one of the deepest offerings of TV shows, both current and classic, on a streaming platform to subscribers in the U.S. Through Hulu Plus on Roku, TV lovers can watch every episode of more than 45 current hit programs from ABC, FOX and NBC.” A Hulu Plus subscription, which will still be required, retails for $9.99 per month. We’ve got the full press release after the break.

Roku Announces Content Partnership with Hulu

Hulu Plus Coming this Fall on All Roku Streaming Players

Saratoga, Calif. (September 28, 2010) Roku, Inc., maker of the best-selling and award-winning Roku streaming player, and Hulu™, the leading online TV service, today announced a partnership to offer the Hulu Plus™ service on all Roku players. The Hulu Plus channel will be available via subscription to all Roku customers later this fall.

Hulu Plus offers one of the deepest offerings of TV shows, both current and classic, on a streaming platform to subscribers in the U.S. Through Hulu Plus on Roku, TV lovers can watch every episode of more than 45 current hit programs from ABC, FOX and NBC like Modern Family, Grey’s Anatomy, Glee, Family Guy, The Office and 30 Rock. In addition, TV lovers will be able to enjoy full series runs and numerous back seasons of dozens of classic shows like The X-Files, Law and Order: SVU, Arrested Development, Saturday Night Live, Miami Vice, Ugly Betty, Quantum Leap, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Roswell and Ally McBeal. The Hulu Plus channel will be available via subscription to all Roku customers later this fall.

“We are excited to bring Hulu Plus to all Roku users,” said Pete Distad, VP of Content Distribution for Hulu. “With Hulu Plus on Roku, TV fans will have an easy way to stream to their TVs the shows they love, whenever they want.”

Roku pioneered the streaming player category in 2008, and recently launched its new line of HD streaming players starting at $59.99, featuring the largest collection of streaming entertainment available for the TV, and the lowest prices in the industry.

“We’re thrilled to be able to provide Hulu Plus subscribers with the most inexpensive device to stream Hulu content to their TVs,” said Anthony Wood, founder and CEO of Roku, Inc. “Hulu continues to be an amazing innovator in online entertainment, and Roku is an ideal platform to bring their content back to the living room and high definition televisions where it is best viewed.”

The Roku HD streaming player ($59.99) delivers video in high-definition and features built-in wireless and Ethernet for easy broadband connectivity anywhere in the home. The new Roku XD ($79.99) and XDS ($99.99) models add 1080p HD support (delivered over HDMI) and extended-range Wireless-N. In addition, the XDS model features dual-band Wireless-N technology and USB playback.

In partnering with Roku, Hulu joins major entertainment partners including Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Amazon Video On Demand (NASDAQ: AMZN), Pandora, MLB.TV, and Ultimate Fighting Championship®.

Might as well keep the webOS news coming, no? If you have a Verizon Palm Pixi Plus you’ll be happy to know that your friends over at VZW are pushing out webOS 1.4.5 to your device. The update’s change log looks like this:

Version information
Version: webOS 1.4.5
Release date: 30 August 2010

New applications
NONE

Feature changes to existing applications

System
Palm Pixi and Palm Pixi Plus phones can now run 3D games and other apps developed with the webOS PDK. Check App Catalog for titles that are compatible with your phone.
This release includes minor fixes and enhancements to support the public release of the webOS PDK.

Web
If a user enters text in a field on certain websites, the screen focus now remains on the text being entered.
This release fixes a rare problem so that podcasts now download correctly.

Security
This release addresses several security issues with the Palm webOS software.

The new code weighs in at around 14 Mb and can be had by hitting the System Update button in your phone’s preferences.

Thanks, Steve!

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The New York Times is reporting that streaming video site hulu.com is in talks with investment banks to go public as soon as this fall. The Times cites “people briefed on the matter,” and goes on to say that the IPO could “value the company at more than $2 billion.” Hulu is a joint venture of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, the Walt Disney Company, NBC Universal, and a private equity firm. A recent change in comScore’s reporting methodology caused Hulu’s monthly viewership numbers to drop from 43.5 million in May to 24 million in June. Things aren’t all bad for the video service though; comScore did register that Hulu served up 556 million ads in June of this year, which outpaces all other video sites including YouTube. What do you think? If Hulu went public would you buy? Just another dot com destined for failure on Wall Street?

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Anyone who owns a Palm Pre Plus on Verizon Wireless is painfully aware of the poor GPS performance. It especially hits you when trying to get a GPS fix in any location-based application. VZ Navigator works flawlessly and many people launch VZ Navigator to the splash screen in order to activate the aGPS on the phone and then use this data in a third party application like Google Maps. Though it works, this technique needs to be repeated each time you need an instant GPS fix. Thanks to James Harris and his GPS Fix application, those days of constantly launching VZ Nav may be over. This new application activates the GPS and keeps its alive in the background by pinging the GPS for location data at user-determined intervals. It is a crude workaround that may drain your battery but it works in a pinch and is a better alternative than hacking your phone with QPST and modifying the settings for the GPSOne chipset, a technical procedure that could brick you phone. Yeah, we went there. For those that are interested, the GPSFix application is available from the Palm Beta Feed

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Remember that rumor of a premium subscription coming to the PlayStation Network? Well it’s a rumor no more. PlayStation Plus has just been announced at E3. A subscription to Plus will set you back $49.99 per year or $17.99 every three months. Benefits of joining Plus include beta invites, early access to demos, downloadable content and other exclusive perks. Free access to the PlayStation Network will not be shut off.

So, what’s the deal? Did you buy a Palm Pre on Sprint and love it, but secretly wanted to jump to Verizon? Or maybe you don’t know what a Palm Pre Plus is? Let us know! Additionally, anyone working at a Verizon Wireless location (corporate or authorized dealers) that wants to share rough sales numbers with us can chime in here or hit us up directly!

Thanks, VZWGuy!

UPDATE: PhoneArena has the spec sheet

Thanks, phenomenalone!