It seems like all the Pre minutiae is hitting the Internet like a ton of bricks but here’s some more news indicating its release isn’t far off: Palm Pre handsets are making their way to Sprint stores specifically for the store advocate, or the one who will be the Pre pro. Images surfaced recently with a number of Sprint employees holding up their handsets (luckily made anonymous by bloggers) and as you might expect, people are psyched; reviews are nothing short of what is expected based on what we’ve seen so far. The device is small, the screen is responsive and the keyboard is like a mix of Centro and Treo Pro goodness (or “badness” if you hate that bubbly plastic feeling). Managers will be undergoing mandatory device training soon and we’re expecting them to give you the hands-on shortly after that in store.

Thanks, Chiitown!

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It was only last week when we found out that TELUS was going to follow in Bell’s footsteps and launch the Palm Treo Pro. Well, on Tuesday that day finally arrived. Going for $149.99 on a 3-year ($549.99 retail) it’s not quite as tasty as Bell’s $99.95 Treo Pro but it’s still a fair deal, relatively speaking. To people already with TELUS who have a good plan they don’t want to give up, we can’t see that $50.04 getting in the way. You know, unless they’re intent on getting a Pre as soon as it makes its way North of the 49th Parallel.

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It goes without saying that amongst the earliest of early adopters to the Palm Pre will be Palm loyalists whose migration from PalmOS to WebOS will surely leave them missing some of the apps that they have grown to love and live by for the past 13 years. To help make the transition easier and allow the fanatics live in the past, MotionApp has obtained special rights to code the only Palm approved PalmOS simulator for WebOS entitled Classic. While it will not be able to access the heart of WebOS, Classic be able to run over 30,000 PalmOS applications at speeds nearly twice as fast as they would run on a Treo 700p meaning that the odds are the crème de la crème of PalmOS apps won’t be left behind. At this time neither the pricing nor availability of Classic has been announced, something we’re not too surprised about given that Palm has yet to tip the world off as to the pricing structure of App Catalog or a release date for the Pre itself.

[Via Engadget]

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It looks like Bell isn’t going to be the only Canadian carrier to offer both the Palm Treo Pro and Samsung OMNIA as TELUS is getting ready to launch both devices for $149.99 each. Well, based upon some advertisements that have appeared in several newspapers across Canada at least. Despite the good news of their impending arrival, both handsets are more expensive on TELUS with the OMNIA and Treo Pro commanding an extra $20 and $50 respectively over the prices offered by Bell. It might not seem like the biggest deal, but considering that these prices are based upon 3-year contracts being signed we have to say that the extra dollars are likely to rub more than a few people the wrong way. Now, we don’t have any specific release dates as of yet, but we will be sure to keep you all updated with the latest news as it happens.

UPDATE: Surprise, surprise, TELUS announced the OMNIA shortly after this was published and dropped the price to $129.99.

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A little blue bird landed on our window sill this morning to let us in on a little secret – Alltel is all set to launch the Palm Treo Pro this Thursday March 5th. After a $125 rebate, the Treo Pro will set Alltel subscribers back $199 on a 2-year contract. The price isn’t all that bad for a new smartphone, especially considering it has the golden trifecta known as 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS, but when we see an American carrier charge more than a Canadian carrier we do start to panic just a little. Just one word of caution before anyone gets too excited — this might just be for divested customers only. C’est la vie, no?

Thanks, R!

We just got a hold of this internal Sprint newsflash stating that the Treo Pro, which we all assumed would launch on Sprint on the 15th, now meets the fate of a new “TBD” launch date. We’re not sure what’s up here, but the information is definitely legit — it’s a proven BGR ninja. We have reached out to Sprint and will update this post accordingly. We’re not sure there will be that many bummed out people, however. There’s something called the Palm Pre on the horizon… There’s a larger image after the jump.

UPDATE: Official statement from Sprint:

“Sprint has not announced availability for the Treo Pro.  Sprint looks forward to welcoming this exciting, new device into our portfolio as soon as it has been approved through our customary testing process. We will share details on the correct availability date as soon as the standard testing of both the device and its interaction with our network has concluded. Thank you for your interest in Sprint products.”

Bad news for those hoping to score a Sprint Treo Pro this weekend. A memo circulating at Best Buy Mobile suggests that the Sprint Treo Pro has been delayed until February 15th. According to the memo, Best Buy Mobile stores have received shipments of the Treo Pro for a January 25th launch but sales of the handsets has been put on hold. All Treo Pro inventory will be locked up and held until the new launch date of February 15th and no purchases will be allowed until then. No reason was given for the mysterious delay. Those among us who possess great charm and immense power of persuasion can try their hand at scoring one early but we definitely wouldn’t lay any cold hard cash down on your success.

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It’s been almost a month since we first broke the scoop on the Treo Pro coming to Sprint next month but it looks like there’s finally confirmation. A leaked Sprint time line for January seals the deal and confirms that we’re looking at a January release for Palm’s most recent and least offensive handset. The Treo Pro will first become available via Brightpoint on Wednesday January 21, followed by a full release on Sunday January 25. As for pricing, don’t be scared off by the $549.99 listed on the document above as that is the unsubsidized price. No word yet on the subsidized pricing but expect it to be in the $200+ range out of the gate. Also of note on the leaked document are the coming of a pink Samsung Instinct and a purple Samsung rant on January 11, available through direct fulfillment only. So Sprinters, are we happy or still wanting more?

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There’s a lot of hype stirring in the rumor mill for Palm – this time it has been confirmed and comes in the form of a new OS and a device on which it will be featured (based on the rumors, it will be the first of a family of devices). With all the hype and secrecy surrounding the new products, one can only hope that it lives up to the mania and saves Palm from hurtling into oblivion. The name of the OS will be “Nova” and the project is spearheaded by Jon Rubenstein, current executive chairman for Palm and former SVP at Apple. The team under Rubenstein seems to be a formidable and ambitious bunch that hopes to give Apple and RIM a run for their money. Filling the space between the iPhone and BlackBerry is going to be a momentous task, so we’re keeping our reservations about the new OS and device until we see it for ourselves at CES. Palm isn’t suffering from any delusions when it comes to performance over the next few months after massive layoffs and a withering economy. Whatever it is Palm is unveiling, it’s going to have to be very big.

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We’re not quite sure what to make of this beast, but it’s all over the blogosphere and our guess is as good as any for now. It looks like a weird hybrid of a Helio Ocean, Palm Centro/Treo, Sony Mylo and touch of Open Moko. Judging by the unusual number of smudges on the screen, common sense points to a touchscreen / QWERTY combo. Your standard five-way toggle and smart buttons are there but when the T-swivel phone opens up, you see a mini-mouse pad and left and right mouse buttons. The keys look like the firm, bubbly keys we’d see on the Palm Centro or Treo Pro, which leads our buddy Dieter Bohn of TreoCentral to think that this might be the new “Roteo” that’s been in the rumor mill. Regardless of what this phone turns out to be, we’re afraid it’s going to be slapped onto our “do not want” list unless the final version gets some major tweaks.

[Via TreoCentral]

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It isn’t new news that the worsening economy has resulted in layoffs and it now looks like Palm will be falling victim to the increasingly declining consumer product environment. In an effort to keep afloat, Palm Infocenter says the the giant smartphone and software company will be letting go of a chunk of its workforce. While the number of employees it intends to let go has yet to be disclosed, it would appear that it would have to be a substantial number in order to make an impact. The cuts won’t be limited to the US either, as there are plans to do the same internationally. This isn’t good news as Palm puts it:

“The global economic downturn continues to dampen demand for consumer goods around the world, and the impact on the economic environment is worsened by our maturing Centro line and the length of time it is taking to ramp our new Windows Mobile products.”

It would appear as though Palm has adopted a “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve” mentality in terms of getting new products out and revamping some of its smartphones. In addition, the much-hyped Treo Pro has done little to save Palm. Things aren’t looking good for the telecommunications and electronics industries as Palm joins a long line of companies who have been letting go of employees.

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If you were itching for one of these but couldn’t wait for it to make its debut on a North American carrier, you can now snag one unlocked for the healthy price of $549 on Palm’s website. Otherwise, it’s likely that AT&T will pick it up and sell it to you for a nice subsidized price. For hardcore Treo fans, it can be had now. Here’s a recap of the specs in case you forgot:

• Touchscreen and full keyboard
• Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional Edition
• Outlook® email with Microsoft® Direct Push Technology and HTML support^1,2
• High-speed data with UMTS/HSDPA³
• High-capacity, removable battery
• Instant-on Wi-Fi button¹
• GPS for navigation, turn-by-turn directions, and local search¹
• Microsoft® Office Outlook® Mobile for Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks
• Edit native Microsoft® Word and Excel® documents4
• Open and view PowerPoint,® PDF, and ZIP files
• Use Internet Explorer® Mobile to search the web fast¹
• Functions as a high-speed modem for your laptop⁵
• Personal email including Hotmail, Yahoo!, and Gmail¹
• Chat-style view for SMS and MMS⁶
• Windows Media® Player Mobile for audio and video
• 2.0 megapixel camera with video capture

Pretty sweet for a hot new 3G phone.

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Thanks, Colin!

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Looks like Palm’s regular manufacturer, Inventec, is taking a backseat to HTC for the upcoming Treo Pro. Looking at the new images of the Treo Pro, there are now touch surfaces where the soft-keys used to be for the home, calendar, messaging, etc. How appropriate since HTC is so “pro” when it comes to making touch screen devices. We’re pretty big fans of HTC, so this is a great route for Palm to take – especially since the Treo Pro looks like the beginning of a new style and series of devices for the company. Palm’s new device already looked ok, but it’s reassuring knowing that a solid manufacturer with experience in touch screens and beautiful devices is going to be putting this one out. It sheds some new light on our question about this new phone’s build quality. Also, the Palm Treo Pro offers up HTC’s task manager program, so that should have been a dead giveaway concerning the manufacturer.

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Back in May we showed you the first live images of the upcoming Palm Treo 850 and shortly after that we ran down the spec highlights. It looks like everything we showed you and reported is pretty spot on except for one thing: the name. Palm will apparently be dipping outside of its convention and slapping this sucker with a “Pro” moniker rather than the digit format we’re used to. Fair enough. As good as this handset looks, we’re sure the fellas over at Palm are eager to get it out to market. A bit too eager perhaps? Someone over at Palm jumped the gun yesterday and the Palm Treo Pro made its debut on the Palm website a little ahead of schedule it would seem. The Treo Pro portion of the site was pulled down pretty quickly, but not quickly enough of course. Hit the jump for two full screen captures from Palm’s boo boo along with a little reminder of what this puppy looks like in the wild.

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