Reviews of the Palm Pre have been generally positive, teething problems notwithstanding, but a common source of complain among reviewers and owners alike is the smartphone’s battery. Accessory manufacturer Seidio are never one to let an opportunity like that slim them by, and so they’ve announced that an extended battery for the Palm Pre, offering nearly twice the capacity of the standard pack, is in development.
The Pre hacking continues, with what seems to be the first reported Jailbreak of the new Palm handset. Developer Steve Troughton-Smith was in the US for Apple’s WWDC 2009 but was tempted into buying the Palm Pre; since he lives in Ireland, far beyond the reaches of Sprint’s EVDO Rev.A connection, he did the obvious thing and crafted his own hacked webOS firmware bypassing Sprint’s activation process.
Palm’s webOS ROM has only been in the wild for a matter of hours, and already the first homebrew apps are showing up. A developer going by scm6079 has put together a test app that displays a simple “Hello World!” message and runs a five-second timer; meanwhile others are trying to disable the Pre’s otherwise unassailable camera shutter sound. Meanwhile, there’s also talk of a third device codename (after “castle”, the Pre, and “pixie”, the Eos), as the ROM apparently contains reference to “zepfloyd”.
Prepare for more Palm Pre carrier confusion, as the Wall Street Journal reports that their source tips a Pre launch on Verizon Wireless come January 2010. The leak comes mere days after Sprint CEO Dan Hesse suggested that rival Verizon may like to “check its facts” over the length of the Pre exclusivity deal Sprint has signed with Palm.
Palm’s “webOS Reset Doctor”, the tool intended to be used to reflash broken or bricked Palm Pre handsets, has leaked, and with it the full webOS ROM. Intended only for internal use, the ROM has already been cracked over in the PreCentral forums, and it’s throwing up not only some interesting tidbits about Palm’s intentions for the Pre but about the rumored Eos second device said to be launching later this year.
Mention has been found in the code of both “castle”, assumed to be the Pre’s internal codename, and “pixie”, which has previously been tipped as the codename for the Eos. Palm have never hidden the fact that the Pre is to be the first device of many to use webOS, but the presence of “pixie” in this first-gen code does seem to suggest that the handset is set to arrive sooner rather than later.
Over 50,000 people may have taken home a box just like this at some time over the weekend, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Cooster. While Palm and Sprint are yet to comment regarding first-weekend Pre sales, analysts have tentatively pegged the figures as ranging from 35,000 to 60,000, with shortages of the smartphone having a significant impact on numbers.
We’ve had a busy week here at SlashGear, with news from two shows – games-expo E3 and Computex – together with the arrival of the Palm Pre. The latter may have just a few days in the spotlight before Apple’s WWDC keynote on Monday, where we’re expecting to see a new iPhone unveiled, so get yourself up to speed with our Palm Pre review in advance of our WWDC live-blog at 10am PT tomorrow.
It seems like its taken forever, but the Palm Pre has finally gone on sale in the US. Sprint stores are opening from 8am across the country, which means all but the west coast are now selling the Pre. Initial feedback we’re hearing suggests that Pre stock numbers may not have been quite as dire as expected – though we’d suggest ringing ahead if you’re not already queuing – but it’s the Touchstone charger that has become the hard-to-find gadget.
With the Palm Pre set to hit stores tomorrow – you can read our review of the Pre here – Sprint have spoken out again regarding Verizon’s apparent claim that they’d have the smartphone over the next six months or so. Sprint had previously replied that they have the Pre “through 2009″; at the handset’s launch party, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse suggested that their exclusivity agreement is longer than a mere six months.
Palm have been accused of under-marketing the Pre to the general public (as opposed to rabid bloggers and tech-followers), and they’re hoping to turn that around with their first proper advert for the smartphone. Called “Flow”, it uses 1,000 choreographed kung fu experts to illustrate the Pre’s connectivity.
Check out the advert after the cut
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