Sprint Palm Pixi Arrives November 15th For $100

Sprint and Palm have announced launch details for the second webOS smartphone, the Palm Pixi.  The candybar handset – which we played with back in September – will arrive on the CDMA network in the US come November 15th, priced from $99.99 after $150-worth of instant and mail-in rebates, and presuming a new, two-year agreement.

Pixi specs include a full QWERTY keyboard – which we found to be a little more usable than that of the Palm Pre, thanks to the keys being more raised – a capacitive touchscreen, gesture-based UI and 8GB of onboard storage.  Connectivity includes EVDO Rev.A and Bluetooth, but not WiFi, and the whole thing measures just 11 x 55 x 10.85 mm.

The Pixi will also bring with it Palm's new Facebook application, which will presumably also be made available for Pre owners.  Like the Pre, the Pixi will be compatible with the $79.99 Touchstone inductive charger, though it will need a new battery-cover first ($19.99).  You can sign up for pre-launch details here.

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Press Release:

Palm Pixi Available Nov. 15 for Just $99.99 Exclusively from Sprint
Application Development For Palm webOS Devices Powered by America's Most Dependable 3G Network Will Be a Leading Topic at Sprint's Open Developer Conference Starting Today

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 26, 2009– Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced Nov. 15 as the first day of nationwide availability for Palm® Pixi™, exclusively available on America's most dependable 3G network1 from Sprint2. It will cost just $99.99 with a two-year service agreement, after a $50 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate and be available at Sprint stores, online at www.sprint.com, through telesales at 1-800-SPRINT1, and at Best Buy, RadioShack and select Wal-Mart stores.

"We are excited to offer the new Palm Pixi to our customers in time for the holiday season, and it's a great addition to Sprint's industry-leading device portfolio," said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president – Product Development, Sprint. "Simply put, this phone is fun and easy to use; with its multi-touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, it's a great device for messaging and social networking at a price everyone can enjoy, and delivers so many of the great features people love about Palm Pre™ in a fantastic new form factor, making it a huge hit for consumers."

Running the Palm webOS™ mobile platform, Palm Pixi lets the user keep multiple activities open and move easily between them, like flipping through a deck of cards, using natural gestures. This allows for easy movement between messaging and email or searching the Web while listening to music, and items are rearranged simply by dragging them. Universal search also makes finding things easy, providing results from both the device and the Web.

Palm webOS brings together the user's most important information from their phone, at work or on the Web into one logical view. In addition to linking information from Google™, Facebook®, Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync® and LinkedIn®, Palm Pixi adds Yahoo!® integration to Palm Synergy™3. Palm Synergy offers:

Linked contacts – A single view that links contacts from a variety of sources, so accessing them is easier than ever.

Layered calendars – Calendars can be seen on their own or layered together in a single view, combining work, family, friends, sports teams or other interests, and the user can toggle to look at one calendar at a time, or see them all at a glance.

Combined messaging – See all the conversations with the same person in a chat-style view, including MMS, even if it started in IM and switched to reply with text messaging. The user can also see who's active in a buddy list right from contacts or email, and start a new conversation with just one touch.

A new Facebook application will be available with Palm Pixi, so users can see and comment on all the latest news from friends and easily update their status. Palm Pixi features an exposed full QWERTY keyboard, multi-touch screen and a durable, removable rubberized back cover.

While Palm Pixi comes with a charger included in the box, Palm recently introduced the Touchstone™ charging dock, the first inductive charging solution for phones. Touchstone, along with the Touchstone compatible back cover (both sold separately), allows Palm Pixi to be set on top of the dock without worrying about connection, orientation or fit. The device remains active while charging, allowing access to the touch screen, movies or video, or the speakerphone option. Touchstone is available in Sprint stores nationwide for $79.99 and includes a Touchstone charger and USB wall charger. The Pixi Touchstone back cover is also available for $19.99 (plus taxes).

Palm Pixi requires activation on a pricing plan including unlimited data, such as Sprint's Everything Data plans with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM, which give customers unlimited mobile calling on the Sprint network to and from any U.S. wireless carrier, unlimited nationwide texting, email, Web browsing and much more, starting at just $69.99. The Simply EverythingSM plan from Sprint offers a truly unlimited experience for only $99.99 per month, a savings of $1,200 over two years versus a comparable AT&T iPhone® plan4. (All price plans exclude surcharges and taxes. Other exclusions apply.)

Customers who subscribe to an Everything Data plan are also automatically enrolled in Sprint Premier, the industry-leading loyalty program. The Premier program provides customers with great benefits such as annual upgrades, discounts on accessories, anniversary rewards, rate plan checkups and "first to know" information about the latest at Sprint.

Palm Pixi will take advantage of the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network (inclusive of data roaming), which reaches more than 269 million people, 18,652 cities and 1,838 airports. The Sprint Networks (inclusive of data roaming) have more than twice the coverage of AT&T's current 3G network and more than 15 times the coverage of T-Mobile's current 3G network, both based on square miles5.

Sprint is also the only wireless carrier to offer Ready Now with trained retail associates to work one-on-one with customers to personalize their Palm Pixi, set up features and demonstrate how it works before the customer leaves the store. Customers have the choice of sitting down with a Sprint retail associate at the time of purchase or they can schedule an appointment for a later time at www.sprint.com/storelocator.

Application developers will have a chance to learn more about Palm webOS at Sprint's ninth annual developer conference beginning today in Santa Clara, Calif. The Sprint Open Developer Conference is open to all developers and will feature information through speaker sessions and coding camps on developing applications for a range of platforms, including webOS. Palm is a premier sponsor of the conference, and Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer, directors of Developer Relations for Palm, will be giving a keynote address in addition to running several breakout sessions and coding camps focusing on the webOS platform. For details, go to http://developer.sprint.com/devcon2009.

Customers who would like to register to receive additional information about Palm Pixi can register at www.palm.com/pixi.