I made some judgement Tweets when I heard about the upcoming Palm Pre 2 because it looks a lot like the existing Pre Plus and I didn’t think it had enough updates to warrant consideration. If you read this blog, then you know I am a sucker for new phones and a long time Palm fan so when I saw the news today that GSM unlocked models could be purchased directly form HP for $449.99 I jumped on over and ordered one for myself.
There are a few differences between this model and the Pre Plus, most significantly being that it runs webOS 2.0 (see the PreCentral coverage for more on this update). It also has the following improvements:
5 megapixel camera
1 GHz processor
Glass display
Improved asthetics
This model will work with the 850/1900 bands for 3G, which means 3G for AT&T in the USA. I plan to still use it via EDGE with T-Mobile to start off with. I know it isn’t the greatest piece of hardware, but the OS is fantastic and I want a device to stay in touch with it, much like I do with the HTC HD7 and Windows Phone 7.
I understand that developers also can get a $200 coupon to help offset the cost of this model. A version should be coming to Verizon in early 2011, but if you are like me then you may not be able to wait either.
Matthew Miller started using a Pilot 1000 in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since.
Disclosure
Matthew Miller
Matthew is a professional naval architect by day and a mobile gadget freak at all other times. He purchases his own devices and then sells them on eBay or Craigslist to buy more. Many other devices are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the carrier or manufacturer. If any are provided as “long term loaner units” this will be clearly disclosed in his reviews.
Biography
Matthew Miller
Matthew Miller started using a mobile devices in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since. He is a co-host with GigaOM's Kevin Tofel on the MobileTechRoundup podcast and an author of three Wiley Companion series books. Matthew started using mobile devices with a US Robotics Pilot 1000 and has owned over 125 different devices running Palm, Linux, Symbian, Newton, BlackBerry, iOS, Android, webOS, Windows Mobile, and Windows Phone operating systems. His current collection includes an HTC Radar 4G, Dell Venue Pro, Apple iPad 2, HTC Flyer, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nokia N9, Apple iPhone 4S, MacBook Pro, and many more, along with tons of accessories and classic devices like the Apple Newton MessagePad 2100 and Sony CLIE UX50. Matthew can be found on various discussion forums under the user name of "palmsolo".
