Palm Pre, Pixi heading to Verizon by end of January

 

 

Verizon Wireless has just revealed that it will soon begin offering enhanced versions of the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi.The new Pre will offer more storage. The current version, available only from Sprint, has 8 GB of built-in storage, while the upcoming one will have 16 GB. In addition, the button in the gesture area has been removed.The Pixi Plus will include Wi-Fi. a feature not in the Sprint model that launched this fall.

Both of these smartphones are going to have a new feature: they will be able to function as Wi-Fi access points, sharing their 3G mobile broadband connections with up to five other devices, like laptops and handhelds.Aside from these changes, though, these two new models won't be significantly different from the ones already on the market. Verizon's CEO announced at the Consumer Electronics Show today that his company will launch the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus on January 25.Verizon releasing two webOS models is an important development for Palm. Previously, Sprint was the only U.S. carrier offering its latest smartphones, and soon there will be two.

And this will more than just double the availability of the Palm Pre and Pixi, as Verizon has significantly more customers than Sprint.The Palm Pre and Pixi uses Palm's webOS, the replacement for the venerable Palm OS. This is a multi-tasking operating system able to wirelessly synchronize a wide variety of data with online services like Google, Yahoo, and Facebook, as well as Microsoft Exchange.

The webOS includes an on-device app store, and a growing collection of third-party software is available.The Pre features a sliding keyboard as well as a multi-touch-capable touchscreen. This device is also equipped with Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, and a 3.0 megapixel camera with LED flash.

The Pixi can be thought of as the successor to Palm's popular Centro series. It has a tablet shape, with a 2.6-inch, 320-by-400-pixel, capacitive touchscreen. The Pixi is smaller, lighter, and less expensive than the Pre.

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