Rogers will be getting the Palm Pre 2

[ToniCipriani]

From the Palm Canada website (http://www.palm.com/ca/products/phon...ndex.html#tab2) in the source code:

  <!--p>The Palm Pre2 phone is available on the Rodger's network.</p-->
  <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="details-table">
    <tbody><tr class="table-header">
        <th class="row-header"><h3 class="sifr-text">Carrier</h3></th>
        <th class="row-header"> <!--div class="carrier rodgers left"></div-->Coming soon</th>
      </tr>

      <tr>
        <td width="300" class="row-header b-border"><h3 class="sifr-text">Color</h3></td>
        <td width="320" class="b-border">Black</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td width="300" class="row-header b-border"><h3 class="sifr-text">Operating system</h3></td>
        <td width="320" class="b-border">HP webOS platform</td>

They did misspell "Rodgers" though...

[oddsocks]

This is brilliant news, if it turns out to actually come to fruition.

[koolin]

interesting, Rogers does have a history of having/getting the old HP iPaq's if I'm not mistaken, maybe old partners back together again. Seems both the exclusive carriers from before (Sprint and Bell) don't have much if any interest in the device, Palm tweeted if people want it on Sprint they should talk to Sprint, maybe a sign of the exclusivity of the past gen not working out so well for them, surprise surprise.

On the device very much a rehash, not the way to pull out of the tail spin they are in. For me to consider its going to have to be priced pretty low, like $300 - $350, no more MTM, I just don't see it happening though. I just couldn't justify spending more than 400 on a device that’s not very future proof with tiny screen and crap resolution.

[Mr Mystery]

Wow, just hit the link and had a gander for the first time. You aren't kidding when you say rehash. Bye bye Palm.

[Evil Ernie]

I think that the pre was/is a great device. Good to see Rogers giving it a chance. I wonder if bell will again... ?

[ToniCipriani]

Keep in mind that this device was in the pipeline before HP took over. Palm was on a tight budget and couldn't really do much. It did address most of the problems the original Pre had and WAS intended as just a refresh. There's a reason why this isn't announced at CES.

[koolin]

Its not really an excuse thats going to hold up though for me. Why I gods name were they working on another refresh? The Pre Plus was their refresh, they needed to move on, create a smartphone that sits on equal ground of the smartphones today. Sure stick with the same form factor if they want but to do what they have done is probably going to be suicide if they dont have a device waiting in the wings for launch NOT announce in the next 3 months. And that tablet also better be on the way. I so want to see webOS do well but who the hell is at the wheel seems to be wreaking any chance of that happening.

[ckl_88]

I've always been a fan of webos but haven't gotten the Bell pre because of the hardware problems. I was just checking out the Pre 2 specs at the palm.com website and it says it will be released on Verizon Wireless in the US. Isn't the Verizon network compatible with the Bell network as they are both CDMA?

[koolin]

The developer phone they are releasing is going to have North American 3G UMTS, and the FCC has seen both the CDMA and UMTS/GSM variants submitted for approval.

[ckl_88]

So the bell compatible phone will be slower than the UTMS version in terms of data speed?

[koolin]

The Bell current Pre is a CDMA/EVDO unit which is still 3G, but CDMA 3G is not as fast as UMTS/HSPA+ thats for sure. So yes the new Pre 2 on UMTS/GSM will have faster data speeds.

[canadian studen]

I saw this to and thought WTF? What a waste but the more I think about it I realize this is just to show that palm isn't dead yet, and that they have a lot more in the works coming soon. Like another poster said $400 is the max that I'll ever pay for this phone. Here's to hoping Rogers releases it a $49-$79 price range on contract.

[ckl_88]

To clear up my previous comment, I did some research and found that Bell, Telus, and Rogers operate on the same HSPA frequencies (850/1900) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Wireless. Hence, if the HSPA version of the Pre 2 is released on one of these carriers, it should work on the other 2.

Furthermore, the scenario is similar to the iphone 4 as there is only one version and it supports GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and HSPA 850/900/1900/2100. On the Bell/Telus network, it would be connecting only to the HSPA network whereas on Rogers, it could connect to both the GSM and HSPA networks.

[LickTheEnvelope]

Owning the original Pre I do enjoy webOS, the problem is in the hardware which is fairly cheap feeling and the phone itself is a little too small (especially for a QWERTY).

I hope they addressed battery life this time around too as the Pre is JUST above my old Moto Q for battery for "worst phone battery life" I know of.