Value-conscious geeks are snapping up the last available units of Palm’s Pre and Pixi smartphones at huge discounts as the company moves across to new owner, HP. And at these prices Palm’s smartphones really do look smart.
Take the flagship device, the Palm Pre Plus. Verizon Wireless is offering the 16GB, 3G-savvy touchscreen handset for just $29 with a two-year contract. Or, for the same price, you can get the Palm Pixi Plus, with Verizon offering a “buy one, get one free” deal for both models of phone.
Verizon no longer charges for its Palm Mobile Hotspot service on either phone, so you can tether up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the Pre Plus or the Pixi Plus at no additional cost (beyond bandwidth usage).
Another carrier, Sprint, is literally giving away the Palm Pix to anyone signing-up for a two-year contract. Beyond these two operators you’ll find extreme discounts across the third party mobile retailers.
At Amazon, for example, you can get your hands on a Palm Pre Plus on Verizon Wireless for one cent (when purchased with a new service plan). Or splash out and spend one cent for the Palm Pixi Plus (also on Verizon).
We know neither handset has achieved the kind of market success Palm had hoped for, but we also know that neither smartphone’s a dud, and at these prices may well make for a viable choice for some Techi readers.
these are great phones – I played with a Palm Pre for a while and really liked some of the features. If the iPhone didn’t exist, Palm would be rolling in green.