With all the hype that surrounded the June release of the Palm Pre, the idea of further phones using the webOS system was widely disregarded. Many assumed the the success of the Pre would dictate the release of any further phones, and the Palm’s very existence was reliant on the flagship webOS handset being a smash. The small rumor of another phone name ‘Eos’ or ‘Pixie’ seemed little more than a figment of an over zealous fan wanting to contribute to the growing hysteria that surrounded Palm’s re-boot as a company.

However today’s announcement proves that there has always been a plan to release two webOS phones this year (and that Palm do a pretty good job of keeping things under wraps), independent of the Pre’s success, and that Palm are targeting particular customers with each phone, that webOS will be no one trick pony, and that Palm is planning for the long run.

So the Pixi was announced today, to less hype than the much anticipated Pre, but to seemingly positive reviews that suggest the phone will more than hold it’s own when release on Sprint, sometime before the holiday period. However looking at the phone one might ask whether, while the Pre was meant to be the impact phone, the Centro-like Pixi, might be the phone Palm expects to change people’s perceptions of the company, and move users over to their handsets.

Speaking from a personal point of view, while i own a lovely Palm Pre, that makes me very happy, i have issues with the aesthetics and practicalities of the form factor. I realised the Pre would be first generation hardware and software, and was willing to accept the possibility of better looking and functioning phones in the future. However now that i have seen the fully functioning Pixi, there is a pang of jealousy that will accompany its release into the world.

Yes, i will be happy that i can use my WIFI connection etc, but does that make a huge difference anyway. And the small screen on the Pixi might inhibit me a little but more than the screen on a Blackberry which i find perfectly able. Hells no. What the Pixi offers is sexy, slick, slim form factor, built for use on the move. And with the ever developing webOS, the Pixi offers a phone that will be at the forefront of people’s minds when they are looking for the middle ground between the bidniss styles of the Blackberry, the user-friendliness of the iPhone, and the app development available on Android phones.

This has all been said before for the Palm Pre, however, there is a certain trickiness to using the Pre because of the way it is built which is think has been keeping people away from switching away from their iPhones and Blackberrys. The Pixi offers that middle ground that Palm always spoke of trying to obtain and for this reason i can see the Pixi being the breakaway phone. While it won’t be the phone that everyone is writing about, it will be the phone that, when seen by the average consumer, will be the one they pick.

Coming in the shadows of the announcement of the Palm Pixi, Palm also announced that the price of the Palm Pre has now been dropped to $150 dollars with contract.

So if you’ve been waiting for a cheaper version, or just haven’t been that impressed with the 3GS, now is your chance to grab yourself a great phone at a great price.

Price available after $150 instant and $100 mail-in rebate.

Click HERE to buy the Palm Pre from Amazon.com

Hot off the presses… and by presses, I mean Sprint Press Releases…

Within hours of offering Palm^® Pre™ – the most widely anticipated electronic device of the year – eager customers delivered the result: a record Sprint (NYSE:S) sales debut.

By late Sunday, Palm Pre had broken previous sales records (first day and first weekend) for a Sprint device.

“Sprint is a very different company than it was 12 months ago,” said Dan Hesse, president and chief executive officer. “Palm Pre is the coming out party for the new Sprint. It is the perfect device that highlights all of the positive changes in our company, including our revolutionary Ready Now retail store experience, greatly improved customer care, unmatched value pricing plans and America’s most dependable 3G network.”

The anticipation of getting a device found many customers waiting in line at Sprint retail stores Saturday morning. One person in line – on his wedding day – was Theodore Travis.

On Saturday at 7 a.m., Theodore was 14^th in line at an Atlanta-area Sprint store, fidgeting for his new Pre. His wedding was scheduled for 8 a.m. As much as Theodore wanted Pre, he wanted his bride, Anita, to see him at the altar at the appointed time. At 7:45, he abandoned his wait and left his line-number and credit card information with a Sprint store employee, asking that he “hold the 14^th phone for me.” The Sprint store employee obliged. Minutes after the recessional, the newlyweds returned to pick up their phone, spending the first minutes of married life with a Ready Now consultant who walked the happy couple through Pre’s setup and features. The new Mrs. Travis later revealed that her reaction was “You did what?” to her husband spending the hour before their wedding waiting for a phone, but later admitted, “I guess I kind of understand now.”

The Pre launch was a great example of the changes that have taken place at Sprint, showcased by customers delighted with both the product and their experience.

With the strong customer response to the launch of Pre, as expected, Sprint has sold out in many locations. Sprint is getting the device in to its retail locations as fast as Palm can make them.

Want to read the whole thing for yourself? You can find it here.

Honestly, I can’t complain about my Pre much. Are there little tiny things that could stand to be tweaked or improved? Absolutely, but none of them are deal breakers for me and that seems to be the consensus but there because I’ve yet to hear from fellow Pre owners regretting their purchase. All in all, I’m very satisfied.

I couldn’t have been more satisfied with my buying experience either. I was invited to a Palm Pre Launch even on June 5th so my best friend and I were there at 6pm sharp to get our hands on the Pre. We had to wait for a few minutes for a Sprint sales rep to be available but while we waited, one of the two men from Palm at the party sat down by us and started demoing the Pre to us on his own personal Pre. As if I wasn’t excited enough!

I have to say the entire experience was great. Everyone from Sprint and Palm were incredibly helpful and attentive but perhaps the best bit of news to come from the party and our interaction with them was the Palm seems to be aware of the minor limitations we have all come across, like not being able to change your alert tone for text messages and IMs. The guys from Palm assured me they are aware of all those little things we’d want improved and they are working on it and thanks to the Pre’s over the air update mechanism, it’ll be incredibly easy to implement the changes.

Sprint just sent out this email to their customers, at least the ones signed up to receive emails from Sprint. It’s just a courteous reminder that the Pre arrives tomorrow and that… you should all go buy it immediately! As the email states, Sprint stores will open early, at 8am, tomorrow so hurry because I’m sure, in this case especially, the early bird catches the worm.

There has been a lot of discussion being thrown around as to whether or not Sprint Premier customers invited to these Launch Parties will indeed be able to purchase a Pre tonight before its official launch tomorrow. The invitation states a big fat yes but that didn’t stop other from calling, emailing, and harassing Sprint about it and some claim they’ve heard back that no, we won’t be able to purchase the Pre early. I can’t put everyone’s mind at ease about this entirely but I can share my own experience.

Because of all this waffling back and forth of people saying they’ve heard yes and some saying they’ve heard no, I decided to go right to the horse’s mouth. I called up the store hosting the Pre Launch Party in my area tonight . Here’s how the conversation went:

Me: Good morning. I’m a Sprint Premier customer and was invited to the Pre launch event at your store tonight and had a couple of questions. Do you mind if I ask?

Sprint: Not at all.

Me: What time does the even begin?

Sprint: 6pm.

Me: And all I need to bring is my RSVP confirmation, correct?

Sprint: That’s correct.

Me: I’ve heard conflicting reports, some saying the Pre will be sold tonight and some not… what’s the truth?

Sprint: I don’t know where the “nots” are coming from but I can tell you that you will be able to purchase your Pre tonight at our store.

Me: Thank you so much for your time.

There you have it. Does that make you guys going to this party feel any better? I hope so.

With the highly anticipated release of the Pre just a mere hours away, I just couldn’t resist getting to know where your heads are at about getting a Pre. Apparently, the folks over at CNET share the same curiosity which is why you will find a poll currently open on their “Crave” blog about whether or not consumers plan on getting the Pre.

As it stands right now (after 3043 votes), when asked the question, “Now that the reviews are out and they’ve been largely favorable, are you going to get a Palm Pre?” the results are:

If you have some time, head on over there and add your two cents to the pot.

I can’t remember the last time I had a phone that welcomed me with a video… and maybe that’s because I don’t think I have had one do it at all. Well, enter the Pre… the new love of my life. (I’d like to apologize to my significant other but it’s the truth. Love hurts, boo.) My Macs have always welcomed me with a nice multi-lingual video intro and now the Palm re promises to do the same (minus the multi-lingual bit). Leaked today onto the interwebs… or the webernets… is the introduction/activation video you will be greeted with when you grab your new Pre. Enjoy!

File this under rumors and speculation, people… got that? Okay, now we can move on.

Our source at Sprint has informed us that there are some minor rumblings going around that the company might do away with the mail-in rebate for the Pre in favor of an instant rebate. As you might have guessed, this is in part due to retail pressure from outlets like Best Buy Mobile and RadioShack which offer the instant rebate on phones. Sprint is hoping that by matching the others’ price and having (potentially) higher stock of the Pre than the competition, customers will choose to purchase at Sprint stores instead. What difference does it make? Plenty, because apparently Sprint makes a nice profit on the sale of accessories… and with all those customers there grabbing a Pre… their accessories sales are bound to skyrocket too.

Like I said, as of yet, nothing is set in stone but here’s to hoping…

Update: If you visit Palm.com it now says under the Palm Pre “after rebate and service agreement” and where it used to say “after mail in rebate and service agreement.” Hmmmmmmmmmm

PreCentral are refuting this report, even though we clearly stated it was a rumor. We’ll see on the day how it pans out. Our source is reliable, but like we said it’s a rumor.

Palm are showing off the power of the built-in camera that comes on the Palm Pre. They linked via their Twitter account to this yfrog page where you can clearly see that the camera used was labelled as the the Palm Pre. For all intents and purposes the 3 megapixel sensor looks as if it’s gonna hold up pretty well.