14 DAY TRIAL // When it comes to Palm and the various webOS distributions available on the market, one thing that was certain until now was that no device launched prior to Palm Pre 2 will taste the new webOS 2.0 flavor of the mobile operating system. However, it seems that things might actually be different, and that some of those handsets could still receive a software update to the newer platform release.
Apparently, Palm and O2 are already working on the release of this software for the carrier's customers in Germany, if the latest reports around the Internet are accurate.
An O2 Germany representative reportedly confirmed that the webOS 2.0 platform version would become available for Palm Pre Plus later this year.
No specific info on when would the OS upgrade become available for end-users emerged, but it seems that the move will not be made OTA (over the air).
Of course, we're not even sure that the software update will indeed be released for this device, especially since Jon Rubinstein confirmed officially that the company does not plan on making it available for older handsets.
For those out of the loop, we should note that the HP webOS 2.0 platform version was made available on Palm Pre 2, released in Europe during fall 2010 and in the US a few days ago on the airwaves of Verizon.
Since then, HP / Palm launched other flavors of the platform, webOS 2.2 and webOS 3.0, which would arrive on the market on Palm Pre 3 and HP's tablet PC, respectively.
Both the Pre 2 and the Pre 3 smartphones come with enhanced hardware specs, which enable them play nicely with the newer OS releases, but older handsets might not offer the same experience when coupled with webOS 2.0, HP said, and announced its intention to scrap any plans to update these devices.