14 DAY TRIAL // Sunnyvale-based mobile phone maker Palm has just expanded the availability of its webOS-based Palm Pre and Palm Pixi mobile phones beyond the carrier availability that we all know already. Following the recently availability of Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus with wireless operator Verizon, the company has just made the both flavors of the two handsets available for purchase via its website free of contract.
Those interested in purchasing the original models of Palm Pre and Palm Pixi, which are now available for purchase from Sprint, will be able to get them from Palm free of contract for $549 and $399, respectively. As for the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus models currently available with a Verizon Wireless contract, they are available free of commitment for $599 and $399, respectively.
The downside of the new deal options available from Palm is that the CDMA handsets seem to be still locked to the carrier's network, even if no service agreement is included in the equation. However, the phones still seem like a nice option for customers, and especially for developers, who need not stick to the service agreement that would otherwise be needed.
Here's what a recent post on PalmInfocenter notes on the matter: “Developers and users not interested in a CDMA contract commitment can utilize various third party developer tools to customize and bypass the usual activation processes. webOS Internals has a program called MetaDoctor which does just that. The program provides a means to bypass the 'First Use' application and allows a webOS phone to function without having been activated on a cellular network.”
One more aspect that should be mentioned is that Palm also offers users the possibility to purchase the Palm Pre and Pixi, Puls models included, from various retailers around the country, including Best Buy, Amazon.com or Walmart, depending on which phone or which model one wants to purchase. More details can be found on Palm's website here.