Via their community forums, Acecca has posted some new details and information about the world's only "new" Palm OS Garnet handheld, the PDA32. First off, the previously unofficial revised pricing information has been confirmed:


PDA32 base price  		        $179.00 
IRDA (high power transmit)         +$10 
Stereo audio capability               +$10
Bluetooth Class 1 (100 meters)   +$10
802.11 b/g Wi-Fi                          +$20

Responding to some user inquiries, Aceeca stated that they have no plans for additional models that are smaller and/or lighter-weight and not ruggedized. Responding to the concerns of many, there WILL be a 64-bit compatible USB driver for the PDA32. No additional info is provided, other than that Access does not have this solution in place at this time but they will keep users updated on their progress.

In what is already quite a long-winded saga, the wait for the first official WebOS products from the combined HP-Palm may not be coming until 2011, according to the latest round of reputable reports. A Reuters report this morning cited HP Senior Vice President Eric Cador and reported that no new WebOS phones would appear until "early 2011"..."You will see us coming early next year with new phones". Though light on additional details, this report appears to be the most credible sign yet that HP is biding their time and will ride out the remainder of 2010 with the current line of legacy Palm devices. 2011 will likely bring a three-pronged WebOS attack from HP with the apparent "PalmPad" tablet and a refreshed smartphone line, with WebOS-based printers also likely in tow. Presumably, Palm and HP will cede the 2010 holiday market to Apple and Google and use CES 2011 (coincidentally the two-year anniversary of the original WebOS and Pre announcement) to announce their next-generation products

Additionally, a CRN article published yesterday suggests that HP is leveraging its numerous channel partners to support a WebOS-based tablet in early 2011. The CRN piece also discusses HP's tablet aspirations in varied fields such as healthcare in addition to the usual enterprise and consumer sectors. The piece specifically mentions one HP solution provider being "pleased" with his preliminary hands-on time with a WebOS tablet.

In a move that is surprisingly only because it has taken such a relatively long time to come, all Palm-branded handsets in HP's Wireless Central store are now "free" with the usual 2 year contractual discounts. Whether the Pixi, Pixi Plus, Pre, or Pre Plus, all WebOS on all carriers have finally reached pricing parity. In addition, HP is including $50 worth of free apps via a Palm App Store gift card with any smartphone purchase.

Ironically, HP's final Windows Mobile-powered smartphone, the blink-and-you-missed-it iPaq Glisten, while still in stock, has essentially been phased out of the Wireless Central storefront, paving the way for a fully WebOS smartphone future for HP.

Speaking yesterday at an unspecified industry conference in Barcelona, HP Senior Vice President Eric Cador told attendees in so many words not to expect a new Palm webOS device this year. The exact quote being relayed by Reuters is:

"You will see us coming early next year with new phones."

The remarks from the top would seem to put a big damper on the latest crop of rumors surrounding possible new Palm devices materializing before the end of 2010.

Exactly one month since their last update, Access Co. has released yet another new version of their Graffiti app for Android devices. Now bearing version number 2.0.4, neither Access' website nor the Android Market change log for the Graffiti app lists any major details about the new version's improvements. More than likely, this is just another bugfix release for the wide number of variety of devices recently receiving updates to Android 2.2 (aka "Froyo").

A quick test run on a Motorola Droid X running 2.2 revealed no major changes to the app, though each new revision seemingly improves the performance of the character entry (especially for punctuation) and word prediction. Graffiti strokes are now instantaneous and display no lag whatsoever--kudos to Access for diligently working to make continued improvements to this great tool for longtime Palm OS fans!

The free 4.05Mb app can be downloaded from the Android Market for all devices running Android 1.6 or newer with full Market access. Access' informative Graffiti page can be found here.

HP's Rahul Sood has become something of a WebOS + "cool stuff" evangelist as of late, vocally and enthusiastically promoting the pending fruits from the collaborative efforts between HP and Palm. In his latest personal blog post, "This is not a test...", he clarifies the skewed speculation regarding some of his recent palm hyping Tweets and, most interestingly, reveals a few possible tidbits about the time line we are facing for new WebOS-powered hardware.

In short, Mr. Sood promises a variety of new hardware and form-factors over the next twelve months, some coming sooner than others. He asserts that HP & Palm's window of opportunity has not closed and they can easily retake lost ground with enough quality product and innovations. He states that even the WebOS defectors, many likely jumping ship to Android and iOS after the one-year release of the original Sprint Pre, "…will be back once they see the breadth of product coming out of HP in the future."

Dmitry Grinberg, famous for his still-on-life-support-as-of-June DGOS Palm OS-compatible OS rewrite, has now managed the substantial task of getting Android installed and semi-functional on Palm OS hardware. Dmitry posted a picture of the Palm Tungsten C, a device originally released in March of 2003, running Android 2.1 on his blog. There appears to be some graphical issues onscreen, likely due to the compression necessary to accommodate the T|C's 320x320 screen, but the results appear more encouraging than the Treo 650 we reported on last year.

The project is a dual-boot SD card-based project for any PXA-based Palm OS device, as most Palm devices would not have enough flash memory (if at all) available to store Android. The SD card containing the OS must remain in the device while the OS is running, so any serious multimedia efforts would be hampered due to the lack of external storage. In a followup post, Dmitry does state that he is attempting "full Android with proper optimizations, in hopes of better performance".

Fast Company has published an interesting new editorial entitled "Will WebOS 2.0 Get Palm Back n Track?". Written by Dan Nosowitz, the piece takes an overall positive stance regarding the capabilities and multitasking prowess of WebOS yet contends that HP/Palm face an uphill battle regarding the future of WebOS 2.0 and the company still needs "knockout" announcements instead of a evolutionary improvements revealed so far such as Stacks and expanded Universal Search.

Peter Skillman, one of the now-departed team of WebOS architects as well as the designer of the Pre has joined Nokia. After leaving Palm last month, Mr. Skillman will presumably aid Nokia in an attempt to consolidate their scattered mobile lineup around the Linux-based Meego OS. [via Engadget]

Arriving in a very timely fashion after last week's promise of "soon", the long-awaited WebOS 1.4.5 updates are rolling out as of today for both Verizon and AT&T Pre Plus handsets. The official word originally came from Verizon Wireless Support via Twitter.

The full 1.4.5. rollout is complete on all Sprint WebOS handsets and the Verizon Pixi Plus, and currently underway on the AT&T and Verizon Pre Pluses. Only AT&T's Pixi Plus, the newest release in the WebOS family, remains out in the cold with 1.4.3 and no PDK app access as of this writing.

The Palm release notes for this update can be found here with Verizon's more detailed overview here as a PDF.

Sprint has finally lowered its official asking price for Palm's webOS lineup. Effective today, the original Sprint Palm Pre drops to $49 and the Pixi is free after the usual rebates and contract discounts.

These price adjustments come many months after other US carriers have lowered their comparatively better equipped Plus models to free.

In related news, Sprint's web store is still offering the Palm Centro, also for free after a new plan and a web special rebate. A red refurbished model appears to be one of the last carrier supported Palm OS Garnet models available domestically.