Official – O2 to get the Palm Pre in the UK

Palm have made an official announcement that the O2 network in the UK will be getting the Palm Pre. As well as O2 having the Pre exclusively in the UK, the network will also be launching the phone in Ireland and Germany. No pricing details have been revealed just yet though. As well as the UK, Ireland and Germany getting the Pre on the O2 network, it has also been confirmed that Spain will get the Pre on the Movistar network.

The phone has no official release data at the moment but is expected to be “before the holidays” when ever that means. Also there is no pricing availability just yet. GadgetLite have indicated that the Pre might cost £129 if the UK and others follow the US pricing strategy for the Pre although I’d expect the contract to be a little cheaper.

For those of you who haven’t heard of the Palm Pre (you must be asleep) then here are the specs of the phone…

Palm Pre Specs

* HSDPA/UMTS with EDGE/GSM
* Integrated GPS(5)
* Large 3.1-inch touch screen with a vibrant 24-bit color 320×480 resolution HVGA display
* Gesture area, which enables simple, intuitive gestures for navigation
* Slide-out keyboard (QWERTY in UK, Ireland and Spain, QWERTZ in Germany)
* Email, including support for corporate servers with Microsoft Exchange(2), as well as personal email support (POP3, IMAP)
* Robust messaging support (IM, SMS and MMS capabilities) (3)
* High-performance, desktop-class web browser
* Great multimedia experience and performance (pictures, video playback, music), featuring a 3-megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field, and a standard 3.5mm headset jack
* Bluetooth(R) 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
* 8GB internal memory (~7GB user available)(6)
* USB mass storage mode
* MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
* Proximity sensor, which automatically disables the touch screen and turns off the display whenever you put the phone up to your ear
* Light sensor, which dims the display if the ambient light is dark, such as at night or in a movie theater, to reduce power usage
* Accelerometer, which automatically orients web pages and photos to your perspective
* Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g(7)
* Ringer switch, which easily silences the device with one touch
* Removable, rechargeable battery
* Dimensions: 59.57mm (W) x 100.53mm (L, closed) x 16.95mm (D)
* Weight: ~135 grams