The Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus made their official debut today with Verizon Wireless, the largest US mobile carrier. While there are relatively few new features in the Plus models, one particular application – exclusive to Verizon – stands out.
The Palm mobile hotspot, which will be available from the App Catalog when the handsets go on sale later this month, is a webOS app that enables the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus to operate as mobile Wi-Fi routers turning the handsets into MiFi-style instant Wi-Fi hotspots.
In my testing this new WiFi tethering feature was easy to set up and worked very well over Verizon’s 3G-enable EVDO Rev A network enabling me to wirelessly connect a laptop and an iPod Touch at the same time and achieve reasonable download speeds. You can tether up to five devices at a time using the mobile hotspot feature.
In terms of convenience, the WiFi tethering app compares well to a dedicated mobile broadband data card or a Novatel MiFi device. But it is not a cheap option. While this Wi-Fi tethering app is a free download, Verizon Wireless will charge an extra $40-a-month for the service with a 5Gb-a-month allowance on top of a minimum $40-a-month voice plan for the Pre and $30 for unlimited data.
That adds up to a minimum monthly cost of $110 compared to $60-a-month for mobile broadband access using a Novatel MiFi device – though you do of course get mobile voice and text with a Pre Plus or Pixi Plus. Verizon Wireless will charge $150 for the Pre Plus and $100 for the Pixi Plus with a two year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate.
Compared to the Pre, Palm has tweaked the design of the Pre Plus with a sleeker look and improved keyboard and now includes a Touchstone back cover so the Pre Plus is compatible out of the box with the wireless Touchstone charging dock. In addition Verizon Wireless customers get 16GB of built in storage capacity rather than the 8Gb available with the Pre. Meanwhile the main improvement to the Pixi is the addition of integrated Wi-Fi.
