CES 2010: Palm unveils new Pre and Pixi handsets

The Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi Plus go on sale in the United States later this month, but Palm has not said whether the handsets – successors to the critically acclaimed Pre, which was launched last autumn – will be available in the UK.

The touch-screen Pre Plus has double the 8GB memory of the original Pre, a more streamlined design, and has a new backplate which allows users to wirelessly charge the device on the Touchstone inductive pad without needing to swap the phone's cover. And the Pixi Plus, which features a Qwerty keyboard, similar to a BlackBerry, now supports web browsing over Wi-Fi.

Users of the phones can also download an app to the handsets which create a mini wireless network using the 3G phone network that can be shared with up to five other Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Improvements to the webOS software means that Pre Plus and Pixi Plus users will find it easier to record, edit and share videos by email or text message, or through sites such as Facebook and YouTube.