A Europe with a Yahoo-free webOS isn't a Europe we'd ever want to live in -- it's just not right -- and happily we won't have to, because that shiny new version 1.3.1 that dropped in concert with the Pixi launch a few days ago is on the way to the Old World. Palm's official blog reports that customers on the Pre's official carriers in Ireland, Germany, Spain, and the UK can expect 1.3.1 "soon," and thanks to the magic of over-the-air firmware delivery, users should have little more to do than sit on their rears and wait for the goodness to come to them on a wireless silver platter. In fact, we've heard from one German tipster that the update is already available. Let us know how it treats you, won't you?

Apparently not pushed back until January, GeeksPhone's Android-imbued smartphone, the One, is launching in Spain this December, recently-added physical keyboard and all. So far, the limited edition run will not be crossing Spanish borders on its own, but we doubt that'll stop any interested parties on foreign land. Final price will be 285 euro (US $427), 22 of which is all you need to put down to reserve yours today.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

And it's out. The BlackBerry Storm2 just made its first official carrier appearance with Vodafone. The promising followup to the much maligned BlackBerry Storm will be free on pay-monthly contracts from £35 on up. Specs include a 3.25-inch 360 x 480 pixel capacitive SurePress (new and improved) touchscreen display, 802.11b/g WiFi and 2100MHz UMTS/HSPA data, 256MB of flash memory (double that of the original Storm), 2GB of onboard memory with microSDHC expansion, 3.5-mm standard headset jack, 3.2 megapixel camera with video recording, built-in GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, and 1400mAh battery giving about 6 hours of 3G talk. BlackBerry OS 5 too, of course, when it lands on October 15th in the UK, Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands, and Spain -- France, Italy, and South Africa in time for Christmas.

Update: Now on official RIM page too with a detailed comparison against the original Storm.
[Thanks, James]

Read -- Press Release
Read -- Pre-order

The European operators are really liking mid-October for their Pre launches, and that trend continues now that Spain's Telefonica has unveiled an October 14 availability date for Spain's very first webOS device. The phone's being offered on plans that will bring the cost of the handset itself down to anywhere between €0 and €219 (about $322) -- and if you're wondering exactly what you have to do to get it for absolutely free, well, you'll be shelling out €60 or more a month in voice plus €15 in data. You'll be able to pick it up both online and in your friendly local Telefonica shop, so it'll be interesting to see if any lines start forming -- just how many Palm fanatics are their in Spain, anyway?

Remember the Spanish-borne Android device GeeksPhone One? It was late June when we got our first (and so far only) look at the phone. Of course we've been wanting some more time, but apparently Xataka's beaten us to the punch, and lo and behold, she's gotten herself a shiny new physical keyboard. The site stresses that the user interface isn't done and the icons temporary, but does note that the keyboard is comfortable and the total weight and size is apparently comparable to the HTC Dream / Ion / MyTouch 3G. Additionally, our compadres at Engadget Spanish have read that One's release been pushed back from fall until sometime in January. We'll certainly be keeping an eye out, but given the bevy of Android options on the horizon, we can't promise we'll be waiting.

Read - One in the wild
Read - One delayed until January

Streaming and subscription music services are a dime a dozen on iPhone, and they seem to get past Apple's app store approval hurdles with relative ease. But Spotify was one whose fate wasn't so clear cut, given its offline playlist function -- which as the name suggests downloads songs ahead of time for you to listen to when there's no WiFi or phone service to stream from -- could very easily fall into the category of "duplication of core iPhone functionality" and get deep-sixed at the drop of a hat. Turns out that's not the case here, as an Apple spokesperson has told paidContent UK that the app's been given the metaphorical stamp of approval and would be hitting the store "very soon." A premium subscription will run about £9.99 ($16.20) per month, with an option to pay annually coming at a later date. Of course, there's a catch, as Spotify's service is only available in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK, France and Spain for now. The company expects to invade America sometime later this year, but that means another round of app store approvals -- and with Apple's track record on consistency, there's no telling how that'll turn out.

It's official, Palm just kicked out a press release saying that the UK, Ireland, and Germany will have access to the Palm Pre exclusively on O2 while Spain's Pre will be offered exclusively on Movistar -- so it's all Telefonica, all the time. Unfortunately, launch timing was only narrowed down to "in time for the holidays" which is just another way of repeating Palm's European-launch mantra of before the end of the year. Palm also doesn't provide any prices and chose not to list the radio frequencies for the HSDPA/UMTS with EDGE/GSM version of the Pre. See the 1,260 word press release posted after the break that says almost nothing.

Update: Seems as if O2 Germany has word that it'll be launching the GSM Pre in October.

Update 2: Hmm, seems as if O2 Germany has swapped out banners to show "Fall" availability. Make up your mind, won't you?

There it is, the first official press shot (see that HSDPA icon?) of the GSM version of the Palm Pre. The "more information" link isn't working at the moment but it's clear that Movistar has exclusive rights to the Pre in Spain. Of course, Movistar, like O2 in the UK, is owned by Telefonica which so far seems to have clinched exclusivity throughout Europe. We're still waiting for all this to get officially official sometime this week, if not today.

[Thanks, Enzo]

It looks exactly like a Samsung Omnia, but don't be fooled -- what you're actually looking at here is Spain's first go at producing an Android handset (which is especially ironic considering we just reported on the andromnia project). Our colleagues from Engadget Spanish were live in Barcelona today for the grand unveiling of the GeeksPhone One, a Cupcake-powered phone featuring a 625MHz PXA310 core, quadband EDGE plus HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth, AGPS, 3.2 megapixel primary camera plus a front-facing cam for video calling, and microSD expansion -- sounds great, but the package is marred a bit by the fact that it's rolling with a resistive 3.2-inch touchscreen. Hard to complain with the price, though -- GeeksPhone expects to sell the set for somewhere between €250 and €300 (about $352 to $422) unlocked when it launches this fall.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

If you're in... say, Spain, we can understand how you might perceive Japan as being a bit far to go just to put your hands on Toshiba's T-01A Snapdragon powerhouse. Then again, it is the first Snapdragon handset to hit the market -- and it's an absolutely stunning-looking phone -- so we certainly wouldn't blame you for packing your belongings, children, and pets into wooden crates, shipping them via freighter, and hopping the next flight to Tokyo. The good news, though, is that you won't have to: Movistar has now launched the phone locally in its global TG01 flavor, offering 7.2Mbps down, 2Mbps up, a flippin' 4.1-inch wide VGA display, and very likely the snappiest Windows Mobile experience you've ever had. The best part is that you can get it for free depending on your contract and plan pricing, so seriously, what's holding you (other than the fact that you might not be in Spain)?

It didn't take a keen eye to realize that NTT DoCoMo's recently-announced T-01A from Toshiba was little more than a TG01 rebrand, and it turns out the relationship between the two devices is even stronger than we'd already guessed. DoCoMo just issued a press release today touting the fact that it has hooked up with Spain's Telefonica to jointly launch the phone in both companies' markets -- and furthermore, they're exploring ways to expand their cooperation in the future, including (but not limited to) "a joint study of possible services and applications for open OS handsets." Japanese carriers have a rich history of partnering with their international counterparts -- DoCoMo's investment in AT&T's Hawaiian network, for example -- but unfortunately, very rarely does the partnership result in getting Japanese domestic market hardware launched elsewhere, which is a tragedy as far as we're concerned.

Our dear colleagues over at Engadget Spanish have learned that the cream of the Nseries crop -- the N97 -- will be available for pre-order on Nokia Spain's site starting next Monday, May 4. Of course, there's a world of difference between a pre-order and actually having a device sitting in your paws, and it sounds like retail units will be delivered at some point in June. We'll take two, Nokia Spain -- giftwrapped and overnighted to the States, please. Thanks!

In a surprise announcement, Vodafone Spain is set to launch Magic, HTC's 2nd Android handset, in just a few hours. The countdown timer appeared early this morning with local sales set to begin at 1700 hours. That gives Vodafone Spain subscribers an 8 day head start on the rest of the world -- an eternity for Android nerds. Unfortunately, while it's free with applicable contract on Vodafone UK, it's gonna cost you in Spain -- rates our Spanish friends describe as "outrageous." Let's see if our Canadian friends agree.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Carriers and Palm have been absolutely silent on the matter, but let's be honest: there's very likely been one of the most heated, no-holds-barred wars over the past few months to score European exclusivity on the Pre since the Storm and the iPhone -- and with launches broadly expected by mid-year, time is running out to secure a deal. Spanish media is reporting that Telefonica has now locked up that deal, not just for Spain and the UK (where it operates as O2) but for Latin America as well under the Movistar brand. If true, that'd be a nice, big "screw you" to archrival Vodafone, which has the mighty Storm / Magic two-pack under its belt. Even more interesting, though, is the fact that most of Latin America operates 3G on the 850 and 1900MHz bands -- the very same used in the US and Canada -- which means that our assumptions that the Pre would be 2100-only may have been wrong all along. Awesomely wrong. We wouldn't get our hopes up that the Pre will be a walk in the park to unlock and use on AT&T or Rogers just yet, but it's a glimmer of hope that we'll gladly take.

[Via Palm Infocenter]

This appears to have roughly the same guts as the G1 we already know and love, but Telefonica's version of the first Android handset -- like Optus' -- will get a name change to Dream. This one will also look just a little bit different, getting a more sculpted chin, but we don't believe this to be a totally unique device -- you can see the original model's design DNA shining through above the beltline. It'll be available for between €0 and €199 depending on your current subscriber status and the plan you choose, though we don't have a release date just yet.

[Via Engadget Spanish]