Verizon has clarified that they are not currently releasing webOS 1.4.5 to Pre Plus device owners, adding to the existing user frustration for Pre Plus owners on Verizon Wireless.

The last significant update, webOS 1.4.1, was issued over five months ago.

After some initial disagreements between the carriers on a botched marketing rollout, Verizon and Palm renewed their efforts and rolled out the groundbreaking 5 GB of free Mobile Hotspot, an offering that is still available and vastly superior to Verizon’s newer $20 for 2 GB pricing on Android devices.

However, today Verizon noted to PhoneNews.com that there is no public status available for webOS 1.4.5 on the Pre Plus. Only the Pixi Plus has been updated to webOS 1.4.5, despite indications to the contrary from Palm and Verizon previously.

While Pre Plus owners had access to a beta version of the Palm PDK, enabling native code applications and games, Pixi and Pixi Plus owners were forced to wait until webOS 1.4.5 to gain access to PDK apps. However, Pre Plus owners stuck at webOS 1.4.1.1 are starting to be burned. The Palm App Catalog is restricting Pre and Pre Plus owners who have not yet updated to 1.4.5; they cannot run newly-released PDK applications. Palm is adding a requirement of 1.4.5 to all new PDK apps.

This is not the only issue for which Palm owners on Verizon have been suffering from long-term. The GPS issues we’ve reported on in-depth previously persist, and Verizon media representatives have informed PhoneNews.com that they have absolutely no comment on those lingering issues, instead pointing us to Palm. Palm, in turn, points us back at Verizon, noting that this is a Verizon-carrier issue.

Part of the issue may be the lackluster sales that have both Palm and Verizon likely scratching their heads at how to support these devices. While there is likely little that Palm must do to adapt updates, Verizon’s priorities internally are likely pointed at higher-volume devices like their Droid line of phones.

Verizon Palm sales have been compared to KIN in the past by sources, and previous reports point to the Pre Plus being discontinued later this month. The Pixi Plus, however, is expected to continue as a free smartphone offering through the first quarter of next year.

On Wednesday, Google will be unveiling their “their latest technological innovation and an inside look at the evolution of Google search.”

PhoneNews.com has been invited to the event by the Mountain View company, and will be covering it live. The event will take place at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and will begin at 9:30 AM Pacific.

Novatel Wireless has announced an agreement with Comcast whereby the mobile broadband equipment manufacturer will sell the MiFi2200 and Ovation MC760 USB modem to the cable services provider under a master purchase agreement, as Comcast continues its rollout of its High Speed2Go service powered by Sprint’s network.

Pricing for the modems is dependent on market availability.

Not long after the revelation of details surrounding the forthcoming release of webOS 2.0, a few overexcited developers let a few details out that were meant to stay under wraps, as it has been discovered that the developer build of the webOS 2.0 SDK contains references to a fully featured virtual keyboard.

Such features are an increasingly important feature and hallmark of competitive smart devices as evidenced by the popularity of third-party virtual keyboard solutions such as Swype and the popularity of keyboard porting across Android builds and devices.

Because of the leak, Palm had closed access to the developer beta of the SDK and left many developers in the lurch as evidenced by the following tweets from the webOS Developer Twitter account:

Because of the leak, we are freezing new admissions to early access for the time being. If you’re in queue, you’re going to stay in queue.
for now, if you didn’t get access, you can thank the leaker for causing this delay in us getting you access. sorry about this, folks.

Many developers requesting access to the SDK are still queued for access.  As of the time of this report, Palm has once again re-opened access to the beta SDK with no further explanation for the change of heart.

Virgin Mobile has confirmed via Twitter that SMS messaging is experiencing issues at the present time with no timeframe to resolution as of yet. This follows spates of reports steadily coming in since early this afternoon of late message arrivals and message send failures across the country.

Update: Virgin Mobile has now confirmed on Twitter that the SMS issues have now progressed to a full service outage with customer care also experiencing availability issues.  There is still no immediate word on a timeframe for restoration of service at this time.
Update 2: As of early this morning, full service has been restored.
Update 3: Virgin Mobile has issued another update confirming further issues with no timeframe on resolution.

This morning during IFA 2010, Chinese manufacturer Huawei has announced its latest Android device in the Ideos, touting its development with the search giant.

In sharp contrast to the other major Android manufacturers, Huawei is launching the device with the complete Google Experience without any internally developed overlays, which normally delay major Android updates on other devices.

Technical specifications of the Ideos consist of a 2.8-inch QVGA resolution capacitive touch display and a 528MHz processor, 3.2-megapixel camera with video recorder, 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot.  Other specifications include HSDPA support, Wi-Fi N radio, GPS support, and Bluetooth. One other notable feature of the IDEOS is built-in hotspot functionality with support for up to eight devices, although the feature is carrier dependent.

Pricing for the Ideos is expected to fall between $175 with availability planned in European, Asia-Pacific, North American, and Latin American markets in the next few weeks.

Information has surfaced suggesting that Sprint will carry the CDMA version of the Samsung Tab Android 2.2 based tablet in November.  This follows yesterday’s announcement of the Tab during a press event at IFA 2010 in Germany.

The currently confirmed version of the Tab features a 1 GHz Cortex A8 processor, triband HSPA support, quad-band GSM, 7-inch capacitive 1024×600 resolution display with multitouch support, Android 2.2, Wi-Fi radio, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS support, DLNA media streaming, Flash 10.1, 3.0 megapixel main camera with flash, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, HD video playback at 1080p and microSD card slot with support for 32 GB cards.

Samsung has also confirmed that the Tab will be upgraded to Android 3.0 as well as confirming the codename for 3.5 in Honeycomb, which will be developed around tablets.

Verizon has announced a new slate of prepaid service plans with support for smart devices.  The following smart devices and feature phones are supported with a $30 unlimited data plan and a $10 25MB plan available along with standard voice plans.  The plans do require the purchase of a device at retail cost as well.

The plans are currently available in-store, with the option to purchase online beginning on September 28th.  The following phones/devices are supported with more to be added in the future

Smartphones

• BlackBerry® Curve™ 8330
• BlackBerry® Curve™ 8530
• BlackBerry® Storm™ 9530
• BlackBerry® Storm2™ 9550
• BlackBerry® Tour™ 9630
• BlackBerry® Bold™ 9650
• Palm® Pre™ Plus
• Palm Pixi™ Plus
• DROID by Motorola
• Motorola DEVOUR™
• DROID X by Motorola
• DROID 2 by Motorola
• DROID Eris™ by HTC
• DROID Incredible by HTC
• LG Ally™

Multimedia phones

• LG enV® TOUCH
• LG enV®3
• LG Chocolate® TOUCH
• LG VX8360
• Samsung Alias™ 2
• Samsung Renown™
• Nokia Twist™
• Casio® EXILIM

After months of waiting for official word, HTC and Verizon Wireless today confirmed to PhoneNews.com that the Droid Eris will not be updated to Android 2.2, code-named Froyo.

The Droid Eris launched the same day as the Motorola Droid, which was updated to Android 2.2. Verizon has since updated all other Droid devices to Android 2.2, leaving customers questioning if the company would also upgrade the Droid Eris. The Droid Eris’s generic counterpart, the HTC Hero, was not upgraded to Android 2.2 on Sprint and other carriers.

However, the GSM/UMTS variant of the Hero, the HTC Magic, will see an upgrade to Android 2.2. HTC and T-Mobile have confirmed that the myTouch 3G will be upgraded to Android 2.2 later this year.

T-Mobile has the highest consistency in updating their Android phones, of all carriers in the United States. The only device cut short by T-Mobile thus far has been the T-Mobile G1. Google engineers have inferred that the T-Mobile G1 could have been upgraded to Android 2.1. Sprint and Verizon have each cut short two devices (Hero and Moment on Sprint, Devour and Droid Eris on Verizon) from capable Android upgrades. Meanwhile, AT&T has only recently begun launching (neutered, hindered, anti-competitive) Android devices.

After months of waiting and following up on a previous report, Samsung has finally released the long-awaited update to Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard for the MetroPCS Samsung Code.  The update was previously only available via device exchange in the event of warranty/insurance claims.  The update features an update to the Wizpro overlay as well as the requisite improvements in device functionality present in Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard.  Instructions on how to apply the update are available here.