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Telefonica and Palm Inc. have announced an exclusive agreement to sell the Palm Pre phone in Spain, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany when the device is launched in Europe in time for Christmas this year. Service will be available in the U.K., Ireland, and Germany exclusively on the O2 network and in Spain exclusively on the Movistar network.

The Pre’s user interface and ergonomic hardware were designed to be user-friendly. For example, it can remain closed for phone calls, Web browsing, music, photos, and videos. Or, the keyboard can slide out for e-mail and text messaging. Also, the Pre is the first phone based on the new Palm webOS mobile platform.

Palm Synergy, part of the webOS, provides a single view that links contacts with a variety of sources. It recognizes contacts listed in Outlook, Google, and Facebook accounts as the same person and presents the information as one listing. Also, it displays conversations with the same person in the same chat-style view, even if starts in instant messaging and continues with text messaging.

The webOS can keep multiple activities open and let users move between them easily as if they were flipping through a deck of cards, according to Palm. Users rearrange and close items simply by dragging them and flicking them away off the top of the screen. Its notifications of new messages or other updates also are more diplomatic, Palm says, using a scrolling bar at the bottom of the screen.

The 3.1-in. HVGA touchscreen offers 24-bit color 320-by-480 resolution. The Pre also boasts a 3-Mpixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field. Its 8 Gbytes of internal memory includes 7 Gbytes that are available to the user. It offers a USB mass storage mode along with a MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed. And, its proximity sensor automatically disables the touchscreen and turns the display off when users put it up to their ear.