The third installment in the Palm Pre trilogy is now official. Introducing the HP Pre 3, the webOS smartphone that aims to deliver professional productivity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With a blistering fast processor and new high-resolution display, this could be the Pre the doctor ordered.
Let’s get right down to the nuts and bolts. The HP Pre 3 builds upon the original Palm Pre and Pre 2, but adds a new Snapdragon 1.4 GHz processor and 3.58 inch 480 x 800 resolution display. Beneath the razor sharp display is the familiar QWERTY keyboard. The gesture area, adjacent to the display, remains unchanged.
Inside the HP Pre 3 you’ll find either 8 or 16GB of storage. On the rear is a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, capable of 720p HD video recording. Up front, a fixed-focus VGA resolution camera has been added for live video calling.
With an eye for business, the Pre 3 offers a variety of email account support: EAS for Exchange servers, Gmail push, Yahoo!, POP3 and IMAP. Combined with robust messaging support for IM, SMS, MMS and you have all the fixing for a true business smartphone.
Other highlights of the HP Pre 3 include an assortment of sensors (proximity sensor, light sensor, accelerometer and compass), a removable and rechargeable 1,230 mAh battery, HP Touchstone compatibility (sold separately), and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.
In business, connections are key — the Pre 3 embodies this philosophy with WiFi 802.11 b/g/n support, A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and A2DP, and mobile hotspot capability (five devices). Both a CDMA and GSM version of the HP Pre 3 are expected to land later this year, as early as Summer 2011.
Overall the HP Pre 3 looks to be a well-round smartphone, that combined with enough worldwide carriers, could position webOS as a contender in the smartphone space. For now, we’re excited about the webOS, but until we have the Pre 3 in our hands at MWC 2011 next week, we’ll refrain from passing formal judgement. Until then, go ahead and sound off with your thoughts on the HP Pre 3.
Coming Summer 2011 | HP | TBD
