Let us start with the most impressive thing about this smartphone, its processor, the Palm Pre 3 features a Qualcomm MSM 8X55 which has a clock speed of 1.4GHz, this is far faster than the high-end Android smartphones we have seen recently, currently quite a few Motorola, Samsung and HTC models feature 1.0Ghz chips, which is 400MHz slower than the Pre 3′s.

The rest of the specs are also impressive, you get a 3.58-inch touchscreen display which offers a resolution of 480 x 800, it also supports mutli-touch gestures and outputs 24-bit color, there is also a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus an LED flash and 720p HD video capture, a VGA front-facing camera, WiFi b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, WiFi hotspot functionality, 512MB of RAM, either 8GB or 16GB of internal storage and a 1230 mAh battery.

Less interesting specs include a 3.5mm headset port, HP Touchstone7 functionality and a range of sensors including proximity, compass, ambient light and accelerometer, finally the dual-mic offers noise cancellation, you can see the full-list of official specs here.

Soon we will post more details about this impressive sounding smartphone, hopefully with some pricing, carrier and release date info, I wonder how webOS will perform with a 1.4GHz processor…

Will the HP Palm Pre 3 make an impact on the high-end smartphone market?

As reported from Engadget, the news has surfaced from Pocket-Lint who has it on good authority that the Palm Pre 2 will be available to buy in the UK on November 12th – this coming Friday.

Furthermore, we’re also hearing that the Pre 2 won’t be tied down to a specific carrier, as it will be available to buy SIM-free – interesting as we thought O2 would be the guys who would offer this exclusively.

No sign of a release for US consumers though, as Palm has stated that it is still ‘coming soon’, according to Engadget. Let us know your thoughts on this. Don’t forget about Palm’s mysterious new devices that are rumored to be on the way.

Anyone getting a Pre 2?

We previously told you that 5 new Palm devices including the Pre 2 were on the way, but now BGR has acquired some additional information via Engadget about these devices.

If their report is to be believed, the codenames of the four other devices have been located inside webOS 2.0 and the device codenames are the Broadway, Windsor, Roadrunner and the Stingray.

Interestingly, there was also the following line of code which accompanied these names: “temporarily not restoring logs for newer devices.” So far, Palm has remained quiet about their unnamed devices, but we have a feeling one or two will leak out in the coming weeks.

What are your thoughts on these devices? Have you heard these codenames before or not?

OK, so we know that it is not a release date, but it is as good as. According to Dieter Bohn from Pre Central, the news was put up on HP’s Facebook page for students – so we know that this date is for real then?

Looking at that Facebook page we can see that there is also a Plus version; Bohn is not certain if this is a typo or if it relates to the Verizon version of the new handset? Then again, this could be the unlocked GSM model?

How do you think the Palm Pre 2 will perform in a market that is dominated by the iPhone and Android? Palm has already gone up against Apple and lost, and now that Android has become a much larger beast things do not look good – especially when you consider the specs in the Pre 2.

The new logo can be seen in the thumbnail for this post, the fact that it has been revealed after the official Palm Pre 2 and HP Slate 500 unveilings suggests that they may soon release a device with the new branding.

My best guess is that HP Palm will release an iPad rival which features HP expertise in build quality and computer hardware combined with Palm’s webOS mobile operating system.

Obviously this is simply speculation and nothing has been confirmed, however I think the time is right from a HP Palm tablet, especially as the BlackBerry Playbook and Acer tablets are coming out soon.

Do you like the new HP Palm logo?

Let’s start with the dimensions and weight, according to HP Palm the Pre 2 measures in at 59.6mm x 100.7mm x 16.9mm and weighs just 145 grams, this makes it 0.1mm wider, 0.2mm longer and 00.5mm thicker than the original Pre, it is also 10 grams heavier.

Design is very similar too, considering it is bigger than its predecessor in every way the difference is barely noticeable, below we have embedded a photo of the Palm Pre 2 side-by side with the original Palm Pre, many do not think enough has changed, what do you think?

If you would like to see more official press photos of the Palm Pre 2 check out this link.

The Pre 2 features a 3.1-inch multitouch screen display and supports a resolution of 320 x 480, it also features a physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 16GB of storage, WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, 3.5mm headphone jack, a microUSB port and mobile WiFi hotspot functionality for up to 5 connections.

The Pre 2 has a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash, this camera supports video capture, geotagging and extended depth of field. There are a range of sensors which include an accelerometer, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor, there is also built-in GPS.

In terms of features it runs HP’s webOS platform, as you would expect it supports Microsoft Exchange email, POP3/IMAP email accounts, Direct Push support, you can find out more about the features here.

There is support for plenty of audio and video codecs, these include MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR, QCELP and WAV. As for video codecs it supports MPEG-4, H.263, H.264.

If you would like to see the official spec breakdown check out the official Palm Pre 2 web page (below), I can’t help but think that the specs are a little disappointing, do you agree?

Source: Palm

The Palm Pre 2 has now been officially announced along with WebOS 2.0. Verizon Wireless and an unnamed Canadian carrier will be getting the Pre 2 in the coming months, however SFR will begin offering this handset on Friday.

Later on today we will give you a run-down of the specs and show you a few photos of what HP / Palm have come up with, hopefully we will also get an idea of pricing pretty soon to.

As we hear of a solid Verizon Wireless release date we will keep you posted, which Canadian carrier do you think it will be coming to?

Source: Engadget

Many questions were left unanswered, but one looks to have been answered for us now. The first Pre was originally launched on Sprint, now it looks as though they will be dumped in favor of Verizon – this does make sense if they wish the handset to stand out amongst the dozens of Android smartphones released each year. More details on this can be found on Engadget.

One question that that still remains is the whether the new handset will in fact carry Palm branding or move over to HP. Maybe it is time for change, and with HP being the largest PC vender in the US, this will certainly help carry some weight?

We cannot say for certain if Sprint has been dropped, but it has to be a huge kick in the teeth for the carrier who enjoyed the exclusivity when the first Palm Pre launched in June 2009? The other carrier that could also get the new version of the smartphone is AT&T. Which carrier do you think is best for the HP/Palm Pre 2?

A recent article posted on Engadget suggests that the Pre 2 will feature a 1GHz Texas Instruments OMAP3630 processor and 512MB, which is very similar, if not identical to the Motorola Droid X‘s performance hardware.

As for the sleeker look another Engadget article gives us what we believe is the first-ever look at the smartphone (image embedded at the end of this post), as you can see it looks like its predecessor, however it appears to be flatter and perhaps have a less glossy finish.

I must admit this photo disappoints me slightly as it isn’t a lot different to the original Pre, therefore it seems as if webOS 2.0 may be the real reason to buy the Pre 2, don’t forget this updated OS will not be coming to any existing Palm devices.

Do you think a faster CPU, more RAM and webOS 2.0 is reason enough to upgrade from the Pre to the Pre 2?