The Pre 2 has been launched just a couple of months ago (under the old Palm brand) with mediocre reviews and sale numbers, but HP didn’t waste any time analyzing that and has already announced and demonstrated the Pre 3 – an enterprise focused smartphone with a portrait QWERTY keyboard that is a direct competitor to the multiple Blackberry business phones released by RIM.
And it is a pretty good continuation of the Pre series – it certainly has everything a business user might need, and there are a couple of areas where the device and the new WebOS 2.2 outperform any other smartphones out there, including the iPhone 4 and Android 2.3-based devices!
A stylish exterior, big display and a great QWERTY keyboard
On the outside, the Pre 3 isn’t that much different from both of its predecessors. It still retains the same polished and rounded look and form, with the most noticeable difference being that it has a very nice and big 3.6 inch WVGA (800×480 pixels) touch screen – finally, someone addressed this issue! With the new resolution, it’ll be much easier to manage everything, and seeing as smartphones are tasked with more and more work all the time (document editing on a smartphone was unheard of just a few years ago, and the Blackberries still suck at it), it is definitely a good addition.
A nice side effect (or maybe it was intended?) of the bigger screen is the slightly bigger portrait QWERTY keyboard, which is much more comfortable for fast typing than the old one, and which can definitely compete with any other QWERTY keyboard out there, portrait OR landscape. The “just type” feature on WebOS makes it so much more enjoyable to use it every time.
Updated hardware specs that can take on any device out there
Sure enough, the internal hardware specs have also been updated. While the Pre and Pre 2 had relatively low performance hardware compared to the iPhone and various Android competitors, the new Pre 3 packs enough power to take on any smartphone out there. It is equipped with a new second generation Snapdragon running at 1.4 GHz (and remember, this beast beats the old 1 GHz Snapdragon even when it runs at 800 MHz!), 512 MB of RAM (enough for any apps you may need), a 5 megapixels camera with autofocus and 720p video recording, Wifi N support, HSPA of 7.2/5.76 Mbps, and more!
With these specs, the Pre 3 is more than ready to accompany the Touchpad and finally get some market share from the current giants.
The only other deciding factor that remains is the software, and WebOS 2.2 doesn’t fail to deliver. Unlike iPhone and Android, this operating system is based on a cloud architecture, meaning it needs a constant Internet connection to use its full potential, much like the Blackberry OS with its BIS/BES cloud services. Business and corporate users are already used to it, so they’ll feel at home when switching from a Blackberry to a WebOS device.
The WebOS 2.2 interface is very polished, looks nice and is stable as a rock – there are less crashes than even on the latest iOS update! Palm was definitely on to something when they released WebOS and their new generation of smartphones, but sadly, the lack of funding and developers made them a weak competitor, while the iPhone and Android sales sky rocketed. But now, with support from HP (one of the largest computer manufacturers in the world) and a growing developer base, the number of users will definitely start going up.
The response for the Pre 3 and the Touchpad was overwhelmingly positive, with a lot of current Android, iPhone and Windows Phone 7 being amazed by the new hardware and software, so there’s no doubt there will be a lot of sales, especially in North America in the enterprise sector.
If you need a good business phone that can finally replace your current one, the Pre 3 is definitely worth taking a look at. It will be available in the US at the end of spring, and should come to Europe at about the same time, so it might be time to start planning the purchase!
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