The phones
The two phones consisted of the HP Pre 3 (or cubed, as HP's marketing people are trying to insist) and a mini-me called the HP Veer.
TI has officially been dumped across the board by HP, as the Pre 3 runs the same MSM8x55, 1.4-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC as the TouchPad, while the Veer downgrades to an 800MHz MSM7230. HP is positioning this as a major gain, listing greater processing power alongside a better screen and keyboard as major enhancements.
Other than that, there seems to be a repositioning of the Pre as a specifically business-oriented phone. It looks like HP sees its main chance in the mobile market coming from its extensive enterprise IT operations and that's hard to argue with.
"In the suite of webOS products we're introducing today, Pre3 is our premier phone, designed for the speed of business," said Rubinstein. "It enables professionals to accomplish more of their important workday tasks while easily keeping their fingers on the pulse of their personal lives."
Apart from running a lesser SoC, the HP Veer also has a much smaller screen, at 2.57 inches. It will also be available in the spring, while we'll have to wait until the summer for the Pre 3. Here are HP's specs for the two and piccies.
Pre 3
HP webOS
- High-speed connectivity
- Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8x55 1.4-GHz processor
- 3.58-inch multitouch screen with a vibrant, 24-bit color, 480 x 800 resolution display
- Gesture area, which enables simple, intuitive gestures for navigation
- Redesigned vertical slide-out QWERTY keyboard with backlight
- 8 or 16 gigabytes (GB) of internal storage
- High-performance browser with full access to the web, including support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta for access to rich, Flash-based web content
- Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with WPA, WPA2, WEP, 802.1X authentication
- Integrated GPS (and A-GPS)
- Bluetooth wireless technology 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
- Wi-Fi router functionality for up to five devices using HP mobile hotspot
- Multimedia options, including music, photos, video recording and playback, a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack
- Rear-facing autofocus camera with flash, HD camcorder (capable up to 720p video recording)
- Front-facing VGA fixed-focus camera for live video calling
- Email, including EAS (for access to corporate Microsoft Exchange servers) and personal email support (Google Gmail push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP)
- Robust messaging support (combining IM, SMS and MMS capabilities)
- Proximity sensor, light sensor, accelerometer and compass
- Removable, rechargeable 1,230 mAh battery
- USB mass storage mode to transfer media and other files quickly between desktop and device
- Ringer switch, which easily silences the ringer with one touch
- Compatible with HP Touchstone (sold separately)
- Dimensions: 111 mm x 64 mm x 16 mm (4.37 inches x 2.52 inches x .63 inches)
- Weight: 156 grams (5.5 ounces)
HP Veer
- HP webOS
- High-speed connectivity
- Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7230 800-MHz processor
- 2.57-inch multitouch screen with a vibrant, 18-bit color, 320 x 400 resolution display
- Gesture area, which enables simple, intuitive gestures for navigation
- Full slide-out QWERTY keyboard
- 8 GB of internal storage
- High-performance browser with full access to the web, including support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta for access to rich, Flash-based web content
- Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with WPA, WPA2, WEP, 802.1X authentication
- Integrated GPS
- Bluetooth wireless technology 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
- Wi-Fi router functionality for up to five devices using HP mobile hotspot
- Multimedia options, including music, photos, video recording and playback, a 5-megapixel camera with geotagging and 3.5 mm stereo headphone adapter
- Email, including EAS (for access to corporate Microsoft Exchange servers) and personal email support (Google Gmail push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP)
- Robust messaging support (combining IM, SMS and MMS capabilities)
- Proximity sensor, light sensor and accelerometer
- Rechargeable 910 mAh battery
- USB mass storage mode to transfer your media and other files quickly between desktop and device
- Ringer switch, which easily silences the ringer with one touch
- Compatible with HP Touchstone (sold separately)
- Tri-band UMTS, quad-band GSM/EDGE world phone
- Dimensions: 54.5 mm x 84.0 mm x 15.1 mm (2.1 inches x 3.3 inches x 0.6 inches)
- Weight: 103 grams (3.6 ounces)
