The HP Pre 3 is the Palm Pre 2 on steroids, offering a faster processor, largerscreen and more spacious keyboard. HP has ditched the Palm name following its buy-out of the company, but the phone is still basically the same as its Palm predecessors, with a zippy,handsome user interface.
HP hasn't announced when the Pre 3 will arrive in British shops, butwe had to wait months for the Pre and Pre 2 to cross the pond. The Pre 3 will be launched in the US in the summer, so we may have to wait a while.
Tangled in your webOS
The Pre 3 uses the webOS operating system. HP liked webOS so much that it bought its creator. We're also fans, because webOS is gorgeouslydesigned and fun to use. It offers both thesimplicity of the iPhone's user interface andthe flexibility of Android, with home screens that you can fillwith shortcuts and widgets.
In webOS, all the apps you're running can be seen on the home screens in their own window, known as a'card'. To switch to a different task, you can swipe through the cards to find the one you want,and tap it to open it. To close a running app, you swipe its cardoff the top of the screen. This process is speedy and oddly satisfying.
We wish, however, that the cards acted more like live widgets. It wouldbe good, for example, to be able to see tweets update live in the Twitter card, right on the home screen. But, overall, the deck of cards is asimple and intuitive way to move between tasks.
WebOS also handles notifications well. Incoming texts and emailsshow up at the bottom of the screen in a subtle notification bar. You can then quickly open or dismiss such missives.
Another area where webOS proves speedy is in its 'Just Type' feature.It lets you type and then figure out whatyou want to do with what you've written afterwards. When you've typed a word, forexample, a pop-up screen offers you the option of searching the phoneor the Web for that term, or starting an email or text message with thatword.
My, what a whopper
The Pre 3 has the biggest keyboard and screen of the Pre family. Thekeyboard has square, rubbery keys that we found easy to use, althoughpeople with sausage fingers may find them less accommodating.Thanks to the Qwerty keyboard and support for an integrated inbox forall your email, the Pre 3 looks like it will be a good choice formessaging maniacs.
But the 3.6-inch screen and keyboard also combine to make the Pre 3 a chunky beast, measuring 64 by 111 by 16mm. In that respect, it's like the BlackBerry Torch,which also has both a touchscreen and a keyboard. Admittedly, though, we did see the Pre 3 together with the miniature HPVeer, next to which an aphid would look like an ox.
Arid app store
The Pre 3 supports apps, and there are a few good ones in the AppCatalog app store. But its shelves are bare compared to the iPhone App Store orthe Android Market. And, since none of the Pre phones made a bigsplash in the UK, the store isn't likely to fill up soon.
If the Pre 3 delivers the slick performance promised by its fast1.4GHz processor, we think it's likely to be plenty of fun even withoutan abundance of apps. But, if you choose the Pre 3, you must be happy with life as a smart-phone outsider. Not for you the app banter thatenlivens the chat of iPhone lovers and Android addicts -- you'll be a lone wolf on the smart-phone tundra.
Outlook
Overall, the HP Pre 3 looks like a big, powerful upgrade to the Preand Pre 2. It webOS software is slick and easy to use, too. Butthe lack of apps and fellow Pre users means that you'll probably miss out on some of the fun of brandishing asmart phone.
Edited by Charles Kloet