HP’s Pre 3 Smartphone Sneaks Into The UK

HP’s new Pre 3 smartphone was stealthily launched today, with HP slipping it onto the Palm Eurostore website unannounced.

The SIM-only 8GB phone is available for £299 and the website says it will ship within 1-2 full working days.

The phone boasts a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a powerful 1.4GHz processor, 3.6in touchscreen and runs the webOS operating system. It also supports multitouch gesture support.

The OS features the snazzy “Touch 2 Share” function which allows for sharing links and media with the HP Touchpad tablet just by tapping the two devices together.

Where to get it

Online retailer Clove.co.uk is reported to be promising next day delivery on devices ordered today and is selling the Pre3 for £322.80.

So far Orange is the only service provider to confirm it will be selling the Pre 3 but only through third party stockists.

WebOS is a highly rated but under-appreciated operating system and it has been slightly updated for the Pre 3 for improved multitasking.

eWEEK Europe UK was impressed when it got the chance to play with the tablet version running on the TouchPad.

WebOS was created by Palm, the firm originally behind the Pre handsets and acquired by HP last year for around $1.2 billion (£790 million) in cash.