Wednesday
Feb092011
HP announces the Veer, Pre 3 and TouchPad
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 8:06PM
HP Palm has announced three new very different mobile products today which are designed to make the webOS brand competitive in a highly charged sector.
First up is the Veer which is a credit card sized mobile phone capable of 5MP photos, Wi-Fi, running Flash and acting as a Wi-Fi hotspot. It looks like one of the phone I enjoy seeing announced, but I'm not convinced I would necessarily enjoy using it. The keyboard looks soooo tiny!
Next we have the Pre3 which demonstrates that Palm may have finally learned lessons from the original Pre keyboard. This one looks similar to the BlackBerry keyboards and you also get a 3.6" WVGA screen, 5 Megapixel camera with HD video and a forward facing camera for video calling. This is a definite improvement on previous Pres, but looks like a catch up phone to me. Even with a mighty 1.4GHz processor, I don't see much here that would make me want to rush out and buy one.
And then there is the TouchPad which looks remarkably similar to the iPad in design. It has a 9.7" display with a 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, video calling, a dual core 1.2GHz processor and a nice stand keyboard to go with it. This would be the easiest new product to criticise, but it really does look like the first tablet to genuinely give the iPad a run for its money. iPad 2 may have something to say about that, but the fact that these devices work together so well and that they look like lessons learned from the past gives them a chance.
AND webOS IS COMING TO PC's!!! This is due later this year, but could be a great move for HP-Palm. Everything tied together on one operating system. Something Apple has been building towards, but is not quite there yet. This is the most important part of the announcements today by far. Each part may not look incredible, but put them all together and the story is different. Your thoughts?
P.S. Palm is dead. RIP, Palm 1992-2011.
First up is the Veer which is a credit card sized mobile phone capable of 5MP photos, Wi-Fi, running Flash and acting as a Wi-Fi hotspot. It looks like one of the phone I enjoy seeing announced, but I'm not convinced I would necessarily enjoy using it. The keyboard looks soooo tiny!
Next we have the Pre3 which demonstrates that Palm may have finally learned lessons from the original Pre keyboard. This one looks similar to the BlackBerry keyboards and you also get a 3.6" WVGA screen, 5 Megapixel camera with HD video and a forward facing camera for video calling. This is a definite improvement on previous Pres, but looks like a catch up phone to me. Even with a mighty 1.4GHz processor, I don't see much here that would make me want to rush out and buy one.
And then there is the TouchPad which looks remarkably similar to the iPad in design. It has a 9.7" display with a 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, video calling, a dual core 1.2GHz processor and a nice stand keyboard to go with it. This would be the easiest new product to criticise, but it really does look like the first tablet to genuinely give the iPad a run for its money. iPad 2 may have something to say about that, but the fact that these devices work together so well and that they look like lessons learned from the past gives them a chance.
AND webOS IS COMING TO PC's!!! This is due later this year, but could be a great move for HP-Palm. Everything tied together on one operating system. Something Apple has been building towards, but is not quite there yet. This is the most important part of the announcements today by far. Each part may not look incredible, but put them all together and the story is different. Your thoughts?
P.S. Palm is dead. RIP, Palm 1992-2011.
in All News, PALM, PALM / webOS, webOS
All News, PALM, PALM / webOS, webOS
Reader Comments (4)
Sad to see the Palm name die, and given the value of the brand you have to question HP's descision. You can understand the reasons for ditching the name given the wider context in which WebOS is now being used, Palm does not sit that well with tablets or PCs but surely the name had merit as a model name.
HP Pre does not roll off the tongue well so why not drop the Pre and change the name of the model to Palm in the same way as Apple has the iPhone brand. Each generation of the phone getting a model number, Palm 1, 2, 3 etc.
I'm now firmly in the iPhone camp having switched to an iPhone 4 after my little Palm Centro came to the end of it's working life. However these devices look like a serious competitor and finally have enough financial backing to go the distance.
I think the fact that so many devices will run webOS has huge potential. Not convinced the Palm brand has real value anymore except to fans of everything pre Treo.
my only hope that HP manages to up the battery life. Pre Plus sucked in that department
The Pre 3 has sparked my interest in WebOS. I just had a peek at the applications available, and this may prove to be a serious competitor to my move from WM6.5 after I retire my HD2.
It will all hang on the quality of the hardware build.
Funnily enough, the tech specs made no mention of Cellular connections, only WiFi.
It would make a poor phone if it had no GSM/3G support.