HP launches credit card sized Veer, Palm Pre 3 smartphones

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Mobile Phones - Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Here’s what HP pulled out of the hat during their webOS event: a pair of smartphones running on webOS 2.1 called the Veer and the successor to the Palm Pre 2, the Pre 3 (of course). The Veer is pretty noteworthy not because of high-end tech, but because of its size. Labeled as “one of the smallest smartphones ever” with a body that’s about the size of a credit card and a 2.6-inch, 320 x 400 display. It’s no low-end phone though. The Veer still packs an 800MHz Snapdragon processor under the hood, which should still be good enough to handle Flash animation. The rest of the spec includes 8GBs of built-in storage, HSPA+ network support, and enough space for a 5MP cam at the back.

The 2.6-inch screen’s probably a little too tiny for people with bigger hands, but if you need a tiny phone to fit into tight pockets, here’s your smartie.

The Palm Pre 3 is basically an upsized version of the Pre 2 launched just a few months ago, featuring a 3.6-inch display with an 800 x 400 resolution. Probably the best choice for people who like typing on a physical keyboard, since this phone features what’s being described as the “largest keyboard of any Palm phone so far.” Not sure how that compared with the keyboards on other keyboard-packing phones, but we’ll take that as a sign that if you’re a Palm fan and you have big hands, this was made for you.

Like the Veer, the Palm 3 also features HSPA+ network support, has double the storage with 8 or 16GBs, and a much faster 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM 8×55 processor. The rest of the specs include a 5MP cam that’s capable of 720p recording, a LED flash, front-facing VGA cam for video calls, light and proximity sensors, compass, and support for Palm’s Touchstone tech.