HP confirms 15 November UK release for Palm Pre 2

HP has finally confirmed that the Palm Pre 2 will go on sale in the UK on 15 November starting at £399 SIM-free, as the firm looks to attract consumer and business users.

Hardware specifications include a 3.1in multi-touch HVGA glass screen and slide-out Qwerty keyboard. The handset also features 16GB of internal storage and a 5-megapixel camera.

The Pre 2 comes with the revamped WebOS 2 platform allowing users to multitask, view documents from Office and synchronise with web apps such as Google Docs and file hosting service Dropbox.

HP has also been touting the Just Type feature that allows people to create emails, update a social networking status, and search favourite web sites without the need to open applications first.

The Synergy feature, meanwhile, allows users to sign into Facebook, Google, Microsoft Exchange, LinkedIn and Yahoo accounts, and information automatically populates the contacts list on the device.

The Palm Pre 2 also comes with a redesigned app launcher so that users can add, label and reorder launcher pages. The browser comes with enhanced support for HTML5 features, and supports Adobe Flash 10.1.

"HP WebOS 2 is the biggest leap forward for WebOS since it launched 17 months ago," said Miles Norman, UK & Ireland sales director for the Palm EMEA business unit at HP.

"It expands the features that make WebOS great for consumers, enterprises and developers, and introduces powerful new features that make it easier to get more things done with your WebOS device."

The Pre 2 will be available from Palm.com/uk. HP was unable to confirm which networks will carry the device.

HP also announced that the WebOS 2 update will be delivered to existing customers in the coming months, but has yet to announce a release date.