HP Palm intros Palm Pre 2, webOS 2.0

HP Palm has introduced Palm Pre 2 — the first phone to run webOS 2.0, which was also announced today as the “most significant update to webOS ever.”

The announcement did not say if the phone will ever reach Asia. (Asa pa us! HP Palm’s newsletter subscription page does not even list our continent.)

French Palm users will be able to get it this Friday on SFR telecom. In US and Canada, the new phone will be available “in the coming months.”

Palm HP said Pre 2 is faster as it is the first Palm phone with a gigahertz processor. It also has a vivid glass touchscreen.

Meanwhile, current users of earlier webOS phones — Palm Pre, Pixi, and Pre Plus — may wait for a while for the webOS 2.0. HP Palm said the update “will be delivered to existing customers in the coming months.”

Here are some of the features of webOS 2.0:

• True Multitasking – lets users switch between applications without closing anything. The new Stacks feature groups together open apps to easily manage multiple tasks.
• Just Type – to do something, just type even without opening an app.
• HP Synergy – with this feature, users just need to sign in to their Facebook, Google, Microsoft® Exchange, LinkedIn and Yahoo! accounts and their information automatically populates the phone.
• Exhibition – lets users run apps designed specifically for the Palm Touchstone Charging Dock, making charging time a useful time.

WebOS 2.0’s browser also supports a beta of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and adds support for more HTML5 features, including geolocation support. It also allows users to tag their favorite contacts and its unified Messaging app adds Yahoo! Messenger. (Yahoooo!!!)

The new OS also includes QuickOffice and Facebook 2.0 and now supports Bluetooth® keyboards.