Meet my Palm Pre 3

Meet my new Palm Pre 3, also known as HP Pre 3. For a webOS fan like me, getting my hands on my own Pre 3 is a milestone. It is the last device in Hewlett Packard’s webOS line. Like its earlier siblings, it did not even reach my side of the world.

My aunt, who is visiting from Europe, handed me my Pre 3 on the night of August 9. As soon as I got it, I tested it to see if it’s working here in the Philippines. And of course, it was. By the time I got home that night, I had already transferred my webOS profile from my HP Veer to the new Pre 3.

The Pre 3 — like the Pre 2 and the Veer — is a joy to hold. It is a lot bigger than the Veer, thinner but longer than the Pre 2, but it still feels so natural in my hand. It also has the largest and clearest display among the webOS phones. Given its more advanced 1.4 GHz processor, it is also the fastest.

Its 5MP camera has flash, and it has a front camera that allows me to do video calls on Skype. It’s also the first — and hopefully not the last — webOS phone with built-in Touch to Share feature. When paired with my HP TouchPad tablet, I just have to place the Pre 3 on top of the TouchPad home button, and whatever webpage I’m viewing on the Pre 3 will open on the TouchPad.

Despite the lack of apps, Pre 3 has the features I expect from my Palm phones: phone, ebook reader, memo, camera, media player, and of course, messaging and calendar that are actually better than the other phones currently in the market.

Pre 3 also has the webOS features that I enjoy having: Synergy, unobtrusive notification, true multitasking, gesture-based navigation, inductive charging via Palm Touchstone, and Exhibition.

I found this Pre 3 bundled with a Touchstone and travel adaptors on a UK-based seller’s eBay store, made a bid, and eventually won it at GBP 95. Shipping directly to the Philippines would be more expensive and inconvenient, so I had it shipped — for only GBP 25 — to my aunt’s home in Germany. In Philippine peso, I spent a total of around 8,200 for the phone. For a rare phone — considered by some in what remains of the webOS community as a collector’s item — I think it’s a good price.

With my Pre 3 and my Touchpad in my collection, I feel like I am now a genuine webOS enthusiast.