HP Pre 3 review: Hands-on with the rhymingest phone ever

We know Crave regulars are big fans of the Palm Pre and Pre 2, so when we recently spotted a Palm rep with a suspicious Pre 3-shaped bulge in his pocket, we dutifully ordered him to fish the phone out.

The Pre 3 is essentially a bigger, better evolution of the Pre 2. The 64 by 111 by 16mm body is slightly larger and more cumbersome than the Pre 2's physique, though it gets a bigger, better screen in the process.

This time around, users will get a 3.58-inch display running at 480x800 pixels, which is a significant improvement on the 3.1-inch, 320x480-pixel screen on the Pre 2.

One of the biggest features on the Pre 3 is the inclusion of Touch-to-Share technology, which allows the Pre 3 to 'suck' and 'blow' (our words, not Palm's) information to and from HP's TouchPad tablet.

Users simply place the Pre 3 on top of the TouchPad tablet, and whatever is being viewed on the phone (Web pages, applications, data and so on) appears magically on the tablet. Touch-to-share also works in reverse, so data can be sent from the TouchPad to the Pre 3.

Other notable improvements include the ability to record 720p video, rather than boring, old VGA, plus an updated wireless radio that, as well as 802.11b/g, now allows for faster 802.11n dual-band connections.

The Pre 3 has a faster CPU, too. Whereas its predecessor rocked a 1GHz Texas Instruments 3630 chip, it's blessed with a nippy 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8x55. Internal memory stays at 512MB, but the Pre 3 comes with a choice of 8GB or 16GB of internal storage, so you can save a few quid by opting for the lower capacity model if hoarding lots of media isn't a major requirement.

The Palm Pre 3 will be available this summer. Have a gander through our photo gallery above to get a closer look.