Palm Pre 2 official, available this Friday, runs webOS 2.0

Meet the Palm Pre 2. This time officially. The thing showed up a few days back but now it's as official as it gets. And it's due this Friday. Along with some great new features, the Palm Pre 2 will arrive with the brand new webOS 2.0.

There aren't that many improvements brought by the Pre 2 but the ones listed may as well be enough to make upgrading worthwhile (if you happen to be a Pre or Pre Plus owner). The plastic screen is now gone - it's been replaced by a durable glass one. Unfortunately, contrary to rumors, the screen size and resolution remained untouched - 3.1 inches and HVGA (320 x 480 pixels), respectively.

While the amount of built-in RAM and storage (512MB RAM and 16GB of non-upgradeable storage) are the same again, the processor got way faster (as expected). The new Palm Pre 2 has a zippy 1GHz CPU.

Palm Pre 2 official photos

The sharp edges are gone as well and so is the 3MP snapper. You get a 5-megapixel one instead. Unfortunately, as before, there is no autofocus.

As for the HP webOS 2.0, it brings a handful of improvements (including even better multi-tasking, Just Type with Quick Actions, etc.) but the greatest thing about it is that Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta is finally here allowing you to watch videos, play games and more while web browsing.

The Palm Pre 2 will run the webOS 2.0 from day one while the older webOS-driven devices will get an update at some point in the near future.

The GSM version of the all new Palm Pre 2 is said to first hit the SFR stores in France on Friday and tad later its CDMA-compatible twin should become available at the Verizon Wireless stores across the US. There is no word on the Palm Pre 2 pricing yet.

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