HP Pre3 Announced! 1.4GHz/512MB RAM/3.6″ Display. Coming This Summer.

The HP Pre3 was just announced, and we have to admit we’re feeling a bit…underwhelmed. But before my impressions waft over to your head, let’s take a look at the specs.

• Display: 3.6″ 480 x 800 WVGA

• Processor: 1.4GHz

• Memory: 512MB SDRAM

• Camera: 5-megapixel w/ Auto-focus and LED flash + HD Video

• Cellular Support: HSPA+/EVDO Rev A/EDGE/GPRS/1x (World Phone)

• Storage: Storage: 16GB or 32GB

• Availability: This Summer

What do you think? Are the specs too 2009? What about the release date? Combined with the rather average specs, we’re sort of worried about the slew of Android handsets dropping on VZW in a couple months — all of which feature vastly superior specs on paper. Leave a thought inside…

Broadcom Announces New Mobile Processor.

With Nvidia, Texas Instruments, and Qualcomm in their sites, Broadcom took to the digital stage to announce a new venture — mobile processors. The party starts February 14th at Mobile World Congress, where Broadcom will have several of the new BCM28150 chips on hand for demo purposes.

In case you were a tad curious, the BCM28150 makes use of dual 1.1GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor cores (given the name “Merlyn” processor) and VideoCore IV mobile multimedia/graphics technology — fancy words for 1 Gigapixel per second of graphics performance. Integrated 21 Mbps HSPA+ and 1080p support are further icing on the cake.

It all certainly sounds nice. But we’ll have to wait until Mobile World Congress shows us some actual hardware powered by said chip before we form any lasting ideas or conclusions.

[Broadcom]

AT&T Bringing Unlimited Calling To Any Mobile Number.

Talk a lot? While data and text-based communications are the norm (in more tech savvy circles) these days, sometimes you just want to pick up the phone and talk — a lot. Back before all of this new fangled technology, data plans, and SMS, talking was it. As such, overages charges on minutes were a way of life for some. But as data and texting becomes more popular, voice gets cheaper.

Following Sprint’s 2009 lead, AT&T has announced that they too will begin offering unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling to any carrier, not just their own. For the social butterflies who love yaking it up, this is exceptionally good news. The only catch is that you’ll need to also be signed up for AT&T’s unlimited messaging plan ($20/month single or $30/month family) and subscribed to a “qualifying plan” — Nation or FamilyTalk.

While not actually “free”, it’s nice to see AT&T at least attempting to do something nice for once, even if they can’t manage to leave the strings at home. Anyone yakers feelin’ the love?

Slew Of Upcoming Verizon Android Handsets Revealed!

If you were this close to purchasing a new smartphone, you may want to hold off just another month or two to see what turns up. Yeah, you can’t get too deep into the “just wait one more month” syndrom as technology (especially smartphones) evolve entirely too fast. But for now, just hear us out.

Phandroid scored a few details regarding potential Android handsets coming Q2/Q3 to Verizon Wireless. They include the Droid Incredible 2, Droid 3, Droid X2, and Samsung Stealth. The Droid Incredible 2 will supposedly come in all white and feature a chrome bezel that wraps all the way around the device. On top of that, the DI2 will have support for global 3G on both GSM and CDMA.

As for the other handsets, information is pretty sparse. But what we have so far is that the Droid 3 will feature a 4″ QHD (960 x 540) display and sliding QWERTY keyboard. The Samsung Stealth is the fabulous previously unnamed 4G LTE phone that we saw at CES. Meanwhile the Droid X2 is void of any details. Really — none. But we know it is coming if it’s any reassurance.

What do you think: Worth waiting for?

Nokia CEO Voices What We Knew All Along: Nokia Is A Syncing Ship Far From Port.

It’s pretty ironic that the most exciting thing coming from Nokia these days is not bleeding edge smartphones, but words straight from CEO Stephen Elop’s mouth. These aren’t just your every day words. And they’re far from your typical upper level management “we’re on top of the world” comments either. Instead, the new CEO is laying it all out in one lengthy email sent company wide, hitting every point the tech community has lambasted Nokia for over the last several years, and asking the question how Nokia can survive. It’s actually quite startling to see a CEO of such a large company talk so blatantly about the inner workings of their troubled train wreck. Some key statements (plenty more after the jump):

• “The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don’t have a product that is close to their experience. Android came on the scene just over 2 years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable.”

• “In about two years, Android created a platform that attracts application developers, service providers and hardware manufacturers. Android came in at the high-end, they are now winning the mid-range, and quickly they are going downstream to phones under €100. Google has become a gravitational force, drawing much of the industry’s innovation to its core.”

Right there Elop focuses on two of Nokia’s biggest competitors — iOS and Android — and how they have in a surprisingly short time (all things considered) gone from a nobody to two of the largest mobile platforms in the world.

In light of all of this, we respect Stephen Elop quite a bit more today. This man truly sees how screwed up and behind Nokia is in the mobile sphere, and that it will literally take a miracle to keep from folding. Now lets hope all of that soul searching and self humiliation actually turns into something worthwhile. Recent rumors have the Finnish giant picking up both Windows Phone 7 and Android as mobile platforms to instead focus more on in-house hardware. That is far from confirmed for now. But like everything else, we’ll keep you updated.

Full email after the jump…

RIM Discontinuing Flickr For BlackBerry App.

Flickr users and BlackBerry abusers need to find a new combination to swoon over. New text found inside a help article on RIM’s website points to an EOL date of March 1st, 2011 for Flickr For BlackBerry. After said date, users who want to upload pictures to Flickr will have to make use of the popular photo sharing site’s mobile web space. Considering that there aren’t really any noteworthy 3rd party replacements, BlackBerry users are going to find it a little more cumbersome to share the most favorite pictures with friends and family.

Anyone think it’s odd for RIM — A company who is constantly pushing their more consumer friendly image — to up and drop Flickr like that? Or is the lack of 98xx support and infrequent updates the real reason behind its death?

iControlPad iDevice Physical Controller Now Available.

Gaming on the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad is nothing short of awesome. The on-screen controls mean the sky’s the limit. At the same time, the lack of any tactile feedback sucks. That’s where the iControlPad comes into play. Physical gaming accessories in controller form have been a long time coming for Apple’s iDevices. And with the first one out of the gate, many more will hopefully follow.

Focusing on the iControlPad itself, this slide-on case/controller features everything to make your mobile gaming geek go nuts — D-Pad, buttons galore, analog nubs, and two rear buttons. But even better is the fact that the deceives firmware is upgradeable as to cater to new games of the future which can make use of different buttons and game profiles, and a built-in battery for charging your iDevice.

At $74.99, it’s not exactly impulse buy cheap. But I’m pretty sure those of you who really enjoy gaming know the value of something such as the iControlPad, and as such, won’t hesitate to drop the required cash. **If you’re interested, you better hurry. The company is only going to build and ship 3,000 units during the first run.

[iControlPad]