Next HP fire sale: $75 for an unlocked HP Pre 3 in the U.K. and France

While the fire sale of the HP TouchPad certainly brought buyers into the stores throwing money at the webOS flavored tablet, many have been wondering what will become of the expected launch in the U.S. of the HP Pre 3 handset. According to PCMag.com, the Palo Alto based firm has canceled the U.S. release of the handset. But that doesn't mean that there isn't another fire sale coming!

The report says that HP plans on shortly selling unlocked units of the HP Pre 3 for the equivalent of $75 USD in France and in the U.K. Currently, the phone goes for the dollar equivalent of $505 and $490 in those two countries respectively. HP says that in Germany, the phone has already sold out.

The HP Pre 3 offers a vast improvement in specs from prior versions of the phone, with a larger 3.6 inch screen that offers higher resolution of 480 x 800. A single-core 1.4GHz Qualcomm processor is a big jump up in speed and the Pre 3 offers a 5MP camera (AF, LED flash) in the back, capturing video at 720p. A .3MP front-facing shooter will handle self-portraits and video chat; 8GB of memory comes with the unit out of the box.

While the phone won't go on sale in the U.S., some AT&T and T-Mobile customers in the States will be able to run the HP Pre 3 on 2.5G EDGE (those memories of the first -gen Apple iPhone come flooding back) on both carriers. The handset's 3G bands are 900, 1900, and 2100 MHz while AT&T needs 850 and 1900MHz for full 3G service. This means that those with AT&T might have some limited 3G connectivity with the HP Pre 3. T-Mobile requires 1700MHz, so users of the unlocked Pre 3 on the nation's fourth largest carrier will have to live life on the EDGE.

source: HP via PCMag.com