Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday unveiled its next-generation Palm OS, marking its webOS 2.0 as the company’s biggest upgrade since it took its first step in the mobile industry in 2009.

HP's new Palm Pre 2 smartphone will first hit the stores in France on Friday. Wireless carrier SFR, would hail to be the first to ship with webOS 2.0, HP claimed.

However, the Palm Pre 2 will become hit the stores in the U. S. and Canada through Verizon Wireless in the coming months.

Boasting of its 3.1-inch screen, the Palm Pre 2 operates on a 1GHz processor. Besides it features a 5-megapixel camera, a company spokesman said.

However, the company has not revealed the price of the phone.

The device, weighing over 145 grams (5.1 ounces) is reported to be features in many other as tablets apart from smartphones. In addition, WebOS supports Flash 10.1 and HTML5 tehreby enabling users to watch video on the Internet.

Moreover, it hails of its feature called Synergy, which assists the smartphone to automatically connect and transfer the data from e-mail services like Microsoft Exchange, or from websites such as Google and Facebook.

Amidst of many advantages, the Palm Pre hardware has been touted by critics.