Sacre bleu! The Palm Pre 2 will look like its predecessor, French operator SFR has let slip.

So much, then, for the claim that the physical keyboard is out.

A now-redacted entry posted on the carrier's blog reveals that the new phone sports the same design as the Pre and Pre Plus, but features souped up internals: a 1GHz processor, 512MB of memory making it "faster and more powerful" than the older Palms.

And, yes, it will run WebOS 2.0 which, according to SFR, will feature a "more intuitive, faster" UI, plus the ability to present multiple apps' windows simultaneously, fanning at least three of them across the screen like a hand of cards.

Oh and the apps store features more games and applications, SFR claimed.

Alas, it didn't say when the handset will be released. For its part, HP, Palm's owner, said recently that new Palm smartphones will be out early next year. ®