Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

As we saw yesterday morning, Palm and Sprint have officially announced the release of the Palm Pre.  All-in-all that is good news, but there are plenty more Palm Pre bits of news that are still important to catch up on.

To begin with, for those who were looking to pick up a Palm Pre without a contract, you can expect to pay $549.  Of course, that is still for a Sprint-branded and Sprint-locked Pre.  Basically, until we see an either an official of unofficial unlock for the Pre, it sounds to me like it would make more sense to purchase it with contract.

Speaking of the contract pricing, we cannot forget that the price of the Palm Pre on-contract is $199.99 and that comes AFTER a $100 mail-in-rebate.  In other words, the day you purchase your Pre you will be shelling out $299.99—so make sure you fill out those forms and get the 100 bucks that is coming to you.

Moving on, according to statements from Sprint CEO Dan Hesse,

“We don’t intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while,” Hesse said according to a Thomson Reuters transcript. “We won’t be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time.”

In other words, if you are thinking of getting a Pre, you may want to make up your mind and get to one of the many locations that it will be available as early as possible on the morning of June 6.

Of course, if you happen to be a Sprint Premier customer (and happen to be in Los Angeles) you can rest easy because you will be able to check out the Pre, make a purchase and brush elbows with the celebs during a special launch party on June 5.  Lucky bastards, not only will they get a Pre a day early, but they will also get free food and drink—all while not having to sit in line, in most likely what will end up being a hot day waiting for a store to open.

Finally, speaking of getting a Palm Pre early it appears as if the first hands-on user review has hit the web.  Personally I cannot say if this was a real review or not, honestly I would have felt better seeing it come from a big source such as Walt Mossberg, but for what it is worth the review noted the Pre as being a “beautiful device.”

“We love it, we love to hold it, we love to use it. Sprint, please don’t kill the golden goose (for Sprint, or for Palm).”

Of course, the review did not really tell us much that we have not already seen available, still it is an interesting read.

So, the Palm Pre. Will you be making a purchase?

Read [CrunchGear] [BGR] [PhoneNews.com] [PCMag.com]