Palm Pre Available 6th June

19th May 2009 - Sprint announce today that the Palm Pre will be available for purchase on the 6th of June, priced at $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a 2-year contract on Sprint's Everything Data plan from Sprint, Best Buy, Radio Shack and select Walmart stores.

The new phone is the first to use Palm's new webOS operating system, which is designed to be more web-centric than previous cell phone OSes. It integrate searching and managing data from the Web into the applications themselves, which Palm claims are easy to write and customize for the new OS. Unlike the iPhone, the Pre can run several programs at once, with each application running on what Palm describes as an "activity card", where users can flip between applications in the same way they flip between web pages in a Web browser. The Pre itself is built around a 3.5-inch touchscreen, combined with a slide-out keyboard at the bottom of the case.

Although Sprint offers a wide range of voice and data plans, the Pre is only available with two: the Everything Data plan, or the Business Essentials with Messaging and Data plan. Both of these plans cost $69.99 a month, and the Everything Data plan offers unlimited data use and 450 minutes of calling a month. If more voice minutes are required, an $89.99 a month version of the plan offers 900 minutes a month. The Business Essentials plan offers 400 minutes a month, with a number of more expensive monthly options offering more minutes.

Also available on the 6th is the Touchstone, a $69.99 inductive charging device that recharges the Pre without wires. The Touchstone uses an inductive charging coil built into a cover that slides onto the back of the Pre to charge it whenever it is placed on the touching pad. Using this charging station also activates the speaker phone, so you can use the Pre as a desk phone while it is charging.

The new Pre will be available for $299.99 with a $100 mail-in rebate on the 6th of June from Sprint, Best Buy, Radio Shack and select Walmart stores.

For more details, read our First Impressions review of the Palm Pre, or see our other coverage of the Pre here. More details are also available from Sprint.