BGR was able to grab the retailer’s director of merchandising, Scott Anderson, and ask him some questions about the upcoming launch of the Pre. Anderson admitted that the device could be in short supply for the first 4-8 weeks following the June 6th release. To deal with the expected crowds and lines, Best Buy plans on using a “ticketing process” starting June 6th, and once a store runs out of stock, names will be entered on a log in chronological order. In other words, there will be no deposits taken for the Pre. Every Best Buy store that offers Sprint products will have some inventory of the handset to sell on the launch date.

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The news is out that the Pre will be running $199.99 after mail-in-rebates with a two year contract. For those that do not want to commit to a contract, you can purchase the device for a mere $549.99. It might be a worthy investment for those who don’t like the idea of being tethered to a long term agreement. Still, the price point is similar to what is found on similar devices. From the looks of an online Sprint chat with a customer service agent, its a safe bet to say you can get your hands on this device on day one without a contract.

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The New York Times weighed in on the new national pastime of guessing the release date of the Palm Pre. In an article published on Monday, the Times wrote about the upcoming summer season of blockbuster smartphone releases and said that people who have been briefed on Sprint’s plans have been told by the carrier to expect the launch of Palm’s handset to take place during the first week in June. That timing would fit in perfectly with our previous report of a LAUNCH LUNCH being held by the manufacturer on June 5th at noon. A release during that time frame would also allow Palm to trump any iPhone announcement that Apple might have at its WWDC that kicks off June 8th at 10 am with a keynote speech by Apple Executive Philip Schiller. For the Times, it is all the Palm Pre news that is fit to print.

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PreCentral has been tipped by a few Sprint employees that the stores have been receiving an Advocate copy of the Palm Pre. Each store is supposed to receive one unit that is given to the store’s expert on all things Pre. Early comments on the handset say that it is small but that the webOS is “responsive” and “amazing” with the cards being intuitive. The sliding mechanism was described as “stiff” and mistakes in typing were made due to the cramped letters on the QWERTY keyboard with buttons that were said to be “harder” than those on the Centro.

Nothing new has come forward on the Pre’s pricing or release date, and even the Advocates have no idea about the cost of the phone or the launch date. Two days of mandatory management training on the Pre will have to be completed before the actual release of the handset.

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And now for the usual release date guess! BGR informs that one of its tipsters has said Palm and Sprint are to announce the release date of the fluffy handset in the Wall Street Journal on May 19. Well, it didn’t hurt, did it? Now we wait…

We know you are tired of all the rumors and speculations about the Palm Pre’s notorious release date, but these just keep coming! However, we will begin with something a bit different this time – images of the Pre’s package and information card have leaked. If these are to be trusted, what should come in the box is, of course, the Palm Pre itself, a microUSB cable, stereo headset, travel charger, rechargeable lithium-ion battery and a pouch, along with some printed materials. We hope these images would be of interest to you.

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It was just Friday when we told you to say “Hello” to the Palm Eos. Engadget had reported that the device, a successor to the Palm Centro smartphone, would be running on the same webOS software that will be the brains of the Palm Pre. The spec list given to Engadget’s source says “Contact sync with AT&T’s address book” and the handset has support for the 850/1900 bands. Both of these things add up to the highly probable notion that the Eos will be adorning the shelves of Ma Bell.

Now comes forward “a tipster within Sprint” who told PhoneNews that a CDMA version of the Eos is currently being tested by the pin drop network for a third quarter release this year, after the launch of the Palm Pre. Both versions of the phone will have close to identical specs with the CDMA version having the capability to run 3G over Sprint’s EV-DO rev. A network. We get the feeling that there will be plenty of talk about the Palm Eos right up to the date it finally launches. You can be sure that we will pass all of this news on to you as it happens.

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According to Engadget, the webOS-powered successor of the Centro will be called the Palm Eos and the cool thing is that we have a lot of information regarding the hardware characteristics of the device. As it was said earlier, the new handset will be quite thinner than its big brother, thePre, measuring at just 10.6 mm/0.42 inches. A touch-sensitive screen is a must-have, of course, and in this case we will have a 2.63-inch capacitive one, with a resolution of 320×400 pixels, which isn’t bad at all.

So far so good, but we also might have a surprise for AT&T customers here – the Palm Eos seems to sport the 850/1900 bands. In addition, the specs list given by the source clearly says that “Contact sync with AT&T Address Book” is also present, so it seems AT&T will get this one in the States. Other features include a 2MP camera with a flash, Bluetooth 2.1, A-GPS support, 4 GB of internal storage space and naturally – integrated e-mail and IM clients. There is also a possible price for the next webOS handset and it is $349 before rebates. Still, do not make haste to put your money aside, as nothing is certain just yet. We hope to hear more of the Palm Eos soon enough and when we do, you’ll be the first to know!

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Tired of waiting for the Pre to come out? Well, we’ll have to disappoint you, if you’ve been looking for yet another possible release date. Instead, there’s a rumor about something, which is actually much cooler, in our opinion. It is said that a phone, similar to the Pre, has been under development by Palm for quite some time now. The source also gives a few other details about it. In terms of appearance, the “Mini-Pre”, as the source calls it, is said to be smaller than its popular brother, but it is still unclear whether it would also sport a hardware QWERTY keyboard. However, one thing is for sure – if such a device really exists, it will undoubtedly utilize Palm’s brand new webOS. The “Mini-Pre” is said to come out as early as this fall, but we suppose that seeing it sometime around the end of the year is more likely.

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Well, well, who would have thought that we will actually get to write about a truly earth-shaking phone these days? Palm has done pretty well keeping its marvel, the Pre, out of reach for unwelcome guests, but as the actual launch of the phone draws nearer it seems that we will have to get used to seeing it more and more. Two Pre phones have been spotted  at some annual “Bring Your Own Wheel race” and got snapped on the spot. Of course, there is a good fighting chance the images are actually fake, but if they aren’t… how those guys managed to obtain the phones in the first place we wonder? Still, they could have been employees field-testing the units, but either way, this may be a sign that the Pre is finally breaking loose.

It is not a secret that the device will be on offer with Sprint only. What is, however, is its exact launch date. We´ve got a quite interesting leaked document here, saying the Pre should hit the market no earlier than May 16 . We cannot be completely sure as to whether or not it´s truly authentic, but what´s on it does coincide to an extent with what is expected. So, take a good look at the images and cast about if the Pre is your kind of handset or not, because we might be writing our review soon enough!

source: Engadget, more