Palm announces US Pre release date

The Palm Pre - finally, a release date
The Palm Pre - finally, a release date

Saturday 6 June is going to be a very busy day in the US, after the Palm Pre finally got itself an official release date, meaning the UK is not going to be too far behind.

Sprint, the first official carrier of the handset, has announced it will be stocking the phone from 6 June, with Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Radio Shack also getting the Palm Pre as well.

It's going to cost $199 (£128) for the phone on a two-year agreement, so the hopes that the Pre would be a much cheaper alternative to the iPhone, although we don't know what kind of monthly plans will be coming stateside, although it will include the same unlimited data the iPhone has been enjoying from O2.

Excited

Understandably, the US is getting very excited over the phone that will bring the ability to sync personal and business life to a new level thanks to Palm Synergy, and all the signs point to the UK picking it up not too long afterwards, with around one to two months being the consensus.

TechRadar has been speaking to a few sources in the phone industry, and there's a real buzz that this phone isn't going to be too far from our shelves.

However, what is up for debate is which carrier will be stocking it... however, some big names have already dropped out the running, so it will be interesting to see whether UK users will be able to get the Pre on a shorter contract than two years.

Oh, and that date of 6 June... weirdly that appears to be just two days before the expected launch of the next iPhone - what a coincidence, eh?

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.