The highly anticipated smartphone will cost $200, but its launch could be overshadowed by an Apple iPhone announcement just days later.Sprint will be the exclusive provider of the handset, and users will have to purchase a monthly data plan to activate the Pre. Palm also will launch the Touchstone charging kit June 6. This puck-sized device can charge the handset wirelessly. The Touchstone charging kit will be sold for $69.99.
With a large capacitive touch screen, Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, 8 GB of storage, and Bluetooth, the Pre stacks up well against rivals like the iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Storm, and T-Mobile (Android) G1. One of the most appealing features of the Pre is webOS, the operating system that combines a variety of online services into a finger-friendly user interface.
"The argument that you need one phone for work and another phone for play, or that you have to make compromises between business and lifestyle productivity, is over," Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said in a statement. "With Pre, compromises of the past are history."
