SHOWCASE: The team behind Singapore-based HWM and HardwareZone.com managed to get their hands on a Palm Pre from the US and produced a video showing its interface and features. Of course, if you’re not familiar with it, we’ve posted news about it here just to get you all warmed up.

Here’s the video:





For an extensive article on what the team thought about it, check it out here. If you’re asking whether it’s coming to Asia or when it would be available at all, we have no answer for you there. For now, the Palm Pre is on sale only in the US by telecom provider Sprint.

The Palm Pre lets you flick between 'cards' - similar to shifting across different Web browser tabs.

The Pre also comes with universal search, where webOS is able to narrow your search and offer results from both your device and the web.

SHOWCASE: Sprint has finally announced the pricing and nationwide availability of the highly anticipated and exclusive Palm Pre phone. Available from June 6 in US-based Sprint stores (as well as Sprint.com), the Palm Pre phone will cost US$199.99 on a two-year contract and after a US$100 mail-in rebate.

The Palm Touchstone charging dock will also be available at launch, as it comes bundled with the Touchstone Charging Kit (which also includes a back cover for the Pre), at a cost US$69.99. Separately, the charging dock costs US$49.00 while the back cover costs US$19.99.

The Palm Pre itself is based on the new Palm webOS mobile platform, with a focus on centralizing all of your important information from your phone, work or on the web, into one logical view. According to Sprint, the Palm Pre will consolidate all your professional, social and personal data and make it easily relatable and accessible on the device.

Called ‘Palm Synergy’, this functionality gives the Pre the ability to automatically pull friends’ contact details, messaging addresses and personal calendars from different applications on the Web and the phone without distracting what you were originally doing.

Here’s a video of the Palm Pre from Sprint:

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CORP TALK: Palm’s highly anticipated Palm Pre smartphone has yet to have a firm release date or hit the store shelves but already research firm, iSuppli has come up with an estimated hardware and manufacturing cost for the device.

According to Reuters, the Pre smartphone will cost around US$170 to make, based on 2nd quarter component and assembly prices. Of course, there is no doubt that the Pre, touting its WebOS operating system and multi-touch screen features, is squarely aimed at competing against Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones.

iSuppli projects that Palm will try to have wireless carrier Sprint Nextel to sell the smartphone for US$300 but with a subsidized plan, the final price should hover around the US$200 range.