Unlocked GSM Palm Pre Available in the USA

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The Palm Pre is one of the best phones launched in 2009 but the handset hasn’t been able to fulfill its destiny. The iPhone is still a top seller phone in the USA and in other countries around the world and the Palm Pre wasn’t able to beat it.

The Pre is still a Sprint exclusive in the USA and although you will be able to get it from Verizon Wireless early next year, it’s still only going to be available in CDMA version. Had the handset been a little more successful then maybe AT&T and T-Mobile would have been interested in the GSM version of the Pre. And Palm Pre looks to be more focused on promoting their upcoming webOS phone, the Pixi, so there’s no telling when an official GSM Palm Pre will be available to U.S. customers.

If you really want to buy a GSM Palm Pre, the good news is that you can get it from Expansys and the phone is unlocked therefore you can use it with either AT&T or T-Mobile. The bad news is that the phone comes all the way from Germany where it is currently available without a contract, which means you won’t get any 3G support in the USA. The QWERTY keyboard is actually a QWERTZ keyboard which is the standard in Germany, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

Unfortunately there’s one more bad news. The unlocked GSM Palm Pre will cost $715 in the U.S. That’s way too expensive, isn’t it? If you really want the phone then you’d better go to Sprint and sign a new 2-year agreement for a subsidized CDMA Pre version. The Pre is available right now for prices as low as $80 on contract so why pay the $715 price for an unlocked GSM version that doesn’t even support 3G?

Expansys has already shipped out the first batch of phones so it looks like not everyone out there cares about the price that much. The phone is out of stock right now but you can always contact Expansys representatives to find out when you can order your European-based GSM Palm Pre.