Palm Pre Sprint Advocate Phones Have Arrived For Really Real (Updated)

Update: A friend of Spunks3 in our forums sent in the above in-store shot.  That's how you leak a Pre photo, Sprint employees: without your face in the photo.

A number of Sprint Employees have tipped us that the Palm Pre Advocate units have arrived in stores - for really real.  These are the one-per-store units assigned to an employee who will be the Pre expert for that location -- the Advocate.  We've already heard from one Sprint Employee's impressions on the keyboard, now we have that and a lot more.

First off, the phone is as small as we've reported, it "feels like pure sex in the hand."  Ahem.  We have corroboration that the keyboard does in fact feel on the small side: "definitely a cross between a Centro and a Treo Pro keyboard."  The webOS is "amazing" and "responsive."

Basically, nothing you didn't already know -- but it does mean we are getting Very Close to some sort of real release date.  As for when that is, not even the advocates know for sure, but that June 5th - June 7th weekend apparently is preceded by a couple days of mandatory manager training.

In other news, Sprint is also in the process of upgrading their customer service website, as discussed in our forums. It doesn't appear there's a Pre angle on the sporadic downtime, but if you need to manage your account and can't get in you'll need to call in.

Thanks tipsters!