Sprint isn’t doing itself any favors recently by breaking retail’s first rule: Customers are dumb, so don’t give them choices. But now at Sprint, consumers must decide between the Palm Pre, the BlackBerry Tour, and $179 (after $100 MIR & 2-year agreement) the Android-powered HTC Hero. I mean, they’re making it awful hard on customers these days by offering more than one must-have phone.

(These guys are excited that they might soon be able to buy the Sprint Touch Pro 2 without declaring bankruptcy.)

Good news, everyone! According to some dude on the internet who heard it from another dude — and a bunch of people who have already managed to get the deal — the Sprint Touch Pro 2 is going to see a huge price drop as early as tomorrow.

The story goes like this: A TownHall Investment Research director was quoted by Barron’s as saying that Sprint is seeing almost a 50% return rate on the BlackBerry Tour primarily because of trackball issues. We ran a simple poll where 36% of participants said they have returned a BlackBerry Tour because of trackball problems and another 16% have returned the phone for other reasons – that’s a 52% return ratio btw. But a PR firm just sent us a little note stating that both Verizon and Sprint are calling bullshit (our words, not theirs) on the claim.

Almost 40% of the BlackBerry Tour users who participated in our quick poll voted that they have returned a BlackBerry Tour because of trackball problems. That’s a clear indication of a problem. The dude in this video is on his sixth BlackBerry Tour and shows the difference between the two.

File this one under: What took so long? Sprint is finally offereing the Blackberry Tour without a camera. Why you ask? Well, some jobs do not allow cameras in the workplaces and so employees need such a phone. The cameraless option carries the same price of $199 with a 2-year agreement. It’s just strange that it took Sprint so long to offer this model as Verizon’s had both options available since launch.

Let’s just say it: Sprint is back. First the carrier nabs the hottest handhelds with the Palm Pre, BlackBerry Tour and soon the HTC Hero and Palm Pixi. But that’s just the start.

Now, it’s offering up the $69 Any Mobile, Anytime plan which includes – get this – unlimited calls to any mobile phone, unlimited web surfing, Blackberry access, unlimited Direct Connect, unlimited text, picture, and video, and unlimited weekend minutes start at 7pm. Plus, the plan includes all the little extras like GPS Navigation, Music Premier, TV Premier, NFL Mobile Live, and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile. Wowsers.

Yesterday the Internet was abuzz with an offer from Sprint that involved a $100 service credit if you port-in a number and buy a Palm Pre. It was a fair deal but Sprint quickly pulled the offer and now explained what happened.

There have been a few rumors about Sprint cutting the price of the Palm Pre the last few days. Those might still work out, but until then there is this deal. There is a lot of fine print with the offer, but if you’ve been eyeing a Palm Pre, you should definitely see if you qualify.

Best Buy has our backs. No one likes mail-in rebates and so the retailer is going to sell the Sprint HTC Hero for $180 out the door with a two-year blood oath.

Sprint Stores however will sell it too you for $280 and hand you a $100 MIR. But just like with the Palm Pre, you’re not going to have to deal with those shenanigans at Best Buy Mobile who is also the exclusive retailer to have the HTC Hero. So yeah, why would you buy one at a Sprint Store?

That was quick. Forget about the rumor, the redesigned HTC Hero will launch on October 11 at $180 after a $50 mail-in rebate. And yes, that’s $20 under Sprint’s guided missile, the Palm Pre. So let’s recap, Sprint will soon be the only carrier with three of the hottest cellphones: the BlackBerry Tour, the Palm Pre, and the HTC Hero. And the carrier has some of the most reasonably priced plans. Nice.

Last time we saw the HTC Hero grace the labs of the FCC with its presence, it was swimming chin deep in GSM 850/1900Mhz territory – otherwise known as AT&T’s turf. Things got interesting when, just a few weeks later, a product page for a Sprint-branded HTC Hero popped up. Sprint and AT&T use two totally different radio technologies; where was this one’s FCC entry?

Didja hear that RadioShack is rebranding? The hoopla will of course include some sales to drive traffic. Apparently the Pre will be part of this upcoming sale and will be only $150 for new customers. Nice.

Short Version: Unless you’re shopping specifically for the Palm Pre, this is the smartphone to buy for Sprint customers. The weight is right, the speed is right, the OS is at the perfect point in its evolution.

There is probably a good chance that if you wanted the Palm Pre, you already snagged it at a Sprint store or Best Buy. Amazon now has the smartphone in case though.