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Live Pic of the Treo 800w Spotted

Longtime Palm OS ROM hacker Shadowmite has posted what appears to be one of the first shots of an Treo 800 / Palm Zeppelin prototype device. The picture matches up with most of the earlier leaked renderings and presents a clear view of the long awaited new Palm smartphone.

Unfortunately there are no major new details or confirmation of existing rumored specs along with the picture. The little tidbit the source does confirm is that the device uses a new micro USB connector.

Read on for the full sized pic.

TreoSpot, Location Based Profile App

TreoSpot is an interesting, yet oddly named, application for GSM Palm OS smartphones. Odd in that it only works on the GSM Centro. The developer describes it as a Location Based Reminder and Phone Profile Settings utility. Once you set up the TreoSpot location database (from the cellular tower ID's I presume), you can enable alerts and phone profiles when you are in a specific area. It's quite an impressive piece of work for a device without any native GPS capabilities.

TreoSpot v2.4 is available as freeware with donations accepted. It is developed by TreoTown, makers of the "iPhone-ish" Treobble and other nice freeware utilities.

UBS Downgrades Palm to Sell

In Palm stock market news today, UBS analyst Maynard Um cut his rating on Palm to Sell from Neutral, with an unchanged $5 price target. Palm's stock closed today down 12 cents (~2%) at $5.82.

In his research note Um notes that Palm is on track for some new Treo products in the August and November quarters (?), and cites the ever increasingly competitive mobile landscape including the 3G iPhone and new BlackBerry Bold. He also states that a Palm turnaround still relies on the success or failure of its new Linux product, which he says won't be launched before the first half of 2009 "at the earliest." (via Tech Trader Daily)

Ringo Pro Adds Free Ringtone Collections

Electric Pocket's popular Ringo Pro ringtone manager for Palm OS and Windows Mobile software has been updated. Ringo is a enhanced ringtone manager that allows you to easily setup and define ringtones, photo ID's, and sms alerts for individuals and groups on your smartphone. Electric Pocket has recently issued a new collection of fun SMS alerts for free and now includes free access to over 50 free mp3 ringtones to get you started.

Pricing for Ringo Mobile starts at $24.95. It is available for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile Treos. A seven day free trial period is included.

Palm Presenting at the JPMorgan Technology Conference Next Week

Palm announced today that it's Chief Financial Officer Andrew J. Brown is scheduled to present at the 36th Annual JPMorgan Technology Conference in Boston on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 3:40 p.m. Eastern Time.

A live webcast of the event will be made available online at Palm's Investor Relations site.

Opera Mini Browser v4.1 Released

Opera Software has released the official version of its Opera Mini web browser v4.1 after being in beta for the past couple of weeks. This release includes several new features, including automatic completion of web addresses, tools for attaching files to web-based email, support for file and photo uploads, text search within pages, downloading attachments from email for storage on your phone, and saving and viewing pages offline. Opera also says this version is up to 50% faster than previous versions due to improvements in its back-end proxy.

Users can download the latest version by visiting operamini.com on your phone. In order to use Opera Mini with a Palm OS device you need to have the Palm Java Micro Environment installed. Since Palm no longer distributes the JVM you need to already have it installed or find an alternate source (download link) for it online. Also see our recent article on Palm OS web browsing for the optimal Java settings for Opera Mini on Palm OS.

Upcoming Windows Mobile Palm Rumor Analysis

The second half of 2008 has long been considered a very uncertain period of transition for Palm. The embattled handheld maker will presumably be attempting to tread water on the residual sales of the popular Centro smartphone alongside a handful of new Windows Mobile-powered devices, all while presumably prepping the Nova OS for release sometime in 2009. What exactly Palm's upcoming Windows Mobile device lineup looks like remains the most pressing question facing the Palm faithful as we kick off the beginning of the summer months with just a small handful of rumors to contend with.

As usual, all of the information presented here combines a great deal of speculation based largely on Palm's past releases plus a handful of leaked images, specification and online chatter. Of course, we've had a few leaked images, roadmaps, and specs over the past year to go on as well. All of the content of this article is essentially speculation and conjecture based on Palm's traditional device history and should in no way be interpreted as an actual Palm release schedule.

Hexxagon Labs Game Released

HeroCraft has released a new game for Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices. Hexxagon Labs is a logic game, which contains over a dozen arenas filled with intellectual challenges. The goal of the game in each level is to occupy as many cells on a field as possible, capturing pieces of an enemy. The game features 17 original hard-to-solve levels and three bonus tutorial levels, two player mode and will even display "amusing facts from the scientific world" before each new round.

Hexxagon Labs for Palm OS v1.0 is available now for $14.96. It is also available for Windows Mobile and Smartphone edition. A free demo version is available.

Apt - New Utility for Palm OS Released

Apt is a new program for Palm OS devices. It is described as a cross between a button launcher, preferences app and macro program, tailored for individual applications on your device. Apt allows you to configure your device in a per-application basis, by adapting your settings as you move between programs. Customizable settings include things like brightness, screen orientation, button assignments and launcher menu shortcuts. You can also capture any sequence of events on your device and create macro's within existing apps.

Apt v1.0 is available now for Palm OS 5 and higher. It comes in two versions, a free "lite" version and a full features version, which has more options not available in the free version.