In addition to Windows Mobile, the Treo 500 will lack a touchscreen and feature 3G internet. It makes sense that this would be the final design for the Gandolf, as the earlier prototype looked too much like the slimmer, touchscreen-equipped Centro. Earlier prototypes resembled something closer what this ad is calling the Treo 500. We'll find out officially on Wednesday if this is the secret phone we've been speculating about, and we wouldn't be surprised if it is.

UPDATE: Alles Windows Mobile is reporting that the Treo 500 will have 150 MB of internal memory, Bluetooth 2.0, a 2 MP camera, MicroSD expansion and will come in two colors — the grey pictured above and the white seen earlier in spy shots. [WMExperts]

The Centro has possibly the tiniest QWERTY keyboard I've ever seen. It's infinitesimal: it's actually impossible to type on this thing with two thumbs. The keys on the model I tried were little clear rubbery bumps, below a cursor pad and the usual Palm OS quick application buttons. Seeing me get frustrated trying to puzzle out letters on this tiny thing, a Sprint rep stepped in to say that it was for the "youth market" - in other words, kids with nimble fingers and sharp eyes to read the small screen. On the other hand, it'll fend off the argument about Treos being chunky, that's for sure.

Apparently, thanks to its lackluster feature set, Palm will name this series the Treo 5XX. There will be a version running Windows Mobile 6 Standard (the non-touchscreen smartphone edition) and another with the Palm OS. There's a 2.4-inch QVGA display, 3G + HSDPA, 256MB onboard storage, 64MB RAM, Bluetooth 2.0 and it measures 117 x 65 x 13.8 mm.

From the specs, it seems like this could be the Treo for the common man who's not big into fancy smartphones. That's probably what Palm's aiming for, seeing as they're releasing the Gandolf in various colors as well. – Jason Chen

">Exclusive: Palm Gandolf specifications [Intomobile via WM Experts]

1. The Palm Ganfolf is real, though they called it the "Gandolfini". They confirmed the $200 pricepoint, saying it was aimed at teenagers who text messaged frequently (nothing was said about watching loads of Sopranos). UPDATE: This was a joke, and I missed it. I'm lame. Did Deepthroat have a sense of humor?They described the design as "a 700p that got in a nasty accident with a steamroller".

2. The Blackberry Pearl 2 is on it's way. RIM and Sprint are working on it. "Looks to have Rev. A EVDO and will support the Sprint Music Store." They haven't seen any pictures at the moment.

Both phones are looking like late summer or early fall releases. So now you (possibly) know. – Mark Wilson

The device clearly shows a Palm logo and prototype serial number along with Vodafone branding. It also has the home and back navigational buttons found on all Windows Mobile smartphone devices. The Vodafone mark indicates this is a GSM device which will be offered in Europe. No other details accompanied the picture.

New Treo Smartphone Images Leaked [Palm Infocenter]

Real or not, I do appreciate a good newspaper-type Photoshop job. It's a throwback to an earlier era when people Scotch-taped their visions of flying carriages and portable jukeboxes. – Mark Wilson
Thanks Paul!

Gandolf! Different View! [morningpaper]