Palm's been quietly developing its OS II, and says it'll now be finished by the end of this year, meaning we can expect to see handsets bearing the OS sometime after June 2009. It's another delay to the Linux-based OS, also dubbed Nova, with Palm's CEO originally promising OS II handsets in 2007: current Palms like the Centro use OS 5.4m, also known as 'Garnet' which has its roots in 2006. Bad news for Palm fans, though you could argue the extra development means the OS should be in even better shape to take on the iPhone, BlackBerries and Windows Mobile phones in its marketspace. [Reghardware]

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Palm announced in their quarterly call that it had found an unnamed carrier to sell their new Treo Pro, but declined to mention who, specifically, would peddle the $US550 phone (at a potentially subsidised cost). WM Experts seem to think the carrier will be AT&T, which makes enough sense, since AT&T tends to get the big Palm GSM phones first in the US.

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Palm gets lost in the midst of all the iPhone and Android hype, but if you still love your good old Palm OS, Dmitry Grinberg has finally released an SDHC driver that allows for card support. The program is available for devices like the Tungsten T|C, Tungsten E|2, Tungsten T|5, LifeDrive, Palm TX, Zire 31 and Zire 72, with other machines like the T|T3 and the Zodiac on their way. At $US21, its really not a bad deal for all that extra storage. [TamsPalm]

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All you outback Gizmodians out there longing for some smartphone love, your prayers have now been answered, with Telstra giving the Palm Treo Pro their blue tick of approval.

The blue tick is the stamp Telstra pops on phones that recommend the handset for rural coverage on the NextG network. The Treo Pro is the ninth handset in Telstra's stable to be awarded the classification, and the first smartphone with the label.

So now our farmers, bush-bashers and outback neighbours can enjoy the wonders of Windows Mobile 6.1 where they live. Welcome to the club, boys and girls. Hope you enjoy your stay.

[Telstra]

From what the guys in the US were saying, the Palm Treo Pro is a handy little phone. Sure, it runs Windows Mobile, but that's not all bad, right? Right?

Anyway, in case you were wondering what kind of Palm Treo Pro love you could expect in Australia (and I know that's exactly what you were thinking), know that the new smartphone is available exclusively through Telstra, complete with customised BigPond icons and everything.

It will hit shelves late September (which means you'll probably forget all about it by the time it's released) for an RRP of $929. "Whoa!" I hear you exclaim. "That's a bit pricey!". Well, it will also be available on a range of plans, including $0 up front on an $80 monthly contract for 2 years. As you'd expect, Telstra's data charges will still apply.

[Palm]

Most of us can size up the functionality of a phone from its spec sheet, but a phone's practicality, usability and enjoyability falls to a whole other series of factors. Form factor is a biggie. In this clip, you'll see the Treo Pro literally sized up against the smartphone competition (including the Palm Centro, Motorola Q9H, the BlackBerry Bold, the iPhone 3G, the HTC Touch Diamond and more. If you're at work and can't play the audio track, just turn it off and you'll still get most of the effect. [CrackBerry]UPDATE: Video after jump:

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Palm's Treo Pro was announced today, and we just got one for ourselves. The most noticeable thing about it is how small and light and shiny it is for a Palm phone. As a comparison, it sits between the Blackberry Curve and the iPhone in terms of size. It has a Centro-style keyboard, except bigger, the flush touchscreen and like the Palm 800w, the hardware seems more than adequate to run WIndows Mobile 6.1. Could this be the king of the WinMo phones? —pal check back soon for a full review. [Palm@Giz]

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Palm is in a tough place right now, with a staid reputation, a decade-old OS and a line of phones that are all, well, sort of boring. The New York Times ran a piece today charting Palm's revitalisation plans, which are being carried out under the guidance of CEO Ed Colligan and Apple vet Jon Rubinstein, and they aren't altogether inspiring. Sure, there's always Palm OS 2, but this piece seems to imply (not surprisingly) that we might not see that until the middle of next year. And from the looks of it, Palm's troubles may run deeper than that.

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This week's best kept secret just got official: The Palm Treo Pro is a Centro-sized Windows Mobile 6.1 phone (whither Palm OS?) with tri-band 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS with a 320x320 touchscreen, exactly like the recent Treo 800w. Powering the show is a 400MHz processor and 128MB of RAM. And yep, the proprietary Palm connector is ditched for micro-USB. Hurray for standards. They're selling it unlocked through the online store for US$549 in the fall. [Palm]

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Slashgear's just found a video of the upcoming Treo Pro, a device that physically looks like the Centro, but runs the touchscreen version of Windows Mobile. The video shows you pretty much what you need to know about how big the phone is in your hand (not too big) but if you want to see it compared to some other things, there were the photos before and also some new photos over at a Chinese site. With all these leaks, the Treo Pro pretty much DEMANDS to be released soon. [Treo Pro via Slashgear]

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