Not Quite a Treo 670 Sighting

For almost two weeks now there’s been some chatter surrounding someone having seen a listing of a “Sprint Treo 670” in a 4th quarter product catalog – albeit with no picture and absolutely no indication as to whether it might sport PalmOS or Windows Mobile as has been previously rumoured.

Even though very little of this could be treated as ‘news’ many sites (including me now) are now using it to revive the Treo 670 discussion.

I personally pretty much consider a future Treo running Windows Mobile (WM) to be a fait accompli.  I even attended my first WM event recently and if the past is any indication I anticipate that Palm will make an official announcement at the end of this month at CTIA.  I am nonetheless still puzzling over the practical aspects of the Treo 670’s commercial release.

Among others, if there is a Treo 670 running WM what will be the name/number of ours running PalmOS?  Let’s for a moment assume that they’re both called Treo 670 then surely ‘some kind’ of distinguishing mark will have to be made between both – Treo 670A and Treo 670B?  Alternatively, naming the WM version Treo 670 and the PalmOS version Treo 700 for arguments sake may lead to further confusion as people will likely assume that the higher number is better.  I’ve been scratching my head to find an example of a company running two operating systems on a single hardware platform but to the best of my knowledge the Treo 670 will be a first.

Evidently, I would much rather have pictures and news of the PalmOS Treo 670 of which there’s surprisingly been absolutely zip to date.  At this stage we are left to assume that the rumoured enhanced specifications (1.3MP camera and EVDO data connectivity) of the WM Treo 670 will also apply to the PalmOS version.  At the same time, it’s good to see that the Windows Mobile camp is becoming increasingly excited about the news that they may soon have a Treo of their own and the above image taken from MSMobiles is particularly amusing.

Treo 670 Running Windows Mobile? It's for Real Now!!! [Treonauts]
Another Windows Mobile Treo sighting Treo 670 coming to Sprint USA soon? [MSMobiles]
Treo 670 Sighting [TreoCentral Forums]
Rumor: Treo 670 sighted in fall catalog [Ubergizmo]

Treonauts want more pictures of their next baby…