Yesterday's Treo Pro announcement is the first serious sign that Palm is serious about raising the bar for their Treo line under the guidance of Jon Rubinstein. While we have seen scores of leaked photos, specs, and general device information, very little in the way of hands-on reports have emerged regarding Palm's thinnest, highest-end smartphone to date.

Both Gizmodo and Engadget Mobile have published a gallery of hands on unboxing pics. Gizmodo's report in particular has some very nice high-resolution shots and initial usage comments. The Pro's back looks extraordinarily iPhone 3G-esque and the stylus, while metal, seems a bit nubby compared to past Palm styli that have been long and thin.

Following up on two consecutive weeks of Best Buy sales on Palm handhelds and smartphones, Best Buy's current weekly ad is touting their latest round of sales as the "last week to save" for sale pricing on all of Best Buy's smartphones.

This time around, the Palm Centro is being promoted with heavily discounted pricing in both CDMA formats for Sprint and Verizon Wireless. Sprint's version of the Centro, the first version of the Centro available last year and a recipient of a recent ROM update, is discounted to $19.99 with new 2yr contract. For current users looking to upgrade, Sprint's Centro is marked down to $99.99.

Palm Inc. today formally introduced the Treo Pro smartphone, its latest Treo running the Windows Mobile operating system. The Treo Pro features a streamlined design in a sleeker glossy black package coming in as the thinnest Treo released to date.

The official announcement matches up with most of the previously leaked information. The Treo Pro will be available from Vodafone and O2 in Europe(from free to EUR 399 with contract) and from Telstra in Australia (from free with contract), also will be available in an unlocked version in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. Palm says the unlocked version will be made available in the US this fall from its online store for $549. Additional Treo Pro availability is scheduled to follow worldwide.

With the long-rumored Treo Pro now officially official, Palm users and analysts alike are cautiously awaiting the company's next move. The New York Times has posted a new piece entitled "Palm, Once a Leader, Seeks Path in Smartphone Jungle" that focuses primarily on Jon Rubinstein's role as company savior as well as the company's plans to ensure that the Centro is not a one-hit wonder.

While most of the information contained in the article will have a familiar ring to long-time Palm watchers, there are a few revealing tidbits offered by the NYT. First, the Treo Pro is said to have a "larger keyboard" than "current models". By "current models" it is unknown if the article is referring to the fairly ample keyboards between Palm's various older Treo models (680, 700-series, and 800w) or the diminutive Centro keyboard. The Pro is also said to have Apple-esque "jewel box" packaging, a break from Palm's standard small square cardboard box no-frills Treo packaging.

Ryhor Burakou, the developer behind the popular TouchLauncher application, has released another new iPhone inspired Palm OS utility. KeyGEx is a Treo/Centro keyguard replacement that mimics the slide to unlock gesture. It also allows you to greatly customize your lockscreen with signal info, battery, date and time displays and background wallpapers. If you're not a fan of finger sliding action you can also use the standard d-pad to unlock the device as well.

KeyGEx v1.6 for Palm OS is available as freeware. It supports the Palm Centro, Treo 650, Treo 680, Treo 700p and Treo 755p.

For our longtime readers the title above is somewhat of an understatement, even sometimes expected given the flurry of rumors that nearly always precede a new Palm release. Nevertheless, a number of tech sites posted seemingly official announcements of the Palm Treo Pro smartphone earlier this morning, only to quickly withdraw portions of the article citing a premature release by one of Palm's PR agencies.

In any event, new official looking press pictures of the device have been posted and even a video clip (posted after the break), which appear to have been produced by Palm's marketing department. Oddly these items remain online, while the official announcement statements were requested to be taken down. Initial images confirm that the device is essentially identical to the Treo Pro engineering prototype that have recently made the rounds online.

Dmitry's PalmSDHC and PalmPowerups site appear to have been only the first in a series of new C&D letters from Palm Inc targeting software developers. In the past few weeks, two other well known Palm OS Garnet programmers have been sent letters from Palm Inc's legal arm ordering them to change the names of some of their products.

3GX Software, the developer behind of PalmRevolt was given a letter demanding that they rename their product. As such, PalmRevolt is now pRevolt.

Following up on today's earlier report and slew of leaked images, even more Treo Pro details are emerging. With the device's core specifications confirmed, a new post by the original tipster Scottymomo has confirmed some of the device's software bundled software as well as some of the particular hardware quirks and memory specifications of the device.

As of this writing, nearly every relevant detail of the long-rumored Treo Pro/850 has been revealed aside from any discussion of its stylus, screen size, pricing, carrier availability and release date. Read on for some further details.

Another round of Treo Pro spy shots has been posted on Chinese Treo enthusiast site treo.net.cn. This time around a high quality digital camera was employed to take nearly 20 pictures of the Treo Pro from nearly all angles. They even throw in a number of comparison shots of the Pro next to the Centro and a Treo 650. In addition, the detailed shots also help to confirm a number of specs and details.

Read on for some of the full shots and spec recap or checkout the full thread at WMExperts.

A number of images of a new Palm Treo Pro have been dug up and posted online. Forum member scottymomo at WMExperts poked around Palm's Learning site and found a unposed flash tutorial of the unannounced new Treo.

The Treo Pro appears to be the official name of the previously leaked Treo 850. The earlier blurrycam pics match up with this new set and also fits the description of the code-named Palm Drucker, which was leaked back in January. The last set of rumors on this device pegged it as a Windows Mobile 6.1 powered Quad-band 3G GSM phone with Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, a 400 MHz processor and an approximate thickness of around ~.55 inches (14mm), a noticeable reduction from Treo's past.

GPSToday is a interesting new GPS application that is compatible with the Treo 800w and Windows Mobile devices. The program installs as a today screen plugin and packs in a number of unique features behind a clever interface. The app periodically pings your GPS location to display your current location and full street address, it will even scan your contacts and show you who is presently nearby. You can specify how often it updates and have it turn off your GPS when not in use to save battery life. The program also offers local search functionality, online maps, GeoWeather to display local conditions on your today screen, and the ability to automatically GeoTag your photos.

GPSToday version 0.9.9.1 from GeoTerrestrial is available now. It is compatible with devices running Windows Mobile Professional 5.0 and above that include an integrated GPS reciever. The program is currently available as freeware.