It seems the Swiss Army has a new mobile tech division. The PIC store has just added three new cases from Swiss Mobility. The new designs provide a stylish and protective shield for your smartphone, though unfortunately they do not yet have secret flip out knives and tools hidden within them. Each case is 100% hand stitched and features a soft nylon interior to keep your phone scratch-free and the large flap with magnetic closure ensures the phone will stay protected and secure.

There are three designs currently available. The first is the Legion Smartphone Case for the Treo series. This multi-functional case is made of ballistic nylon and leather and features a wallet compartment, with pockets for ID's and photos and memory card storage pockets for $24.95.

TechCenter Labs (aka Gary Mayhak) can always be counted on to release clever and affordable accessories for Palm devices, such as the add-on bud microphone for Palm handhelds lacking integrated voice recording.

This time around, TCL has released a nifty new emergency charger for all Palm devices utilizing the Athena/MultiConnector plug type. The new TCL charger joins the existing TCL USB charger and utilizes either a conventional AA alkaline throwaway battery, a NiMH rechargeable AA or a higher-capacity disposable lithium battery such as this type (.pdf link) offered by Energizer for specialty photo applications. The chargers have built-in circuitry to give the correct voltage required by Palm devices so as not to over or under-charge their batteries. TCL are offering a total of four variations of the charger: $9.95 for the charger in silver or black without a battery and $10.95 for the charger in without or black and bundled with a disposable lithium battery included.

Rumor:After debuting last October on Sprint, the Verizon version of the Palm Centro looks set to finally hit the market. The Centro's delayed-but-anticipated arrival on Verizon comes over four months after the previous release of the GSM Centro to various carriers worldwide.

Engadget Mobile is reporting that the Verizon version of the Palm Centro is rumored to be in store for an imminent release on Friday, June 13th. Verizon's late appearance at the Centro party is nothing new, as the CDMA giant has almost always lagged behind other carriers in offering the latest handsets, with Palm OS-based smartphones nearly always appearing on Verizon six months after their Sprint launch.

With an imminent release rumored for July on Sprint, the floodgates of Treo 800w images have been opened. Starting with a now-pulled Sprintusers forum post and quickly spreading to other sites, several new leaked spy shots clearly show what appears to be a production version of the Sprint Treo 800w. While still substantially less sleek and stylish than the GSM 850, the 800w does look nearly identical to what the earlier pre-production leaked photos suggested.

An additional forum post from someone who claims to be a Sprint employee is suggesting that the device will debut on July 13th on Sprint, with a final price of $250 w/ 2 year contract and after an undisclosed amount of mail-in and instant rebates. Read on for further pics and details.

One of the biggest compromises entailed by the Centro's relatively small size relative to its Treo brethren is the reduced battery life. With only a small 1150mAh stock battery, the Centro offers the smallest stock battery of any Palm smartphone yet, less than the 1200mAh of the older Treo 680 and 750. Palm did briefly announce, release, and then almost immediately EOL their own branded extended battery earlier this year.

Fortunately, longtime Palm accessory specialist Seidio, suspiciously silent on the Centro battery front, has just announced an extended battery designed exclusively for the Palm Centro. While this new offering from Seidio unfortunately doesn't fit under the stock battery door, it does offer a whopping 2600mAh of power (an increase of almost 40%) while remaining the same approximately physical size as Palm's 1800 mAh battery. For comparison purposes, 2600mAh is the capacity of the largest Seidio battery that fits the stock battery cover of the Treo 650 and 700p/w/wx.

Jud Bowman, a co-founder of Motricity, announced today that he has acquired the smartphone applications business from Motricity, which includes PocketGear and the former PalmGear and Smartphone.net websites. Bowman along with venture capital firms Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group are financing the deal and the creation of a new venture around the businesses called PocketGear.

PocketGear claims a network of more than 30,000 developers and 50,000 mobile applications. PocketGear powers smartphone application distribution for direct channels including PocketGear.com and storefronts for its partners including Palm, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, T-Online, and AOL.

Continuing their strong showing of frequent updates of late, CoreCodec continues to improve their popular multi-platform CorePlayer media player. Now up to version 1.2.5, this latest build is, in the words of CoreCodec's BetaBoy, primarily a "bug fix and stability release for all platforms" that is centered around adding support for WM 6.1 ROM updates on some Windows Mobile devices.

Additionally, CoreCodec are also promising that the 1.2.x line is drawing to a close and the 1.3.x version of the app is waiting in the wings, as CoreCodec tries to grow the app from being a mere media palyer to a "content aggregator" platform.

The normally slow summer season has really been showing some surprising signs of life on the Palm OS front, as updates to a number of classic Palm OS apps have recently been released. Now an entirely new version of the premiere Palm OS call recording and voice memo app, CallRec, has been released by developer QMobilSoft.

Calling this latest build of CallRec an entirely "new" version worthy of the 6.0 moniker might be a bit of a stretch. Version 6.0, dated June 1 2008, appears to be the recipient of only two primary new features. Both of these are security-related, as file encryption and password-protection of recorded files from within the app now make their appearance. Despite a lack of whiz-bang new additions, version 6.0 of CallRec looks to continue the strong showing of the already excellent 5.x version.

Deluxeware have just released a new version of their recently-released Golden Skull game for Palm OS devices. Developed by DeluxeWare and co-published by Astraware, GoldenSkull is an interesting-looking Palm OS title along the lines of Astraware's own Bejeweled. It combines puzzle gameplay with an adventure storyline set amidst the background of Mayan archaeological exploration. Fans of the new Indiana Jones might find this a very appropriate title to check out in an otherwise slowing market of new Palm OS entertainment titles. The title's first update since its release less than two months ago, adds four difficulty levels alongside the usual list of small, unmentioned bugfixes.

Golden Skull - Saeed's Adventures v1.10 is available now for Palm OS and Windows Mobile. It costs $14.95 and comes with a free trial period. The game supports all Palm OS 5 320x320 devices and, refreshingly, 320x480 handhelds.

I'm one of the proud few who choose to not carry my Treo 755p "naked" but rather contained within a thin pouch-style case in my pocket. Unfortunately, while pouch-style cases for Treos are plentiful, the vast majority of them have obese dimensions, with bulges and extra bulk added from various types of rear belt clips, mounting studs, and belt loops. I've long been searching for a fully-enclosed, pouch case that is as thin as possible while still retaining a top closure.

After conversing with fellow Treo users online, I determined that I was going to have to custom order a case tailored to fit my exact requirements. It came down to a close shootout between two similar pouch cases from New Zealand's Nutshell and Miami-based Fortte. In the end, I went with Fortte's Treo 680/750/755p pouch case, being impressed with their website and finding several reviews online giving the firm's products enthusiastic reviews. I deliberated for a day or two and then placed my order, undeterred by Fortte's advice that the construction and shipping of my case would take a good 3-4 weeks. I decided that good things come to those who wait, so I continued living with my trusty old Case-Mate case on my 755p while waiting for the new arrival to appear in my mailbox. Read on to see if my dreams for the perfect pocket pouch case have been met by Fortte's offering.

ShSh Software has released an update to its TAKEphONE software. TAKEphONE is a enhanced contact management application, designed to improve and simplify your contact management phone call operations. It facilitates stylus free operation and one-handed dialing, enhanced search capabilities, as well as telephony features, such as calling-card support, extra digits dialing on all contacts, Internet phone number search and much more. This new version adds improved graphics and skins, a new clock display, an updated 4cast plugin and many more improvements.

TAKEphONE v7.60 for Palm OS is available now for $19.95. This update is free for previously registered customers and a free trial period is available.