Fall 2006 has come and gone with no sign of any new Palm handhelds on the horizon. With even more urgency than before, the PDA faithful are stockpiling devices and accessories and preparing the inevitable. The Palm TX leads the field as Palm’s flagship handheld and is still readily available worldwide. Yet any long-term Palm user will recognize that one of the TX’s major shortcomings is its lack of an internal microphone. Read on for the review of Tech Center Labs Mini Bud Mic solution for the TX.

We have put together a gallery of live shots of the Treo 680 in action, while we work on our upcoming full review. Palm today announced it is finally taking pre-orders on the colored, unlocked 680's, while Cingular announced it will have the Treo 680 in stock for black Friday at $199 with a two year plan and data service.

Read on for the Treo 680 pictures...

Palm today announced the unlocked Palm Treo 680 smartphone’s preorder availability from Palm’s website. The unlocked Treo 680 will be available in four colors exclusively from Palm.com for $399 USD. It can be preordered today and will be available at Palm U.S. retail stores after Dec. 1st.

Cingular has announced the Treo 680 will be available in its stores and online beginning Friday, Nov. 24. The Palm Treo 680 will be sold for as low as $199 with a two year contract agreement and an unlimited data plan.

The evergreen Tungsten E2, now newly repackaged and rebranded in some retail outlets, is going to be a Staples "Black Friday" blowout sales item. According to leaked black Friday newspaper circulars, the E2 is to be priced at $148.99 which is at over $50 less than its standard MSRP. No word if Staples is selling the bare E2 package or the "Essentials" pack which includes a few free extras such as screen protectors, a case and a spare stylus. As an added incentive, Staples is also giving away a free keyboard with mail-in rebate with purchase of the E2. The ad is unclear which brand or model or keyboard is being offered but a likely candidate is the Palm Universal IR wireless keyboard since the MSRP matches that mentioned in the ad.

Palm has released a update patch that address issues sending SMS messages on the Treo 700wx. The patch is designed specifically for the Sprint Treo 700wx smartphone and only that model.

Hobbyist Software has released a minor update to their excellent Palm OS app Phone Technician. The new version is 2.72 and is primarily a bug fix update from 2.71. The major improvement is a resolution to the phone power on issues after the user performs a reset of the Treo. A status screen has been added to the program to give the user some indication of the program's operational state.

Phone Technician is available now for $14.95, a free trial is available.

Just a quick reminder - today is the last day to enter our Treo 700p giveaway. Simply head over here and post a comment and tell us about your favorite application for a chance to win a brand new Treo 700p on Sprint or Verizon.

The Palm.com Store is currently running a number of Black Friday sale specials through Saturday night at midnight.

• Free ground shipping on all orders
• The Palm TX Handheld is on sale for $199 ($100 off) and includes a free wireless keyboard accessory.
• The Tungsten E2 PDA is on sale for $149.00, a full $50 off of its standard MSRP
• Palm GPS Navigator Smartphone Edition 3 is on sale for $149.00, a huge $100 drop from the usual $249.00 price

The San Jose Mercury News has a short piece on Palm CEO Ed Colligan's response to a question about the possibility of Apple releasing a mobile phone.

Responding to questions from New York Times correspondent John Markoff at a Churchill Club breakfast gathering Thursday morning, Colligan laughed off the idea that any company -- including the wildly popular Apple Computer -- could easily win customers in the finicky smart-phone sector.

"We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone," he said. "PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in.'"

Hot on the heels of the PIC Treo call recording app shootout in September are two updates to the apps featured in the shootout. MotionApps’ mVoice is now up to version 5.0.1 from the version 5.0 featured in the shootout. QMobilSoft’s CallRec, the winner of that shootout, has leapt from version 3.1 to the new 4.0. Read on to see the small but significant tweaks that help CallRec extend its lead against the competition.