Sony announced the PEG-T615C last week and it is just starting to become available. This is the replacement for the N610C and has a hi-res color screen, a Jog Dial, a Memory Stick slot, and 16 MB of RAM. News Editor Ed Hardy has a preliminary review, to be followed by a full review later this week.

Numerous readers have written in that Sony has shipped the T615C's they ordered last week from SonyStyle and that they should arrive Monday.

This model is beginning to appear on numerous webstores. Office Express has the best price so far, with both silver and blue models going for $358. It lists them as backordered, though. Best Buy has it only in Silver for $400 and says it is in stock. PC Mall has both colors for $400, too, though it isn't yet available.

The biggest story of the week was the announcement from Handspring that it was eventually going to phase out the Visor line. This caused so much controversy, there was a clarification from the company later. Handspring also said the Treo would be delayed a bit, that it has found a European wireless carrier and distributor for the Treo, and announced its quarterly earnings.

Not to be overshadowed by all the Handspring news, Sony announced two new models, the T615C and S360.

Earlier this week, Handspring's CEO Donna Dubinsky said that her company will eventually stop making Visors and only make Treos. This immediately set off a firestorm of controversy, with many incorrectly taking this to mean that Handspring was immediately dropping its flagship products. Jeff Hawkins, co-founder and Chairman of the company, sent an email late yesterday to the developer community that tried to make it clear that while Handspring is going to concentrate more on the Treo communicators, it isn't abandoning the Visor line.

An anonymous source has leaked a great deal of information on Palm's soon-to-be-released wireless handheld, the i705. Much of the information that was released about this device when it received FCC approval last fall has been confirmed but there is also some additional information.

The primary feature of the i705 is that it offers always-on email. The user is notified as soon as a new email is received, even if the handheld is turned off. Also, it comes with AOL Instant Messenger and the i705 will notify the user when an instant message arrives, too.

Saunders, maker of the RhinoSkin line of cases, is lowering its prices for all its aluminum and titanium hardcases. All aluminum cases will now be $35, down from $50, and titanium cases will be $70, down from $100. There are hardcases of both types for the Palm m500 and V series, and the Visor and Visor Edge. These prices have already taken effect.

PDA Geek is reporting that the real reason Handspring is delaying the release of the Treo isn't because of a parts shortage as the company is reporting but instead it are having to wait for wireless carriers to approve the handhelds for their networks.

Filez 4.0 is out. This freeware file manager now has the ability to do memory card to memory card copies and view and edit files with a hex editor. It includes new, detailed HotSync and memory card information screens.

TT Tech Limited recently released the SnapNType mini-keyboard for the Palm m500 and m505. The keyboard clips onto the bottom of the Palm, covering the hardware buttons, and allowing the user to type with their thumbs. News Editor Ed Hardy has this review.

InfoWorld has convinced a few developers to leak some information on Palm OS 5, which is currently being developed. Palm announced long ago that its next-generation operating system would run on ARM-based processors, forsaking the Motorola Dragonball ones that have powered all Palm handhelds up until now. But for the most part, the company has managed to keep the lid on other details of the OS.

Palm Inc. will release the Bluetooth SD card in February, according to a report in ZDNet UK. As this is the British version of the site, the article only says the Bluetooth card will be available in the U.K. and doesn't mention any other countries. There has been no formal announcement of the card's release from Palm.

Palm Inc. is continuing its campaign to create "buzz" about its forthcoming handheld by adding a page to its site that reveals that it will be a wireless model but nothing else about it. Earlier this week Palm emailed most of its customers with a teaser hint about a new handheld. -Ed

Sony now lists the silver version of the T615C as being available on or before January 22. The blue version still says simply "backordered". The T615C was officially announced earlier this week. -Ed