Now take this with a big ol' grain of salt, but Verizon reportedly may get the latest and greatest er the second-most recently launched um the Palm Treo 800w ... wait for it ... in February 2010.

That's according to a PhoneArena tipster called "SnapDude," and even PA admits that this is far from official. Now don't get us wrong, the Treo 800w was a favorite around here for a while. But Palm has followed it with the Windows Mobile-powered Treo Pro and, of course, the Pre. Heck, we were talking nearly a year ago about Verizon bringing the 800w and still haven't seen it.

On the other hand, we can't help but chuckle when thinking about Verizon blabbing just days before the Palm Pre launched on Sprint that it would be getting the Pre. And then to not get the 800w out the door until February 2010? Well, karma's a fickle mother sometimes.

The other WinMo phone release rumored in the PA post is the Samsung Omnia II. We know Verizon and Sammy play well together, but is it realistic to think that the Omnia II could be released by Christmas? We'll see.

Maybe you're the kind of person who just has to know how things work. Maybe you like picking the wings off flies. Or maybe you broke your Palm Treo Pro 800w and actually want to try to fix it yourself.

There's a disassembly (and, thus, reassembly) guide over at MyTreo.net. Among the tools you'll need: A Torx T5 screwdriver, Philips screwdriver, a small flathead screwdriver and a pair of big brass ones that would make ol' Chester Nimitz stand up and applaud.

Update: Yeah, yeah. It's an 800w. Photo label/link/sleep FAIL. Sorry 'bout that.

The Boy Genius has scored a Sprint deathlist, with a couple of Windows Mobile phones slated to be EOL'd – that's end of life – in the coming months.

The Motorola Q9c is on the chopping block, with its execution date set for mid-June. No replacement is noted.

Also on the list is the HTC Touch Diamond, which would go the way of the dinosaurs in July. There's no replacement noted for it, either, though we'd be willing to bet we'll eventually see something off that leaked HTC lineup.

And finally there's the Palm Treo 800w, which will bite the big one in April and be replaced by the Treo Pro. The question remains exactly when.

Awhile back we posted how Sprint kept their word and finally released a PictureMail (MMS) application for all their WM devices.

One weird quirk is that Sprint chose to bypass Palm's threaded messaging app for PictureMail use, requiring you to send the picture via the "Pictures & Videos" program instead. This only applies to the Treo 800w. Lame.

Thanks to NightRaven and Vetack, who were working on the WM6.1 ROM for the 700wx, they figured a way to enable the built-in MMS capabilities using Palm's program. Next, Ebag333 applied this new trick to the Treo 800w and we now have a working version with a simple .cab install. This makes a much more integrated system.

Video and audio clips are able to be sent as well as pictures, of course. Click here for the thread and a slew of other pictures of the app in action.

Great work guys!

Small Correction: You can send multiple images and a text in one message.

You may not realize it, but the site you're reading right now is a part of one of the premier networks of smartphone news and review sites. We call it the 'Smartphone Experts Network' and if you haven't heard, we've recently added a new member to our family, Android Central. That brings the number of our smartphone communities up to five sites. You can find links to these sites and to their latest stories either in the sidebar or footer of every SPE site.

I thought now would be a good time to introduce a new weekly blog post I'll be putting up at each of our sites called 'Around SPE,' which will give you a very quick roundup of the biggest stories at each of our sites. Now, 'big stories' are just a tiny part of what we offer, as each of our sites also feature vibrant communities, engaging podcasts, and also accessory stores if you're looking to make your smartphone a little better.

In addition to our new sister site, there's also some other SPE Network news to share, so follow me after the break to learn more!

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Making the rounds on the Internets is a "sale" at Best Buy next week on the Treo 800w. And that's true, at least according to one site. But the even better news is that you can go snag one right now (and for the past several weeks, for that matter) for that same $199 price point, after rebates, contracts, blood tests, etc.

We're not looking a gift horse in the mouth. This is still $50 less than what you'll pay at either Palm's or Sprint's Web sites.

So If you're looking to re-up with Sprint and neither the HTC Touch Diamond or Touch Pro are doing it for you, swing by and give it a shot.

We've seen a few shots of the Samsung i770, but none as good as the above, posted at HoFo [via BGR]. The i770 looks to replace the awkward i760 by ditching the slider and going to a front-facing QWERTY. Palm had better try to get the Treo 800w released on Verizon on October 12th as previously rumored, because there's a lot of pent-up demand for a front-facing QWERTY WinMo smartphone on Verizon. This i770 looks to match the Treo 800w on pretty much every feature and will better it on thinness. One other way it will better the Treo 800w: it's a world-phone -- you can slap a SIM in there for use overseas.

Samsung is also doggedly pursuing their strategy of using the mini-mouse-pad in place of a standard D-Pad, though we hold out hope that the big silver circle surrounding it is clickable. We're doubting it, though, as it sounds like there's a switch to toggle the different pad modes between “swipe to scroll” and “mouse.”

Here you go, folks, our unboxing, hands-on, comparison, TouchFlo 3D (redux), Opera Mobile 9.5 video extravaganza with the all new Sprint Touch Diamond. We're loading the device up now to bring you a full review in the coming weeks and also to give it the same definitive iPhone video smackdown treatment we gave to the original Touch and iPhone.

Impressions: Everything we liked about the original Touch Diamond is here, but slightly faster. Sprint's crap-apps are less in-the-way, the added thickness doesn't bother us nearly as much as we thought it might (it's barely noticeable), and we're loving the red paint.

Questions: give 'em to us in the comments.

Let's be honest here: when the Verizon 700wx received an inexplicably late update to Windows Mobile 6 last week, you were likely filled with an unsettling admixture of glee and fear. The optimist in you said “There must have been some mega-corporation that uses the 700wx and needed this update.” The pessimist (when he got done wondering why it was WM6 instead of WM6.1) said “Verizon has to get the 700wx up to WM6 because they took a flier on the Treo 800w.” Despite Verizon sightings and leaked presentations, deep down you suspected that the big V might be willing to ignore the Treo 800w.

Well, stop that, stop it right now. Our new BFF Scott decided to quash that feeling and started chatting up Verizon reps. With the tenacity and rhetorical flair of a consummate debate king, he managed to get a rep to break from the standard script and admit that, yes, a new Treo is coming in the next month or so, and yes, it will be the 800w.

Scott, however, knows that your standard Verizon representative is a wily character, capable of guile and, yes, even lies. So he confirmed it twice more -- three separate reps verifying that it's due within “a few weeks” to “a month” and that it will definitely be the Treo 800w, not the rumored CDMA version of the Treo Pro.

If it were released next month, that would account for a 3 month (give or take) exclusive with Sprint, a time period that seems like the natural length for exclusivity.

So take all that for what it's worth, but we at WMExperts are firmly moving the Verizon Treo 800w into the “very probable” category. October should be a fun month. Meanwhile, big ups to Scott for doggedly pursuing the truth and to all three loose-lipped Verizon representatives, who showed that they can leak about everything, not just the BlackBerry Storm.

A super-sized podcast. Plenty of upcoming devices to speak about, plus the definitive Treo Pro vs Treo 800w comparison. Listen in!

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