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When Palm, Inc., Microsoft and Verizon Wireless introduced the first Windows Mobile Treo back in September, the companies said the device would arrive early next year.

Not soon enough or specific enough a time frame for some.

Reports say online application retailer Handango recently sent an e-mail to developers saying the eagerly-awaited handset would come out early in January, narrowing the shipping date for the communicator down considerably. Earlier this month, Verizon confirmed Treo 700w as the name of the new device when it prematurely posted an ad for the smartphone.

Features of the CDMA Treo 700w include 64 MB of non-volatile memory (twice that of the previous Palm-based model, the Treo 650) to allow data to survive a complete power drain, just like the earlier Treo. It also has Bluetooth for personal area networking, so users can connect to wireless headsets and printers, for example.

While the unit doesn't integrate Wi-Fi like some other smartphones on the market, it is compatible with Palm's Wi-Fi SD card, so you can add the capability. There's a 240 x 240 pixel resolution display.

The new Windows Mobile Treo will be Palm's first 3G product, as it supports Verizon's high-speed EV-DO network for data-transfer rates of about 400-700 kilobits per second (kbps). It will take advantage of the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform in multiple ways—offering Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile and Internet Explorer Mobile built into the smartphone, as well as direct access to Exchange Server 2003 for mobile access to information.

It is not known when other carriers may start offering a Windows Mobile Treo as well, certainly after Verizon ships the Treo 700w. A GSM/GPRS edition for operators like Cingular and T-Mobile most likely won't appear until the second half of next year either.