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Less than a week after we reported how Verizon Wireless is expected to follow Sprint in picking up the Treo 700wx this December, Bell Canada has become the second North American carrier to actually offer Palm's upgrade to the Treo 700w. As with Sprint, Bell Canada never got its hands on the Treo 700w, so the newer model is its first Microsft-based Treo. Only Verizon has delivered Palm's first Windows Mobile smartphone since it launched in January.

Unlike the U.S. carriers, the Canadian operator does not carry the Treo 700P, the only CDMA/EV-DO-capable Palm platform smartphone on the market. Therefore those subscribers who prefer the Palm OS over Windows Mobile will still only have the aging Treo 650—which isn't 3G-enabled or as advanced as the Treo 700p—as an alternative to the Treo 700wx.

Bell Canada sells the Treo 700wx for $399.95 Canadian with a three year contract, $499.95 with two, and $549.95 with none at all.

The Treo 700wx is nearly identical to the Treo 700w expect the former has twice as much RAM, 64 MB, as the latter. What this does is give the Treo 700wx 44 MB of user-available memory compared to the Teo 700w's mere 25 MB.

The Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone, which measures 4.4 x 2.3 x .9 inches (111 x 58 x 22.5 millimeters) and weighs 6.4 ounces (180 grams), runs on a 312 MHz Intel XScale processor, and has an SDIO-enabled Secure Digital slot for memory and peripheral expansion. There's a square 240 x 240 pixel resolution touch screen with 65,536 colors, and a 1.3 megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom.

Like other Treos, its QWERTY thumb-keyboard is backlit and it has a 5-way navigator and speakerphone.

The Treo 700wx also delivers Bluetooth dial-up networking (along with USB) to allow users to leverage the Treo as a wireless modem for a laptop through a 400-700 kbps EV-DO network out-of-the box. The same connection that deliver speedy access to e-mail, the Web, video, audio, handset TV and other content services.

It integrates Microsoft-based push e-mail through the software giant's Windows Mobile Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP), which includes Direct Push Technology for messages, calendar, contacts, and tasks; native S/MIME support, certificate-based authentication to all Exchange data; and remote and local device wipe.

There's also support for Good Mobile Messaging and Good Mobile Defense for security and fleet management purposes.

For more on the Treo 700wx, see our review.