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As expected, Palm, Inc. and Verizon Wireless have released updater 1.10 for the Treo 700w, which brings push e-mail, among other enhancements to the smartphone. Not only that, it arrives a full week before many thought it would.

With push (available most famously in RIM's BlackBerry solutions), when a server receives a message, it is automatically sent to a mobile device instead of the user having to manually pull it down or schedule retrievals at set intervals.

Push support is provided for enterprises with Microsoft's Messaging and Security wireless synchronization of e-mail, calendar, contacts and tasks with Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2.

Updater 1.10 also provides additional enhanced e-mail capabilities, including support for other push e-mail solutions, such as Wireless Sync, Verizon's e-mail solution for Domino and Exchange environments, and GoodLink; and enhanced synchronization with the ability to maintain an active data connection after POP or IMAP e-mail synchronizations, and the ability to auto-synchronize all e-mail accounts based on user settings.

There's also improved memory management as well as picture and video handling, and a new Wireless Manager that delivers an updated interface for turning wireless radios on and off on the Treo 700w.

Updater 1.10 is a 35 MB compressed download. When updating, follow the directions closely and be sure to backup all your data. Unfortunately, the update does not contain A2DP (stereo Bluetooth headset) support.

Push E-mail
The purpose of the AKU2 is to enable the Treo 700w - a member of the best-selling smartphone series in the U.S. - to better compete in the enterprise space against the likes of the BlackBerry and other Microsoft-based handhelds and smartphones. As a Windows Mobile device, it has already achieved some of that objective for Palm, which has traditionally had trouble getting its Palm OS devices, including Treos, into enterprises, simply because they weren't Microsoft based.

(At this point, some would argue, Windows Mobile has outstripped the Palm OS in terms of features and capabilities even (the ability to multitask, for example), but not simplicity, which Palm brought to the table with the Treo 700w.)

Microsoft unveiled the on-device client to enable push e-mail on Windows Mobile handhelds and smartphones in February, at the 3GSM show in Barcelona Spain. The Direct Push software completed the mob-e-mail puzzle the software giant started with the backend deployment last fall of Service Pack 2 for Exchange Server 2003.

A couple of months later, Palm - on the second day of another wireless conference - CTIA Wireless 2006 - announced the long-awaited Direct Push software update for its inaugural Windows Mobile handset, the Treo 700w.