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Last month Palm started listing the copper colored (orange really) edition of the new Treo 680 as "no longer available" on its Web site. Turns out the company's statement of the death of that particular color was greatly exaggerated; the Treo 680 is available once again in that hue.

Palm once again lists the unlocked edition of the Treo 680 as being available in all four original colors: Graphite (silver), Arctic (white), Crimson (red) and Copper. This smartphone is the first - and so far only - model Palm has shipped in several colors.

Cingular, the only carrier to sell the Treo 680 in the U.S. so far, is offering the smartphone in Graphite only. The other colors are available only with the unlocked edition, which allows users to leverage the smartphone on other GSM-operator's networks, such as T-Mobile.

While the unlocked version allows users to choose from four colors and among network providers, you unfortunately don't get the steep discount a carrier might offer, such as the $200 price cut Cingular delivers for its edition of the Treo 680.

Palm is selling the unlocked edition for $400, while Cingular's version goes for a little less than $200 with a two-year contract and an unlimited Cingular PDA Connect data plan, which goes for $44.99 per month.

As with the Windows Mobile Treo 750 the Palm OS Treo 680 loses the Treo's signature external antenna, making it decidedly sleeker-looking than the Treo 650, which it replaces. Its GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio is a quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) type for global compatibility.

The Treo 680 also sports a VGA camera, a 320 x 320 pixel resolution touch screen, 64 MB of user-available memory, a 312 MHz Intel PXA270 processor, and Bluetooth. Its 1200 mAH lithium-ion battery is supposed to last up to 4 hours talk and 300 hours standby time.

The device measures 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.8 inches and 5.28 ounces and is the smallest Treo yet.

Palm has upgraded the user interface and introduced a new simplified five tab phone application with the Treo 680. In addition, the Address Book and contacts are now built directly into the phone application.