Palm Readying Skywriter Smartphone with GPS

The folks over at Palm seem to be preparing a nice surprise for all the smarpthone users out there (who don't have anything against the Sunnyvale-based company), as they will soon release a new Palm handset code-named Skywriter. We have to admit this name is quite nice for a smartphone.

Anyway, the surprise doesn't consist in the device's naming, but in the nice features that are (apparently) packed in it. First of all, the new Palm will be running in the latest Windows Mobile 6.1 OS. Secondly, the Skywriter has lots of chances to be one and the same with another device code-named Drucker, which was unveiled at the beginning of January together with an entire Vodafone road-map for 2008. If the "Skywriter" and "Drucker" names indeed designate the same smartphone, then, according to the features that the Drucker is said to have, we'll soon be seeing a new Palm with GPS, Wi-Fi and 3G, which - you have to admit - is not bad at all. Moreover, the handset also features a 320 x 320 pixel display, quad-band GSM connectivity, a 2.0 Megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 and a powerful 1500 mAh battery.

The TamsPPC blog reports that an "inside source" has confirmed the existence of Palm Skywriter and Palm Zeppelin (which is actually the Treo 800w, planned to hit the market in July). The same source says "launch developers" are invited to develop applications for both the Skywriter and the Zeppelin and submit them until the 30th of May, which could mean the new smartphones are almost ready to be launched.

Seeing the image that supposedly shows the future Palm Skywriter, we can't help noticing that its display is too small for that big case and, more important, the device looks like it was designed by a kid who's not good at designing anything. Fortunately, the picture shows only a mock-up in order to keep the real face of Skywriter a secret, so we hope the smartphone is actually far from looking like this.

We'll find out more about the Skywriter in a few moths when Palm should officially present it.