Regular Operation Gadget readers know that I treat rumors of new devices with suspicion. Nevertheless, the rumor floated by TreoCentral of the fourth generation palmOne Treo nicknamed the Treo Ace is pretty interesting. All of the specifications that are mentioned seem reasonable considering where the Treo 600 is now and where other state-of-the art smartphones, such as the Nokia 6600, are in terms of features.

The soft keys that are prominently featured on the Treo Ace's face, just below the bottom of the screen, are similar to those found on the Nokia 6600, the Motorola V300, and most other really popular recent phones. The 312 mHz Intel PXA270 Xscale processor, 32-megabytes of RAM, built-in Bluetooth, 320x320 16-bit color screen, and 1.2-megapixel camera are all features that the rumored-new Treo would share with the palmOne Zire 72. It's nice to think that palmOne would economize by reusing components even if it brings two product lines at vastly different price points a bit closer.

We'll have to wait and see if this design makes it to market.