The Register reports that Taiwanese contract-manufacturer HTC will build the Treo 650 for palmOne and cites a Digitimes article indicating that shipments of a new PDA phone to palmOne began recently. This has led many sites to conclude that the Treo 650 will go on sale in North America in October.

Treonauts provides a side-by-side comparison of the Treo 600 and expected Treo 650 feature sets. Key improvements in the new model include:

• 312MHz ARM processor (over 2x current speed),
• 320x320 pixels screen resolution (2x current resolution),
• 1.2-megapixels camera with built-in digital zoom and video capture (4x current still image resolution), and
• Bluetooth built-in (new feature).

This is a significant leap forward, if the reported specifications are accurate.