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When Cingular Wireless started selling the GSM edition of the Treo 650 the other day (see image), partner palmOne began offering an unlocked version of the smartphone as well.

The unlocked Treo 650 lets you pop in a SIM (subscriber identity module) card, so you can use the handset with the majority of GSM carrier networks around the world—SIMs identify a mobile handset to a wireless phone system.

Wednesday, the unlocked Treo 650 sold for $600, a mere $50 more than the model that could only be used on Cingular's network. Today, if you want to purchase the unlocked model you'll need to shell out $700.

Although palmOne asserts it hiked the price by $100 because of a pricing error, saying it should have been $700 all along, a lot of people aren't buying that excuse.

They feel it was done at the instigation of Cingular, as (perhaps) more people where purchasing the unlocked edition because it didn't cost that much more, while at the same time giving them a wide range of mobile operators to choose from.

Whatever the reason, palmOne will honor the $600 price for those who've already ordered the unlocked Treo 650.

Treo 650
Although not a reinvention of the Treo 600, the Treo 650 fixes some weaknesses of the earlier model while adding some nice new features, including an improved keyboard, high-resolution screen, e-mail, PIM functionality, Web browser, and phone capabilities.

The smartphone measures 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.9 inches, weighs about 6.3 ounces, and has an overall appearance similar to the Treo 600's. Treo 650's QWERTY thumb-keyboard has a backlight and a more user-friendly design than the previous model, however. And like the earlier model, there is a Secure Digital slot for peripheral and memory expansion.

Unlike the Treo 600 and its 160 x 160 screen, the Treo 650 uses a high-resolution 320 x 320 display, which makes it easier to read documents and Web pages. The Treo 650 also integrates Bluetooth, a glaring omission in the previous model. Bluetooth lets Treo owners use wireless headsets and print to Bluetooth printers, for example.

As with the Treo 600, the Treo 650 includes a VGA camera for 640 x 480 or 352 x 288 pixel images. The Treo 650's camera is better, however, with improved picture and video taking in low-light situations. With the Treo 650, you also get a 312 MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor and twice the memory, 32MB, of the Treo 600. As with the Tungsten T5, the memory is non-volatile, which means you won't lose your data in the event of a power drain.

Unlike the Treo 600's battery, the Treo 650's is removable. So you can carry an extra battery (sold separately), and swap it out for additional power on the fly.

For more on the Treo 650, see Review: palmOne Treo 650 - A Near Perfect Hybrid, where we review the Sprint edition of the smartphone, which is basically the same, except it supports that operator's CDMA network.