Last September, EarthLink became the first Internet service provider (ISP) to offer voice service with support for Research In Motion's BlackBerry handhelds—originally the 7750 and more recently the Bluetooth-enabled 7250. The ISP’s wireless service travels over leased CDMA bandwidth.

PalmOne moves beyond its traditional operator partners with today's annoucement. The company's VP of U.S. carrier sales Tim Roper says, "We are excited to work with EarthLink Wireless, our first MVNO, to expand the Treo 650's reach to new customers and channels."

The Earthlink Treo 650 bundles the provider’s TotalAccess software (with its spamBlocker and Virus Blocker applications) to filter out unwanted messages before they reach the smartphone. Users can also synchronize data between their Treo and the Earthlink server over-the-air to keep address books up-to-date without a direct desktop connection.

With an Earthlink Personal Start Page, subscribers are able to set up the wireless delivery of customized content—news, stock prices, sports scores, weather, directions, maps, etc.—over the Web.

Earthlink plans to start selling the Treo 650 next month for $599. Voice plans with free night and weekend minutes begin at $39.95 per month, while unlimited e-mail and Internet access costs a fairly reasonable $19.95 per month.

Treo 650
Although not a reinvention of the Treo 600, the Treo 650—the most popular smartphone in the U.S.—fixes some weaknesses of the earlier model while adding some nice new features. It includes 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 implements 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.

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. 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 CDMA version of the Treo 650, see Review: palmOne Treo 650 - A Near Perfect Hybrid, where we review the Sprint edition of the smartphone.