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Like it did for the Verizon Wireless edition of the Treo 650 smartphone last week, Palm, Inc. this week posted a ROM update on its support page for the Cingular Wireless version of the acclaimed communicator.

Unlike Verizon's patch, however, the Cingular system upgrade (Updater 1.15) fixes a major storage issue for the RAM-challenged device. The updates for the Sprint and unlocked versions of the Treo 650 also included this memory fix.

Here's the story:

Palm, at the time palmOne, implemented a non-volatile file system (NVFS) in the Treo 650 because of the strong benefits it provides: preserving data and applications if the battery runs down, and the ability to change the battery on the fly.

By default, Treo 650 NVFS stores each record in rather large 512 byte blocks, for greatly reducing the amount of storage available to the user—in a device with a rather limited 32 MB of RAM, a mere 23 MB user-available.

The Cingular software update reduces the overhead for storing database records in the file system. It does so by compacting more than one record into a single 512 byte block. So, in effect, each 512 block is divided into sixteen 32 byte sub blocks, which allows small and large records to be stored much more efficiently.

In addition to the storage system update, Updater 1.15 for the Cingular Treo 650 includes VersaMail 3.0c ( the latest version), voice quality enhancements, and a "Get Good" application to facilitate faster, wireless installation of Good Technology’s GoodLink e-mail software for business customers.

It also improves battery life by automatically turning off screen after 30 seconds of a call and incorporates two software patches previously released on Palm's website: Carkit Update for Treo 650 (Bluetooth carkit drivers) and Treo 650 Voicemail Updater 1.04 for Cingular.