Over in the TreoCentral Forums, we've been watching the "Treo 800w. I just held one." thread with great interest. That interest paid off tonight (thanks to a heads-up tip from Malatesta): Forum member jrinehart has posted a mockup image of what may be the Treo 800w for Sprint.

As I wrote over at WMExperts, the image needs to be taken with a grain of salt. It's likely not an actual photo, but instead a rendering of a device. Additionally, the image does appear to be "stretched" horizontally if you take a close look at the today screen.

However, the design cues seems to feel right - it's somewhere in between a "classic" Treo and the Centro in its button placement. If nothing else, the image can probably be taken as yet another piece of evidence that Palm is working on a high-end Windows Mobile Treo. One that will finally drop the antenna on CDMA Windows Mobile Treos (it's rumored to be released on Sprint) and finally brings Windows Mobile Treos up to a 320 x 320 screen resolution.

Update 1:

We manipulated the proportions of the 800w image, making the keyboard match the width of an existing Treo 750 and squaring the screen. Also included for reference is a Treo 500v and a Palm Centro.

Update 2: While we're nowhere near being able to verify anything yet, it is looking more and more likely that the 800w is real and will likely be released in early to mid 2008.

A closer look at the design of the Treo shows that there are more "main buttons," moving "send" and "end" to the left and right and adding extra customizable buttons for email and web. This is a welcome addition. However, it does appear that it requires that the soft buttons be move up and has also shifted the screen up a bit, leaving less space for the speaker.