Can't beat 'em? Join them. After a week of leaks - some self-inflicted - and rumors, Palm’s apparently decided enough was enough. Today Palm took the wraps off its latest smartphone, the Treo Pro.

The sleek, shiny and mostly black Treo Pro is a handsome addition to the once heralded Treo line. Other than that, it seems to be more of the same - albeit slightly thinner - from the PDA pioneer.

You've got the usual candy-bar shape, BlackBerry-styled QWERTY thumb-keyboard and hi-res 320 x 320-pixel touch screen.

It runs on the latest edition of Microsoft's mobile-device platform, Windows mobile 6.1 Professional. Enhancements to Windows Mobile include a feature that allows you to perform a Web search directly from the Today screen.

Because the Treo Pro sports a quad-band GSM radio for voice and speedy tri-band UMTS/HSDPA 3G for data access, the new smartphone is a true world phone that can be used in most international markets.

There's also Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. Palm's added a convenient button to turn Wi-Fi on and off with this Treo model.

Hardware specs for the 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.5-inch, 4.7-ounce Treo Pro include a 2.0 megapixel camera for picture and video, 128MB of RAM, 256MB of Flash ROM and a microSD card slot for additional storage. Its 1500 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated to last for 5 hours of talk and up to 250 hours stand-by time.

Additional features include a ringer switch to enable you to quickly silence the Treo Pro, a new voicemail indicator, and a screen saver to lets users know at a glance - without turning on the device - what time it is and whether they've missed a call or have a new SMS/MMS message.

Palm plans to launch the Treo Pro in Europe through Vodafone(from free to EUR 400 with contract) and O2 and in Australia through Telstra (from free with contract) next month.

Apparently, Palm hasn't been able to find a carrier to offer the new smartphone in the U.S. yet. It'll only be available unlocked and - unfortunately - unsubsidized for $549, however.

It's going to be hard for Palm to compete with the BlackBerrys and iPhone's of the world, most of which are far cheaper, at that price. Palm's going to need a carrier partner or two (three?) for the Treo Pro to succeed in the U.S.