PC World's Yardena Arar reports on the imminent arrival of the Treo 680 for Cingular, with a release date of November 24th.

The price of the phone, Arar notes, could present a serious problem. It's $375 with a one-year contract or $200 with a two-year contract. "If you don't want to sign a contract (or are an existing Cingular customer and don't qualify for a phone-upgrade subsidy), the Treo 680 will cost you $450," she writes.

And though the new Treo is slightly slimmer and lighter than its predecessors, Arar writes, "whatever progress Palm has made in slimming down the Treo is dwarfed by the skinny profiles of recent competitors such as the Nokia E62 and T-Mobile Dash."

Forbes' Dan Frommer notes that speed is also an issue. "The new Treo 680 can't connect to Cingular's 3G high-speed data network, meaning customers will have to use the carrier's slower wireless Internet service," he writes. "A Palm rep said the company juggled features for price, noting that Cingular's 3G coverage isn't as widely available as its slower network, called EDGE."

Still, not everyone is responding negatively: Mobility Today's David Ciccone writes, "A hat tip goes out to Palm for delivering an entry level Converged device for the every day user!"

Palm's press release is here.