Gizmodo
The little red Palm Centro just arrived, and we're still convinced this $99 wunderkind will go places. Have a look at it in the gallery, and then make the jump for my first at-home impressions.
My first thought was that it felt like a toy. The directional pad is a little loose, and the microSD card slot is a little bit too flimsy. But those feelings went away quickly when I started it up, and the only thing I could think was: man, what took Palm so long?
Some other thoughts:
• Like Brian said, that keyboard is seriously tiny. It's much easier to use the screen to type in phone numbers, for instance, and in general, it's significantly more cramped than a Treo.
• The built-in speaker is loud and clear, a little heavy on the high-end, but free of distortion, good for Sprint streaming radio and TV, and of course MP3s.
• You can easily setup email in VersaMail without using a PC—a scenario I suspect is more relevant to Centro buyers than to Treo buyers.
• There's an instant music on/off button on the left side. I haven't located a physical "Back" button though. I wonder if I could reprogram the insta-music button to do that.
• Google Maps with traffic and sat view, but NO GPS!!! I was sad when it hit home, and confused: I thought EV-DO chipsets from Qualcomm had aGPS in there by default. UPDATE: It does have aGPS for E911. But Sprint just told me, "The underlying application for Sprint Navigator and other similar GPS services only operates on a Java platform and is not available for a Palm OS."
• AstraWare Sudoku is one of the games, though I didn't test it out because I was afraid of sliding into an addiction spiral (again).
• Sprint TV looks okay on square 2" diagonal screen. Wouldn't want to see it blown up any bigger, frankly.
If you haven't gotten enough of this tasty little treat from Palm, have a look at our Palm Centro Sizemodo, where we compare it to an older Treo. And an iPhone. [Palm Centro]
Comments
looks pretty hot
Now, when you say, 'Definitely Gonna Sell Loads of 'Em' - what exactly do you mean?
Do you think the Centro is going to take market share away from the competition or just shore up Palm's market share?
If you think the Centro is going to steal market share - who do you think it is coming from?
Do you think this will cause people to switch carriers and come to Sprint or steal sales from higher priced phones on the Sprint Network?
If they made a Verizon version of it, I am sold. This is exactly what I have wanted for ages, and at a price point I think is reasonable, as opposed to their Treo line or the Q and certainly the iPhone which while beautiful I just cant justify spending 400 dollars on.
I'd rather have that in my pocket than a lot of other phones I see at similar prices.
100$ for a smart phone this is gonna be the next big ticket item, who wants a 100$ dummy phone when they can get a centro for a hundred bucks
looks thick like a paperback. something that's always been a non-starter for me on treo's.
@chefmitch: by loads, I think he's referring to poop.
Still the same dated, broken operating system. At best, they'll be able to trick new people until buying them until the word gets out that they crash twice a day.
the $100 price point i think its only savior. its ugly, and looks cheap. but for 100 bucks, not a bad buy for a smart phone.
As a "normal" cell phone owner, this is the perfect smartphone for me until the 3G iPhone comes out "sometime in 2008". $100?? It's a no brainer. My ONLY concern (and I think I really mean that literally, only one concern. wow) is the keyboard.
I had my first chance to use a Blackberry Curve this past weekend and for me, the keyboard was annoyingly small.
WILSON, how would you compare the Centro keyboard to the Curve keyboard??
I suppose even if it's as small, I can get used to it. Especially for $100.
I'm sold.
If it wasn't so plasticky looking and ATT had it, I would probably pick one up. I don't mind the Palm OS since I have a ton of apps/games left over from my old Tungsten T.
Chubby!
@s5: Not sure what you're talking about; my Treo doesn't crash twice a month. Unless you load crappy homebrew apps all the time, of course.
@jcy: I played with one at Digital Life a few weeks ago and I can tell you it's a lot smaller in person than you may think. If you can get over the super-tiny keyboard, I think you'll find it takes up a lot less space in the pocket than a Treo.
@iSmote: it's probably 1/3 smaller in width and height for the overall keyboard.
@chefmitch: wtf is this an interview? they aren't market analysts, they just think it going to be popular
I've been carrying a Palm Treo 650 for ages and I think I've only had it hang a couple times. And that mostly been due to me using an unlocked phone on a network that doesn't support the 650. (T-Mobile) I think Palm has got a winner here with the Centro. You can't beat the amount of software available for PalmOS. I carry my MS Word & Excel documents, my chess games, Sudoku, all my login id's for web sites (SplashID), FileMaker databases, tons of pictures, and ebooks. And if I wanted, I could actually write C, Java, and/or BASIC programs on the device itself. (Yea, over the top geeky.)
www.timothytrimble.info
In comparison to my BB Curve, it still looks kinda big. However, it's a MASSIVE improvement over my old Treo 650. Unfortunately for me, it's too little, too late. Sorry, Palm; I've moved on. Your OS is antiquated, your form function is a little... meh, and your phones are heavy.
Its nice, but will it blend?
@mwaker05: they could add the "Verdict: Yep, Definitely Gonna Sell Loads of 'Em" about every product announced. It means nothing. Is 'Loads of 'Em' 100s, 1000s, 10000s, etc.? Or is it market share?
The author should either be specific or leave making predictions to someone willing to actually make a prediction.
The Zune - they're gonna sell loads of 'em.
The Centro - they're gonna sell loads of 'em.
The new iPod nano - they're gonna sell loads of 'em.
The LG Voyager - they're gonna sell loads of 'em.
XBox 360 - they're gonna sell loads of 'em.
I think I'm done with Palm - I don't see how this is much better (if at all) than the other Treo's.
I'll be buying a BlackBerry 8820 in January when I get my longevity discount. Unless, of course, something better comes out. However, the 8820 has everything I want (Wifi, GPS, QWERTY, Sync with Outlook, Not WM60
What in the world are those things just under the screen with the letters on them?
I'd almost say it looked like keys, but nah, that's so 2006. haha
Is the $99 a subsidized price through Sprint or direct from Palm for anyone? If it's REALLY $99 I would agree, why buy something else at that price point?
Palm's OS is so old though... I mean there have been no big changes since my PalmVx YEARS ago. So sad. It does look a little thick too...
If you have the 'scratch', the iPhone is the way and the light. But if not, this at $99 will work for the basics.
thick as a brick... c'mon, that thing is thick!!
@jriga: Or literally any one of the far more powerful smartphones out there, from Palm's own Treo line to the ever popular HTC WinMob devices and similar offerings from Nokia and others using Symbian.
My wife is a Sprint employee, so... we're getting the $99 price. Don't know about everyone else. She had a chance to play with one the other day. Suffice to say, we're buying two.
I had been looking at the new LG that's coming out next quarter that has a QWERTY slide-out keyboard, but that's a $200 phone... this is an easy sale.
The price is why they'll sell loads...despite what you wealthy techies think (all you iPhone users) not everyone can afford a $400 phone! For those who want more than a razor or a nokia 6103 this will become a viable option. Given the features (sprint TV, fully keyboard, gMaps etc) it's not a bad option either. Simple really.
With the low price, will they make enough money to pull out of their slide? There can't be much margin on this.
Ok, If I want to buy one of these, and I already have a sprint account, how does that work with pricing?? do I get the $99 price or the $399 price?
Whoa, that 'button size-to-finger' fatness ratio looks wicked awful! Perhaps I can pluck out an eyebrow and try to type with that.
@s5: Um we have no issues running that "dated old OS" here for testing of students on multiple devices. PocketPC or Windows Mobile on the otherhand, we have a crash a week.
Knock it all you want, there are two things Palm OS does well... its nearly crashproof unless your a crappy coder, and its perfectly designed as a computer based data organizing OS unlike Mobile which is a overbloated OS trimmed down to get it on a mobile device.
@vicsells: well according to sprint customer service (I am also a sprint customer and I called earlier)they told me that even though I already have an account, and not eligible for my upgrade yet, I can still pay the 200 dollars and send in the 100 dollar mail in rebate and still get the 99 dollar price tag. This is according to a Sprint customer service rep. Of course, next time I talk to someone, it could all change. I've seen it happen before.
as falcon said, if verizon had it I would get it. I have the lg 8300 right now which I ended up getting for free. My mom paid 400 for her treo 700w or whatever its called on her plan
Just email Sprint E-Care and start mentioning "iPhone" and "not renewing contract"...I did that and now I have a note on my account instructing a sales rep to give me $250 off of my next phone :)
@s5: In my opionion, Palm is a MUCH better OS than Windows Mobile. Especially if you don't install crappy third-party applications. I've had a Treo 600 (Palm) and a T-Mobile Dash (Windows Mobile). Windows mobile would ALWAYS 'run out of memory' or you would have to reboot it once a day under normal operating use.
I am a little leary of a touch-screen since my Treo always broke (little yellow spludge).
WAY TOO HUGE...it looks like I can only cover 9 buttons with one finger, that's not enough for me to efficiently type with my manipulable finger prints. And the screen, if I put it right next to my eye and really squint, I bet I could make out the type, obviously there's room for more miniaturization. Come on Palm and other manufacturers, please don't wast resources on actual innovation, just keep making your crap smaller...smaller is always better.
If I use this Skype app on this phone to make Skype Out calls does it eat my anytime minutes?
The application
[www.shapeservices.com]
What a hoot. Activating a Sprint Centro on Verizon. You guys are such kidders...
I'd just like to cash in my thoughts on the Palm OS. It's undeniably minimal, and some previous commenters might even be justified in describing it as antiquated, but in my own experience, it is ideal for a mobile platform: it gets good battery life, it is easy to use, and it has a huge software base. As reported by others, my palm has only ever crashed running crappy freeware programs.
In the end, I'm in the "If only this were on verizon " camp though. But it does look very nice.
I'm going to buy one at $99 and then wait for the price to drop in a couple of weeks.
And then I am going to whine and whine and whine until I get a $100 credit at the Palm Store.
Win. Win. (Win).
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