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| Brand: Palm
List Price: $399.99
Buy New: $0.01
You Save: $399.98 (100%)
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 3103
Color: Black
Media: Wireless Phone
Battery Type: Lithium Ion
Display Size: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
Model: Centro
UPC: 805931035417
ASIN: B0016P7BBE
Release Date: March 31, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Data not available Terms and Conditions
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-8 of 8
 Don't waste your $$ September 24, 2008
I. Burshteyn (Brooklyn)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This phone is well suited for a high school girl. Anyone expecting something comparable to HTC tilt or any 3G internet speed (not included on the unlocked GSM phone that palm sells) needs to look elsewhere. I made the mistake of buying this, the shortcomings are more then the strengths restrictive and expensive stereo blue tooth support (be prepared to spend min $100 for that functionality $20 software from softick (audio gateway) and $80 Samsung sbh700) and the device is sensitive, a good bump will crack the digitizer (perhaps I was spoiled by mu old Nokia 6126 or Motorola mpx-200 both of which had taken unreasonable amounts of abuse with out any problems). My friends 800W has 3G and the internet just flies on his phone, I swapped sim cards with him, and my phone crawled. Not having any built in Wi-Fy support also puts this device a step behind the competition.
 Very pleased with this phone August 20, 2008
R. Silva (Boston, MA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've had the phone for a little over 2 months and so far am very happy with my purchase. It's easy to sync with my computer and windows outlook and the palm interface is easy to use. The keyboard can be tricky to type on sometimes because of it's small size but it's great having a full keyboard. I wish the screen was a little larger but the overall size of the phone is easy to carry in a pocket. I would recommend this phone to anyone looking for a small smartphone.
Dated software but a solid phone nonetheless September 28, 2008
J. Byrne (Silicon Valley)
If you're wedded to the Palm platform, this is a good choice, providing your familiar applications in a compact package with a 3G phone.
I hadn't used a Palm since my Pilot went kaput in the 90s. What I found with the Centro was scary on the one hand: they haven't updated the software in a decade! OK, there are some color accents and obviously the phone, web, and email functions are new as is the operator-loaded crapware. On the other hand, the original software was OK and fairly easy to use. I've also enjoyed loading old freeware games to play, written in the Palm's heyday and still available on the web.
I mainly use the phone, email, and web features (the newer software). The phone is fine. For email, I use the built-in VersaMail. IMAP access to my work ISP and gmail works well. VersaMail is suitable for basic stuff like checking mail and replying. The keyboard (vs Graffiti) is convenient but slow if you use only one finger to peck instead of two thumbs (a bit hard with the small kb). The web browser is passable, being hampered mainly by the small screen. It allows you to turn off css. Without doing turning it off, sites, such as Wikipedia, render really poorly. There's no user-agent spoofing, so sites know you're coming from a mobile. Some dish up a mobile optimized-version of their site which can either be good or craptastic (e.g., ebay).
I enter little to the calendar and address book directly, instead syncing data with these applications via Entourage on the Mac. It took me a long time to figure out if the address book is hooked into email. (It is: you can access the address book from email but you can't email from the address book.) It's definitely hooked into the phone. Syncing with the Mac isn't perfect. Too little time has been spent by Palm in this area. The Palm Desktop app on the Mac is clearly ancient. I think it may actually be an OS9 app (keeping with the 90s theme). Unfortunately, integration and synchronization with Entourage or Mac's native apps isn't on par with Outlook integration on Windows.
I have the Sprint version of this phone. 3G speeds are great. I've topped 1Mbps on a PC tethered to the handset and haven't had speed issues with the built in browser and email client. Voice quality is great, too.
The first popular touch-screen PDA, the original Palm was well designed--well enough to make the Centro a decent smartphone despite relying on a lot of ancient apps. Because of its decent (albeit creaky and certainly not flashy) software, low cost, and small size, the phone is well worth considering if you're a long-time Palm user or a newcomer.
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