Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2705 in Consumer Electronics
• Model: 1057EU
• Released on: 2008-02-24
• Dimensions: 19.68" h x 19.68" w x 19.68" l, .27 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Life starts when work ends. That's why there's the Palm Centro smartphone. Palm Centro gives you voice, chat-style messaging, email and web1, along with a colour touchscreen and even a full keyboard. (So you can say much more than you were used to with your cell phone.) All of this in a phone that's a whole lot smaller than you think, which means you can take Centro anywhere and keep up with friends in every way possible. Mix in stuff like a camera, an organiser and an easy way to save info to your computer and it's the one phone you'll always want with you. Centro. Let's go

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Palm Centro Smartphone
I've had my phone for a few weeks and am delighted with it for a number of reasons. 1) My daughter has a monthly phone contract with free minutes within the network so I was able to use a 3 SIM (which I can change if she moves to another network)The Phone functionality is great (dial from contact details or voice dial - great sound quality 2) I listen to talking books on my Creative Vison M which was adding to the weight in my handbag - I now have 30 or so Audible books on my phone (using the 4GB micro SD card I purchased at the same time) 3) I have used PDAs in the past and like having my appointments and contact details to hand - I can now synch with outlook although it's a pity there isn't the option to synch email. I would have to do this via the phone which could be expensive. 4) Although there is no GPS the googlemaps functionality is great (no internet connection required for this; although I can surf with the phone) I can get an on-screen turn by turn description of the route (no audio). 5) I have a Nintendo DS which I often play suduko on - this is one of the free games. The camera quality is poor but I have more room in my handbag for my camera now.

Palm Centro.
This is great little smartphone; well designed, easy to use and very reasonably priced against the competition. Having owned a Treo 680 prior to this I have found Palm's smartphones to be some of the most user friendly on the market. Some reviews I have read about the Centro have been less than favourable, mainly criticising the Palm operating system. I honestly can't see what the fuss is about as I have used Palm OS based devices for over seven years (Sony Clie SJ-30, Treo 680 and the Centro) and found it to be one of the most reliable operating systems there is. Palm seem to adopt the 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' rule to their OS and I for one couldn't be happier.

Compared to the 680 this is a much neater device, shaving about a centimetre off its dimensions and fitting easily in your hand. The keyboard is tiny but not unusable, and the screen is bright and clear. The memory card slot is a big improvement over over the 680, using micro SD cards instead of full size SD (the door shuts properly too!) The camera is only marginally better (1.3 meg against VGA) but still adequate for quick snapshots. The stylus is a bit flimsy but adequate for the job it does, and replacements are easy to get hold of.

A minor criticism is Palm's continued insistance on using 2.5mm earphone jacks which require a bulky adaptor for anything other than the supplied headset, although if you use a bluetooth headset this won't be a problem. If you are looking for a reliable, easy to use and well priced smartphone you can't go wrong with the Centro. Highly recommended.

Good smart phone, practical rather than flash
Previously I owned Samsung Blackjack and Sony P1 but sold these and bought the Centro - of the three its the best. This phone isn't as feature packed as the others, it doesn't have Wifi or 3G. Where Palm excels is in the area of usability, the touch screen and keyboard work very well together and the applications are nicely integrated, it has copy and paste just like a real computer! The Centro software is looking a bit old fashioned now but its is very usable and I still have yet to find a better calendar application than the Palm one. The MP3 player works well, but be warned the centro is provied with a 2.5mm jack plug not the standard 3.5mm of most headphones. One annoyance with Pocket Tunes, the built in MP3 player, was the fact it refused to allow the transfer of WMA files through Windows Media Player without me payting 15 quid for a a software upgrade.

For Palm/Treo oweners: The Centro is technologically the same as Palm 755p but in a smaller package. Treo 680 owners will find much that is familiar here, it uses similar software but the screen is slightly smaller than the 680, but with the same resolution so you end up with crisper characters. The 1.3 M pixel camera is much better than the low-res one that came with the 680/650. The keyboard is more cramped than the 680 but quite usable.

In conclusion if you want a small usable smartphone with a qwert keyboard and you don't need wifi or 3G its worth buying. If you want something thin, sexy, ultracool and not so user friendly buy something else :-)