A new Palm Centro phone for my ‘Sweetest’
Posted By RichC on October 21, 2007
You would think after 25 years of marriage that I would learn that women are rarely impressed with ‘tech gadgets’ for Sweetest Day gifts? Perhaps I’m a slow learner in replacing my wife’s old Palm Treo 600 with a new Palm Centro, but I did … to a mixed response. She was glad for a new phone, but made it clear that it wasn’t the kind of intimate ‘thought’ that she was expecting from a husband that should know better.
🙂
With that aside, I’ve played with the new ‘small’ smartphone a couple of days now and have found it really impressed me. First, the Sprint promo price of $99 with a 2 year contract extension make the Centro the best buy going … in my opinion. The phone quality seems better than average and it has most of the features that are part of the larger Treo line of Palm phones. The phone comes loaded with a good selection of Palm software to start, as well as the very functional touch screen operating system.
The smaller keypad will take some getting use to as will the small display, but it is clear and very sharp. Those in the ’40+ something’ age group may want to consider using a pair of reading glasses. That said, its not as bad as I expected once I started using it. The keys are easy to use with a finger nail … and not really any slower than my current thumb-tip keyboard on my Treo 700p. The phone has the same 1280×1024 camera with video clip capability as the other premium Palm phones and include a much better speaker. (much better) The speaker makes the Centro into an excellent pocket radio capable of playing streaming internet station or an MP3 collection with the pTunes software. Of course it can also be used with headphones or an adapter that can be played through your car or home audio system as well as run in the background while working with other features.
Phone quality is very good and the EVDO high speed data service seems as fast as, if not faster, than my Treo 700p. There is plenty of internal memory but also a micro-SD slot and removable battery. If you are looking to own your first smartphone, and appreciate the Palm OS, I have no problem endorsing the new Palm Centro … its an excellent value.
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