- Stylish berry-colored smartphone with comprehensive organizer functions, digital audio player, and 1.3-megapixel camera/camcorder
- Fast data connectivity via EV-DO; Broadband Access service for using phone as modem
- Text, email, and instant messaging; Web browser; Bluetooth for communication headsets; MicroSD memory expansion (up to 4 GB); 128 MB internal memory
- Up to 3.5 hours of talk time, up to 300 hours (12.5 days) of standby time; measures 4.2 x 2.1 x 0.7 inches (HxWxD)
- What’s in the box: handset, battery, charger, stylus, USB cable, quick-start guide, Getting Started CD
Amazon.com Product Description
Life starts after five o’clock. Not coincidentally, that’s also when the Palm Centro smartphone comes alive. Not only does the Palm Centro handle all your favorite voice functions, but it also offers text, IM, e-mail, and web access, all in a body that’s a lot smaller than you’d think. Add in such features as a 1.3-megapixel camera, 128 MB of internal memory, Bluetooth 1.2 support, a microSD expansion slot, and a full QWERTY keyboard and you have a terrific smartphone for all your messaging and personal needs. In short, there’s no better way to stay in touch. It also offers the Palm OS 5.4.9 platform and support for Windows XP and Vista and Mac OS X 10.2 and higher.
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With the Palm OS 5.4.9 platform, it’s easy to keep track of all your contacts and communicate via text and instant messaging. |
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Sprint Service
Supporting the EV-DO high-speed data standard, this phone enables you to download and stream high-quality video, straight onto your phone. Where coverage is available, EV-DO connectivity provides average download speeds ranging from 400 to 700 Kbps, with peak rates up to 2 Mbps. With Sprint TV, you can make your cell phone your always-on source for news, weather, sports and more. This comprehensive video service combines high-quality streaming audio and video from channels including the NFL Network, ABC, The Weather Channel, Fox Sports, E!, CNN, The Discovery Channel, and more.
Sprint Mobile Email and VersaMail are the included email clients. Send and receive email from multiple corporate and personal email accounts. Also, get wireless email access to popular commercial POP3 and IMAP accounts like AOL, Gmail, Earthlink, and Yahoo! Right out of the box, the VersaMail application allows wireless access to Outlook email with a direct connection to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.
The built-in camera (with video capability) allows you to capture memories anytime, anywhere, and instantly share them with colleagues, friends, or family when on the Sprint Nationwide Network. Upload pictures and videos to the Pictures Web Site (pictures.sprintpcs.com) to create albums and send them to any working email address.
Phone Features
The Palm Centro boasts a sleek black housing that measures a mere 4.2 by 2.1 by 0.7 inches (HxWxD) and weighs 4.2 ounces. It’s notably smaller than many competing smartphones, yet doesn’t sacrifice functionality at any point along the way. Users will also love the 320 x 320 touchscreen (up to 65,000 colors), which offers a crisp resolution for photos and videos. And thanks to the full QWERTY keyboard, you can say L8R to those tricky keys on your old cell phone.
The Palm Centro offers a ton of ways to stay in touch with friends, whether you’re firing off a quick text, instant messaging, shooting an e-mail to the office, or using that old-school standby: a phone call. From a phone perspective, the Palm Centro lets you dial people right from your address book, set up three-way calls from the touch of a button, or use the speakerphone to talk hands-free. The keyboard, meanwhile, makes it a breeze to type complete messages whether you’re sending text, pictures, or even audio or video clips. Plus, the Centro keeps all your messages in a chat-style view, so it’s easy to keep track of the conversation.
The Palm Centro’s full QWERTY keyboard makes it easy to type text messages, IMs, and emails. |
The 320 x 320 color touchscreen is crisp and vivid, making it ideal for viewing photos or watching videos. |
Want to keep up with all the latest gossip when you’re away from the computer? Turn to the Centro’s instant messaging functions, which support all your buddy lists on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and others. Similarly, the Centro lets you access your personal e-mail accounts, such as Gmail, AOL, and Yahoo. As a result, you can reply to invites and answer e-mails when you’re out and about.
Whether you’re keeping up with friends on MySpace or looking up directions to the new bistro across town, the Centro’s touchscreen and keyboard make it fun to navigate around the web. The Centro includes a fast built-in web browser that lets you check out photos on Flickr or watch videos on YouTube, with broadband-like speeds on the EV-DO network that are guaranteed to impress. No more waiting around for your favorite sites to load. The Centro is also compatible with Google Maps, making it simple to get directions or see which freeways are clear and which ones are parking lots. Google Maps shows you red, yellow, or green traffic routes in real time.
The Palm Centro includes a complete organizer for keeping track of all your daily, weekly, and monthly responsibilities. The contacts list gathers all your friends’ phone numbers, addresses, and more, while the calendar keeps you from missing upcoming meetings, events, and parties. You can even enter a friend’s birthday in the contacts list and will automatically show up in your calendar. As with the best organizers, the Centro also offers a to-do list that lets you check off items when they’re complete. As a result, it’s easy to keep track of what you did and still need to do. And should you come across a tidbit that doesn’t have a logical home, simply turn to the memo function, which lets you store random information such as hot spots in Vegas or the names of movies you’d like to rent. Say goodbye to carrying around crumpled scraps of paper in your pocket or purse. Finally, it’s possible to save a copy of all those names, numbers, appointments, photos, and videos on your computer thanks to the sync function.
Whether you want to take pictures, play videos, or listen to music, the Palm Centro has got you covered. The 1.3-megapixel digital camera (with a 2x digital zoom) lets you shoot pictures and send them to friends, store digital albums, or shoot videos. The built-in MP3 player, meanwhile, lets you take your tunes everywhere you go. With 128 MB of storage, there’s plenty of room for your playlists, plus you can add up to 4 GB more with a MicroSD card. And thanks to Pocket Tunes Deluxe, you can play the songs you downloaded from places like Rhapsody or Yahoo. As a bonus, the Centro supports a ton of fun stuff from Sprint, including the ability to watch such TV channels as CNN Mobile, Fox Sports, the Weather Channel, the Disney Channel, and E! Entertainment. There’s never a dull moment with the Palm Centro around.
Other features include:
- Documents to Go version 8.0 offers Microsoft Office compatibility; Download, view and edit Word and Excel compatible files, then send them back fast; Rehearse PowerPoint presentations anywhere; Consult your important PDF files on the go.
- Data Transfer Mode (DTM): Set in the default position allowing users in an active data session to be notified of incoming voice calls, rather than having them go automatically to voicemail.
- Safe, handsfree cellular conversations are always available with the built-in speakerphone
- Use the optional USB cable, or Bluetooth wireless technology, to connect with a PC for Internet and email access on the Sprint National Network.
- Bluetooth version 1.2 with the following profiles: HFP (hands-free car kits), HSP (communication headsets), DUN (dial-up networking)
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Vital Statistics
The Palm Centro weighs 4.2 ounces and measures 4.2 x 2.1 x 0.7 inches. Its 1150 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 3.5 hours of talk time, and up to 300 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/1900 CDMA frequencies as well as the 1xEV-DO r0 data network.
This is my first “Smart Phone” so I can’t compare it to other smart phones, but I do know that the phone functionality is disappointing. My last phone was a Samsung Blade A900 that I kept for 3 years, and it had features that I took for granted. I didn’t realize how wonderful they were until they were missing from this one. While I do like the added PDA functions, I’ve had to install numerous third party software to get it to perform adequately as a phone.
***CONS:
*Phone issues:
- This phone will not alert you if somebody has left you a voicemail. Often times I leave my phone in another room and don’t hear it ring. On my old phone, if a message was left, a light would blink on the phone, and I would hear an audible beep every 5 minutes to alert me that I needed to get my voicemail. The Centro does not do this – you have to go check your phone every time to see if there’s a message on your screen. I did find a great piece of software to fix this, “Butler” [..], but I don’t think that I should have had to spend $15 for a basic function.
- There are no numeric speed dial numbers. Although you can assign every key on the keyboard to a shortcut setting, such as a speed dial, I did not want to reassign and relearn every speed dial number. I had about 30 speed dial numbers (yes, I could remember them all – I have a large family and use my phone for business) and suddenly the Centro wouldn’t support them. Once again, I found a 3rd party software [..], but was irked that I had to spend another $10 for this function.
- If you purchase ringtones that are shorter than the time the phone rings, the phone just stops ringing and does not repeat the ringtone. For example, a ring tends to last 20 seconds or so. I bought ringtones from Sprint that are only 10 seconds. On my Samsung phone, it would repeat the ringtone from the beginning so I’d hear it for 20 seconds. Not on the Centro. Doesn’t seem like a big deal, right? Well, in a loud place, sometimes you need more than 10 seconds to figure out that your phone is ringing. I also need 20 seconds of ringing to help guide me to where the phone may be hidden (in my purse, or in my office, or in my car) and answer it in time. Once again, I used a 3rd party software to create my own tones that are more than 20 seconds.
*Other:
- BATTERY LIFE IS TERRIBLE. Today I unplugged the phone at 8 am and did not talk on it. I used it for 30 minutes to check my e-mail. It died at 5 pm. Therefore, you have to buy an extra charger to keep one in your office, because there is a great chance that you’ll have to recharge it during the day. I know this happens when you use Outlook’s “push” e-mail that causes the phone to spend battery time hooking up to the Network, but I intentionally did not set up my phone that way. I have it set to where I manually check my e-mail by pushing a button to connect. Evidently checking it twice in one day was enough to kill the battery. I’ve had this phone less than a month, so the battery should not have such issues!
- Most phones have good alarms that you can use to wake up, but this one is sorely lacking. You can’t set it to work every day – each day you would have to set the alarm. Once again “Butler” saved the day for me and allows me to set 6 different alarms, and have repeatability.
*PDA functions
- While the Centro syncs well to gmail, I’ve had problems sending e-mails from the phone in my Cox account. I haven’t figured out the fix yet, so for now I am only using gmail for outgoing messages. However, that is really annoying when I get a message on my Cox account and cannot just hit “reply” but instead must start a whole new message in gmail.
- The microSD port is indispensable (and they have now moved it to the side of the phone so you don’t have to take out the battery to get to it), but getting music onto the SD card so that your Centro can play it is a pain if you don’t use Windows Media Player. I use iTunes for all my music, but you can’t use iTunes to transfer music. You have to use Windows Media Player or SprintMusic Manager. I don’t want extra software on my computer, so I didn’t install the latter. I used WMP instead but found it to be utterly annoying and non-intuitive. I doubt that I will ever change the songs on the microSD card because it was so bothersome. I wish I could have done a “drag and drop” from an iTunes playlist to the card.
***PROS:
- The Palm OS is intuitive, although this phone is complex enough that you really do need to read the manual.
- The ability to look at MS Office documents and change them is indispensable for business.
- It’s easy to manage tasks and memos. I had used my Samsung phone to put in reminders for me, but with a full keyboard it’s so much easier to input the information. This phone also has a lot more memory to handle them. (My Samsung didn’t have an expandable port so I’d have to go purge old meetings and such to free up memory for a new one.)
- Sprint’s network allows you to surf fairly easily and quickly.
- You can download a free program (minitones) and create your own ringtones from your MP3s.
- The speaker on the phone is good enough and pTunes is adequate enough to play music out loud. While I will always have my iPod and earphones, occasionally I am working in my car or office and don’t want to be encumbered by earphones. So, the ability to play music out loud on the phone is a very nice feature.
- This phone syncs so much better to my car’s Bluetooth.
In short, I like some of the PDA functions, but as a phone the Centro is disappointing. I’m sure I would not purchase this phone again, but since the PDA part is decent, I’m giving it 2 stars.
Rating: 2 / 5
As of March 2009, I think Palm Centro is one of the best smartphones available. The style is simple, unadorned and functional a.k.a. Google style but not stylish, fun & glamorous like iPhone & Mac. Having used 3 Windows Mobile phones, iPhone, Balckberry Storm, Palm Treo 755p & Nokia E51, I think Centro is closest to the ideal smartphone but Sprint network does not hold water to Verizon Wirelss network in reliability.
1. Clear sound. Solid, reliable phone.
2. Reasonable size & weight (119 gms) and is pocketable and you have to carry phone with you all the time. But there is scope for improvement, it could be lighter and thinner. Ideal weight for a phone is less than 100 gms.
3. Top-notch contact, calendar and memos management.
4. Brisk, peppy response and rarely locks up or freezes.
5. A-one Microsoft office document functionality with Documents-to-Go.
6. Good QWERTY keyboard.
7. Fairly decent availability of applications.
8. Functions well as a tethered modem with cable and speed in 800-900 Kbs range on Verizon Wireless network.
10.Synchronizes calendar, contacts and memos with Macbook.
11.Good SMS function: threads messages.
But Centro is not without flaws: the default OK button is on Voicemail and dials Voicemail unintentionally. I have not been able to sync over Bluetooth or use Bluetooth modem. Web browser is fast for mobile sites but otherwise barely functional – Internet is available but browsing is not enjoyable like on iPhone. Instead of micro-USB or mini-USB, it uses proprietary cable which is hard to take out. Camera is bare minimum at 1.3 Megapixels and music function is basic with 2.5 mm audio jack. Font size is small and has to be individually adjusted in each application.
Here is my Gestalt on smartphones.
1. iPhone is the best MP3, video and multimedia player, has the best user interface and mobile browser experience but is abysmal as a phone in comparison to Verizon Centro. AT&T has poor network signal and coverage, the calls drop all the time and sound on iPhone is average.
2. Blackberry Storm has a gorgeous screen and excellent email device but has very buggy software and constantly freezes. Blackberries shine when it comes to email.
3. Windows Mobile phones are horrendous: packed with features that don’t work and smartphone operating system is the most unreliable.
4. Symbian based Nokia phones are fairly decent smartphones but their availability on US cellular carriers is very limited. Verizon Wireless, the best network in US, has none.
In my experience Palm operating system is one of the most trusty and functional smartphone operating systems. Centro is supposedly the last in the Palm lineage phones. I would recommend it if you need a solid, trustworthy smartphone, but on Verizon, not on Sprint.
Rating: 3 / 5