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Palm Centro Smartphone | 
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| Brand: Palm
Category: CE
Buy New: £146.79
New (11) from £146.79
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 2685
Media: Electronics
System Memory: 64
Memory Type: DRAM
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 6.5 x 4.1
MPN: 1057EU
Model: 1057EU
UPC: 805931028754
EAN: 0805931028754
ASIN: B0014IOBW0
Release Date: February 24, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Review of the Centro for non-Palm users March 17, 2008
Saras Seth (London, UK)
59 out of 59 found this review helpful
Firstly, apologies for the very long review, but I am really writing this for those who have never used a Palm product, although I suspect for most of you who are considering this phone, you are probably doing so because you came from a previous Palm product.
If you are not coming from a Palm product, and are considering a smartphone then you really do need to ascertain which operating system you want on your phone. This might sound strange that this should be your first consideration; normally, the criterion for choosing a phone tends to be by comparing its functions, or camera quality, or even its physical looks. However, a smartphone tends to have more functionality than most phones and therefore, the choice of operating system is important because that is what drives all the added functionality you get.
There are a number of O/S's out there, such as Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian and Blackberry. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. I have been using both Palm and Windows Mobile products for many years, and have tended to strongly prefer the Palm operating system. It's a robust and fast system which is not resource hungry (namely, it doesn't chew up loads of memory) and there has always been a very strong list of third party applications available. However, I fell out of love with Palm when I bought the horrid LifeDrive; it was mechanically unsound (the drive kept on failing), and the programs often failed to work properly. And so I switched to Windows Mobile 6.0 - bad mistake; that was a really clunky operating system that chewed up memory, which meant I had to keep on switching the product off and then on again to clear the memory down. Also, some programs could be slow and jerky in their operation. Anyway, the short of it, I came running back to Palm, just in time to see the Centro just being launched.
Well I'm glad I have. The Centro is a lovely robust product. It is quite sleek in the hand, and can be easily used one handed. The screen is bright and the icons are clear; it's not the largest screen out there, but that is the compromise because as a phone it is not that wide. That has also put a slight restriction on the keyboard, with the keys slightly close together, and noticeable when compared to most Blackberries'. The applications that come on the phone are reasonable - it has Google maps, but it doesn't have a proper video player (so you will have to buy a third party product to watch movies). The in-built camera, whilst not having a particularly high resolution, takes reasonable pictures, although highlights blow out very easily (i.e. a very limited dynamic range). The sound quality (for listening to music etc.) is very good, better than previous Palms, but not in the league of Sony Ericsson phones. The one really disappointing aspect is the stylus - it is feeble - and given that you will use it a lot, you don't want it to feel pliable in your hand! The phone feels physically robust, but honestly, I would have a slight concern if I dropped it compared to some of the tanks I have had in the past. Bluetooth works well, and syncing with other devices was a breeze - perfect for non-techies like me. The web function, is reasonably fast - not as quick as some of the newer protocols - but I never felt frustrated waiting for pages to load.
In summary, the operation of the Centro feels really intuitive and works smoothly. The Palm O/S is a winner for me and I would gladly give up some of the functionality of Windows for a phone that is reliable and just keeps on going - and the battery life, as long as you haven't got Bluetooth switched on, goes on for days.
Palm Centro. March 29, 2008
ChrisG (Oxford, England)
39 out of 39 found this review helpful
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.
This phone combines functionality with ease of use. November 30, 2008
R. Harrison (Doncaster)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've only had my Centro for three days but I'm so pleased with it that I feel compelled to write a review right now and maybe add another one at a later date.
I'll admit that it may not be as flashy nor able to brag about the size of its mega pixel as some of the smartphones on offer but what it lacks in show it more than makes up for in ability and ease of use. Everything I've tried to do with it so far has worked first time with no hassles. Like for instance one of the first things I did was to set it up to get my email, I was expecting an hour of frustration but not a bit of it, I just put in my username and password and I was reading my emails within two minutes. After loading in the software I sat it on my infrared keyboard that I have for my Palm TX and that worked straight off too. It will sync through Bluetooth no problems which I know it should but I'm no computer whizz so these things usually take me a while to sort out. It even works with the TX desktop after setting a separate user account for the Centro. I did install the Centro desktop software but found the TX desktop has a few little extras so I'm using that instead. It will work with Microsoft Outlook if you prefer although I haven't tried it preferring the simplicity of the palm desktop. I was worried that the keyboard would be too small to be functional but after using it for a while you get used to it. They recommend that you hold the phone in both hands and type with your thumbs which you can but it's also just as easy to use with one hand like you would a normal phone. The Camera is only 1.3 mega pixels but is good enough for taking a snap shot when caught without a camera, the pictures are certainly good enough for email or posting to a blog. There are a good amount of applications that come with the Centro but if you go to sites like Centronaughts Software you will find hundreds of third party applications, some of which are even for free.
I bought the Centro because I wanted to save having to carry a separate phone and PDA. I've had a PDA since they first came out and use it a lot to organize my work and time. I also like to listen to music, take a picture, make phone calls and send and receive SMS messages plus send and receive emails, it does all this with ease in a user friendly way. Don't be put off by the Palm operating system, once you get used to it, its easy to use and works very well. Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder, the phone may not be the best looking one around but to me it looks okay, its certainly nice to hold, not too heavy and fits in to most pockets with ease. The thing that worries me the most is a lack of protection for the screen, I don't think you would want to put it in the same pocket as our car keys or even lose change. Without nit picking it's hard to fault this machine - okay, so my ear pieces don't fit the jack plug on it but then they never fit any of the other phones I've had either. This phone/PDA may not excel at any one particular thing but what it does do is a bit of everything very adequately and at half the price of some of its competitors. If I lost mine tonight I would go out and buy another one tomorrow, that's how much I like it.
 Good smart phone, practical rather than flash March 22, 2008
g.buxton
31 out of 31 found this review helpful
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 :-)
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