Palm Centro smartphone

Palm's been making its smartphones less like a clunky PDA and more like a regular, slim handset with each new model. The big step forward was the Treo 600. Now comes the latest version, this time with a new name as well as a new look. Superficially, the Centro looks like Palm's other 'new design' smartphone, the Treo 500 - …

[DrXym]

£70 more up front for an iPhone? Try £270

I don't see how the two phones can even be compared from a price standpoint.

A Treo 500 can be had for nothing on a midrange contract and the chances are the same will be true of the Centro. Most people are going to get the Centro for free or for a fraction of its list price.

The iPhone is £270 AND it locks you into an expensive 18 month contract.

[Mad Hacker]

VersaMail must have improved since the Treo 650

There are some things I miss from my Treo 650 vs my iPhone. ToDo app, global search, copy and paste, and Notes syncing to my computer are most of them.

One thing I don't miss is VersaMail though. It had a lot of trouble with large messages, and may not attempt to format incoming mail messages. It also always seemed to have issues with attachments. It did manage multiple accounts, however, I'm currently managing 4 email accounts on my iPhone quite well too.

So my questions are this:

1) Did VersaMail change a lot?

2) In what ways is it better than my iPhone mail?

Thanks, honest question. Not defending the iPhone here.

[mixbsd]

Curved-corner oblongs

And so, the form factor will be called "curved-corner oblong". Bit of a mouthful, that. How about "lozenge" instead?

[Andy]

Thank Bob for HotSync

I lost my Treo 650 a few weeks ago, so this came at almost exactly the right time. I filled in with a spare Sony Ericsson handset, but I missed the proper keyboard for texting and couldn't face typing in all my contacts again. Now I've got my Centro, I don't need to... plug in to USB, press the HotSync button, and a few moments later I've got my old phone back again -- but in a sexy new package.

Can't say I would have "upgraded" had I not lost the old Treo. PalmOS badly needs UMTS/HSDPA, though the Centro is EDGE enabled, and browsing is definitely faster. Blazer isn't quite as brain-dead as before, and no longer re-fetches the entire page when you hit the back button. Why is there still no WiFi?

So, it has a nicer form factor than a Treo 6X0, a better camera, and Google maps. The price is nice too, and it's dead easy to use.

-A.

[James Murphy]

Less off contract than an iPhone on...

A centro can be purchased, outright, for less than £200 sim free - tell me where I can (legally) find an iPhone on the same terms and I'll be at the front of the queue...

This seems to do the job really rather nicely and I know someone - on a very cheap mobile tarrif - that will be delighted with this to replace his ancient phone and equally ancient palm neither of which are working particularly well any more.

[R]

Great Post

http://www.tech-exposed.com

I really like this post and how it explained this new phone. I'd like to know the US cost for this phone. Any idea how much it'd be to buy here??

thanks

Giga-Byte

[T LI]

iPhone contracts?

You can get an iPhone right now, connnect it to your laptop, download ZiPhone, press a button, unlocked in under 5 mins.

If you really don't like the recently revised o2 iphone packages that is. I actually find it reasonable, with unlimited cellular data and free access to Cloud network and all.

http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/o2tariffsforiphone

[KG]

Want a Centro in the US?

I bought mine at Radio Shack yesterday for $70 on sale. Worth every cent.