Palm Centro Phone, Black (Sprint)

Palm Centro Phone, Black (Sprint) Features

Additional Palm Centro Phone, Black (Sprint) Information

The Palm Centro's full QWERTY keyboard makes it easy to type text messages, IMs, and e-mails (the red version is pictured). Design
The Palm Centro boasts a sleek black housing that measures a mere 2.11 by 4.22 by 0.73 inches (W x H x D) 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.

Phone and Messaging Functions
The Palm Centro smartphones offers a ton of ways to stay in touch with friends, whether you're calling Brian, firing off a quick text to Jen, instant messaging Chris, or shooting an e-mail to Kat. 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 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.

Web Functions
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.

Organizer Functions
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.

Multimedia
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 64 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 phone details include a removable lithium-ion battery that offers 3.5 hours of talk time and up to 300 hours of standby time; a Palm OS 5.4.9 platform; and support for Windows XP and Vista and Mac OS X 10.2 and higher.

What Customers Say About Palm Centro Phone, Black (Sprint):

But it's so slow to bring up the box that says "press center button to unlock" that you can press keys that get acted on BEFORE the unlock screen comes up. The centro is the most annoying phone I have ever had. I converted from treo to a centro. And you can't just press red, center quickly, because it throws away the center key press if you do it too soon.And If you press the keys too fast, sometimes the keystrokes get lost, but other times you'll think it hasn't registered the keypress (the phone will lock up temporarily, and miss keystrokes), so you press it again, nothing, again. Problems include a too small keyboard, annoying tendencies to reset itself, but most of all it's annoying because it's slow and inconsistent.The stupidest example of this is the unlock. You're supposed to press red button, center button to unlock. And then the whole series of keystrokes will play back - perhaps hanging up your call. This happens with screen input, too.If it only lost keystrokes, or was consistent about whether it kept or dropped buffered keystrokes, you could adapt, but since it makes you guess, it's really annoying.It also hangs up when you plug in the headset sometimes, so you have to plug in the headset first, or do without.I can't wait to replace this phone.

Syncing the phone and to my PC is a breeze. She told me I needed a Palm Centro.she was right.I've had my Palm for about a week, and I seriously wonder how I lived without it. After MUCH research, my fiance and I decided that Sprint's family plan would end up being our best choice. For my purposes, though, it is perfect.

I walked into the Sprint store and told the saleswoman that I wanted a phone that would act as a PDA that I didn't have to have a data plan for. When I moved to an area with horrific Verizon reception, I started researching different plans and phones. Acknowledgement of shortcomings:Let me say that I am a 26 year-old, high school teacher. Yes, the keyboard is small. Of course there's a learning curve with every new phone, but I had most of it figured out on day 2.

I do not use this phone for business, if I did, it's possible that my review would be different. However, the size of the phone is worth it. I knew that I wanted a smartphone, but couldn't see paying $30/month just to OWN the iPhone. I am able to keep my appointments and to do list straight, and read/edit documents. Some of the best features include: touch screen, calendar app, pTunes, QWERTY keyboard, messaging/chat, ability to add apps (including TaskLauncher which causes the interface to look like the iPhone), microSD card, and Sprint reception.

This phone helps keeps me organized and allows me to store documents. I will most likely add the data plan because, while the phone functions fine without it, there are many features that are available only with the data plan (including picture messaging). I am able to easily put this phone in my jeans pocket without being uncomfortable or having an unsightly bulge.If you're new to the smartphone world, this phone does all you need it to at a price that's reasonable.

I really thought I had this down, even went into the Verizon store and had all three to use, hold, play with, get used to -- and I probably drove the sales staff nuts. I even called Verizon looking for assistance and was pretty much told, "look if you cannot operate the phone ( it's a PDA) you need to take it back and get something else like the Blackberry". I have the Palm Centro for Verizon. Phone speaker is non existent, it is difficult to hear a caller the does not sound 'fuzzy' and or distorted. I cannot see putting up with this for two years. Bottom line, this is so not the PDA phone for me. Yes I took the tutorials on getting around this PDA.

Further the battery is quite weak and drained to less than a quarter cell by the end of a 12 hour work and travel day. I did about two months worth of research into this phone vs the Blackberry, or the Verizon wireless special. I was extremely disappointed to find out even thugh there are a TON of apps on the phone, that I would have to go and DOWNLOAD the apps to make them run on the PDA. Half the time the touch screen is very unser unfriendly, I spent time each day resetting the touch screen and stylus. Yes I adjusted the volume. Some folks will like this phone, and find it very useful, and will have great success.

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. Brisk, peppy response and rarely locks up or freezes.5. Ideal weight for a phone is less than 100 gms.3. Web browser is fast for mobile sites but otherwise barely functional - Internet is available but browsing is not enjoyable like on iPhone. Top-notch contact, calendar and memos management.4.

Instead of micro-USB or mini-USB, it uses proprietary cable which is hard to take out. 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. Reasonable size & weight (119 gms) and is pocketable and you have to carry phone with you all the time.

Solid, reliable phone.2. Google style but not stylish, fun & glamorous like iPhone & Mac. 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. The style is simple, unadorned and functional a.k.a. I have not been able to sync over Bluetooth or use Bluetooth modem. But there is scope for improvement, it could be lighter and thinner.

Symbian based Nokia phones are fairly decent smartphones but their availability on US cellular carriers is very limited. Good QWERTY keyboard.7. As of March 2009, I think Palm Centro is one of the best smartphones available. 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.

AT&T has poor network signal and coverage, the calls drop all the time and sound on iPhone is average.2.

Fairly decent availability of applications.8.

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.

Clear sound.

Centro is supposedly the last in the Palm lineage phones.

A-one Microsoft office document functionality with Documents-to-Go.6.

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.

Windows Mobile phones are horrendous: packed with features that don't work and smartphone operating system is the most unreliable.4.

I would recommend it if you need a solid, trustworthy smartphone, but on Verizon, not on Sprint.

The callender is always available and easy to enter items in with lots of fields to enter (or not). I really enjoy this phone because of all the features you get. While I do not use it to its capasity, it is stiil a dream. The camera is high quality and worthy of printing that rivals other point and shhot cameras.The only thing I did not like was that if you wanted to use the mini SD card, you had to go to the internet to initialize it. Since I do not have access, it makes it difficult, but if I ever get access, I am sure this will not be a problem.This is truely a wonderful phone and pda and I am sure will find it easy and a joy to work with.Enjoy.