Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2297 in Cell Phone Accessories
• Color: Red
• Brand: Palm
• Model: Centro
• Released on: 2007-10-14

Features

• Onyx black smartphone with 320 x 320 color touchscreen and 1.3-megapixel camera
• Full QWERTY keyboard for messaging; offers text, e-mail, instant messaging, and web access
• Comprehensive organizer functions, including contacts, to-do lists, calendar, and more
• Expandable microSD slot (up to 4 GB)
• Includes: Battery, AC Charger, USB Sync Cable, Palm Software Installation CD and User Documentation

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, 64 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.

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.

Customer Reviews

Great overall phone/pda -- only 2 problems
I won't repeat what others have said other than to say that this phone is great excpet for 2 things in my opinion:

1) the keys are small, but the bigger problem is that they are curved too high, so when you push them, you feel like you need to push the very center of the key. You get used to it, but it is still a pain.

2) This is the bigger complaint: It DOES boast of mp3 playing, but it does NOT allow you to use normal earphones/plugs. You still have to use a bluetooth or phone headset with it. I find this pretty annoying, since earhphones are so much cheaper, and better quality for music. Be warned! I was surprised by this, so I hope you will not be.

All in all, these are not huge complaints. I still rated it a 5 star because I only have minor gripes about a couple things. I can live with that just fine.

Would you like to connect to the internet now
I have had this phone for about 4 months. This month I got rid of the internet plan on my phone, I found that believe it or not I have enough internet in my life and did not need to check my email or weather every second. This phone however does not like having its internet disabled. Every timer I push any button or try to navigate the menu, the phone prompts me. Do you want to connected to the inter net now. It has a box that reads "never ask again" however it ALWAYS asks again. It is getting to the point where I may have to get a new phone, otherwise the plam calendar and backing up to the computer are features that are nice

Small but awesome - very stable & quick
I have only had my phone for a few weeks, and I love it! The keys are small, but I use my thumb nails and it works great for me. I recently took a class for realtors where they taught us how to use the phones. There were people in there with the Treos and their phones were slow. Also everyone who had the windows software instead of palm software was grumbling. I think I got the perfect phone and with the $99 everything is included plan with unlimited minutes, it is the same price as my old phone.