Comments on: Centro Rated as Most Appealing Mobile Handset Design

I finally saw one of these the other day. Talk about a postage stamp size screen. Guess I'm missing something here as to why these sell.

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm TX (Number 2)
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum, Deluxe
Sony - SJ22
Casio-EM500
Apple - MP110, MP2000, MP2100

Because even at 1", it is more fun to watch movies on it than on a Palm device. That's how important a natural visual experience is for mobile computing.

Just a matter of time before Jobs goes that way. Then of course, everyone else will follow. Palm's problem is they are followers, not leaders.

Actually mine 1.5".

The only thing holding me to Palm now is Palm OS. My Treo 680 allows me to enter PIM entries e.g., notes, events, alarms, very naturally and quickly all day long. And I use the phone more and more.

Short of OLED and a new exciting Palm OS over Linux, I am slowly preparing a transition away from Palm products. Of course, any future Palm device has to be unlocked.

btw, having 2 tiny devices in 2 different pockets really is not an issue. My new multimedia player slips in my front shirt pocket and my Treo 680 is in my pant pocket.
Of course it would be great to have all built into a Palm but lets be realistic... Palm is not smart enough to pull it all together.

Or are they... TX, Centro, 680, LD. You can see they have the know how, they just need to pull all their great innovations together and add OLED!

Not sure what country you are in but the standard US Postal stamps are 1"x7/8" which is quite a bit smaller than the 2.2" screen on the Centro, but I guess you were being facetious...lol

I know there was a lot of complaining about the Centro's size prior to anyone actually seeing it but once people got their hands on it the size complaints diminished rapidly. There will always be people who want a Treo sized device and that is fine but for a lot of folks the smaller phone is a great change, just think about all the complaints you have heard about the Treo being brick-like.

I have had my 700p for 2 years and was going to get a 755p bu my friend got a red Centro and I spent a week with it setting everything up for her and I am seriously thinking about getting a Centro now. The keyboard is smaller but with the gummy rubber keys it is easier for me to type on because I use my thumbnail and there is no slipping on the Centro. The screen is smaller but that just means I hold it a few inches closer to my face when reading something small, no big deal to me.

In order to have a smaller device things have to shrink and there isn't much we can do about the screen unless we can master beaming it into our eyes directly, now using the predictive type keyboard ala Pearl might be a better solution for the keyboard though.

There is something you can do, use an OLED screen on all Centros. It makes viewing many times better and more natural.

Dude, chill out. Sure a higher quality screen would be nice, but that's FAR from being the only thing thing separating Palm from market leadership

Peace Out
Alan

Wanna bet?

Palm has the Palm OS simplicity, decent hardware, a good phone, tons of software. They simply need a new sales trigger.
OLED is the single most dramatic move they could make.

Do NOT underestimate the importance of visual clarity and a natural experience on a small mobile device screen.

Mark my words, time will prove me right yet again.
I WANT PALM TO SUCCEED SO SOMEONE PLEASE TELL THEM TO GET THEIR FN LAZY SCARED ASSES INTO GEAR.

Thank you in advance.

---VampireLestat @ 12/10/2007 6:15:38 PM #
Because even at 1", it is more fun to watch movies on it than on a Palm device.---

You are joking right? I think I'll stick with the TX for videos, thanks.

I do think this would make a great phone for a 13 year old though.

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm TX (Number 2)
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum, Deluxe
Sony - SJ22
Casio-EM500
Apple - MP110, MP2000, MP2100

Vamp;

A GSM Centro is coming soon, supposedly in January-ish. It'll be the first GSM Garnet treo with a 1.3megapixel camera and it will also supposedly have native voice dialing. It will only be EDGE, of course, but if you can live with that it might end up being a better overall unit than the CDMA version (unlocked, voice dialing, probably slightly better battery life)

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

hmm and what would be my incentive to move from my 680 reliable workhorse to a new Centro?

See.. I gotta have something, like
a) OLED (equals 100% guaranteed purchase no matter what)
b) wifi would be fun
c) unlocked gsm (a must)
d) for the love of God... 3.5mm! and put the 2.5 mm ALSO for all them dumb headsets. Put both.
e) a bit thinner
f) Palm OS over linux with multitasking
g) 1.3 mp or 2mp would be nice
h) new mp3 video player that can be used by a baby with full finger taps
i) I find it real annoying that I have to tap twice to get NumLock. I want single tap.

and find a way to stop the super magnet from killing all my credit cards, debit cards and bus pass.

I had the centro in my hand- A little bigger would be better, but it is big enough to function. If they release one with wifi- I'm buying.

W.r.t. PALM with WiFi:

-- http://discussion.treocentral.com/showthread.php?t=157723