New Palm Centro Picture Posted

Palm CentroMobilityToday has obtained a newly leaked shot of the Palm Centro smartphone. The official looking picture shows a clear and detailed view of the Centro. The Sprint version is shown in a black and silver casing in the now familiar "gandolf" form-factor.

Palm has previously confirmed that the Centro will feature a new, smaller form-factor, EVDO high speed data and a touch screen display. A recent rumor report has indicated the Centro could be released by Sprint around October 14th.

MobilityToday states the phone will retail for $99 (presumably with a new contract) and will support the faster EVDO Rev.A.

Previous leaks and details posted on PalmInfocenter have shown a similar device in a white body running on GSM networks. There have been a number of different reports on the possible specs, networks and operating systems. Versions running Windows Mobile Smartphone edition have also been spotted.

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Better than the white version!

hkklife @ 8/25/2007 1:24:26 PM # Q
Well, it's not going to set the world on fire by any means, but it looks a helluva lot better in black than it does in white!

In all fairness, EVDO Rev. A & a touchscreen for $99 w/ contract is not too bad of a deal at all, regardless of what the rest of the specs are. I'd love to know what the price for the phone purchaed at full retail will be. Probably $300 ish?

Now that an official pic has been leaked, I want to see some official looking specs on this thing!

I think the three crucial areas are going to end up being: keyboard usability & size, screen legibility & size, and battery life. I've seen my 700p churn through a 2400mAh Seidio battery in a day in intermittent reception areas so i'm really worried about the Centro's battery life. Multimedia SHOULD also be at least decently represented (3.5mm stereo headphone jack & full version of PTunes standard) but that's a very un-Palm-like thing to do.



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

RE: Better than the white version!
ahsirg @ 8/25/2007 1:45:59 PM # Q
This is my first comment at PIC :)
I thought the white version was UGLY but this gray-black one looks pretty sleek. And with $99 cost i might buy it for someone as a gift.

RE: Better than the white version!
mikecane @ 8/25/2007 3:07:55 PM # Q
Yeah, I have to agree. It doesn't look fugly like past pics. At $99, with EVDO Rev A, Palm might have something that will even hurt Nokia.

I'm not at all familiar with cellphones and pricing, but this seems like a low price to me for the proposed features. Is it?

RE: Better than the white version!
palmato @ 8/25/2007 5:01:13 PM # Q
Looks familiar..
http://tinyurl.com/2rulu8

Maybe we'll get a p1i look alike ;-)

--------------------------
Hey Admin: Why do we have to keep two profiles?

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lipstick on a pig?

joad @ 8/25/2007 1:53:01 PM # Q
Well, this is much "prettier" than that white one, if "pretty" is the main criteria by which people purchase electronics nowadays (sadly it's probably truer than I want to know).

I tend toward favoring battery life, readability, ergonomics, reliability, build quality and internal specifications. Nice that it seems to have EVDO Rev A - was that technology too fresh to put in the recently released 755 (their $650 smartphone)?

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I friggin like it!!!

Gekko @ 8/25/2007 2:37:57 PM # Q

as i posted before, i like this tiny, modern new Treo!!!!!

my questions -

1. how can they make any money on it at $99 even with carrier subsidies??? have we reached true commoditization of the smartphone?

2. will this smartphone be weak in terms of specs and features? I need a decent level of RAM, processing speed, software, features, etc.

3. if it's priced cheap and spec'd out, won't it cannibalize the Treo lineup? there must be a catch somewhere.

4. i REALLY like the look/form factor - and assuming it has power specs/features, i'd pay up to $399 for it.

RE: I friggin like it!!!
Gekko @ 8/25/2007 2:40:33 PM # Q

p.s. it's about time Palm created something like this - IMO, they are about 2 years late. but i like it!!! the question is, is it too little too late?



RE: I friggin like it!!!
mikecane @ 8/25/2007 3:10:13 PM # Q
Jaysus, if Gekko is excited, maybe there's something to this after all.

It wouldn't stop me, personally, from an iPhone, but I can see it going to people who want to upgrade current phones and those who think the iPhone is too expensive.

RE: I friggin like it!!!
robin_austen @ 8/25/2007 3:28:13 PM # Q
My problem is I'm English living in the UK, so I'll probably have to wait another year for it and then pay almost twice as much!

Looks really cool though. I might even pursuade my wife to get one to replace her T/E2. I'll stick with my 680 until they bring out a 3G (high speed internet) Treo with Palm os.
IHMO you can'r just give away equal points when comparing the treo to the iphone etc. the keyboard makes this a truely one handed device. I've used winmob and I can tell you that using a stylus to scribe txt messages is a pain!

RE: I friggin like it!!!
mikecane @ 8/25/2007 3:30:03 PM # Q
I'm not comparing the two. I said for *me*, it's iPhone.

If I would compare this to anything, it'd be either something from Samsung or Nokia.

If Palm really is setting a new price point for this category, it's those two companies that will feel it.

RE: I friggin like it!!!
zuhmir @ 8/25/2007 4:18:57 PM # Q
Agree!
I wonder if they give a discount on a CentroFoleo combo ;-)
I'd go for that!

RE: I friggin like it!!!
rcartwright @ 8/25/2007 6:17:32 PM # Q
@mikecane-there are some people out there that will have nothing to do with ATT and for Sprint (and presumably Verizon) diehards this could be sweet indeed. If Palm bundles this with the Folio @ the 599 price point it might be worth sopmething.

"Many men stumble across the truth, but most manage to pick themselves up
and continue as if nothing had happened."
- Winston Churchill
RE: I friggin like it!!! until you find out the details!
Timothy Rapson @ 8/26/2007 7:49:53 AM # Q
RE: "2. will this smartphone be weak in terms of specs and features? I need a decent level of RAM, processing speed, software, features, etc."

Let's see....It will have a 200 MZ processor, VGA camera without video recording, 32 MB RAM, 240 by 240 screen, buggy beta Linux OS, no WiFi, defective didgitizer, 900 mAh battery,.....yep, it's a Palm alright.

RE: I friggin like it!!!
mikecane @ 8/26/2007 11:19:01 AM # Q
You guys are evil: Centro-Foleo bundle.

Evil!!

RE: I friggin like it!!!
hkklife @ 8/26/2007 4:27:25 PM # Q
My spec predicions? Hmmm......200mhz CPU, BT 1.2 w/o A2DP, EVDO Rev.0, 64mb RAM (but with less DBheap/cache than we're used to seeing on recent POS Treos), 1.3mp camera (same quality as the 755p), microSD slot, Athena connector, 1200mAh battery.

I also predict that Palm will sell a bundle of a free Centro w/ purchase of a Fooleo via Palm.com...but only after the Fooleo's $100 MIR launch promo expires.
Price will be $99 w/ contract, $300 unlocked/full retail.

Since I'm in a predictive mood, I'll also go out on a limb and say that Palm will EOL the Treo 680, 700p/wx and Tungsten E2 this fall and drop the Z22 down to $75. We won't see a CDMA WM6 Treo until 2008 and they will refresh the 750 mid-life with WM6 pre-installed starting in October or so.

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

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Looks good in the pic, but looks can be deceiving

Hazniet @ 8/25/2007 3:12:27 PM # Q
They have done a good job of using camera angles and screenshots. The angle of the phone makes it look taller and not so wide (more like a rectangle) and hides the back of the phone so it looks thinner. Look at the reflection and you can see the back.

They also used a screenshot that fills the whole screen, adding to the illusion of a rectangle screen.

The device really looks slick in this photo, great job palm! A much better color scheme than in those blurry pics earler this summer. If I wasn't waiting for palm os II this would be a very tempting device. My 4 year old T3 can probably wait out 1 more year for a smartphone upgrade.

________________________________________
If you feel like you're under control, you're just not going fast enough.

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Palm leaking?

mikecane @ 8/25/2007 3:15:40 PM # Q
Gizmodo has a pic too.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/picture-exclusive/palm-centro-leaked-official-shot-293414.php

Is Palm engaged in official leaking now?

Whoa -- they know the big World Wide Web exists now? Doesn't that deserve a headline too?

RE: Palm leaking?
SeldomVisitor @ 8/25/2007 3:43:14 PM # Q
> ...Is Palm engaged in official leaking now?...

NOW!?

Yer kiddin', right?

RE: Palm leaking?
mikecane @ 8/26/2007 11:20:00 AM # Q
How long have you been here at PIC? All those past blurry photos out of places like the Philippines of past PDAs (the pre-Treo days) were not Palm leaks.

RE: Palm leaking?
SeldomVisitor @ 8/26/2007 12:41:49 PM # Q
> ...All those past blurry photos out of places like the
> Philippines of past PDAs (the pre-Treo days) were not
> Palm leaks...

Ya sure?

Giggle.


RE: Palm leaking?
mikecane @ 8/26/2007 1:16:35 PM # Q
Yes. Sure.

No giggle.

Reply to this comment

Ed Colligan's Soliloquy

mikecane @ 8/25/2007 3:18:05 PM # Q
You see? You see? They laughed at me. Oooooh, how they laughed at me! I was Ed the Dead, who couldn't put out a good product, who couldn't put out a good OS, who couldn't put out something people would want to buy. They complained about the LifeDrive. They moaned about the TX. They whined about the lookalike Treos. They spit on the Foleo.

Now look at them.

Praising -- praising! -- the Centro.

The Centro that was all *my* baby. Me, mine, me, I wanted that.

And now they applaud.

Fear me.

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operating system

jskinvest @ 8/25/2007 4:24:48 PM # Q
Is the Centro going to be Palm OS, Windows, or Linux?

RE: operating system
Ryan @ 8/25/2007 5:17:18 PM # Q
It is Palm OS, which has been confirmed by Palm during the semi-announcement.
RE: operating system
jonecool @ 8/25/2007 5:26:46 PM # Q
Dunno, the OS doesn't appear to be Palm or WM. Looks to me like Linux??

RE: operating system
Ryan @ 8/25/2007 5:52:21 PM # Q
The pic shows the same IM application that first came bundled with the Sprint Treo 755p.
RE: operating system
rcartwright @ 8/25/2007 6:23:34 PM # Q
I don't really see Palm running the new Linux based system on their basement level product. Now very intersting to wonder what happens at the first of the year when the Sprint exclusivity period ends and they want to shop the phone to ATT and T-Mobile. The only way they will be able to get 3g is with WM...or the new OS.

"Many men stumble across the truth, but most manage to pick themselves up
and continue as if nothing had happened."
- Winston Churchill
RE: operating system
TooMuch @ 8/26/2007 2:54:54 PM # Q
Two thoughts:
1. Don't conclude that it's not running a Linux OS because the leak pic has a Palm OS app on it...the Linux OS should run legacy Palm OS apps.
2. Don't conclude that it's not running a Linux OS just because it may not be a flagship Treo series:
a. Great way to build a new phone line.
b. Linux OS should require less power which is a premium in smaller devices.

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Oh the pain of longing.

twrock @ 8/25/2007 8:56:48 PM # Q
Wow, they did get this thing to look good! It may be "beauty skin deep", but at least it does look good. Honestly there is no reason that the Centro won't work well as a Palm OS device. Actually, there may be good reason for getting one of the last Garnet devices before the move to Linux. At least you can be pretty sure your current app collection is safe for the near future. I really would consider this to be a very desirable device.

But then again, my way too big thumbs and my way too old eyes both tell me that there is likely little chance I can be happy trying to use this smartphone, particularly as a PDA replacement. Minimally, if the keyboard were just the standard twelve number keys I could at least use it as cell phone replacement that "just happened" to run Palm OS. That'd be kinda cool. But I'm very concerned that I wouldn't even be able to use this keyboard for dialing numbers. Predictive typing on a 12 button keypad is quite functional as well. Why not just do that? And if the $99 price with contract were true, this is a great deal. They just might have a winner on their hands.

Oh the pain. Again, Palm is close to making a smartphone that I might actually buy. But it just falls short. Why must they always have a qwerty keyboard?


Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/

RE: Oh the pain of longing.
SeldomVisitor @ 8/25/2007 9:07:00 PM # Q
> ...Why must they always have a qwerty keyboard?

Maybe Fooleo, part II, will control a keyboardless "smart"phone.

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Killer App ... Market .. Big Thang?

LiveFaith @ 8/26/2007 1:13:25 AM # Q
Photo looks a lot better, but that infantile keyboard and screen are not going to appeal to adult humanoids. Battery life should be great since it's a fatty with a toy LCD.

Now, on to the real purpose of this device. The app on-screen tells it all. Palm is going after the youth texting craze. Maybe in a big way. It looks like tabbed apps that brings AOL+WMsngr+Yahoo all together at once. No more friends here and fiends there. Tie it all together in one place with a full keyboard.

Is Palm going to have an AOL, MSN, Yahoo, probably ICQ etc etc app running? Doubtful. Keeping all that up to date would be worse than a Windows desktop. I think they are going to do this all Web2.0 style on Palm.net and simply use the smartfone as the generic "dumb device". But since the servers do all the work, this dumbphone brings everyone together, regardless of where they are, on a PC or phone.

Is this the big thing that the official mentioned?

How on GGE is the same Palm, that apparently can't leverage WiFi with the carriers, going to do something without the carrier ringing the texting register? Or, will Palm+carrier charge for this?

This phone may run Palm OS (Rev A? Hmmm?), but it will not appeal to hardcore PDA geeks found round here. This is a completely different market. One that may like the little orange, the colored phone, and the Palm Pilot legacy. Hey they also have no clue about the horrible tortures their customers have endured recently either. And that's a good thing, right?

Maybe I presume way to much here and just need to go to bed.

Pat Horne

RE: Killer App ... Market .. Big Thang?
LiveFaith @ 8/26/2007 1:23:59 AM # Q
... oh I forgot. The Centro name makes a lotta sense in the above scenario. Is this the beginning of Palm's new biz model for all smartfones going forward?

Also, it is Palm OS. See the little house button, the cheesy 1990s scroll bar, and the font. Somehow it's Palm OS. Hopefully Garnet, since I hope they do something better with the scrolls on POS2 after 13 years.

Pat Horne

RE: Killer App ... Market .. Big Thang?
twrock @ 8/26/2007 2:48:48 AM # Q
Palm is going after the youth texting craze.

So I showed my daughter (17) the pic and asked her what she thought of it. She said, "What's with all those keys?" I explained that it was a full keyboard instead of just a number pad. She asked, "Why?" I responded that it would make things like text messaging easier. She responded, "But the keys are too small." Then she concluded with, "It might be OK for you, but it's too complicated."

Of course she hasn't seen the actual size of the thing, but her perception is that the keys are too small. So if she thinks so, I can imagine that my own impression that they will be way too small is probably not far off from reality. But I will play with one the first chance I get in the hope that I can somehow use the thing. We'll see.

So then I'm thinking that maybe I can just use an on-screen number pad and ignore the keypad. But then I'm thinking that I'm right back where I started, wanting a TX sized screen without a keyboard. Try as I might, I just can't make this Treo/Centro thing work for me.


Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/

RE: Killer App ... Market .. Big Thang?
sgiga @ 8/26/2007 5:25:45 AM # Q
Looking at the keyboard, there is no space left for internationalization, which will need another 2-3 keys. This is really completely strange since this device could sell alot considering the touch screen. But this is no news from Palm, all their devices are too US-centric, and is probably the single most important reason why Palm is a tiny midget internationally.

Rip out the qwerty, install numpad and T9 (which means internationalization in software), and this phone could avtually be a HUGE success. There are no other phones out there with touch screen and numpad. This could be used one handed, as well as two handed with it's touch screen. The closest competitor would be the htc 710 (no touch screen, but slide out keyboard), and is already a huge success. With the old, but snappy Garnet compared with wm, there would be no camparison.

RE: Killer App ... Market .. Big Thang?
mikecane @ 8/26/2007 11:23:11 AM # Q
Are the keys smaller than Crackberries?! They're smaller than a Sidekick, but what's the price of a Sidekick compared to this?

Well, let's see what happens.

If it flops, it would be a bad wound for Palm. Possibly the worst.

RE: Killer App ... Market .. Big Thang?
rpa @ 8/26/2007 12:20:38 PM # Q
Rip out the keyboard altogether and extend the screen. Keep the buttons in the silver band and make use of the touchscreen. Not exactly a T|X phone but close.

Agree with an earlier post about the youth market....my teenage son can text on a normal keypad as fast as any qwerty keyboard. The closest my son would go to an extended keyboard would be the Blackberry Pearl. Qwerty is just not too cool with the teen market from what I gather.

rpa
Palm Pilot >> Palm Tungsten E user

RE: Killer App ... Market .. Big Thang?
mikecane @ 8/26/2007 1:18:35 PM # Q
Eh.

Things change in the kid market. It just takes the c00lezt kidz to adopt something for everyone else to follow suit.

Plus, if they can get a TV character using one of these things, that'd help too.

RE: Killer App ... Market .. Big Thang?
rpa @ 8/26/2007 1:41:36 PM # Q
sqiqa: there is a touch screen phone with a keypad: Sony Ericsson Z558i. Not sure if available in the US but semi-popular in Hong Kong.

rpa
Palm Pilot >> Palm Tungsten E user
RE: Killer App ... Market .. Big Thang?
jca666us @ 8/26/2007 2:18:15 PM # Q
>Rip out the keyboard altogether and extend the screen. Keep the buttons in the silver band and make use of
>the touchscreen.

You read my mind! That would give you a decent (if smallish) sized screen. Add in a some good media apps. and you have a poor man's iphone.

RE: Killer App ... Market .. Big Thang?
TooMuch @ 8/26/2007 3:08:13 PM # Q
My job for 23 years has been "youth." The youth market is as complex as the adult market. One likes it "round" while another likes it "square." If you find a product that they all think should be "round," then it is often a fad product that they mock 6-12 months later. :0)

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