First Palm Centro Details Emerge

Posted By: Ryan Kairer on Thursday, September 27, 2007 10:40:06 AM

Sprint has posted a new promotional site for the Palm Centro ahead of today's official press conference. Sprint's promo page reveals the Centro will be available exclusively from Sprint on October 14th. The "worlds smallest Palm device" will be available in black and red for $99, after a $100 mail in rebate on a new 2-year contract.

More details including a hands on preview will be forthcoming here following today's Palm press conference at the DigitalLife show in New York City.

Palm Centro

Thanks to all who sent this in.

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Ugh

sgingras @ 9/27/2007 11:08:29 AM #

Wow...that promo page is a UI nightmare.

Can't wait to see specs.

RE: Ugh

hoodoo @ 9/27/2007 1:54:12 PM #

what's up with that multi-mouse pointer, yikes

RE: Ugh

hkklife @ 9/27/2007 2:26:16 PM #

It looks like something you'd have seen on a kid's Geocities homepage, circa 1998.

So we have this and "It's a Palm Thing".

Yikes!

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

RE: Ugh

sgingras @ 9/27/2007 2:45:41 PM #

Ryan is slacking. The specs are now on the Palm site...and it does have a ringer switch.

All-in-all, it looks a lot (functionality-wise) like a 700p/755p. It also lacks the 680's phone app. I have no idea what Palm is thinking. How do they plan on attracting the younger crowd without at least including a "dialbyphoto"-like interface?

(http://software.palminfocenter.com/product.asp?id=9311)

Anyway, the specs are here:

http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/centro/?creativeID=US_BB_centro_preorder#specs

...and they look like this:

Specs
Display 320x320 pixel Transflective color touchscreen,
supports 16-bit color (up to 65K colors)
Radio Dual-band CDMA2000 EvDO backward compatible
with 1XRTT and IS95
Platform Palm OS 5.4.9
Bluetooth® Wireless Technology Version 1.2
Memory 64MB available user storage
Camera 1.3 megapixels with 2x digital zoom and
video capture
Battery Removable 1150mAh, lithium-ion
3.5 hours talk time, up to 300 hours standby time
Expansion microSD card (up to 4GB supported)
Conector Multi-connector
Dimensions 4.22" (L) x 2.11" (W) x 0.73" (D); 4.2 oz
Colors Ruby and Onyx

Software on device

Bluetooth®, Calculator, Camcorder, Camera, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Memos, Documents to Go® Professional Edition 10, Downloads, Google Mobile Maps, HotSync®, Instant Messaging, Nuance Voice Control, My Centro, On Demand, Phone, Pics and Video, PocketTunes™ Deluxe, Quick Tour, Sprint Mobile Email, Sprint Store, Sprint TV, Sudoku, VersaMail® 4.0, Voice Memo, Web (Blazer® 4.5), World Clock

BTW, the red looks much better on the Palm site than it does on the Sprint site.

RE: Ugh

hkklife @ 9/27/2007 2:53:44 PM #

Ryan's probably down & out due to the utter lack of wi-fi hotspots at the facility. Either that or he's busy grilling some of the Palm guys with an interview he had scheduled with 'em. Let TC & Engadget blog and post details. I've sent Ryan a list of hard-hitting questions to ask of Palm so THAT'S what I'm interested in hearing!

Now, on to a few technical details now up on Palm's site:

http://www.palm.com/us/products/resources/comparison-smartphone.html

Highlights:

-Screen on the Centro is 2.2" diagonal. The 755p is 2.4". I always thought the 700p was 2.5" diagonal but Palm's site is saying 2.4" for it as well.

-Battery life on the Centro is rated by Palm to be worse than the 680's! That was already pretty atrocious and this being a EVDO-enabled CDMA device it'll probably be even worse during real-world usage.

-One oddity is that the Palm spec site shows this one as having 64mb RAM with 64mb of available user storage. Now, the 755p and 700p have that wacky memory architecture shared with the WinMob CDMA Treos, and they have ~60mb available to the user. So has Palm cut the DBheap/Cache way down on the Centro? Looks like that might unfortunately be the case.

-Centro DOES have IR. Whew, so no broken legacy POS apps for this one...

-312mhz Xscale CPU. THat's a bit overkill for this device IMO. Wouldn't the 300mhz Samsung CPU from the Treo 750 or even the Z22's 200mhz CPU have been more power-thrifty choices?

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

RE: Ugh

SeldomVisitor @ 9/27/2007 3:19:23 PM #

> Ryan's probably down & out due to the utter lack of wi-fi
> hotspots at the facility...

Why do you people need hotspots when you all have Treos, right?

RE: Ugh

hkklife @ 9/27/2007 3:22:08 PM #

Treos get such shi*** reception that's it's hard to pull in a reliable signal indoors at any kind of convention/exhibition venue. And besides, it's nigh impossible to typeo r set up a BT or tethered DUN connection when your hands are trembling with excitement over Palm's latest world-beating smartphone release! :-)

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

RE: Ugh

mikecane @ 9/28/2007 12:31:27 PM #

>>>-Centro DOES have IR. Whew, so no broken legacy POS apps for this one...

IR on right side. I beamed a Memo to it from my LD (or Sh*tDrive as I called it out loud to nearby Palm reps).

Execrpt from a book called "A Shortage of Engineers."

Irony, eh?

May be my first Palm phone

JPT|X @ 9/27/2007 11:09:11 AM #

But I'll have to hold it in my hand to see if my 40 year old fingers/eyes can manage it.

Where's my Zire 73????????????????????????

RE: May be my first Palm phone

mikecane @ 9/28/2007 12:32:15 PM #

Forget it. Unless you plan to have a kid with you all the time to do your typing and screen reading!

Smallest?

4s @ 9/27/2007 11:22:20 AM #

I think that crown is still worn by the Samsung i500, unless they mean "smallest currently in production."

<><

RE: Smallest?

drbuzz0 @ 9/27/2007 12:15:42 PM #

IS this smaller than that PalmOS wrist watch that Fossil came out with a while back?

Look, I mean, small cell phones are good, but lets not be ridiculous!

RE: Smallest?

potter @ 9/27/2007 12:33:21 PM #

"worlds smallest Palm device" meaning the smallest device made by Palm. Is it smaller than the original Zire or the Z22?

RE: Smallest?

joad @ 9/27/2007 12:55:28 PM #

Man, that screen is WAAAY too big! I'm sure there are a few people over 30 that could still read it, and we know that you can't trust anyone that age.

I won't be satisfied until Palm shrinks these devices down to the size of a nickel and battery life to 13 minutes between recharges. This baby is far too large to appeal to anyone - Palm has failed in their mission to make the Treo completely unusable.... try harder, Palm!

|
**Another vote for a >100MB RAM Treo**

Is Gekko drooling?

mikecane @ 9/27/2007 12:33:58 PM #

So, Gekko, what's your opinion, eh?

RE: Is Gekko drooling?

Gekko @ 9/27/2007 6:28:40 PM #

what's not to like?

RE: Is Gekko drooling?

mikecane @ 9/28/2007 12:33:25 PM #

Size size size.

RE: Is Gekko drooling?

Gekko @ 9/28/2007 5:40:27 PM #

the small size and light weight is the best part!

ever hear of the BlackBerry Pearl?????

RE: Is Gekko drooling?

mikecane @ 9/28/2007 6:44:22 PM #

Gekko, you will have to surgically alter your fingers to use the Centro keyboard. It's really, really, really small. Good luck with that!

Lol! They painted out 'Treo'!

SeldomVisitor @ 9/27/2007 12:34:05 PM #

The Sprint page now has a red SOMETHING...

Giggle.

Palm, Sprint and the M word

ChiA @ 9/27/2007 1:05:14 PM #

Hmm, the Sprint promo uses the multitasking word. I think they should be more cautious about using that word anywhere near a Palm OS phone unless Palm has a pleasant surprise for us today.

View?

potter @ 9/27/2007 1:30:50 PM #

From the http://www.moreyous.com/">promo page:

Work on the go. View Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDFs.

View?!? not edit!

RE: View?

mikecane @ 9/28/2007 12:34:17 PM #

From what I saw, it's Docs2Go. Icon says Documents. I opened it. I saw no diff.

Disipointed, but not surprised

drbuzz0 @ 9/27/2007 4:33:56 PM #

~pathetically small ram. Way too small to not rely on a memory card for your programs unless you have aproximately zero. This is inexcusable, considering the complaints made over the past few phones.

~No flash support. Hence, no "real" youtube support. No real improvement to multimedia, such as addition of Realaudio (which is kinda dead anyways) or any other major multimedia upgrades.

(Its so ironic that the promo page is in Flash when the device does not even support it)

~No GPS. Sprint is especially selling their "location aware" and "Turn by turn directions." PalmOS already has a GPS API capability (one of the few things it does not need added). It would be both cheap and with google maps a nobrainer to add a gps receiver.

~Looks like the full sized SD card is dead for the new designs. This is idiotic, considering how much it reduces storage and only gains a small advantage in size. Id be willing to overlook this if it had decent or semi-decent internal storage or any other redeeming qualities.

~No major upgrades of any of the hardware. Better camera? Not really. Better audio? No. Better keyboard? (No worse).

~NO WIFI - THIS ONE IS IN CAPS BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE HARD TO HEAR GIVEN THE MASSIVE GROAN COMING FROM ANY REMAINING LOYAL PALM CUSTMERS. This is the same damn dispointment that hadppened with all the previous ones back to the 650. People no longer expect it, at least. Now they just think its a lost hope.

Oh yeah, the good part:

Its a bit thinner than past models, and the only tradeoff is the pathetic battery and lack of a full sized SD slot.

Whooptyfreakindo.

RE: Disipointed, but not surprised

maceyr @ 9/27/2007 4:42:28 PM #

Agreed. There is nothing in this device that is appeal in any way. I know it's meant for kids that don't have a clue to what a Treo is or own any smartphones or whatever but still, this is ugly.

But then, at $99 I guess it will sell.

Just give us something with Wi-Fi, or that at least supports those Wi-Fi cards or whatever. Forget it, if I'm getting a smartphone with Wi-Fi, I'll have to get a Win Mobile smartphone.

Even the 750 can support the mini-SD Wi-Fi card but again, it's Win Mobile. Hmm, am I trying to say something?

Never mind, I doubt Palm cares.

http://tinyurl.com/25lred">WIN Proporta Alu-Leather Case & Adv Screen Protector!
http://palmdiscovery.net">**** src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/MaceyrsPalmDiscovery.gif" border=0>

RE: Disipointed, but not surprised

hkklife @ 9/27/2007 5:15:30 PM #

Given the limitations of FrankenGarnet, what could Palm realistically add to a theoretical flagship 800p next year? Easy:

-Larger 320x320 LCD (2.7", 2.8" or even 3" would be ideal). 320x480 on a Treo is wishing for too much.

-128mb RAM, 2gb internal storage drive. Bring back the T5 drive mode, please.

-Fullsizse SDHC slot. This is a MUST.

-Huge capacity standard battery (2000mAh or at least)

-3.5mm stereo headphone jack (forget A2DP). This is a *MUST*

-2.0mp camera of decent quality

-Strong software bundle (DTG 10 Pro full version, PTunes Deluxe)

-EITHER integrated GPS or wi-fi. I'd personally prefer GPS since EVDO is fast enough for me.

-Rubbberized coating

-Bring back the backlit d-pad and space bar along with the reset button, please.

I'm fine with it being a touch on the large side (think thickness of the 650/700 but without the external antenna) if the extra size is put to good use ( 700-sized keyboard and a larger LCD). I could even handle it being a tad wider.

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

RE: Disipointed, but not surprised

heavyduty @ 9/28/2007 10:54:34 AM #

~NO WIFI - THIS ONE IS IN CAPS BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE HARD TO HEAR GIVEN THE MASSIVE GROAN COMING FROM ANY REMAINING LOYAL PALM CUSTMERS. This is the same damn dispointment that hadppened with all the previous ones back to the 650. People no longer expect it, at least. Now they just think its a lost hope.

Wrong. hklife predicted/expected Wifi from their devices being launched this year (and don't tell me you didn't hk, you debated this with me. Heck, you even expected a high-end GPS device before the end of this year; now how long do you think you'll have wait for *that*??).

It's beyond me that people keep moaning about the same issues for *years* and yet still seem to expect something great or even revolutionary from Palm. At this point there are other options out there much better than Palm, and if you think there aren't any then you simply haven't looked well enough.

Palm is roadkill, so stop staring people and move on. Just move on......

Palm Vx (a classic) -> Palm 505 (*yawn*) -> Dell Axim (slooow...) -> Palm TE (great) -> Qtek 9090 (great idea, lousy platform) -> Nokia 6630 (a toy) -> iMate SP3i (not bad) -> Nokia 9300 (can't sync notes!!) -> Treo 650 (awesome) -> hw6915 (almost perfect)

RE: Disipointed, but not surprised

hkklife @ 9/28/2007 11:29:33 PM #

Yup, you're right, no arguments from me there.

I expected three things (at least ONE of them for sure) this year:

-A new antenna-less midrange WM6 Treo with a 320x320 LCD (a 755w, if you will).

-A flagship "Mercedes" 800w this fall that was basically the above unit but with a better camera, more memory/storage, BT 2.0, and built-in wi-fi.

-Something running Palm OS (either a Treo OR a new PDA) with integrated GPS. I figure it'd be easier to have BT + cellular + GPS on a Garnet device than wi-fi + BT + cellular. After Palm's string of GPS add-on cradles and kits, I really expected some kind of integrated device.

After all, '06 did end on a reasonably positive note with the Treo 680 (good bang for the buck) so I gave in to the apologists/astroturfers/cheerleaders here and figured I'd give Palm a fair chance this year. Whoops!

So whatever enthusiasm I had for Palm going into this year is pretty much gone by now. Between the death of their PDAs, the terrible 700p ROM update debacle, the Fooleo announcement/cancelation, and the utter lack of compelling new product from Palm (plus better outta luck if you're on any carrier in the world but Sprint), I've pretty much gone into deathwatch mode. That said, it's still worth hanging onto our current devices for another year or so until the iPhone becomes a bit more mature and gains 3G connectivity.

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

RE: Disipointed, but not surprised

drbuzz0 @ 9/29/2007 12:05:10 AM #

They're stuck with garnet for the time being. It's pathetic but that's the way it is. An new OS will take at least a few more months and possibly much longer.

I just don't see why they won't throw the consumer a freakin bone and put something new or useful on it that makes you say "Hey the last device could not do that." Hows about a better camera? Why not GPS? GPS is avaliable on tons of cell phones. So damn cheap to add and would allow the whole "turn by turn directions." Why the same camera? if it were at least 2.0.. that would be at least an upgrade of *something*

What's with the pathetic amount of storage? Come on, Palm. Have you checked the price of flash memory recently? Putting minimum 256mb and ideally a lot more would at least make people feel like it's some kind of an improvement and thus help sales.

Software? Maybe Flash SWF support? or a new tabbed browser? or support of some web 2.0 stuff? or maybe a new and well optomized JVM? or just tweak the launcher a bit?

Just give us *something* even if it's a novelty, it's just... something that can be pointed to as an improvement.

It's just sad to see this happening.

RE: Disipointed, but not surprised

heavyduty @ 9/29/2007 7:41:00 PM #

Yup, you're right, no arguments from me there.
I expected three things (at least ONE of them for sure) this year:....

Then I consider the matter closed. I'll stay off your back from now on regarding this Wifi/GPS thing :)

Palm Vx (a classic) -> Palm 505 (*yawn*) -> Dell Axim (slooow...) -> Palm TE (great) -> Qtek 9090 (great idea, lousy platform) -> Nokia 6630 (a toy) -> iMate SP3i (not bad) -> Nokia 9300 (can't sync notes!!) -> Treo 650 (awesome) -> hw6915 (almost perfect)

Palm Software on sale