Comments on: Sprint Centro Update Now Available

What are your initial usage impressions? Is anything faster/more stable than before?

How is Google Mobile Maps location working for you?

Do you still not use Bluetooth?

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

1. What are your initial usage impressions?

no changes other than listed in #2 below.

2. Is anything faster/more stable than before?

Blazer seems 2X faster. stability seems the same for all apps. although each time i start it, i now get "Processing" for about 1-2 seconds before Blazer starts. It's worth it because now Blazer is much faster. Unless it's "just my imagination" as there was no documentation of such an improvement yet this "Processing..." thing is new. Blazer is now v4.5.8. what's yours? i dont have Outlook Exchange EAS hooked up yet so not sure what improvements are there. My RAM is back to 66-70% free and no crashes yet anywhere. i did microSD card update.

3. How is Google Mobile Maps location working for you?

kind of cool but i'm not sure how useful. i mean 1,100 meters range doesn't exactly pinpoint you. i have a touchscreen widescreen Lexus OEM Navigation system in my car that blows everything else away so i'm spoiled when it comes to GPS/NAV.

4. Do you still not use Bluetooth?

what for? i can't bring myself to use those Klingon earpieces and my car is 2004 so i missed BT by 1-2 model years. i use it for the occasional "send file" to another palm.

CAN I PLEASE HAVE SOME REPLIES TO THIS MESSAGE? Thanks.

The Centro can tout a "real " QWERTY keyboard (albeit a tiny one), 320x320 touchscreen (albeit a tiny one), decent gaming capabilities, and lots of add-on software.

The Pearl is one of the most atrociously-styled, nigh-unusable, overhyped devices I've ever used. That crummy old BB font looks like some archaic relic from the early 90s. The Pearl's keyboard is beyond horrible IMOs, and its wacky shape/layout looks like something Dali might have come up with on a bad day. And a device the size of the Pearl is simply too small too fiddle with a tiny trackball IMO. Now, the BB Bold looks to be a superb device, as does the Thunder, but I'm still fairly unimpresed by the current-gen BB lineup, despite RIM making HUGE strides in the consumer space and in their devices' multimedia capabilities.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

We're just winding you up, lad.

The Centro is a Real Nice Phone. Well, once they come out with that fancy Playskool Deluxe Edition.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7xNnRBksvOU

Gekko will want that one!

Card readers are cheap as dirt nowdays. You can get a decent generic USB 2.0 fullsize/mini/micro SDHC card drive at Wal-Mart for <$10. Go get one and enjoy the flexibility it offers. You won't regret it, especially when you move a gig or two of media from your PC to your microSD card and bypass the tedious Hotsync speeds.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

Get a 21st Century car, Gekko. Geez!

http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/fugly-mini-cooper-vs-cutie-smart-fortwo/

So Palm's policy of not trying to save everyone a few precious megabytes of internal storage continues with nothing updated in ROM.

I haven't seen any reports that VM, PTunes or DTG have had their ROM versions updater either-I would highly, highly doubt it.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

Blazer: 4.5 (I believe all that 4.5.8 adds is more aggressive caching & slightly improved streaming media via the embedded Kinoma player)

VersaMail 3.5.5 is supposed to come w/ the 755p, I've got the Centro-specific 4.01 Built 77 version installed and it works great.

Messaging 2.7

Phone 2.5

The VZW ROM update didn't update GMM, Ptunes or DTG (still at 8.02) and even if it did, I still downloaded the latest versions immediately to my device.

No doubt about it, the Centro is pulling away from the Garnet Treos in regards to updated software versions (but at this point, what's the difference?).

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

And....maybe......Access (pun intended) to whatever Hawkins & co. are cooking up in the Numenta lab?

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

PALM is $400 million in debt.

Seriously, the Palm & Treo (and to a far lesser degree, Centro) copyrights/IP do retain some tremendous brand equity. Aside from the carrier agreements (specifically the US CDMA giants that the Scandinavian handset manufacturers have traditionally shunned due to their GSM0-centric lineups), there's little to offer anyone at the moment...unless, again "someone" is privvy to some master plan that all of us have NO idea about.

It might be fun to work up the '08 version of the "Who could realistically buy Palm" list. TVoR long maintained that the potential Palm suitor of '06/'07 had 6 letters in their name. I'll throw Garmin into the mix to start things off.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

- http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2008/02/05/nuviphone-first-videos

No one will buy Palm because Palm has outlasted it's worth. Palm doesn't even want to use Frankengarnet, anyone can use Windows Mobile, and Nova is nothing but a figment of our imaginations at this point. Really, if you think there really is a Nova don't you think there would be something out there? A Screenshot, A video presentation, something to get developers into the loop? My friends it's time to say no thanks to the kool-aid and realize that Palm has been living off of borrowed time for many a year now and it will eventually catch up with them. Palm has basically used the same version of Palm OS for at least three years, they of course don't make Windows Mobile, and they outsource their hardware. What exactly is Palm but a bunch of empty suits riding the wave until someone comes along to bail this downtrodden company out. There is no Palm version of Steve Jobs to come in and save Palm from the ruins. Hawkins doesn't have the passion for Palm that Jobs has for Apple. Someone not even employed by Palm, Dmitry, can run circles around any of Palms remaining Code Monkeys. The name Palm is nothing but a relic of days come by. It's in the same class now as Commodore and Atari.

The last known classic PDA user.
I've recently upgraded from a Palm TX to a Newton MP2000!

Eh. I'd place bets the first devs to see Nova will be those poor souls screwed by Foleo. They kept their mouths shut about that. They'd do so about Nova too.

That's if Nova EXISTS.

Does Palm REALLY think they can come back after the iPhone and upcoming iPod Air? Maybe they're just hoping they can snag *some* marketshare. Enough to boost the stock to make it an acquisition target.

Mike (and anyone else who may care), I have my Asus EEE PC 1000H (80gb, XP) now and after a solid week of use this thing is VERY impressive. It's light years away of the original EEE in every way. First upgrade will be 2gb of RAM, followed by a higher-capacity HD and then I may seriously put Vista on it. Wi-fi performance is solid and the N will be a good feature to have down the road. Build quality is mostly solid and certainly better than the "cheap" first-gen EEEs. The BT isn't as solid as what I've been used to on my other machines (very interference-prone). Not sure if it's the chipset, an XP driver problem or the stack itself. I know it's not my mouse!

The Atom CPU is a bit underwhelming and I wish there was some way to force it to run at maximum clockspeed at all times. And I'm still missing some BIOS settings/tweaks like manual memory speed/settings, ACHI native mode etc. Nevertheless, I may end up revisitng a lot of older games (C&C Generals, Quake III, Diablo 2 etc) on this thing. The integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics got a bad reputation but are honestly fine for playing older titles at 800x600 and even up to 1024*768. Utilizing an external USB DVD drive, I'm stunned at how well the Atom/950 combo handles DVD playback and even 720p videos! And the resolution quick-switch & over/undder clock buttons? Pure genius!

But the biggest pleasant surprise has been the keyboard. It's the EXACT size that's still big enough for me to touch type on but not be too big. It could stand to be a little less bouncy but I'll manage just fine. If Asus could (ideally) shave off a bit of this thing's weight & thickness while still keeping decent battery life and all of the bells'n whistles...wow! I'd have given anything to have had a machine like this back when I was in college! Sure, the original EEE 701 was nifty-looking but its screen & keyboard were nigh unusable, especially with Windows. I can really see the 1000-seris (and perhaps the 904 spinoffs with the slightly smaller LCDs but same size keyboards) being THE blogger/writer/journalist/NYC transient machines of choice going forward, especially if the battery life can really be made to do "all day" computing like Asus is touting but not really delivering. If M$ are smart, they are HARD at work on a cut-doown version to launch alongside Windows 7 and intended by these little netbooks. Xp is still servicable but it IS a 7+ year old OS.

A month ago I was right on the MSI Wind bandwagon but after the interminable delays surrounding its launch were just too much to handle. The 1-2-3 punches of MSI squealing bloody murder over any user-installed upgrades, the omisison of the overclocking feature on shipping units' BIOSes & the quick pricedrop by Asus for the 1000H really finished the Wind off before it even got started...at least in my book.
MSI is too busy flooding the European market with cheaper rebadged versions to pay any attention to the US market, obviously. So it appears they are content to just cede all US marketshare to Asus.

Seeing how much goodness you get in an Atom ot even a lowly Celeron M-based netbook makes Palm's decision to cancel the Fooleo a VERY WISE ONE.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYS6ohTQyTw

Re: Nova - I just have this suspicion that whatever is released as Nova is going to look a lot like this: http://www.ubuntu.com/products/mobile

Actually, you know... I would have liked to see the Foleo running "Folbuntu" - not as crazy as it sounds, either - http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2097004728.html