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| Palm Treo Pro |
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 The Palm Treo Pro is aiming squarely at its target audience - Palm devotees who need a serious upgrade. We can't see anyone else falling for the rather dull, underperforming Palm Treo Pro, though owners of Palm's previous generations of Treos might ooh and ahh at the GPS and Wi-Fi, and will certainly marvel at the slick, yet classy shell. Palm's best innovations are really in buttons and hardware shortcuts, but Windows Mobile limits how much Palm can accomplish with this device, and unlike more popular Windows Mobile manufacturers like HTC and Samsung, Palm has done little to nothing to improve the basic Windows Mobile experience. Overall, the Palm Treo Pro is a generally likeably, basic Windows Mobile Pro phone, but without carrier support it seems to lack many of our favorite services, and it isn't nearly enough to keep us from wondering when we'll see the next big thing from Palm. Release: September 2008. Price: $500.
Pros: A new, thinner look with great hardware improvements for the Treo line. Good GPS options. Strong Windows Mobile performance.
Cons: Only Treo owners will fall for this one. To everyone else, this is another mid-range, unlocked smartphone with few additional features or services.
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64%
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| Palm Centro (Unlocked) |
| Full review » Video » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
_it00.jpg) The audience for an unlocked phone is a special bunch, and we wouldn't recommend this phone as an alternative to a carrier-sponsored version if you don't mind signing a new contract. But if you need the unlocked option, the Palm Centro still makes for an appealing, small smartphone. Everything on the inside screams 2006, but the Palm OS worked pretty well then, and it still works well now. It isn't getting any prettier, and the Web browser is practically ancient by today's standards, but for calling and e-mail, the phone is solid. We recommend trying it before you buy, because the small keyboard might stymie even medium-sized fingers, but if the size fits, go right ahead. Release: June 2008. Price: $300.
Pros: Improved calling interface. Unlocked Centro means T-Mobile users might have a shot. Same small design we liked.
Cons: Same small keyboard, same old interface. Apps like the Blazer browser and Pocket Tunes music player starting to show their age.
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59%
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| Palm Centro |
| Full review » Video » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The Palm Centro is the right device for Palm right now. It's a happy little Palm device, priced very competitively, that will bring a new audience to business smartphones and perhaps even reinvigorate the brand just a bit. The phone offers enough features for the price to foster good will, perhaps as long as half way until the next Palm OS update is due. Then, we'll swear we'll start to get tired of the Palm OS. We'll need something new, and this time, there isn't an antenna to cut off. Until then, anyone in the market for a Treo should seriously consider the Centro. If your fingers can handle the smaller keys, it's definitely the one to choose. Release: October 2007. Price: $180.
Pros: Great value. Small size. Screen maintains high resolution of Palm Treo. Runs full Palm OS, can use many existing Palm OS program. Fast networking on Sprint's EV-DO
Cons: Tiny keys. Small screen. Aging Palm OS in dire need of cosmetic update. Scheduling app could use an update. Lacks features and apps of a multimedia smartphone.
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61%
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| Palm Pre |
| Full review » Scoreboard » Features » Gallery » |
 The Palm Pre is a very good phone, and an exciting addition to the smartphone world. We enjoyed our time with the phone, and would have no trouble recommending the phone. But to who would we recommend it? iPhone users might be put off by the less intuitive interface, which would be a shame because they would miss the snappy feel of the e-mail and address book apps. BlackBerry fans might gripe about the smaller QWERTY with those grippy keys. That would be too bad, because the Palm Pre does all the great consolidation of e-mail, contacts and messaging that BlackBerry users take for granted, but extends these to social networking and Internet search, as well. So, here's how to know if you should buy the Pre. Do you use Gmail, Exchange and a variety of e-mail and scheduling services? Do you text, twitter, Google Chat and send messages over Facebook? Do you have dozens of duplicate phone book entries that need some organization? If so, the Palm Pre is an impressive way to bring a lot of disparate services together in an organized, intelligent way, and it might be the smartphone for you. Release: June 2009. Price: $200.
Pros: Beautiful, fast interface with innovative, useful new features. Great hardware design. Very good contacts, messaging and multimedia integration.
Cons: Interface has a steep learning curve. Camera and multimedia functions good, but can't compete with the best.
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74%
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| Palm Treo Pro (Sprint) |
| Full review » Features » Gallery » |
_it00.jpg) With the Palm Treo Pro, Palm has created a competent piece of Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional hardware, but we're less enthusiastic about WinMo 6.1 every day. The Palm Treo Pro on Sprint seems an anathema to the ease of use and simplicity that Palm has always championed. Where Sprint got involved, adding trial programs and bloat by the handful, things are confused and redundant. Where Microsoft took over, with the underwhelming Internet Explorer 6 and the Windows Mobile interface, the phone is unreliable and sluggish. It wasn't all bad. The phone looks great from the outside, and we enjoyed the fast networking speeds and GPS performance. For pure business purposes, Windows Mobile is still tops for scheduling and productivity. That said, even Microsoft acknowledges that Windows Mobile 6.1 is behind the times, and if the Palm Treo Pro was the last Windows Mobile phone Palm produced, we would be satisfied closing the door on this chapter in the company's history. Release: March 2009. Price: $200.
Pros: Nice, sleek design. Fast network speeds.
Cons: Lousy interface. Poor call quality and calling features. Confusing mish-mash of additional, third party apps hurts almost every feature. Internet Explorer 6 doesn't live up to expectations.
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66%
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