Designed for individuals and traditional mobile users looking for a better way to manage their professional and social lives, Palm and Sprint today introduced the Palm Centro. With voice, text, IM, e-mail, web, contact and calendar capabilities, a full-color touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, Centro brings Palm simplicity and organization to customers who want to stay connected with co-workers, friends and family.
With a new compact design, Centro is the smallest and lightest Palm phone to date. Centro has a modern, stylish look that feels comfortable in the hand, pocket or evening purse.
"Palm Centro has the power of a broadband smartphone at the price of a standard 12-key phone," said Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm. "People looking to have all their contacts and calendar at the touch of a button, plus YouTube streaming videos and the Internet can now get it in a small, cool design with the trademark Palm ease of use. If you're thinking about stepping up to a smartphone, the Palm Centro should be your choice."
Centro will be exclusive through Sprint in the United States for 90 days and is available in onyx black or ruby red. Sprint services such as Sprint TV, Picture Mail, Mobile e-mail and IM will all be incorporated. The latter gives access to Yahoo! Messenger, AOL's AIM service and MSN Messenger.
Additional features include Microsoft Direct Push Technology for delivery of Outlook e-mail as well as personal e-mail, such as Gmail, AOL and Yahoo. Sporting EV-DO, web browsing should go like a breeze and the built-in Google Maps application offers fast access to directions, traffic updates and local search.
Centro is the first Palm phone to include PocketTunes Deluxe, worth $40, and will also come with Sprint Music Manager. Furthermore, the Palm Centro sports a 65K colors touch screen with a resolution of 320x320 pixels, Palm OS 5.4.9, Bluetooth 1.2, microSD slot and a 1.3-megapixel camera.
We've tested all the handsets the Palm Centro will be competing against in Sprint's portfolio, and we think it may do well. In our recent round-up of QWERTY phones for consumers, we also noted that Sprint still didn't offer their customers such a phone; now they do. As the price point for such phones is crucial, we think the $100 Palm Centro will take one of the top spots of this chart.
Measuring 4.22 by 2.11 by 0.73 inches and weighing 4.2 oz, the Palm Centro will be available in mid-October on Sprint, selling for $100 with a two-year contract.
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