Manage updates with the Download AppPalm Centro - red (Sprint)
Manufacturer: Palm Part number: PTR690HKR
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Product series
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Palm Centro isn't the innovative product we were looking for from the company, but with its slimmer size, ease of use, and affordable price tag, the Centro is a good option for those looking for their first smartphone.
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CNET editors' review
Palm Centro - red (Sprint) price range: $59.99
- Reviewed by: Bonnie Cha
- Edited by: Kent German
- Reviewed on: 10/11/2007
- Released on: 10/14/2007
The good: The Palm Centro sheds some of the weight and bulk of Palm Treo to make for a more compact smartphone. It also carries an attractive price tag and offers a lot for the money, including Bluetooth, EV-DO support, push e-mail, and a suite of productivity apps.
The bad: The Centro's QWERTY keyboard is extremely cramped and the hardware feels a bit toylike. The phone's speaker is on the weaker side, and it lacks Wi-Fi.
The bottom line: The Palm Centro isn't the innovative product we were looking for from the company, but with its slimmer size, ease of use, and affordable price tag, the Centro is a good option for those looking for their first smartphone.
User reviews
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this phone is amaing
by jbsayzz on August 5, 2008
Pros: the pros to this phone is touch screen , camera , and fast internet capabilites.
Cons: the cons of this phone are ; the settings are not easly accessible you have to go to each application and go through a wide veriaty of options to find what your looking for.
Summary: i would reccomend this phone to anybody who is in the maket looking for a smart phone, it is amazing.
Summary: i would reccomend this phone to anybody who is in the maket looking for a smart phone, it is amazing.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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So far I am impressed
by tap2k on April 24, 2008
Pros: Small and light, easy to use
Cons: keyboard is a bit small
Summary: I have only had it for a month but I am impressed so far. The keyboard is a bit small but not terribe. The OS took some getting use to ...
Summary: I have only had it for a month but I am impressed so far. The keyboard is a bit small but not terribe. The OS took some getting use to but I think it is 100% better then Windows Mobile. Call quality is just ok but internet speeds are very good. It fits in the hand much better then the Treo or the Blackberry 8703. Really no big complaints.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Very Good for a Small Smart Phone
by S2Imager on April 22, 2008
Pros: Compact & GoogleMap is linked to your address book
Cons: Battery & lack of options for 3rd party assessories
Summary: I upgraded from my Treo 650 to the Centro. I've had my Treo for over 2.5 years and before that I had the Gold Samsung Palm for over ...
Summary: I upgraded from my Treo 650 to the Centro. I've had my Treo for over 2.5 years and before that I had the Gold Samsung Palm for over 3.5 years. I love the PDA smartphones. The Centro is a great phone improvement on the old Treo 650. It does have a faster Web access with the EVDO compared to the Treo 650 (which is still a good phone, but it is time to retire it.)
I think I am running the battery down quicker because I am using the internet function more often than before. The Centro changes pretty quick. I have broken my last two smartphones' clip for holding the stylus. The Centro Stylus is all plastic and I don't see it is going to wear out or break the holding mechanism clip.
It is a good upgrade for only $99 with a 2 year contract.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Nice Phone, But The Same-Old Story Since 2003.
by the2ndfloodofgod on April 8, 2008
Pros: Smaller size, decent battery life, lots of applications, 320x320 screen, very fast EV-DO, data roaming
Cons: Same bugs and limitations.
Summary: I like the Treo Centro. It runs on the very dependable Sprint CDMA/EV-DO network. But it is the same phone as the Treo 600 that came out back in ...
Summary: I like the Treo Centro. It runs on the very dependable Sprint CDMA/EV-DO network. But it is the same phone as the Treo 600 that came out back in 2003. Palm decided that since the 600 was such a big success, that they had no need to make any kind of effort in designing a new phone. This holds true with the Centro. This phone has the (((SAME))) hardware as the Treo 600, 650, 700, 750, ect. Just a bit more memory and a so-called updated OS. The OS might have an update number of 5.4.9, but there is zero difference in the OS. I can not tell a difference at all. This is sad seeing as they made a Lunix based OS called Cobalt years ago and it has never seen the light of day.
The Centro still has the same bugs as every Treo since the 600. Start-up time is very slow. Which is really bad when you are in need of making an important phone call, and the phone resets for no reason. Making you wait up to 60+ seconds for it to come back online. The limited RAM of 64MB's, is so much lower then most PDA's currently on the market. You can use ZLaucher to transfer programs to a memory card, but this can not be done with all software. And since the web browser uses RAM, not memory cards, you still only have 8MB's to work with in Blazer. All software must be loaded into RAM before being it can run, So prepare for the phone to reset at least once a day to get the those limited RAM resources back.
Still no WiFi, which was the complaint in 2003 and Palm has not added it yet. The Centro still has the same 312 MHz Intel XScale processor. Signal strength is still pretty strong, but voice quality is still not great when compared to every other phone I have used before.
Sprint is marketing this as an affordable PDA at $99 with a contract. But when you know that the hardware is going on 5 years old, price really doesn't make current PDA owners care a whole lot. I bought the Centro because I hated my Motorola RAZR 2 and I needed to get something better. But after using the Centro for over a month now, I see no difference what-so-ever in this PDA and the Treo 600 and 650 that I owned a few years ago. Smaller packaging, but the same phone. The Centro is a good example of what a PDA maker SHOULD NOT DO. While Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, HTC, ect have all updated their lineups with powerful PDA's, Palm has sat idly by doing nothing with their former star power. Palm used to control a huge chuck of the PDA software market, but now Microsoft has caught up and passed PalmOS by. No new companies have used PalmOS. Let me rephrase that, NO ONE is using the PalmOS anymore; except for Palm.
So if you don't have a PDA and want an affordable one, then the Centro might be for you. If you want power, then Sprint has much better PDA's then the aged and milked-to-death Treo's.
So in closing, pretty nice phone if you are into Palm Treo's. Don't expect anything grand and ground breaking. The Palm WiFi card will not work on the Centro, since it is a SD card, not Mini.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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I love this phone
by lcoulter02 on December 29, 2007
Pros: Small, easy to use, combined my call, pda, and mp3 into one
Cons: Stylus is cheap
Summary: This is a entry level smartphone. I had the TREO and its horrible. Within 2 days I went back to Sprint wanting to return it. The software drove me crazy, ...
Summary: This is a entry level smartphone. I had the TREO and its horrible. Within 2 days I went back to Sprint wanting to return it. The software drove me crazy, the phone was big and heavy,and I didnt like the keyboard. If you are on your phone utilizing email, web, and documents all day, go with the treo. If you need something to keep your life from being completely unorganized, this is the phone. However, the stylus really is cheap with no upgrade announced (I checked).
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Fisher Price: Baby's First Smartphone
by mistechen on December 27, 2007
Pros: Tons of features, great OS, cute, cheap
Cons: Not an iPhone
Summary: Woowoo! My first smartphone and it's excellent! It does everything: syncs with my mac calendar/contacts, alarms, IM (the BEST IM program), gets my google/mac email, games, voice ...
Summary: Woowoo! My first smartphone and it's excellent! It does everything: syncs with my mac calendar/contacts, alarms, IM (the BEST IM program), gets my google/mac email, games, voice memos, web. I also like OnDemand for movie times and quick news. I bought a micro SD card (you'll need one) for tunes & photos... got MiniTunes (free) to make my songs into ringtones. Downsides? The camera is worthless in low light and men will have a terrible time using the keyboard (which works fine for my girly fingers). The red one is so cute it looks like a little toy!
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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great entry level smartphone
by jlaver00 on October 20, 2007
Pros: nice touch screen, easy to use menus, not bulky like the other Palm phones, good navigation buttons
Cons: small qwerty keys takes some getting used to if you send alot of text messages
Summary: Overall its a very good phone, the touch screen is great for dialing numbers. Phone as modem from sprint makes this phone a great option to data cards for laptops. ...
Summary: Overall its a very good phone, the touch screen is great for dialing numbers. Phone as modem from sprint makes this phone a great option to data cards for laptops. Easily fits in your pocket.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The Palm smartphone I've been waiting for
by Corbdal1 on October 20, 2007
Pros: Hot design, great price, Palm OS (which means tons of available software), microSD expansion slot
Cons: Not available in more colors, camera only 1.3 megapixel
Summary: I have owned the Treo 650, then got one Blackberry after another. I can't stand not having a touchscreen. Goodbye Blackberry, Hello Palm.
Summary: I have owned the Treo 650, then got one Blackberry after another. I can't stand not having a touchscreen. Goodbye Blackberry, Hello Palm.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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I don't know how to use this phone its too difficult!
by edith_pr1 on December 26, 2007
Pros: Beautiful red phone
Cons: Its really complicated, super small keyboard.
Summary: Well this is the first PDA/Smartphone I've ever had and I HATE IT!! I don't understand anything I just got the phone today b/c my red ...
Summary: Well this is the first PDA/Smartphone I've ever had and I HATE IT!! I don't understand anything I just got the phone today b/c my red razor has been giving me lots of problems for the past 3 months. I was going to get another phone but sprint is all SOLD OUT of the Rumor by LG. I'm a huge fan of txting and well thats how I communicate, with this phone I have no idea what I'm doing. There are way too many opitions, it looks like i could break it in half if i held it too hard, and trying to txt others is a whole process within its self. The buttons are seriously REALLY SMALL. I would rather have my razor activated again and WAIT for the Rumor to be available. I woudn't recomend this phone for a FIRST TIME PDA/SMARTPHONE user. There should be classes given out to those who are first time useres to this kind of phone. AT LEAST GIVE ME A CRASH COURSE PLEASE!!
1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Every phone has a compromise
by kbaum17 on October 24, 2007
Pros: Small, fast network, cheap data plans
Cons: No multi-tasking, no wi-fi
Summary: What soooo many reviewers (professional and amateur) seem to realize and even note is that EVERY phone has a compromise if you want somethine in return. You want a smaller ...
Summary: What soooo many reviewers (professional and amateur) seem to realize and even note is that EVERY phone has a compromise if you want somethine in return. You want a smaller phone, then there is 100% chance that the better will be smaller and not last as long as a bigger phone using the same technology with a bigger battery would. You want a smaller phone AND qwerty keyboard, you are going to get a crampt keyboard. Let's face it, no one who is serious about having a phone is going to put up with those huge and bulky HTC slide out phones. First, they are bulky as all get out. Second, you need two hands to use the keyboard....which is still small. If you want a comfy keyboard, buy a laptop. But you can't carry around a bulky phone and call yourself serious about having a PDA phone. The only phones on the market right now that meet and acceptible size requirement (and have a keyboard) are the Dash, BB Curve, BB 8800, BB Pearl, Q, BlackJack, and the Centro. I have used them ALL. They all have downsides.
As for the Centro, the may downside is this: The Palm OS does not allow multi-tasking. That is it, folks! You don't need Wi-fi on your phone. What is the point if you are paying for a data plan anyway? The only thing that is cool about wi-fi is T-mobile's BB 8320 that can make calls for free (well, $9 more a month for home service) over wi-fi. Now, THAT is a reason to need/want wi-fi!
The Palm OS, as out-dated as it may seem, still kicks the snot out of BB and Windows. It is far more intuitive.
The Centro phone beats the 755p and the 680 and the 690 for one reason: It is smaller. I mean, this phone feels great in your hand. The only other phones that feel this good are the Dash and the maybe the BB Pearl (and the none-qwerty keyboard is deal-killer). The BB Curve has a nice rubbery backside, like the Dash. If the Centro had that rubbery plastic back and sides, it would be even better.
Everyone keeps referring to this phone as an "first time" or "entry level pda". That is silly. this phone does EVERYTHING any other Palm OS phone does and it is smaller to boot.
Email: Everyone raves about the BB's email. What is so great about it? Sprint's Email and T-mobile's email (and others, I'm sure) can do the whole "push" thing just as well as BB. And, with BB (depending on your provider) you are going to pay another $40 per month for that push service, compared to $15 for the exact same thing using this Centro with Sprint.
Camera: OK, a 1.3meg camera was silly. Why, in October 2007, come out with a 1.3meg camera on ANY phone. Centro losses points here for sure. BB's Curve is a 2.0 and takes great phones consider it is a camera phone AND it has a flash. Love that flash! And it is a true flash, not this posser-flash stuff you see on the HTC products. But BBs have no video. That is very lame of BB because camcorder stuff gets used a lot by folks with camera-phones. Centro should have a 2.0 or 3.0 meg camera and a flash. Now that would make it even more appealing to folks. And no way would it drive up the cost that very much.
BTW: I have owned a Dash (liked the phone, horrible volume interface--deal killer), HTC 8525 (too big), BB Curve (hated BB interface and horrible web surfing), older Palm phones, and now I own the Centro.
Bottomline is the Centro feels like a great phone with a slightly updated format. I would really like multi-tasking (BB's do this well). The Web surfing is as good as it gets (other the iPhone). When you factor all the pros and cons of the OTHER phones out there, you realize that the Centro is a best Palm phone around. And if you don't mind not have multi-tasking (oh, if you want a portable computer, go buy a laptop), then Palm is still the best OS out there.1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Palm
- Part number: PTR690HKR
- Description: Life starts after five o'clock. That's why there's the Palm Centro smartphone. Palm Centro gives you voice, text, IM, email and web, all in a phone that's a lot smaller than you think. It even has a touchscreen and a full keyboard, so you can say L8R to those tricky keys on your cell phone. Carry names and numbers, shoot photos and video, and meet up with friends. Centro. Let's go.
General
- Packaged Quantity 1
- Product Type Smartphone
- Form Factor Full keyboard - Touch screen
- Integrated Components Digital camera,
Digital player - Width 2.1 in
- Depth 0.7 in
- Height 4.2 in
- Weight 4.2 oz
- Body Color Ruby
Cellular
- Technology CDMA
- Band CDMA2000 1X 1900/800
- Service Provider Sprint Nextel
- Operating System Palm OS 5.4.9
- Application Software Palm VersaMail,
Calendar,
Contacts,
Voice Memo,
Calculator,
Tasks,
Camera,
Bluetooth,
World clock,
Quick Tour,
Astraware Sudoku,
Memos,
Pics&Videos,
On Demand,
Instant messaging,
DataViz Documents To Go Professional Edition,
HotSync,
Pocket Tunes Deluxe 3.0,
Camcorder,
Phone - Input Device(s) Touch sensitive screen,
Keyboard - Phone Navigation Buttons Navigation button
Messaging & Internet
- Instant Messaging Services Yahoo! Messenger,
AOL Instant Messenger Service (AIM),
Windows Live Messenger (MSN Messenger) Communications
- Data Transmission HSDPA,
EV-DO - Wireless Interface Bluetooth
- Communication Features Mobile Email client
Media Player
- Supported Digital Audio Standards MP3
Processor
- Type Texas Instruments,
XScale - Clock Speed 201 MHz
Memory
- RAM 128 MB
- User Memory 64 MB
- Supported Flash Memory Cards microSD
Digital Camera
- Sensor Resolution 1.3 megapixels
- Still Image Resolutions 1280 x 1024
- Digital Zoom 2
- Video Recorder Resolutions 352 x 288 (CIF)
- Features Self-portrait mirror
Navigation System
- Navigation Software & Services Google Maps
Display
- Type LCD display
- Technology TFT Transflective
- Diagonal Size 2.4 in
- Display Resolution 320 x 320 pixels
- Color Depth 16-bit (65000 colors)
Connections
- Connector Type Headset jack
Battery
- Technology Lithium ion
- Capacity 1150 mAh
- Run Time Details Talk - up to 210 min,
Standby - up to 300 hour(s) Miscellaneous
- Included Accessories Power adapter , Power adapter,
USB cable,
Stylus
Product series
-
Manufacturer: Palm
Specs: Sprint Nextel,
CDMA,
4.2 oz,
1.3 megapixels,
2.4 in -
Manufacturer: Palm
Specs: Sprint Nextel,
CDMA2000 1X,
4.2 oz,
1.3 megapixels,
2.4 in -
Palm Centro - olive green (Sprint)
Manufacturer: Palm
Specs: Sprint PCS,
CDMA2000 1X,
Up to 210 min,
With digital camera / digital player,
4.2 oz,
1.3 megapixels,
2.4 in
Manufacturer info
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Palm products on Shopper.com
-
- Manufacturer:Palm
- Address:
950 W. Maude Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94085 - Phone: 1-800-881-7256
- Fax: 1-408-617-0100
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