Live from the Palm press conference at DigitalLife

Well folks -- we're here at the Palm / Sprint press event at DigitalLife, so get ready to have your heads go popping off your neck in a matter of moments. We're going to be liveblogging the whole nasty affair -- so keep your browser tuned in for the action.

12:34PM EST - Ed Colligan is about to take the stage, and we get a video! Very emotional video being played -- quite a few people in tears. Just kidding.

12:36PM EST - Ed Colligan is talking about the video. Blogging and emailing from a Treo he says. Colligan just said he didn't know what Twittering was until today.

Ed is talking about the market, says a billion phones will be sold this year. Says the market will grow 56 percent over the next few years.

12:39PM EST - Now he's talking about the size of smartphones and how they're too big and too complex.

12:40PM EST - Here it goes -- the Centro!

12:41PM EST - Nothing we didn't know. Touchscreen, little keyboard, new form factor. Palm OS.

12:42PM EST - Okay, he's talking features now. Great phone first, he's boasting about its address book features... we're not impressed with the address book Ed. Now he's talking about messaging, saying it's how a lot of people communicate now -- discussing threaded messaging. All old tech so far. Talking about AIM and Windows Live.

Push email built in -- pretty standard Palm fare -- go figure.

12:46PM EST - Ouch, just burned the iPhone by saying "this is not some EDGE phone" while talking about broadband speeds... uh, what about all your GSM Palm phones, Ed?

12:48PMEST - Sprint's point man on stage now -- talking about how amazing Sprint is -- go figure. Now talking about Sprint TV which has been "optimized" for the Centro. It'll cost you.

12:53PM EST - The phone will be $99.99 -- only for Sprint. He just used the phrase "special sauce."

12:55PM EST - Ed is back! That's all for the show -- no surprises -- at all. Question and answer time...

Stay tuned for a hands-on and possibly some painful, hardball questions for the Palm folks, plus a slew of photos to feast your eyes on.

[imacmatt09 @ Sep 27th 2007 12:36PM]

folio 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111!!!! OMGZZZZZ LOLZZZZZZZZZZZ YEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111

[trumpton @ Sep 27th 2007 12:48PM]

What kind of moron starts slagging off a product before it's even been announced?

Oh, that'll be you, imacmatt09!

Why don't you at least wait to see what the phone is like before acting like a 5yr old h8r?

[Sean DL @ Sep 27th 2007 12:47PM]

So this is where we sign up for "Bash Palm Fest 2"?

[John Stracke @ Sep 27th 2007 12:49PM]

So what is Twittering?

[Manny @ Sep 27th 2007 12:50PM]

I twitter when nobody is looking.

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 27th 2007 1:05PM]

Twitter?

Damn near KILLED her!

HAR HAR HAR

[rob_wunderlich @ Sep 27th 2007 5:29PM]

Twittering: check out http://www.twitter.com

It's kinda like mini-blogging. Each entry can only be 143 characters (or something like that) long, so they tend to be of the "I'm at a really great restaurant" type. Not that there's anything wrong with that ...

[John Stracke @ Sep 27th 2007 6:00PM]

Thanks!

[trumpton @ Sep 27th 2007 12:52PM]

Way to go! Engadget have already managed to slip in one reference to the iPhone, just 12 minutes into Palm's press conference!

In case you hadn't notice, Engadget Person, the phone is not a competitor to the iPhone, it costs a whole load less and - funnily enough - will no doubt do a whole load more.

You know, cover the unglamorous basics like video, MMS, cut and paste, removable battery etc etc etc.

Still, I'm sure that won't stop you drawing lots more irrelevant comparisons! Go, iPhone Boy!

[Mike @ Sep 27th 2007 12:53PM]

All this hate... where is the love?

[Donald @ Sep 27th 2007 12:53PM]

Who else do you THINK Ed was talking about when he said "EDGE phone"?

[riggs @ Sep 27th 2007 1:15PM]

edge phones?^

[Kerry Saylor @ Sep 27th 2007 1:46PM]

haha... you said "funnily" ...is that really a word?

Regardless, the Centro is still Palm's last-ditch effort to stay afloat in the cellphone sea. Personally, I think they need to start kicking a hell of a lot harder if they really want to survive.

[hoyce @ Sep 27th 2007 6:29PM]

The Palm tard is the one who slammed the iPhone. Not engadget. Get over it whiner.
Palm better have more mojo in the lab or they are toast.

[Rob @ Sep 27th 2007 12:52PM]

Watch the presentation live here:
http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp

Also, Sprint just launched the Centro website:
http://www.moreyous.com/

[John Stracke @ Sep 27th 2007 12:59PM]

Sprint's site starts with a Flash craplet saying "Ever wish there were more of you?", and the only button to push is Yes. Um, no, I don't think I have, actually.

[Rob A @ Sep 27th 2007 1:01PM]

LMAO: Ed (Palm) says iPhone users will say things like, "Wow, I want to IM on a tiny keyboard... I want to step up to that next generation product [Centro]."

[John Stracke @ Sep 27th 2007 1:03PM]

Ack, and the Flash makes it look as if your mouse has been cloned into 6, and the clones click where they want you to click.

The features shown at the top level are MP3, email, SMS, IM, Bluetooth, syncing calendars and contacts, and viewers for Office and PDF. Phones with all this have been around for years.

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 27th 2007 1:08PM]

Flash!

a-AH!

[Herman Manfred @ Sep 27th 2007 1:10PM]

Did you notice that Sprint's flash site had the word "Treo" on the phone earlier - and it's gone now?

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/09/sprint-palm-centro-red-440.jpg

[MasterCKO @ Sep 27th 2007 6:37PM]

speaking of sprint product pages, check this one out:

http://www.sprint.com/islandoffer

It's hilarious (sorry for being a bit OT)

[ericdano @ Sep 27th 2007 12:56PM]

Wait, on CSPAN, they have a news conference about ice cubes melting. Oh, the decision. Palm's press coverage........or.......ice melting..........can't......decide.......

[John Stracke @ Sep 27th 2007 12:57PM]

Doesn't he know the phrase is "secret sauce"?

[Corey T @ Sep 27th 2007 12:59PM]

wow way to go ed release again a phone that already exists clap clap clap clap

[B Blomberg @ Sep 27th 2007 2:19PM]

Why all this silly "cynical observations" about stuff Palm can't do in any different way... Centro was never official released, so it's NOT strange that they do it now and it doen't make the phone "old" that it was leaked before!!

Then has this mini marvel a HUGE load of useful functions, that as example iPhone doesn't have and even if some other smartphones also have it - is this the most handy "package" with all vital functions and that's a GREAT combination!!

[mertz @ Sep 27th 2007 1:05PM]

Nothing to see here... Move along...

[Manny @ Sep 27th 2007 1:07PM]

Ahhh Palm...I remember when you used to be revolutionary. Sighs

[Devon @ Sep 27th 2007 1:54PM]

Amen to this comment.
They use to deliver cutting edge products.
Now they get spanked by products running on EDGE.
*I know that was lame :-)

[John Stracke @ Sep 27th 2007 2:06PM]

"Ah, America. You are great...but you are boring."
-- 7-11 clerk, Bloom County

(just before a cockroach comes in riding on a basselope and orders a lifetime supply of rancid ding-dongs to go)

[Kyle @ Sep 27th 2007 3:51PM]

I don't need my phone to be revolutionary. I need it to be affordable and useful. I don't derive my sense of self worth from how "cutting edge" my toys are.

[Juice @ Sep 27th 2007 1:12PM]

Boooo!

[DigiPimp @ Sep 27th 2007 1:10PM]

really you're all missing the signifigance of this product. at least this one will target the texting, IM crowd of which there are tons and tons and push the smartphone adoption rates much higher. of course it has features your treo already has, but this one is cute looking for that younger crowd and cheap. it will definitely be a hit.

[Corey T @ Sep 27th 2007 1:19PM]

how when for this market they dont have the money usualy to spend for the unlimited txt msges and dosent htc have a cdma vertion like this with a slide out keyboard

[Juice @ Sep 27th 2007 1:17PM]

I love it how people always try to turn a bad situation into something positive. TMO has offered the MDA for 99$ and it has a sliding bigger keyboard for those "kids" and their texting. Most parents still aren't budging on getting their kids phones anyway. Let alone an "expensive" 100 dollar one... I mean this Centro is targeting the non business/power users right? News flash, those users still just want the "free" phone.

But if it's only costing Palm 4$ to make one of these then why not? Any more would be absurd.

[TooMuch @ Sep 27th 2007 8:23PM]

Parents not buying phones for kids? HAHAHAHA

[applefreak @ Sep 27th 2007 2:18PM]

ok tell me something that i dont already know

[bendean @ Sep 27th 2007 7:57PM]

So this is targeted as a smartphone for regular people, kids. The business users will stick to their Blackberrys and HTCs and spend $400.

So why release it on Sprint!?? Huge mistake. I know a lot of kids and not one of them has Sprint.

Wow.

[Jeff @ Sep 27th 2007 2:26PM]

Well, he's no Steve Jobs, that's for sure.

[t-bone @ Sep 27th 2007 2:34PM]

"Today I present to yoGAAH! MY ARM IS ALL BLURRY!"

[skr3328 @ Sep 27th 2007 2:48PM]

Compared with Jobs, Hawkins is a perfect loser.
Now, in 2007,can you just add WiFi to your outmoded smartphone?
I love palm,but you killed it T_T

[bugmat @ Sep 27th 2007 3:16PM]

Still...@ $99 a pop they'll sell well - 3G touchscreen, OPEN operatng system for 3rd party apps, threaded text SMS AND MMS (hints to Jobsy) etc etc

[Michael B @ Sep 27th 2007 3:25PM]

Well, here's my question - what's the difference between this and a treo? Why should I buy a treo over this?

[lanejasper69 @ Sep 27th 2007 3:42PM]

Palm...."accidentally bulldozed and buried" CYA!

[Technodragon @ Sep 27th 2007 3:44PM]

*yawn*

Sorry Ed. Centro isn't news, much less "exciting". The cat was out of the bag well before today's show-and-tell, and it's a

[T-Will @ Sep 27th 2007 3:51PM]

I thought this was supposed to be a Windows Mobile Standard device, but the site shows PalmOS.

[merlin @ Sep 27th 2007 3:57PM]

I wonder if it took this product to get them to finally update palm desktop to work with vista, it still doesn't work on 64 bit though...
-CMD

[jasonkulas @ Sep 27th 2007 4:05PM]

How clueless is Colligan? Smartphones are too big? Look at the success of the iPhone form factor! (which, sadly, Apple is not yet allowing to be a smartphone) And most people want the iPhone bigger! (bigger battery, more hardware in it, GPS, 3G, etc) I have avoided Palm phones precisely because they have tiny screens and then waste pocket space on a physical keyboard. I would like nothing more than a thicker iPhone with an even bigger screen! The Centro is just more of the same-old same-old from Palm. You know, the very thing that has lately been pushing them towards failure. How about choice Ed? How about innovation? How about something new, and better?

[YoMeister @ Sep 27th 2007 4:24PM]

If Only it had WiFi! Is there anything worth getting that combines the use of a TX into a smartphone?

[Technodragon @ Sep 27th 2007 4:32PM]

...Let’s try that again.

*yawn*

Sorry Ed. Centro isn't news, much less "exciting". The cat was out of the bag well before today's show-and-tell, and it's a lackluster offering. Spec for spec, it’s a Treo 680 with 3G CDMA, and a smaller form factor (and consequently a physically smaller screen, too). Whoopty-do...

I used to be a strong supporter of Palm, but it’s becoming clear that they think they can continue their just-good-enough incremental updates philosophy. Don’t get me wrong, their current offerings are decent; but that’s also the problem. In a growing market with competition from the likes of RIM, Apple, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, and so on (and you can bet there will be a Zune phone eventually, too), just-good-enough won’t cut it for much longer. Hell, next month (provided it launches on time) the consumer version of the Openmoko Neo 1973 will be released, which at this point is a hell of a lot more interesting than anything even rumored to be coming from Palm.

It’s like Palm is on life support and they’re too blind (or stubborn) to realize it. Long time Palm fans are frustrated. We’re waiting for a company who used to make cool new gadgets to release anything worth even blogging about (other than to express how disappointed we are). At this rate, it wouldn’t surprise me if Palms market share (and stock) start sliding off into oblivion within maybe another product cycle or two. I realize they need entry level products, but it’s time to deliver on long-overdue improvements.

What I think Palm really needs (and fast) is a make-or-break bleeding-edge device. It would require a serious OS update (read: Palm-flavored Linux, with a slick, usable interface, a *real* web browser with flash support, and serious multi-media capabilities), and top of the line hardware (think: 3G, “g” or “n” wifi, 2 or 3 MP camera w/ 640x480 mpeg4 video recording, bluetooth 2.0, A2DP, GPS, storage measured in GIGAbytes, full SDHC compatibility, 3.5mm audio jack, and at least a 640x480 screen, and good battery life).

What really baffles me is why formerly slider-obsessed Palm hasn’t yet figured out it would be a great solution to the keyboard vs. screen size debate. A slide-out, or even slide-over, keyboard would allow the user to have their full QWERTY, and a good size screen too. Or, here’s another thought: why don’t they implement that folding screen design they filed a patent for over 2 years ago?

But hey, I’m only a consumer. What do *I* know?

[Krush @ Sep 27th 2007 6:22PM]

He's carrying a "Mic" ... lol -- no wonder Palm uses Garnet on this device - they probably froze in time and didn't see the clock ticking around them.
He's carrying a mic though .... can't get over it - wow LMAO