AT&T Palm Centro gets reviewed

Now that the GSM Palm Centro has finally landed on AT&T, it's time to check in with the reviewers to see if the EDGE-only model is still worth the $99 -- and for the most part, it seems like it is. Everyone agrees with us that the green keys are funky-fresh, and old as it is, Palm's Garnet OS is still functional and fast enough to make using the thing relatively pain-free, and it seems like the drop from Sprint's EV-DO to AT&T's EDGE isn't a major hit -- after all, you're still using Blazer. All in all, it looks like the Centro is basically the same on AT&T as it is on Sprint: a solid low-end smartphone at an attractive price.

Read - Laptop: "AT&T customers looking for an easy-to-use smart phone should be satisfied."
Read - TreoCentral: "There are more powerful smartphones out there, but few are as cheap, easy to use, and fun as this little guy."
Read - MobileTechReview: "For those who don't need everything... the Centro is worth a look."

[Wyze @ Feb 21st 2008 9:38AM]

foist!!!

[Chebwa @ Feb 21st 2008 9:45AM]

woist.

HEH HEH.

[Wyze @ Feb 21st 2008 9:48AM]

Actually these are very nice "mid-grade" smartphones....might be a good entry level phone for first time users of anything but a symbian cell. I have a few co-workers who have this phone for sprint and the form it what attracted them...from what I hear the battery life is not up to palm snuff. ( I have a treo 650 that i retired gave me almost a week without hittin the cord) Seems but offers a nice way to ease into what's becoming the "power phone" arena....and so while I would not classify this one as a power phone I would expect someone who uses this for a while to be able to move to one (power phone) without having to go to have an MBA to operate it.

[Wyze @ Feb 21st 2008 9:58AM]

that post took a grammatical beat down!...
hey i'm on my phone at work....

[trumpton @ Feb 21st 2008 10:36AM]

I think it's a great phone for $99 offering a ton of bang for your buck. The Palm OS may be near-antique, but it's fast, stable and easier to use than the clunk-fest of Windows Mobile.

[peter @ Feb 21st 2008 10:52AM]

Maybe it's just me, but why would someone buy this phone for $99 when you can grab a blackjack 2 for the same price, or a treo 750 refurb for only $50 more? This may be a nice phone, but the keyboard is cramped, the OS is old, and there's no 3G. I just could not picture myself using this phone for any prolonged period of time. Everything about is so tiny that is just ceases to be useful.

[MJ @ Feb 21st 2008 11:08AM]

I'd pick this up (and I am doing if stores here in Blighty actually get stock) over a Windows Mobile standard handset any day of the week. The OS is fast, works and doesn't require a task manager to kill programmes (have used 2 winmob 6 standard handsets over the past two weeks and they were laggy and the menu structure was over complicated).

And on the small keypad, nearly all the reviews i've read actually say that the qwerty is actually quite easy to use.

[ErikEngd @ Feb 21st 2008 11:46AM]

It's ugly and looks like a cheap toy. I still won't buy it even it's $25.

[gfar @ Feb 21st 2008 12:26PM]

50 bucks more gets you a BlackBerry Curve with GPS.

[Michael @ Feb 21st 2008 2:15PM]

I have a black sprint version and love it. It takes a little getting used to if your old phone had a back button on it. My girlfriend got a pink one after I got mine. I have a feeling these phones are going to be the smart phone equivalent in popularity to what the Razr was to flip phones. It might just take a year for people to catch on. The fact that it's on AT&T now and soon T-Mobile is just going to make it even more popular.

When it comes to web browsing it's not the best, but it's the simple stuff that makes this phone rock, like inline (gmail style) text messaging, pockettunes (it's replaced my ipod), the ability to text someone back and forth while on the phone with someone else, the ability to tether it to your PC for internet access and still be able to receive/send text messages, and of course it's touchscreen and small size.

[webon @ Feb 21st 2008 11:31PM]

"Everyone agrees with us that the green keys are funky-fresh"
wow you gave me the impression you didn't like it