Can't wait to see the specs on the Centro now that it's 'real'. Anxious to see when Bell in Canada will pick it up - we're ready for a new CDMA device Palm OS device!

Never thought I'd say it, but "whew, MiniSD." Too many rumors flying around that Palm would further fragment themselves and go to yet ANOTHER flash format (MicroSD) so even fewer of the OS5 Treos would be able to share cards... Gladly that appears not to be the case here.

The screen on this puppy looks a *lot* smaller than the 6xx + 7xx size which is just barely readable as it is (oh how I miss that Zire 72 screen!). It's very hard to tell in the video how readable text is, but it looks difficult at best. Anyone?

How's the battery life - even worse than the 680 and 755s? The battery MUST be smaller - as that was what they sacrificed to get an extra mm or so of air around the smaller Treos. Will these smaller versions running the same OS and a little smaller screen still be in the double-digits of battery capacity past lunchtime?

It actually looks like something I'd buy for young kids who text a lot and/or listen to music (does it have a 3.5mm plug YET?). But I wonder if Palm's problems with durability/build quality and battery life have been well addressed with this model. If not, there's gonna be a lot of disappointed customers with dead phones in the afternoon. If so - Palm will be wishing they'd stuck with the Fooleo instead...

Small screen: not a problem. Consider the age of the eyes that will be looking at it. It's for the young adult market, and they still have good eyesight and nimble fingers. As it gets cheaper, penetration will be even farther down into younger age groups who can read 6 point type by moonlight.

Battery life is potentially the only true negative I can see for the target market, if hardware and software quality is adequate. But compared to something like a RAZR, it's probably not bad.

Sorry, Joad, but it is MicroSDHC, which is remedied easily enough by using up-adaptors or whatever they're called.

They say it only supports up to 4 gigs, but it may support larger capacity cards once there available. The only issue with my 8gb SDHC card in my 680 is that apps misread the card capacity, but it hasn't affected a one yet.

I like the Ruby color, especially with the racey aluminum (?) band. It reminds me, and this is not a knock, of the Starsky and Hutch car. The black one would be its evil twin, I guess.

Ok first off I just want to say how wonderfull palm is for taking us back a few years technology wise......... Come on really this phone has a tiny screen most likely bad battery life, there with sprint (Number 1 worst service according to consumer reports) and it doesn't even have windows mobile. If your looking for somthing small,thin and has alot of functionality take a look at the Cingular Black jack. Now there's some inovation, Me personally I'm a high tech phone guy I have the Palm treo 700 WX (With sprint (?) ) and I don't understand how palm could come out with a phone that is newer but can't even compare. they even downgraded the camera ! from 1.3 (Treo 700) to 1.2 ? Most PDA phones now are coming with 2.0. for some real phones check out www.mobileplanet.com or google a company called HTC that has phones with all major companies.

Ok first off I just want to say how wonderful palm is for taking us back a few years technology wise......... Come on really this phone has a tiny screen most likely bad battery life, there with sprint (Number 1 worst service according to consumer reports) and it doesn't even have windows mobile. If your looking for something small, thin and has a lot of functionality take a look at the Cingular Black jack. Now there's some innovation, Me personally I'm a high tech phone guy I have the Palm Treo 700 WX (With sprint (?) ) and I don't understand how palm could come out with a phone that is newer but can't even compare. they even downgraded the camera ! from 1.3 (Treo 700) to 1.2 ? Most PDA phones now are coming with 2.0. for some real phones check out www.mobileplanet.com or Google a company called HTC that has phones with all major companies and they are GSM and CDMA.

HTC is the company that has manufactured most of the Treos for Palm...
I suppose CDMA is fine for the US, but what about the rest of the world that use GSM?..
...or even UMTS to bring it into the 21st century :)

let's wait and see the results 2to3 months down the road.

To the point that Simplytechs made about taking technology back a few years, we must remember the Zire. It offered no advancements aother than "putting the cookie jar on the bottom shelf" so others could get into Palm. The Centro is the same thing in the Treo line. Every component that reduces cost-including the camera-is considered when making a low-cost device. It's not supposed to be an advancement. It just happens to be small for marketability. As for Sprint, they are far cheaper than VZW, have been excellent with me as a customer, and have faster data throughput than VZW. I test on both networks. Also, if you want to play with WINMO with no touch screen, be my guest. It's a wonderful platform if you want to pay more money for a smaller selection of applications that are cumbersome to operate. Does Palm OS need an overhaul? You bet, but it still runs circles around MinMo Smartphone edition. Cramming a desktop OS into a cellphone never made sense to me.

Everyone wants everything now and even when they get it thet will never be happy.

I'll keep my 700P, thank you.

I am glad too see a new device from Palm, it seems to me a cheaper version of the same OS and hybrid version of treo 700P and a 680. What about the GSM user are we going to see a upgrade, Prehaps a LINUX OS phone.

I still don't see this as a real market changing move for Treo. It seems like real innovation at Palm has been stifled for quite some time. They just ride the ebb and flow of the market, but they are not a market changer anymore. Also, the movie clip in this article looks like the start of a low budget porn film.

YAWN!!! Palm you know how to continue to disappiont. For the past serveral years Palm has lost its innovation... I'm completely tired of waiting for something new & new... Did I mention NEW!!! For those of us who are (or use to be) Palm loyalist, this simply sucks. Palm please kiss goodbye to your base supporters.

IF Palm really wants to impress us they should make a deal with the innovators at polymervision.com
These guys are on the cutting edge of the future of smart phones. They are releasing a 5.5 inch screen that rolls up into a device thats smaller then a flip phone. Best and worst thing about it. Italy gets it first. I hope palm reads these reviews and gets off their collective butts. When these things hit the market I will be saying good-buy to my Treo. But I will still keep my Treo 600 and sell my Treo 650 and 700. I still think the 600 was better, it was somehow more like the Palm Pilot. Which is the only true reason Palm is as big as they are. But they seem to have abandoned it as well. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
IF you ignor the foundation, then the house will fall! We have seen this happen to other large technology companies.
Check it out.
http://www.polymervison.com

It is totally awsome, I hope we will see it in the next 6 months.

IF Palm really want to impress us they shold make a deal with the innovators at polymervision.com
These guys are on the cutting edge of the futer of smart phones. They are releasing a 5.5 inch screen that rolls up into a device thats smaller then a flip phone. Best and worst thing about it. Italy gets it first. I hope palm reads these reviews and gets off their collective butt. When these things hit the market I will be saying good-buy to my Treo. But I will still keep my Treo 600 and sell my Treo 650 and 700. I still think the 600 was better, it was somehow more like the PalmPilot. Which is the only true reason Palm is as big as they are. But they seem to have abondonded it as well. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

http://www.polymervision.com

It is totally awsome, I hope we will see it in the next 6 months.

The Polymer Vision Readius is impressive only in that is one of the first products to incorporate a flexible display. But 16-level greyscale, touchscreen-less display with up to one second refresh rates means that Palm has nothing to worry about any time soon.

The biggest disappointment about this thing is that it has BETTER/UPDATED applications than the Treo 755 that just came out! Talk about an insult!

Palm jammed the ancient and unpatched Docs to Go 8.000 into the (uneditable) ROM of the 755 - meaning we have to install the 1-1/2 year-old (and about 4MB) 8.003 update into the RAM if we want it to work right - running off the card won't work properly if it's already in ROM.

AND - the Centro comes with Pocket Tunes DELUXE version FOUR?!? I own a license to version THREE Deluxe that works perfectly fine on the 755 EXCEPT it won't let you turn off the screen automagically while playing. Rather than issue a simple patch to fix this, NormSoft wants you to spend another $20 bucks to "upgrade" to version 4 Deluxe if you want your battery to last on the 755 while using their product. Bullocks! Last program I buy from them - holding our battery life hostage for a $20 "upgrade" fee! What's REALLY annoying is that we've apparently paid them a fee for the version 4 in the ROM anyhow - why does Normsoft insist on an additional *twenty dollars* just to turn off the screen while playing music? Sorry Normsoft - that's NOT an "upgrade," it's a bugfix and it should unquestionably be free.

The fact the low-end "Zire-ish" Centro has the applications that Palm didn't even put in their just released "high-end" Treo 755 apparently reflects just how much Palm takes our purchases for granted. Guess they figure the "Palm Faithful" have nowhere else to go.....

Bigger Screen.....

Better Battery....

Thats all

Basically the same 'ol phone in a different shell. Something Palm has been doing for years...

I love palm but, I'm personally starting to lose patience and confidence with all these same models in a different cases... How many models does Palm need to come out with before actually coming out with something, "new" ???

YAWN!!! Palm you know how to continue to disappiont. For the past serveral years Palm has lost its innovation... I'm completely tired of waiting for something new & new... Did I mention NEW!!! For those of us who are (or use to be) Palm loyalist, this simply sucks. Palm please kiss goodbye to your base supporters.

I'm excited, at least a little bit, by the new entry. Not because I see it as a leap forward for Palm in terms of tech. I'm going to be sticking with my 700p and waiting for it to age a bit more, and a. really hoping there's a yet-better option once I get a new-phone-discount. I second (third?) the comment above "Palm is putting the cookie jar on the bottom shelf". Remember the _first_ Zire? Awful for any enthusiast, but broadened the market. Later there was the Zire 72, which was much more attractive. I'm hoping for a repeat of that pattern. And it's a healthy pattern for Palm to repeat, which is good for long-term support longevity. :-)

Look, I've been as upset with Palm as anyone, being an owner of a Treo 700p, Sprint branded. The time it took for Palm to bring out a ROM fix for this device was just totally unacceptable. I don't feel that Palm supports their products very well. However, if I am to be fair in my assessment, I also don't think they catch much of a break from us in the community either. Is Palm OS tired? Yes, but as one who also owns the new Mogul from HTC with WinMo 6, I can tell you that Palm OS still is blazingly fast in comparison. Sure, it is not as robust, but frankly, my Mogul locks up more often than my 700p ever did. I personally think the Centro is a nice looking device, and I can see my son or my wife using a device such as this. Me, I've temporarily gone back to the 700p until HTC fixes their issues on the Mogul, and I may even end up selling the Mogul so that I can upgrade to the 755p on Sprint. As mad as I was, I still think the Treo is a great converged device. I am pulling for Palm because we need them in the competition, and hopefully the competition will move them to new and greater innovation. Linux OS will be a great move in that direction.

Look, I've been as upset with Palm as anyone, being an owner of a Treo 700p, Sprint branded. The time it took for Palm to bring out a ROM fix for this device was just totally unacceptable. I don't feel that Palm supports their products very well. However, if I am to be fair in my assessment, I also don't think they catch much of a break from us in the community either. Is Palm OS tired? Yes, but as one who also owns the new Mogul from HTC with WinMo 6, I can tell you that Palm OS still is blazingly fast in comparison. Sure, it is not as robust, but frankly, my Mogul locks up more often than my 700p ever did. I personally think the Centro is a nice looking device, and I can see my son or my wife using a device such as this. Me, I've temporarily gone back to the 700p until HTC fixes their issues on the Mogul, and I may even end up selling the Mogul so that I can upgrade to the 755p on Sprint. As mad as I was, I still think the Treo is a great converged device. I am pulling for Palm because we need them in the competition, and hopefully the competition will move them to new and greater innovation. Linux OS will be a great move in that direction.

Look, I've been as upset with Palm as anyone, being an owner of a Treo 700p, Sprint branded. The time it took for Palm to bring out a ROM fix for this device was just totally unacceptable. I don't feel that Palm supports their products very well. However, if I am to be fair in my assessment, I also don't think they catch much of a break from us in the community either. Is Palm OS tired? Yes, but as one who also owns the new Mogul from HTC with WinMo 6, I can tell you that Palm OS still is blazingly fast in comparison. Sure, it is not as robust, but frankly, my Mogul locks up more often than my 700p ever did. I personally think the Centro is a nice looking device, and I can see my son or my wife using a device such as this. Me, I've temporarily gone back to the 700p until HTC fixes their issues on the Mogul, and I may even end up selling the Mogul so that I can upgrade to the 755p on Sprint. As mad as I was, I still think the Treo is a great converged device. I am pulling for Palm because we need them in the competition, and hopefully the competition will move them to new and greater innovation. Linux OS will be a great move in that direction.

Look, I've been as upset with Palm as anyone, being an owner of a Treo 700p, Sprint branded. The time it took for Palm to bring out a ROM fix for this device was just totally unacceptable. I don't feel that Palm supports their products very well. However, if I am to be fair in my assessment, I also don't think they catch much of a break from us in the community either. Is Palm OS tired? Yes, but as one who also owns the new Mogul from HTC with WinMo 6, I can tell you that Palm OS still is blazingly fast in comparison. Sure, it is not as robust, but frankly, my Mogul locks up more often than my 700p ever did. I personally think the Centro is a nice looking device, and I can see my son or my wife using a device such as this. Me, I've temporarily gone back to the 700p until HTC fixes their issues on the Mogul, and I may even end up selling the Mogul so that I can upgrade to the 755p on Sprint. As mad as I was, I still think the Treo is a great converged device. I am pulling for Palm because we need them in the competition, and hopefully the competition will move them to new and greater innovation. Linux OS will be a great move in that direction.

Maybe Sprint will be loyal to it's early adopters of the 700P and replace it with the Razerrentro. The 700P is a POS!

Well, if anything it appears Palm wasn't so stupid that they put all their eggs ONLY into the Fooelo basket.

IMHO us 700p purchasers were royally screwed - there seem to be a few here mentioning that debacle. I can tell you for sure that the 755 is much better built. Although giving Palm/Sprint even MORE $$$ as a reward for what they did to us on the 700p is painful, finally having a more stable phone after a year with the 700p was worth it for me. Drawbacks are less battery life, MiniSD, new cases and such.

As for the Centro, probably few would drop their Treo to get it, unless they were just biding time until soimething decent arrives. This seems just a "free cigarettes for the children" phone to try hooking kids on the Treo experience. Hopefully, one day Palm will release something worthy of the kids to upgrade TO... (hint: it ain't a Fooleo).

Well, if anything it appears Palm wasn't so stupid that they put all their eggs ONLY into the Fooelo basket.

IMHO us 700p purchasers were royally screwed - there seem to be a few here mentioning that debacle. I can tell you for sure that the 755 is much better built. Although giving Palm/Sprint even MORE $$$ as a reward for what they did to us on the 700p is painful, finally having a more stable phone after a year with the 700p was worth it for me. Drawbacks are less battery life, MiniSD, new cases and such.

As for the Centro, probably few would drop their Treo to get it, unless they were just biding time until soimething decent arrives. This seems just a "free cigarettes for the children" phone to try hooking kids on the Treo experience. Hopefully, one day Palm will release something worthy of the kids to upgrade TO... (hint: it ain't a Fooleo).

On my opinion, Palm is a company that started revolutionizing the technology market, and now it can barely keep up with it.

The Centro product, shows a need to attract more users to its brand, but for sure it is not aiming for the high tech kind.

I have been with Palm since the products were called Pilot, but that does show me that the innovation is no where comparable with other companies such as apple. Although I can as well see that apple for instance has had some products not change much in order to profit from the "cash cow" approach. Maybe Palm is doing the same with the Treo branch, and specifically with the Centro.

I will keep my 680, waiting to see if the Linux OS promise really makes a difference.