Palm Centro Cell Phone Review - Conclusion
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Alfredo Padilla Published on October 25, 2007 Comment on this |
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Who's It For
Business User
The Palm Centro is a decent choice for a business user that's looking for a smart phone on a budget. The Centro provides solid business functionality, including the ability to synchronize with an Exchange server and good PIM support. We'd still recommend a Windows Mobile or BlackBerry for business users, but the Centro could fulfill the needs of many business users, especially small business owners who don't need to plug into a large corporate server infrastructure and don't need push e-mail.
Budget Callers
At $99 with a contract, the Palm Centro is a good choice for budget callers looking for a smart phone. If you have to pay the full $399 because you're not out of contract, though, the Centro probably isn't for you.
Chatty Teenager
With its small size, ease of use, and powerful feature set, the Palm Centro is probably a good choice for a chatty teenager that wants more than just a Razr. Heavy texters will appreciate the QWERTY keyboard; even though it's not the best, it still does better than a regular phone with a small keypad. Parents will also appreciate the reasonable $99 price with a contract.
Media Maven
The Centro isn't the best choice out there for media mavens. We like the high-resolution screen, but the iPhone does a better job displaying videos, while Windows Mobile or Series 60 devices offer larger screen size. We also found that pTunes on the Centro lags behind the built-in music playback applications on other smart phones. The camera on the Centro is nothing to shout about, either. If you really want a good multimedia phone and are willing to pay the premium, take a look at the iPhone or a Nokia N-Series device. The Centro might be a good multimedia device for those on a budget, though, if you realize you'll also need to invest in better media software like Coreplayer.
Conclusion
Let's face it, there's nothing particularly cutting edge about the Palm Centro. Palm OS is long in the tooth, and despite the fact it's still an easy-to-use and fast operating system, it desperately needs an update. The Centro is smaller than Palm's Treo lineup, but it's still a little chunky, and you sacrifice a lot in the keyboard to get that smaller size. What is great about the Centro, though, is its position in the cell phone market. At only $99 with a two-year contract it doesn't need to be cutting edge, it just needs to be good enough for most people that don't want to spend a lot of money on a smart phone, and in this it has succeeded. The Centro covers 90 percent of what most users will want out in a smart phone, and does it at a price that is accessible to 90 percent of people out there. This combination makes it a force to be reckoned with, even if it doesn't make technophile's hearts speed up.
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