Palm Lowers The Bar On Smart Phone Prices
Until recently, if you wanted a smart phone, you had to shell out at least $200 for a Palm Treo or BlackBerry or as much as $399 for an Apple iPhone (assuming you weren't one of those early adopters who paid $600 for an iPhone). But the new Palm Centro, which is just becoming available, breaks the price barrier at $99 with a two-year service contract from Sprint.
After taking the Centro for a test drive, I can testify that it has all the basics you would expect from a typical combination telephone personal digital assistant with only one potentially annoying drawback: its keyboard is quite diminutive.
But so is the phone itself. The device measures 4.2 by 2.1" by 0.7 inches and weighs 4.2 oz. It's stylish and fits nicely in the hand as well as in a pocket or a small purse. To its credit, it feels a lot more like a phone than most bulky smart phones. It comes in ruby red and "onyx" (i.e., black). Palm sent me the red model, perhaps hoping it would make me look just a little a bit sexy. Hope springs eternal.
Although smaller and cheaper than the Palm Treo, the Centro uses the same Palm operating system, which means it can also be used with thousands of downloadable Palm applications. From that perspective, it has a leg up on the far more expensive iPhone. Because it's a Palm, the Centro fits into an ecosystem that's been around for several years.
While the small keyboard is admittedly a bit cramped, it is well designed with rounded keys that are relatively easy to press without accidentally pushing the wrong key.
Older folks might grumble but I suspect the phone's target market - teens and twenty-somethings - will find it comfortable. Even at my ripe old age, I found myself getting used to it quite quickly and while I prefer the keyboard of the larger Blackberry, I definitely like the Centro's keyboard better than the iPhone virtual keyboard.
In addition to the keyboard, the Centro has a touch screen so you can easily select options by touching with your finger (or a stylus) and can bring up a virtual telephone keypad if you prefer using it to dial the phone. One nice thing about the virtual phone dial pad is that it has letters on it. That makes it a lot easier to call numbers like 800 JETBLUE.
The touch screen is just one of several features that make this a first class phone with a coach class price. There are features that come from Palm's years of experience, including software that automatically turns off the keyboard and touch screen keypad after a bit of inactivity. That prevents the phone from dialing accidentally - something that has happened to me with both the Blackberry and the iPhone.
There is also a nice balance of physical function keys and onscreen icons with dedicated front panel keys for the phone, calendar and email, plus a home key to take you to the onscreen icons for all the rest of the phone's functions. There is also a "5-way" Palm key that can be used to navigate menus and programs in any direction.
Speaking of menus, one of them makes it very easy to set up a Gmail, AOL, MSN and Yahoo accounts. You can also set up any other personal or business email address. It took me under a minute to add my Gmail account.
The phone has a 1.3 megapixel still and video camera and its memory has the option to be expanded by an additional 4 gigabytes. The Centro also has Bluetooth and supports Sprint's fast 3G network for quick downloads. The web browser is about what you'd expect on a smart phone. Not as good as the iPhone's stunning browser, but on par with most others.
In addition to whatever voice plan you select, Sprint charges $30 a month extra for its Power Vision Pro Pack, which includes unlimited data access, unlimited text messaging and access to multiple email accounts.
The device doesn't have WiFi and even though it has Google Maps, it doesn't offer GPS for purposes other than allowing the 911 operator to find you. This is a surprising and unfortunate omission, considering that Sprint offers GPS on many of its low cost phones.
The phone comes with a 30-day trial subscription to NuanceVoiceControl, which lets you speak commands to the phone such as "Dial 555-1212" or "add appointment Doctor, October 23." The service also allows the dictation of short emails. After the trial period, Nuance can be continued, at a cost of $6 a month.
Music lovers expecting their phone to fill in as a media player are in luck with the Centro, which can be used to play MP3 files. The phone has a surprisingly loud and good quality internal speaker. It can also be used with headphones; for standard headphones, you will need a 2.5 to 3.5 mm adapter.
If TV and video are more your style - Centro is again ready to oblige. The phone supports Sprint TV, should you be willing to pay extra for this service. It also lets you watch YouTube video.
By Larry Magid