There was a Coldwell Banker International Business Conference this week in Orlando, Florida. Real estate agents armed with Sprint Palm® Centro™ smartphones are learning how to stay connected to the resources, information, and people they need at every stage of the deal, thanks to Palm, Inc.
According to Palm’s press release, Craig Tellalian, strategic account manager at Palm, is demonstrating how real estate professionals can:
- Use the Palm Centro to gain a competitive edge, attract clients, gain listings and speed valuable closings;
- Stay mobile with wireless access to email (corporate and personal), the Web, contacts, calendar and phone functionality;
- Utilize Centro’s latest productivity enhancing real estate applications like GE Supra eKey™, which allows agents to open and program their own iBoxes™ and Mortgage Calc, which allows agents to calculate complex mortgage payments, including mortgage insurance, estimated property tax and home insurance.
» Read the rest of "Coldwell Banker Real Estate Agents Get Connected with the Sprint Palm Centro"
Look and Feel
The Palm Centro for AT&T (henceforth, in this review, the “Centro,” for convenience’s sake) is a wonder of a little phone. It packs all the power of traditional PalmOS Treos into a tiny, holdable package that’s remarkably easy to use. With all the complaining about the PalmOS getting long in the tooth (myself among that throng), it’s easy to forget: the PalmOS is both surprisingly powerful and easy to use.
When Palm recently revealed some sales data indicating that 75% of their buyers were new to the smartphone market, I fully believed it. If you’ve never owned a smartphone, the Centro is an easy decision to make. Without adding too much bulk or complexity to the device you carry in your pocket or purse, you can open yourself up to a new world of communication without needing to become a smartphone nerd like myself.
…Regular TreoCentral readers may be wondering: this seems like an awfully rosy picture to paint for a device that is, truly, almost nothing more than a Treo 680 repackaged into a compelling new form factor (although the Centro does have a better camera at 1.3 megapixels). This is true — if you’re a Treo 680 owner and are wondering “should I upgrade,” my answer is simple: “Yes, but only if you want a smaller form factor.” Regular readers may want to revisit the conclusion of our original Sprint Centro review, where I covered some of the ins and outs of the “upgrade decision.”
» Read the rest of "Review: Palm Centro for AT&T - by Dieter Bohn"
Hot on the heels of the release of the GSM Centro in Europe, AT&T has released the Palm Centro on their online store. Selling for $99 after contract ($349 before), the AT&T Centro is nearly identical to its cousin on Sprint (see our full review here). The Centro on AT&T is a Quad-band GSM phone, meaning it will work anywhere in the world but does not sport 3G data speeds. Instead it uses the “2.5G” EDGE technology for data.
The Palm Centro for AT&T is essentially the exact same phone as the Treo 680, albeit in a much smaller and more attractive form factor. The main difference is that the Centro has a higher resolution camera, at 1.3 megapixels. It uses the same PalmOS operating system with nominal feature upgrades (many of which have been made available on the Treo 680 via ROM updates). The smaller size and smaller price, however, make it a very attractive option for current Treo owners.
More importantly, the Centro is an attractive option for users who have never used a smartphone before. Palm has stated that as many as 75% of Centro buyers are people who have never purchased a smartphone before. More interestingly, the demographic for the Centro also includes a larger portion of under-35 and women than the Treo.
» Read the rest of "AT&T Releases the Palm Centro - by Dieter Bohn"
Posted by Jennifer Chappell on February 19, 2008 1:34 PM
Filed under News; AT&T, EDGE, Palm GSM Centro, Quad-band
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Your Centro, as you probably already know, isn’t the only cell phone that stores data, particularly phone numbers and other information about your contacts. Its strength is not what it stores, or how, but the powerful way it merges with your computer. In this part of our continuing Centro Intro series - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 - we’ll take a closer look at that electronic wonder, synchronization.
If you’ve charged up your Centro from a USB port on your computer, you’re already savvy on how it connects. The kit of stuff you get with the product includes a wall charger, for sure, but it also includes a USB cable. This hooks into the bottom port of your Centro, leaving room beside it for the power connector (we’ll talk about why later in this article). The earphone plug remains open for use, too.
With the USB cable connected, you don’t need the separate power cable, as long as the computer you’re hooking up to is itself powered. The Centro will charge happily, just as fast and just as thoroughly as with the power cord connected.
» Read the rest of "Centro Intro - pt 4: What is so hot about HotSync - by Jay Gross"
Don’t you just love this time of year when the rumor mills are spinning about new gadgets? I know I do. When the rumors start flying, my drool glands get all worked up, especially if the gadget rumors are regarding Palm. Then I have to put on my little drool bib and wear it wherever I go. Well, I actually don’t go much further than my desk here in my office, but the drool bib does its job wherever I might happen to wander. Latest rumor has it that AT&T will be releasing a White Palm GSM Centro tomorrow, February 19th, 2008.
I’ve been seeing a few pics here and there on some of the other tech sites. And now one of our own TreoCentral forum members, smileyboy, has actually bought a White GSM Centro and has put up some pics over at our forums. And smileyboy was kind enough to allow us to show off some of his White Centro pics. Thanks smileyboy! ;-)
» Read the rest of "Will we see the White GSM Centro tomorrow at AT&T?"
Posted by Jennifer Chappell on February 18, 2008 5:01 PM
Filed under Rumors, Sister Site; AT&T, Palm, White GSM Centro
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Everything Treo is reporting some juicy rumor news about the upcoming GSM Centro. A member of the Everything Treo forums is said to have received confirmation from an AT&T store manager that the Palm Centro will be released on February 19th. In our own forums, member chadman reports similar info:
I spoke with my local AT&T manager today and he told me he has a SKU and inventory listing for the AT&T Centro, but no pricing. Should be around the corner folks, hopefully later this month!
That would be great if that turns out to be true. We’ve been waiting for a GSM Centro, and after learning that one was going to be available in Europe on February 14th (tomorrow), we were envious. The European GSM Centro seems to be coming out in Black initially, and if the rumor is true, the AT&T Centro will be White. If you recall, Dieter and the gang spotted a white GSM Centro at CES last month.
» Read the rest of "AT&T GSM Centro Rumored for February 19th Release"
Posted by Jennifer Chappell on February 15, 2008 1:06 PM
Filed under Rumors; AT&T, GSM, Palm Centro
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The GSM Palm Centro became available for pre-order on Palm’s European website yesterday, February 14, 2008.
The Palm GSM Centro’s price is listed as £199 in the UK and €299 (including VAT) in other countries. Looking further down on Palm’s European website, I see that for the same £199 price, you can get a special deal: Buy a Palm® Centro™ smartphone and get a FREE 2-in-1 Stereo Headset. Hey, that’s the deal I would choose for sure.
Full Specs
- Display - 320x320-pixel Transflective colour screen; supports 16-bit colour (up to 65K colours)
- Radio - Quad band (850/900-1800/1900) GSM/GPRS/EDGE Class 10
- Platform - Palm OS 5.4.9
- Bluetooth® Wireless Technology - Version 1.2
- Memory - 64MB available user storage
- Camera - 1.3 megapixels with 2 x digital zoom and video capture
- Battery - Removable 1150mAh, lithium-ion up to 4 hours talk time, up to 300 hours standby time
- Expansion - microSD card (up to 4GB supported, sold separately)
- Connector - Multi-connector
- Dimensions - 4.22” (L) x 2.11” (W) x 0.73” (D); 4.2 oz
- Colors - Black
So Europe got the GSM Centro first. But there are rumors that AT&T will be releasing a GSM Centro soon.
Posted by Jennifer Chappell on February 15, 2008 11:25 AM
Filed under News; GSM, Palm Centro
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