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Print 12 comment(s) - last by Shane McGlaun.. on Feb 21 at 11:35 AM
AT&T announces its first Palm OS device with the Centro capable of AT&T services like XM Radio

Smartphones are one of the largest selling categories in the mobile phone market. According to the NPD Group, sales of mobile phone handsets in 2007 reached $11.8 billion and smartphones were one of the biggest sellers.

AT&T and Palm announced today that AT&T would be selling the Palm Centro smartphone for $99.99. The two companies say that the Centro makes it easy for users to step up to mobile email and web access at an affordable price.

The Centro is the first Palm OS device to launch on AT&T’s service. The Centro has been available with Sprint for a while now and Sprint was the first carrier of the phone. AT&T’s version of the Centro will be available in a new glacier white color with green keyboard accents and in a month AT&T says it will debut another color called obsidian black.

"The demand for crossover devices is skyrocketing, and the Centro hits a sweet spot for many customers looking for a QWERTY device with a solid suite of messaging and multimedia features," said Michael Woodward, vice president, Business Mobility Products for AT&T's wireless unit. "At a great price that can be coupled with a variety of AT&T's messaging and data options, we are thrilled to offer Centro to our 70.1 million customers."

The Centro features the ability to send and receive email, has a built-in Instant Messenger application and allows for easy text messaging thanks to its QWERTY keyboard. The phone will also be compatible with the AT&T Mobile Music platform as well as being capable of listening to live XM radio. The $99 advertised price of the phone from AT&T is after a 2-year agreement and a mail-in rebate.

AT&T customers thinking about jumping on the Palm Centro due to its low cost compared to other smartphones like the iPhone will want to consider that Palm ranked last in a customer satisfaction survey DailyTech reported on recently.

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Keep it goin!
By kileil on 2/19/2008 2:39:54 PM , Rating: 6
C'mon, we can wring some more puns outta this!

"AT&T Sprints Ahead With Its Own Palm Centro Phone. Can a Cingular (sic) Next-Tel'ephone model signal Boost'ed profits on the Verizon?"

Ok... maybe thats a bit of a stretch.




RE: Keep it goin!
By soydeedo on 2/19/2008 8:16:02 PM , Rating: 4
Wow, that's one Heliof a job!


By bobdeer1965 on 2/19/2008 5:54:49 PM , Rating: 2
The headline is a flat out lie. It was written just to grab your attention. And the writer DID NOT do his research. My girlfriend has had a PALM TREO WITH THE PALM OS since last October. Why oh why do we have to waste this site on articles like this. WE WANT TECH NEWS. Not stupid made up garbage.




By bobdeer1965 on 2/19/2008 6:02:15 PM , Rating: 2
OH YA!

She is on the AT&T network too.


By RjBass on 2/19/2008 6:38:40 PM , Rating: 2
The Palm Treo and the Palm Centro are two different phones. All the big carriers have had the Treo for a long time now. But the Centro is the new thing.


By soydeedo on 2/19/2008 8:19:26 PM , Rating: 2
"AT&T announces its first Palm OS device with the Centro"

I'm pretty sure that's the headline he's referring to - they already had the Treo 680 which runs on Palm OS.


By Shane McGlaun (blog) on 2/21/2008 11:35:53 AM , Rating: 2
Simply a misread sentence. It's fixed now.


I wouldn't get one.
By RjBass on 2/19/2008 5:38:04 PM , Rating: 2
"AT&T customers thinking about jumping on the Palm Centro due to its low cost compared to other smartphones like the iPhone will want to consider that Palm ranked last in a customer satisfaction survey DailyTech reported on recently."

There is a reason why Palm is dead last in customer satisfaction. Not only is their customer service severely lacking, but a company that is supposedly so high tech can't even muster 64bit drivers for XP Pro x64 or Vista x64. A customer of mine who recently purchased a new machine running Vista Business x64 was astonished to learn that her Palm Treo was not compatible with the OS due to Palms lack of x64 drivers. When she contacted Palm they offered to sell her a new phone for $500 but with no guarantee that x64 bit drivers would be available in the near future. When she refused they then told her to switch back to a x32 bit OS because she doesn't need a x64bit OS.

How the hell does Palm know what she needed? While it may be true that she didn't need the x64bit OS, who is Palm to tell her she doesn't need it? Are they monitoring her computer usage on her old machine through their software?

For my money I'd stick with Blackberry or Nokia.




RE: I wouldn't get one.
By retrospooty on 2/19/2008 6:45:19 PM , Rating: 2
A Treo, or Centro, or WinMob or BB for that matter, need not be paired with any PC. You CAN use it, there is just no sync drivers to sync with Outlook on a 64 bit OS. Most users sync wirelesly via thier email server, so the whole thing is a moot point. That and what? 1% or so of us use 64bit OS?


RE: I wouldn't get one.
By soydeedo on 2/19/2008 8:21:33 PM , Rating: 2
I agree that there are ways around the limitations, but the point is that those limitations shouldn't be there in the first place. Palm definitely has a lot of work to do in the software department.


RE: I wouldn't get one.
By RjBass on 2/20/2008 11:08:22 AM , Rating: 1
Exactly.

To be able to sync the phone with Outlook or another Office type product is vital in the modern business world.

My Outlook calendar is shared with four other employee's so that we can all coordinate with each other when we need to be where. Sometimes appointments are made for me and added to my calendar without me ever touching the computer. And I will make appointments on my phone for myself or one of my employee's when I am not even in the office. When I get back to the office I will sync my phone with my Outlook calendar to download and upload all those appointments, and then they are shared amongst the other employee's.

If my smartphone can't work with a 64bit OS then I'm screwed as I use XP x64 as do a couple of the other employees. If Palm was smart, they would have made the 64bit drivers a long time ago because I can think of at least 5 recent cases where Palm stood to make more money if they only supported more OS's. When a decent Palm Treo cost's as much as $500, I would be willing to bet they have lost out on a few dollars over the last year or so. I find it funny though that Palms three biggest competitors, Motorola, Rim and Nokia all have 64bit drivers.


RE: I wouldn't get one.
By retrospooty on 2/20/2008 11:46:49 AM , Rating: 1
"To be able to sync the phone with Outlook or another Office type product is vital in the modern business world."

I agree, and thanks for making my point for me. You HAVE to be able to sync to Outlook in the business world. If you are in the business world, you are using Blackberry server, or MS Exchange active sync for your wireless email. Both of these sync email, calendar, contacts and tasks to outlook via wireless without need to connect to a PC at all.

I am not saying Palm shouldnt make the Palm desktop 64bit version, but if you are in the business, and that is what smartphones are all about, you don't need it at this point, and I find it extremely hard to believe that you are using 64bit OS at your work and NOT using either Exchange Active sync, or BB server for your email.


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