Europeans, get your GSM Centro smartphones

What’s the best Palm OS smartphone today? Based on the few days hands-on experience I had a few months ago, I would have to say it’s the Centro. The Centro is basically a Treo 680 with a better camera, a different external storage option (micro SD instead of regular SD), all in a smaller, more pocketable form factor. In my opinion the smaller keyboard and screen are very usable. What’s even better is the Centro does not have the lag / performance issues plaguing the Treo 680 and 700p.

The Centro is currently availble on in the US, on Sprint’s EVDO network. Folks in Europe will have the Centro in an unlocked GSM flavour by the end of February. In the UK, you’ll be able to get your hands on a Centro on Valentine’s Day (14th Feb). Retail price will be €299/£199 (including VAT). That’s about US$399, which is the same as a 8GB iPhone.

If you’re in the US and waiting for an At&T Centro (or an unlocked one for use with T-Mobile), you still have to wait a while.

Given the timing, it’s highly unlikely that Palm will release any other Palm OS-based smartphones after the Centro this year. I expect that we will see a few more GSM Treo smartphones running Windows Mobile (including the rumoured Treo 800w) later in the year, but we will only be seeing Treos running Palm’s new “Nova” operating system in 2009.

[ via Treonauts ]

Filed under: Centro

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