Palm has teamed up with fashion magazine InStyle to give away 10 Centro smartphones. These Centro smartphones are in the Vibrant Rose colour, which is exclusive to Sprint.

This US-only promotion does not include a Sprint plan. Enter today for a chance to win this smartphone worth $400.

PalmDoc at Malaysian Medical Resources has secured another fantastic deal for doctors and medical students. This time around, the promo is for two smartphones from Palm, the Centro and Treo Pro. Apparently, the offer is so good that PalmDoc is not allowed to reveal the price or the bundle of goodies that come with the smartphones.

You can get more details on the promo here.

While we continue to wait (and wait, and wait) for the new Nova-based smartphones due next year, Palm is still banking on their successful Centro to bring in the dough. Just in time for the holiday season, Sprint and Palm are releasing two new colours for the Centro : “Olive green” and “Vibrant rose”.

The new Centros get double the memory (from 64MB to 128MB) and support external microSD cards up to 4GB in capacity. You also get updated third party software such as Sprint TV, Facebook and Google Maps with My Location feature. You can buy the new Centros from US$80.

I wish Palm would put just a little bit more effort to facelift the Palm OS — it really is looking dated now. While it’s great for “veteran” users, newcomers might compare it unfavourably against other interfaces, even to the Nokia Series 40 phones.

If Green or Rose (a deep pink) rock your boat, expect to get these Centro smartphones from Sprint sometime in October.

Meanwhile, in Australia, Telstra has given the new Treo Pro their Blue Tick of approval. This is not a blue insect, but rather an accreditation and recommendation for use in metro, rural and regional areas. Telstra will offer the Treo Pro for use on their 3G network (called Next G) soon, with unlocked versions to be made available in November.

Palm’s Centro smartphone has been a great success for the company, with over one million units sold. If you are a Verizon subscriber, great news — the Centro is now available for you. Running on Verizon’s high speed EVDO network, the Centro will maintain its low price of US$100 (after rebates) with a 2 year contract.

Granted, the Centro is built on technology that’s already a few years old, however the low price combined with the smaller form factor and fast data access should make this a winner. Verizon has a US$30 all-you-can-eat Email and Web data package which is quite attractive.

While we (im)patiently wait for the next Windows Mobile Treo from Palm, the Centro has been making waves in the US thanks to its low price. The Centro has also been released in several countries, including Columbia, Mexico, Singapore and Malaysia. Unfortunately, without telco subsidies, Palm cannot keep its low price out of the US. In Malaysia, the Centro retails for RM1400 (US$450), only slightly less than its older brother Treo 680.

There is no doubt that the Palm Centro smartphone is a success. True, it is hampered by a decade-old operating system. However, the combination of a good form factor, plus a very low price (US$100, or in some cases even free), has allowed Palm and its operator partners to push the Centro to new smartphone customers.

Just how successful is the Centro? Well, Palm announced just yesterday that they have sold their one millionth Centro. Let’s hope that the Centro and the upcoming Palm 800w can sustain Palm as a company until they are ready to release new smartphones based on the Linux OS next year.

The new Centro smartphone has proven to be a winner for Palm. The low-cost smartphone has help Palm boost their sales to 833,000 units and US$275.4 million revenue in the last quarter. However, since the margins are lower for the Centro, Palm still made a loss of US$31.5 million during the same period.

With more than 70 percent of Centro buyers trading up from traditional cell phones, according to Palm CEO Ed Colligan, Palm is tapping into a new market segment. To really help the financial situation, though, Palm needs to aggressively drive down cost or introduce new models with better margins, which we won’t see until next year.

The GSM (AT&T) version of the Palm Centro has been out for a few days. As a smartphone, it’s cheap and cheerful : nothing new, nothing outstanding, but a real value for money. Here is a roundup of the latest review for the Centro.

Engadget Mobile (unboxing & hands-on)
Laptop Magazine: “AT&T customers looking for an easy-to-use smart phone should be satisfied.”
TreoCentral: “There are more powerful smartphones out there, but few are as cheap, easy to use, and fun as this little guy.”
MobileTechReview: “For those who don’t need everything… the Centro is worth a look.”
Treonauts
GearDiary
The Mobile Gadgeteer (Video Review)

Right on schedule as rumoured, Palm and AT&T announced the availability of the Centro smartphone. You can have the white version now and the black version will be available next month. I like the white, but the green buttons make me think twice about it. You can get the Centro from AT&T for US$99, with a 2 year contract.

There are some AT&T specific features in this version of the Centro, all of which seems to be designed to make even more money for AT&T:
* XM Radio Mobile – Allows you to stream commercial free music ($8.99 per month)
* MusicID – Helps you identify unknown songs by simply holding your Centro up to a speaker ($3.99 per month)
* AT&T Mall – You can buy ringtones, wallpapers, and other multimedia content and download over the air to the device.
* Push to Talk (PTT) – The same version which was available on the Treo 680 Update 2.11 for AT&T. PTT costs from $9.99 a month.

All the AT&T Centro hardware features and specifications are the same as the Sprint version:
- 64MB memory
- microSD card expansion
- 320×320 touch screen
- 1.3 megapixel camera
- Bluetooth 1.2

With AT&T, you get the GSM/GPRS/EDGE class 10 radio, quad band (850/900/1800/1900MHz) version (no 3G). Back in November last year, I managed to get my hands on a GSM Centro prototype. Here’s my review (Part 1, Part 2).