Palm enters the low-end market with Centro

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Palm has been struggling, but with the introduction of this new phone, they hope that an inexpensive PalmOS phone can make a real impact in the market.

Hoping to entice consumers looking for a low-cost upgrade, Palm has priced the new “Centro,” a smaller and lighter version of its Treo smartphone, to sell for about $100.

Both devices feature a full keyboard, touch screen, and the ability to read and send e-mail or manage documents and spreadsheets.

The Centro weighs only 4.2 ounces and is a bit bigger than a credit card. It will sell exclusively through Sprint Nextel Corp for the rest of the year in the United States. Source: Reuters

We Say: I’ve seen this device close-up … and used it. It’s not as small as Reuters makes it out to be, but it is quite small, especially compared to other Palm devices. It feels much more modern because of the size. The keyboard is much smaller though, because of the reduced width of the phone. However, it is definitely usable. I noticed some slowdown from a regular Treo keyboard, but not really that much.

It’s not revolutionary, but it’s a nice phone. Will it help Palm out of its doldrums? The stock market seems to think so, as Palm stock rose 6% today.