Palm Centro 685 (GSM)
Average Ratings
awesome phone
I have this phone and I love it!!!! I love to text on it because its so easy and it looks like I am on instant messaging and it has a full keyboard. I also love the built in PDA and how it helps me to remember tasks and events because I cant remember anything. The other thing that helps is how when you want to dial a phone number you can go to the keypad and just touch the numbers and that makes it so easy to make a call.
Centro Rocks
Palm keeps getting closer to perfection, but they haven't nailed it quite yet. I have been using the phone for about a month and in general I really like the phone, but there are some serious drawbacks.
Cons:
Coverage - While the Centro gets good service with AT&T, itâs not quite to the great service I had become accustom to with my previous phones.
GSM 1800 - I took the phone with me to Costa Rica and although I like the name of the carrier, I.C.E., my phone would constantly show no service while my friendâs iPhone would have service.
EDGE - What is Palm thinking? If you are looking for high performance data, you might want to look on to a phone with HSDPA.
Tasks â Still waiting for Palm OS to support wirelessly syncing of Tasks like many Windows phones.
Battery Cover â Having a spare battery is nice, but changing the battery can be difficult as the battery cover is slick and hard to handle.
Accessories â Palm doesnât do a good job offering accessories for new models.
Ringtones â Would be nice if you could use a MP3.
Pros:
Size â In my opinion, the smaller size is well worth the sacrifice of the small keyboard.
Phone Screen â I really like the dial pad and lists (Favorites, Contacts, and Call Log) located at the bottom of the phone screen which can easily be accessed by pressing right or left.
Favorites â While most phones have only nine speed dial keys, the Centros have 25 programmable speed dial keys known as quick keys which can also be set for shortcuts. A â Z keys minus E, which is defaulted to Voicemail. Combined with 6 customizable buttons for shortcuts to applications, the phone is quick and easy to navigate.
Outlook EAS - Itâs a little more than just email and truly a great tool for people on the go who need to stay connected and organized.
Everything else is what you would expect for Palm phone running Palm OS with straight forward and familiar menus. And like other Palms there is a plethora of applications to download and customize your device with.
Best Palm yet!
Yes, the keys are small, but the touch screen makes up for a lot of it, I only use the keys for actual messaging, and I'm a guy with big fingers and i can get used to typing it.
I recommend getting the CardReader app, this allows you to transfer data to your MicroSD card without having to open and close the battery cover a lot.
The blackberry curve was $100 also, but I didn't pick it because of the ugly titanium and red colors being offered, and also the nerdy interface filled with boring white menus. I just can't stand the blackberry os, it's clearly built by a bunch of computer engineers who have no idea what good user interface is.
The Palm OS, even though it's many years old, it's still a more intuitive and appealing interface to use. Not to mention that there are hundreds more custom applications and games available for download on the Palm vs the Blackberry.
The sound, picture, speaker and video qualities are all great. The camera is not spectular, but it takes very bright pictures and it's good for what it is.
This is the best offering yet from Palm!
Very Nice PDA
I have had this phone for 2 days now and it is a good quality phone. I use to have the Sprint Centro which I loved and I think this one is great as well.
Pro's
sound quality is excellent
speakerphone is excellent
reception is very good
love the palm os
easy to learn os & shortcuts
nice small size
screen clarity is excellent
keypad has good tactile response (I do not find it too small but someone with large hands would)
class 10 Edge instead of slower edge
Con's
not 3G
I recommend this phone for anyone who is tired of windows mobile devices & doesn't mind having a smaller keypad. Accessing the web is comparable with the 3G phone I was using; Slower downloads are the only drawback.
Unlocked Palm Centro
I bought an unlocked Palm Centro. My service is T-mobile. And it works well. The menu buttons are easily customizable.
Phone ringers, sounds alert are loud, and so are the alarm.
Takes good pictures, but remember it's not a digital camera, so don't expect to see high quality. Can record videos. I love the voice memo! And what I love about this phone is when I talk, it sounds like me!
The sound both receiver and caller is good. Loud and clear. I have a minimum hearing loss and do not need to turn the volume all the way up.
The reception is better than my tmobile phones, which means the Palm Centro antennae is better. No sound distortion or muffled sounds, or voice cutting off. I'm glad I made the purchase! U can buy it off from compusa for unlocked phones.
I love the calendar with the alarm on it. You can set what time to have ur reminder comes on. Morever, you can even transfer what you have to your desktop and print the calendar out. Or type on your computer and transfer it to your phone. Simple.
Text messaging is much easier w/o having to turn of the t9 setting, which is so annoying on other phones. Just type the letter you want and send. I love the threaded messages, viewable as chat.
Cons: Must have internet service to be able to get on yahoo, aim, etc. I didn't have to do this with my other phones. Batter is hard to take out, but how many times to do you need to take it out? lol
very happy, not perfect though
had a wonderful experience wit this phone!
Pros:
1. palm os = user friendly
2. lots of themes 4 ur daily moods
3. customizable menus n favorites
4. u can make ur own ringtones
5. touch screen worked perfectly,
6. messaging was awesome wit the keyboard n the memory seemed 2 b unlimited, lol, n the chat style was a huge plus,
7. battery lasted pretty ok,
8. loud speakers
9. sound recorder was cool 4 practicing music or singing/playing ideas
10. different calculators, really cool although im not a student so it made me no difference, but jus still cool, lol,
11. pictures loaded fast,
Cons:
1. the green number pad nvr did it 4 me, lol
2. camera was marginal
3. dats it, was pretty well satisfied wit dis one!
Overall: nice answer 2 the blackberry pearl especially wit da qwerty n touch screen, i still hve it n it works fine but my new blkberry curve 8520 stole its shine, n i am ready 2 upgrade it 2 another phone soon, gud wrk palm i hope in the near future there is sum new upgrade 2 dis phone
I Give Up on this one
I have owned this phone for just over a year (actually 5 days over the one year warranty I am sad to say) I used to own a Treo 650 and loved the fact that this one was smaller. I like having it in a holster on my waist and the Treo was just too big.
Pros: Love the QWERTY keyboard, got used to the little keys, didn't bother me much, easy to carry along, takes good pics, love the Palm OS apps that I am using now for work and personal stuff. Lots avail for free, Love the chat format for text messages.
Cons: Started getting lots of dropped calls, it was getting so that I had to call people back 3-4 times per call. Pretty ridiculous! I had AT&T send me a replacement twice, and when each phone seemed worse than the last one I gave up. I would pick it up to send a text or make a call and I would have no service.On the day that it died, I tried to replace the sim card, and it would not even get service. But being 5 days over my warranty I am out of luck. I still had my Treo 650 so I put my sim card in that and will use it until my 2 year period is over. It is much more reliable and does mostly everything the Centro does except it is HUGE! I cannot carry any way but in my purse and I miss calls because it is not right there with me always.
I GIVE UP on this phone, can't wait to try something else that is a smartphone and maybe windows os this time? Palm makes a great PDA but a lousy phone I have decided.
Perfect "Side-Kick" Phone
I got this phone for my birthday
and IMMIDEATLEY became super attached.
this phone has everything you could possibly want.
Camera quality is great.
QWERTY keyboard makes it easy for anyone
to text. People look at my phone and say ,"The keys are soo tiny! How do you text?, its very easy for anyone to get used to.
whether your fingers are big tiny slim chunky, or what have you, texting is super easy.
And all of the text messages come up as an Instant Message chat unless you choose otherwise.
the phone has a fairly good capacity for multimedia (no bigger than 300 KB)
it has word with ALL of the features and characteristics that microsoft word on a regular household computer would have.
the notes|memos feature makes it easy for you to whip out the phone and jot down something on the go and if you're in a hurry.
the speaker on the phone is amazing and has great sounds clarity. very loud even when its only on 1 or 2 but nothing too bad.
vibrate is strong so you know when your phone is going off.
it also has a switch on the top of the phone that puts it on silent when the switched is on which is very nice if your in a hurry. instead of taking the time to go through the sound options all you have to do is flick on the switch :)
the phone has a ton of different themes as well! making it fun and custom for any person who chooses to do so.
the phone also has a hug capacity for texts.
my inbox would be able to hold over ONE THOUSAND, i kid you not, text messages and then some before it made me empty not even the WHOLE inbox/outbox/drafts etc.
Unfortunatley, my palm got stolen a little over a month ago :(
but i definatley reccomend this phone hands down to anyone who is looking for a phone that can keep everything they want and more in it without having to delete things every few days :)
no cons that i can really think of.
buy the palm and have fun!
:D
This is the Scrappy Doo of smartphones.
It's tiny, yet does so much.
Cons (some are my own, but some are legitimate):
Can't download games.
Battery llfe stinks.
Tiny Keyboard. Hard to text and e-mail on.
No stereo headphones included, as with other Palm cell phones.
If I put an 8GB card in it, it only sees 4GB.
It has a cheap feeling stylus.
Pros:
Palm's OS comes with Facebook Application (MySpace application is to come)
Decent camera.
More compact than the Treos 650 & 680.
It comes with at&t mall.
In order for this phone to be a 4.5 or above, they need to adopt the keyboard of the Palm Treo Pro, as well as a sturdier stylus. Other than that, it's awesome.
blah in the country. great elsewhere...here's why!
When I first bought this phone, I loved it. I lived in the city and had no problems with not getting calls, sending picture text messages or even texts for that matter. The only problem that I had when I was in the city after I bought the phone was that I received a bad phone and it lost it's data after a month, but it was replaced with no problem. Now that I don't live within the city limits, the phone drops calls, misses calls, has trouble connecting to the net (most of the time it times out when trying) as well as when signing onto MSN, AIM and Yahoo, I also have problems sending messages through text messages where the phone states the message was sent, but when the person I had sent the message to, was told it never got to them.
So if you live in the City, this is a great phone to own, if you live in the Country...pass or you will be doing what I did, and buying another phone even tho this phone has only been in my hands for 5 months. And if I didn't wait for the phone credit that I got this month, I would had done it back in May when I moved here, just 2 months after I bought the phone in March.
oh the other extra features that are on this phone rock...I only give it a mid-grade review because of the fact that I spent more time with the problems then if I would had stayed in the City and never had the trouble that I had.
Now you judge what you think.
And another thing...I don't know how many times I have dropped this phone. But nothing on it has broke...screen, shell, or battery cover...so it is a strong upholding phone. My boys and boyfriend tho claim the worst thing the feel is wrong about the phone is the small letter keys on the phone. I didn't have a problem tho :D guess small fingers are good for somethings
