Should I get a Centro?

[Mickets]

Hello,

I am a TX user and have been for the last 2-3 years.

I am considering getting a Palm Centro for my wife (you know, phone and Palm all in one). The reason why I would like to give her a Palm OS phone is that I know a lot about Palm OS and may help her get the thing going, and also because there are lots of apps for the Palm, including some specific app that she would definitely use for her work (such as medical apps).

I thought about a phone with Symbian OS, or even an iPhone (too much for now , I think).

What do you folks think of the Palm Centro? How has your experience been? Is it worth it? Or what about a Palm Treo?

Please help me decide!

[ftwitty]

More specifically, get a Palm Treo Pro.

[Mickets]

More specifically: why? (I mean, what does the Treo Pro have that the Treo and Centro don't?)

[WildCelt]

The Centro is a mistake (that unfortunately I've made). It is slow, often locks up for several seconds after making a call, the keyboard is way too small, it runs an antiquated OS, it has no decent web browser, email handling is paltry at best... I could go on but will not.

I say bite the bullet and go for a new Win Mo phone or even a Blackberry. I wish my (misplaced) loyalty for Palm had not persuaded me to buy the Cento. Don't make that same mistake! :D

[ftwitty]

More specifically: why? (I mean, what does the Treo Pro have that the Treo and Centro don't?)I suggest your visiting the Palm website for starters. The Pro has everything!

[Telyx]

I have the Unlocked GSM Centro (using with T-Mobile service) and haven't had any of the problems WildCelt has. I'm pretty happy with it after 5 months.

[Mickets]

I suggest your visiting the Palm website for starters. The Pro has everything!
Everything, includind Windows! No way!

I have considered Symbian, and even an iPhone. But why do I wan't to stick with Palm OS? Some reasons:


I want to install a medical application I have only found for the Palm
I want to install Bible+, a great free Bible reader. For Palm OS.
I want to install some other apps that exist for Palm
I don't need to run several apps at the same time
Windows mobile never impressed me
Palm OS has tons of good free apps


I tried a Centro at a shop today, and I actually liked it. I am used to a TX, but the Centro's screen seemed quite brighter and, though small, very readable and clear. The keyboard, despite small size, was not bad. And it's for my wife anyway, and her fingers are smaller.

I just wonder why the Centro is quite cheaper than the Treo 680 or 750. Maybe it's an offer.

They don't have the Treo Pro here in Brazil anyway. But, wait: the Pro has Windows. Forget it.

More opinions, please?

[technical1]

I love my Treo Centro, on Verizon Wireless in NYC & I got it after my TX went the way of all overused & getting (physically) old technology.

The keys really are manageable if you have a bit of fingernail to press the top of the 'dome' of each key. Also, the screen is smaller, but the pixel resolution is the same as the 755p, so it is a sharper image....

The price is competitive. The crashes I get are more related to the beta testing I do & pushing the limits, but it certainly is not the nightmare that WildCelt experienced. Remember, the phone is really a radio & reception does depend on many factors; including environmental. Also the combination of programs you have can affect what crashes may occur... & also, you need to be sure that the apps you have or want to use will be compatible on Centro.

On my Centro the volume is fine, reception is better in the same geographic locations than my old LG enV ...

It has a nice set of built in apps, so you know why Centro got my vote in this poll.

BTW, you probably don't need UnCache or UDMH on Centro. Used to have 'em on my TX, but Centro has much more dbcache memory. Watch out w/FlushIt (I'm guessing it is a dbcache flusher & they can be a source of probs if you have a flusher set to automatically trigger when going below a certain threshhold of dbcache & if that happens when you are in the middle of an app running a backup or whatever.. (web browsing w/Blazer is a known dbcache crashing culprit).

Good luck.

[cms]

I bought a Verizon Centro (when I thought that the Centro would not replace my TX)

I personaly love my Centro, It blows the TX out of the water in speed, especially when it only takes a 1 second to launch blazer (5 seconds if wiping DB cache but thats happens 1 out of 6 launches)

I finally got the answer to "DOES PDANET SHOW ON YOUR BILL" and No it doesn't if you have the unlimited data plan for your phone (verizon is 30$ month, just stay under 5gb of bandwidth) 150mb= 2 days of radio.aol.com

things that the Centro does that makes it a hands down deal:
*If you have the NEW EVERY TWO year plan with verizon, (like I had) you can get the Centro for about 40 bucks with rebates
*PDANET and palm USB MODEM dont count as "tethering" through verizon so therefor if you have the phone dataplan, you dont need to pay for a "tethering" dataplan (which is around 50bucks a month) USBMODEM works in bluetooth on vista (32 and 64bits)
*It is micro SDHC compatible, (I got a 8gb class4 micro card for 40bucks on amazon)
*The keyboard is nice, (you just have to get used to either using the corners of your thumbnails, or using your whole thumb [which presses 5 keys at a time but the middle key is what shows up] both of which, after getting used to, you learn to like) At first I did not like the keyboard but now I prefer it over the blackberry's setup
*Ptunes deluxe - after updates and skins, along with the radio streaming its much more preferable to walking around with an mp3 player.
*Documents to go - updated, much more powerful than the one on a TX
*Camera is nice- if you get photosHQ it is decent resolution for a phone
*The new Centros that Palm is Releasing now have 128mb of user accessible memory (just like the TX)
*Centros clean RAM(dbCache) much faster than the TX
*Centros have more than twice the amount of Dbcache space than the TX (less low memory issues)
*BLAZER 4.5 is Killer Sweet compared to the shameful TX blazer (it actualy caches pages so you can navigate faster)
-Kinoma -after you update the freeversion on their site, can play m.youtube.com media.
-the phone may not have GPS, but Googlemaps can pinpoint you within a few miles of your real location ^_^




----Problems you run into if your switching from a TX to a Centro but i have found solutions:
- Not all programs are compatable with Centro, many of them need to be updated to support the centro to work - just make sure its compatable
-WARPSPEED does not work on the centro, but lightspeed works nicely
-Cleanstart is good to block unwanted programs to further enhance DBcache benifits
-You cannot listen to music and talk on the phone at the same time - no fix yet
-Interface is the sameold palmOS5, - get free SKINUI
-phone application is bland- TAKEPHONE
-Mundu IM - great program for Instant messaging (even works in background)


Ill add s'more latter when I have more time: ^_^

[technical1]

cms, greets!

How come tethering via USB Modem is not considered against the VZW contract?

BTW, what exactly is PDA NET? something fm VZW, or someone else?

Also, I don't even have CleanStart (excellent app) since upgrading to my Centro, the vast majority of the time, I just don't need it; but if you wanna tweak....

I don't have a laptop to tether to, but it would be good to know how this works.

All the best,

[ftwitty]

Different strokes for different folks. Everything to some is nothing to others. It's a matter of opinion, just like most everything in life........... Burma Shave

[cms]

cms, greets!

How come tethering via USB Modem is not considered against the VZW contract?

BTW, what exactly is PDA NET? something fm VZW, or someone else?

Also, I don't even have CleanStart (excellent app) since upgrading to my Centro, the vast majority of the time, I just don't need it; but if you wanna tweak....

I don't have a laptop to tether to, but it would be good to know how this works.

All the best,

pdaNet is an alternative program to USBMODEM
http://www.junefabrics.com/palmnet/
http://www.mobile-stream.com/usbmodem.html

USB modem is cheaper, and does not require computer software like pdanet does - I have used both and USBMODEM is so much nice to use:

Both programs "use" the phone's Data Connection to connect to the internet, thus when Verizon people look at your usages, all they see is that your phone is sending data back and forth. (same thing as using Blazer), but behind the scenes, the phone is forwarding this information to your computer.

Verizon offers this service via their own program that works similarly to PDANet, (actually I think it was in the palm CD that was provided) and from there you have to sign up with verizon's tethering service to install it.

Verizon most likely knows that theses programs exist, but for lack of attacking a small loophole (VerizonOS can only use Verizon Tethering, there are not that many Palm OS phones so therefore they dont care)

[Mickets]

OK, thanks for your opinions.

I did indeed give my wife a Centro:


It is indeed nice. The screen is a lot brighter than the TX screen
Keyboard is quite good. I have big hands and it's fine
Lots of stuff right there on the phone
No problems whatsoever for the last week
It cost me absolutely nothing. I used 60% of the bonus points I had for my phone provider and swapped them for the Centro. If I had paid, it would only have cost ~US$100.
Palm OS. Not Windows
pTunes is very nice. I plugged the Centro on the PC while pTunes was open, and the PC detected it as an MPT device, which I could open in Winamp, etc.


Now, can I transfer pTunes, Documents to Go, etc. to my TX? Will they work?

Yes, I find myself fiddeling around with my wife's phone all the time now. Where did I leave my TX?

[Adam Helberg]

I tried PDANet with my Treo 755p and laptop. At first it worked fine, but then when I had to use the software on the Treo and laptop at the same time, there was some clash and the thing jammed up. I already use a Treo to PC connection with Keylink, and this was a major conflict.

I finally gave up and got ExpressCard broadband access for my laptop, $60 per month with 5 Gb/month limit.

Adam

[cms]

adam you should have tried pda modem before buying the card, pda modem has no software on the computer side so you don't need to wory about conflicts

its basicaly drive mode but instead of turning the palm into a card reader, the computer sees it as a internet modem

you just instal the driver

I pay 30 bucks a month for unlimited access on my phone which is 5 gigs