New Smart Phones for New Customers

PC Magazine reports that Verizon Wireless recently released a new smart phone, called the Palm Centro, which is already seeing quite a bit of success. It is not a phone targeted towards people who like or already have smart phones, PC Magazine goes on to say, but rather it is being marketed towards people who have never really thought about using a smart phone before.

As such, an employee at Palm is quick to point out that the Palm Centro was not competing against wireless devices like the iPhone; instead, its competition will be smart phones like the LG Rumor – meaning that the Centro will be in competition with standard feature phones.

In fact, PC Magazine compares the Centro – also to be known as the Verizon Centro – to similar phones which operate on Sprint and AT&T’s networks. The 3G Centro operates on Verizon’s EVDO Rev 0 network, and the magazine describes it as having “a tiny little QWERTY keyboard of chiclet-like rubbery keys.” The one potential problem with the phone is that it uses the Palm OS, which is a bit outdated. All the same, it can be synced up with both PCs and MACs, and has capabilities for email, text messaging, sending pictures, and basic Internet searching. It does however lack a built-in instant messenger. Still, at $99.99, including a mail-in rebate for $70, you can get the phone on a two-year contract with Verizon, and that’s something of a steal.

The deals get better. The Centro will be sold on a new, low-cost plan: for $22.99 a month, you can get this data plan. It costs $30 more to be able to use it as a modem.

Although the Palm OS cannot support things like high quality browsing capabilities or the abilities to either use voice and data at the same time or Java, it’s already widely popular among people who were never really interested in smart phones at first but now like the idea of trying one out via an uncomplicated, low cost kind of phone.

(June 13, 2008)