Sprint Announces the Palm Centro

Sprint announced the newest product offering from Palm, the Centro. This is Palm's first device geared for the consumer versus the business user. Following in RIM's footsteps, Palm is looking to regain some of the market share it has lost over the past year by going after the consumer market. The Palm Centro will be available in mid-October at all Sprint Sales channels and Palm retail stores. It will also be available online at www.sprint.com and www.palm.com/centro. After promotions and rebates, the phone will sell for only $99.99.

The Centro is the smaller and thinner than the traditional Treo models. Its measures 2.1"x4.2"x0.7" and weighs only 4.2 ounces. It features a full QWERTY keyboard along with a five-way navigation button. Although smaller than the Treo, it still packs a 312 MHz processor, 128 MB of ROM and 64 MB RAM, EVDO, a 1.3 megapixels camera, Bluetooth, a full color touch screen, and a MicroSD slot for extra memory. The device will also feature Palm OS 5.4.9 and supports Phone as Modem, allowing users to connect to the Internet from their laptop or desktop computer by via the device. The Centro also supports Data Transfer Mode (DTM), notifying users of incoming calls even when they are in an active data session versus just sending the calls to voicemail.

The device will be available in Onyx Black and Ruby Red. It will be exclusive to Sprint for 90 days. You can sign up to receive alerts on the availability of this device at www.sprint.com/centro.

Preview the Palm Centro (w/ video) at PhoneScoop.com.

Sprint Launches Palm Treo 755p

Sprint has announced that the Palm Treo 755p will be available this month. The price tag will be $279.99 with a new two year service agreement and a $100 mail-in rebate. The Treo 755p is the first CDMA Treo with an internal antenna, so it has a smaller form factor than the Treo 700. The phone will be available in two colors - midnight blue and burgundy.

Data Network: EV-DO Rev 0
Operating System: Palm OS 5.4.9
Memory: 128 MB
Processor: Intel XScale 312MHz Processor
Camera: 1.3 megapixels with 2x digital zoom
Expansion Slot: MiniSD

The 755p will offer the same functionality of the 700p. Some key differences are:
1. No external antenna sticking out
2. MiniSD slot on the 755p is different from the SD slot on the 700p. Another key difference here is the 755p's slot is on the side, which makes theft and accidental ejection of the card more difficult.
3. The 755p will launch with the Maintenance Release that is scheduled to be available for the 700p sometime around May 28th. The Maintenance Release is suppose to fix issues with speed to launch applications, Bluetooth, SMS send/receive performance, and MP3 playback.
4. The 755p will come in different colors

Pros of the new device are the no antenna and the miniSD slot.
Cons of the new device are no EV-DO Rev A support and the camera is still only 1.3 megapixels.