Palm Centro worth it?

[Soulburner]

I have an LG 8600 (the so-called Chocolate Flip) and it is an excellent phone. Great call quality including background noise cancellation, good battery life, and always reliable.

Our contract is up and we have the option to get 2 Palm Centro phones for $50, and we do not have to purchase the data plan. It is the only smartphone available to us that you can use without a required $30/month add-on for data. I am dead set on saving that money since its ridiculous to pay that much for internet access on an inferior mobile surfing device.

Anyway, I want to hear opinions on whether this is a worthy upgrade. I don't want a downgrade in any way shape or form, including call quality. I understand it will have a lot of new functionality that mine doesn't but if I give up something else it will sour the deal.

I understand it is a shrunk-down Palm Treo and there is a lot of software available for it. Battery life will likely be a bit worse than my LG 8600, but I can get a beefier battery.

For anyone that has used a Centro, can you recommend it over other "normal" phones? Keep in mind it is our only option for a Smartphone that doesn't require you by contract to buy a $30/month data plan. Every other Smartphone does as a part of the contract making these immensely cheaper. I don't see anything much better than what I have already as far as "normal" phones go so at the price of $50 for 2 and a family plan for $70/month through Verizon* it sounds like a good deal to me.

*Verizon is our choice because mobile-to-mobile works with Alltel customers, who a lot of our contacts are with. We are with Alltel currently but they don't have this phone option. It is the mobile-to-mobile with the people we know that is why we aren't considering AT&T, Sprint, or others. We use much less of our minutes and can get a cheaper plan since we don't need a lot of minutes, not to mention texting each other back and forth is unlimited as well.

[HuffPCair]

I have the Centro and do not like it much. I just got it cause it was cheap at the time with Verizon. I may end up going and getting the Storm, but I dont know because I am bad with cell phones and break them all the time.
I have a few friends with the Centro and they say they like it, but I just think the features kind of suck and I hate the small keys for typing.

Just my two cents though

Also battery life is not bad at all really.

[Soulburner]

My issue is, any other smartphone requires a $30/month data plan. I can think of a lot of better things to do with that money, so I'm staying away from the Blackberrys, HTC's and Moto Q's, even if they are really nice.

[Celeron Gamer]

While I do not have experience with Centro, I find my Palm phones (treo 680, 650, 600) one of the MOST functional phones on the market. But Palm's weakest point has always been their blazer browser. Don't expect much from surfing the web, but if you're using it to push emails, check stocks, weather, stream music/videos, hotsync from anywhere in the word, prepare to exploit the heck outta the data plan.

But I do suggest you check on their data plan and see if you have any restrictions.

For software there is a PLETHORA of them on the internet. Did i mention you can overclock it?

[zanzabar]

My issue is, any other smartphone requires a $30/month data plan. I can think of a lot of better things to do with that money, so I'm staying away from the Blackberrys, HTC's and Moto Q's, even if they are really nice.

ive been looking at the HTC touch pro 2 (the tilt2 on att in june) and from the current fuse and blackbarry the only mandatory things are that u cant use the phonedata u have to use smart phone if u want it but unless u want the extra $50-100 off and its not data only

here is the incite for $100 now and i think that its much better than the centro (it has wifi)
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-pho...sku=sku3140220

the mail in rebate is $100 and it says
"Requires activation on a PDA/BlackBerry Personal Plan or a $45 or higher PDA/BlackBerry data rate plan plus an AT&T Voice Plan of $39.99 or higher"
so that means that u have to activate the phone (Or have when u buy it) a data plan and a voice plan but it dosnt say that u have to keep it, so u get the free month for upgrading to data or getting a data plan if u are new, mail the rebate in then affter 20 days or so cancel the data plan and your fine. thats even what the att people tell u to do and u can get it in writing from the store manager that u dont have to keep the data plan to get the rebate and u have 2 months with att to change your plan


u can also express dislike and they can make it an instant rebate and not give u data if u are changing from some1 else to them or are a long time subscriber (i just did it with another phone on the plan)

and im waiting for one of thees
http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchpro2/overview.html http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchhd/overview.html

[gr8golf]

I currently use the HTC Touch Pro and was using the Centro before that. The Centro is a great phone.

[Soulburner]

The Incite looks great but the problem is its AT&T. We're sticking with Verizon/Alltel for mobile-to-mobile. We don't know anyone with AT&T and would need a lot more minutes to compensate...

So if we went with the Incite, we would need the $30 pda plan to get the $100 rebate. $200 for two phones, plus an extra $30 for each pda plan so another $60. With activation it's $320 total to get two Incites at the rebate price. With activation it's $110 for two Centros plus we get mobile-to-mobile calling and texting with most of our major friends/family.

I had hands on time with my sister's Centro and it was surprisingly easy to type on despite many complaints I've read. My fingers must not be that fat. I liked the way it worked and I browsed around the net and found some cool accessories and software, one being TealOS that turns your centro into a Palm Pre wannabe with the slick new interface. Not sure if its actually useful or its just novel and will drain your battery, but still the options are pretty numerous what you can do with the Palm phones.

[zanzabar]

i was saying that there are loop holes and u just need to have data for currant rebates on most phones, the only thing that i know of from any carrier is the iphone that requires its own plan. and if u have had verizon for a while they will give u retention deals if u ask

[Soulburner]

Yeah AT&T seems to be more lenient about the plans. Alltel/Verizon only give you options for data plans, you can't even choose a "regular" plan with any smartphone except the Centro otherwise we may have chosen something else like the Blackberry Curve or the Moto Q9c, or even a Treo. All require an extra $30/month for internet/email on our bills which is just way too much. AT&T seems to let you choose any plan with any phone which is what I wanted but again we wouldn't get free mobile to mobile with anyone we know which is a deal breaker.

Oh well, the Centro seems to be a good phone so we went ahead and ordered 2, I think we'll get a pretty good bang for the buck at this price and with stuff like this and this and this there is a lot of customization and expandability of these phones.

[Celeron Gamer]

Now that is the oddest thing, because the Centro is just a replacement for the Treo 680 (PalmOS).

Don't let that plan fool you, the Centro is a full-blown smartphone and more, it'd show all your blackberry friends up in terms of software availability.

[Soulburner]

We got them today. No problems typing on the tiny keyboard, system seems pretty responsive and the screen is really nice and sharp. Can't wait to get it all set up.