Palm Centro Cellphone
The Palm Centro.
My first PalmOS cellphone was the Kyocera 6035. It was basically a Palm III with an integrated dual band cellphone. It was big, slow, somewhat ugly and the monochrome screen left a lot to be desired.
I loved it.
When my provider announced that they were discontinuing support for their analog network, I was forced to upgrade. The 6035 supported both analog and digital networks, but they forced the upgrade on me anyway. I ended up with the Kyocera 7135, which had 3x the memory, a higher resolution color screen, a new clamshell form factor and an Secure Digital memory card slot – it was a big improvement.
A couple years later, my provider once again made changes to their network which forced an upgrade. Thankfully, I was having some problems with my phone and they offered to upgrade me to a Treo 650 for free (sort of – I had to buy a data plan).
I used the 650 for a few years, and loved it. I still do. It’s a good phone with enough memory and processing power to handle most tasks without melting down.
After having the phone for a couple of years, I discontinued the data plan which allowed me to use Internet based services – it was too expensive for what I was getting. I just wasn’t willing to pay their exorbitant fees for a service I rarely used, and which ran slow when I did.
In January, 2009, I’d had enough of their high prices. Another provider was offering the Centro (a significant upgrade from the Treo) for $50 after all the discounts and rebates, and their service plan included unlimited data and SMS messages for barely more than I was paying just for talk time with my then-current provider. It was a no brainer. I ordered the Centro and canceled the account that was tied to the Treo.
As of this writing, I’ve only had the phone for about a week, but I’m quite impressed so far. I’m sure there will be the occasional software review or other Centro related notes posted to my blog – keep an eye on that for updates and opinions.
