Palm Centro Now Available for Pre-Order in Europe

Palm, Inc. is now taking pre-orders for the Centro, it's latest consumer-oriented Palm OS smartphone.

The company announced earlier this month that this device would debut this week, but appraently it only meant for pre-order. This model is not yet actually shipping to consumers.

No 3G Goodness

Until now, the Centro has been exclusively available from Sprint, a U.S. telecom that uses the CDMA standard. Naturally, the European version will be the first to use GSM networks.

Unlike the CDMA version, the upcoming GSM one will not offer support for 3G. Instead, the 2.5G standard EDGE will be as fast as it goes.

This is a result of a limitation in the Palm OS. The GSM version of 3G requires that there be a data and voice connection at the same time, but the Palm OS (Garnet) networking libraries aren't capable of this.

More About the Palm Centro

The Centro is one of the smallest and lightest smartphones Palm has ever offered. Nevertheless, it still includes a full QWERTY keyboard and a 320 by 320 pixel touchscreen.

It is 10.7 cm tall, 5.4 cm wide, and 1.8 cm thick; it weighs 119 g.

This model has a microSD card slot, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 MP camera.

Pricing and Availability

In the U.K. the Centro is selling for £200, while in several other countries on this continent it's priced at €300. This smartphone is being sold unlocked and without a carrier subsidy.

To order, visit Palm's web site.

Related Articles:

• Palm Centro Review
• Palm Centro vs. Palm 500v: a Quick Comparison
• Palm Treo 500v Review