Palm Announces Unlocked Centro Smartphone

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 23, 2008 – Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today announced that the popular Palm® Centro™ smartphone is now available unlocked for U.S. customers. Now offered on Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless – the nation’s three largest carriers – and in an unlocked GSM version, Centro gives U.S. customers the ability to choose the mobile phone that’s right for them.(1) Palm also announced that Google™ Maps for mobile with My Location on Centro is available for Centro starting tomorrow, giving customers faster access to local maps and driving directions.(2)

The unlocked Palm Centro retains the smartphone’s compact, modern design and is dressed in a new white color with grey accents. Centro offers customers more choices to stay in touch with friends, family and co-workers by using voice, text messaging, email or the web. Also available in 25 countries worldwide, Centro is Palm’s smallest and lightest smartphone to date.

Google Maps for mobile with My Location makes it easier and faster for Centro customers to get mapping and direction information by approximating the user’s current location on the map. This saves time and keystrokes for people trying to find where they are, what’s around them, and how to get there.

In addition to My Location, Google Maps offers:

• Comprehensive information on traffic conditions in more than 30 U.S. major metropolitan areas, and partial information in many others;

• Detailed driving directions with traffic estimates to avoid congestions;

• One-touch recall of favorite locations and routes;

• Integrated search results for business locations, including directions and contact information;

• Ability to scan and drag maps using Centro’s touch screen for a PC-like experience; and

• Satellite and aerial views.

Pricing and Availability

The unlocked Centro smartphone is available online at http://www.palm.com/centro for $299.

Google Maps for mobile with My Location will be available tomorrow free of charge for Palm Centro smartphones at http://www.google.com/gmm . Please check the site for details on the download process and carrier availability.

Labels: centro, google, gsm, palm

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 6/23/2008 05:35:00 PM 0 comments links to this post

  HTC announces Touch Diamond

Re-defining the perception of advanced mobile phones… the HTC Touch Diamond™ signals a giant leap forward in combining hi-tech prowess with intuitive usability and exhilarating design.

Featuring a sharp 2.8-inch touch screen housed within a stunning formation of brushed steel and flawless faceted edges, the HTC Touch Diamond is as beautiful to behold as it is to use.

With HTC’s vibrant touch-responsive user interface, TouchFLO™ 3D, and ultra-fast HSDPA internet connectivity… the HTC Touch Diamond offers a rich online experience to rival a notebook computer, allowing you to interact with Google, YouTube, and Wikipedia as freely as you would with a broadband connection.

Your contacts, favourite music, videos and photos are no longer an uninspired line of text. With TouchFLO 3D, album artwork, video stills and snapshots of your friends’ and family’s faces are brought to life for you to interact, play and launch at your fingertips.

A 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera will help you capture the perfect moment in style and with a massive 4GB of internal storage you can keep all the files you need. The integrated ultra-sensitive GPS will help you find your destination as quickly and efficiently as a dedicated satellite navigation unit.

Style and substance in a phone are no longer mutually exclusive. The HTC Touch Diamond has arrived.

Highlights:

*2.8-inch touch screen, with four times the pixels of most phones.

*Vibrant TouchFLO 3D user interface, responding perfectly to your finger gestures when scrolling through contacts, browsing the web, and launching media… all vividly displayed as photos and artwork powered by the 3D graphics processor.

*HTC Weather - providing a constant view of weather at home and abroad.

*Surf and download at broadband speed with HSDPA internet connectivity.

*3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera for quality stills and video.

*4GB of internal storage to preserve more photos, music, files and exchanged data than ever before.

*Integrated GPS for use with maps software for a full turn-by-turn satellite navigation experience.

Labels: gsm, htc

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 5/06/2008 09:15:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

  AT&T Centro making its way to customers

Just because Palm and AT&T haven't "officially" announced the AT&T Palm Centro doesn't mean it's not available in stores. A TreoCentral Forum member purchased his at a Denver AT&T store Friday morning. Expect an "official" announcement from Palm and AT&T shortly;)

Labels: att, centro, gsm, palm

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 2/16/2008 12:11:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

  Is the WiFi Palm Drucker the Treo 800w?

The Boy Genius has gotten the scoop of upcoming Vodafone smartphones. There's an upcoming Treo codenamed "Palm Drucker" which is expected to be released in July. It has some pretty impressive specs, finally built-in WiFi, GPS, a 320 x 320 screen, and runs Windows Mobile 6.1

I would not be surprised if the "Palm Drucker" (gotta love those codenames) turns out to be the GSM version of the upcoming Treo 800w expected to be released in the US for Sprint and Verizon. Palm needs to have a successor to the Treo 700w/wx CDMA Treos here in the US ASAP. I would expect to see a CDMA version of the Drucker (Treo 800w) to debut in the US before July of 2008 . Stay tuned.

Labels: gsm, palm. treo, windows mobile

  ¶ posted by Jimmie Geddes, Editor @ 1/05/2008 05:54:00 PM 0 comments links to this post