The most anticipated $99 Palm Centro has arrived in Philippine stores. It’s supposed to be a cheap full-featured smartphone that will revive Palm’s dying foothold of the market. The announcement yesterday sparked some excitement among avid Palm followers only to be doused soon after the price was revealed.
The supposedly inexpensive smartphone turned out to be super-expensive. How did a 99-dollar device ended up costing Php17,490 after landing in the Philippines? That’s more than 4 times the original price!
The specs are just okay — 320×320 16-bit touch screen, quad-band GPRS/EDGE, bluetooth, 64Mb internal plus up to 4GB external SD card, 1.3 megapixel camera. No 3G or even WiFi.
I guess that hyped up $99.99 price in the US was because the unit will come with a 2-year lock-in contract from Sprint. mAYBE you can get the same if it comes bundled with a Smart or Globe Postpaid plan.
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I think the $99 price tag includes a wireless contract.
thats true mobile phones are priced low but it includes a service contract. for really low priced phone the contract will be 3 years. thats what i’ve seen here in vancouver.
The unlocked handheld costs $349 in the US. That’s about 14k in pesos.
Well historically, I think that palm products have about a 30% premium when sold here vs prices in the US.
its very disappointing
i personally think it’s expensive for a PDA Phone that doesn’t have 3G. the HP iPAQ 510’s SRP is Php 15,000.00, has built-in WiFi, 3G, and is capable of doing everything else that the Centro does (except for the touchscreen and QWERTY thumboard)
if they can only sell it below Php 15,000 then it may have an impact in the cellphone market filled with 3G/HSDPA, 2-5MP cameras, dual-SIM features.
Brian B is right. The 99 dollar price tag included a phone line subscription.
Gaya ng sabi nila, subsidized ng carriers yung $99 price sa US.
Mahal siyang tingnan, pero if you compare it with the traditional prices of Palm Products, okay na ito.
A brand-new Treo costs P33,000. Halos kalahati lang ng presyong ito ang sa mas maliit ding Centro, na may mas malaking memory at improved camera. Idagdag mo pa yung libu-libong applications na pwede mong i-load sa Palm devices.
disappointing indeed. sigh.. but i don’t think id buy one anyway.. no 3g ? no wifi? — tsk!
You missed this one Abe. This was just linked by Engadget.
http://ilikeblue.net/products/umpc.htm
Deep Blue is cheaper than Eee PC and uses a 1Ghz VIA processor. VIA is supposed to be better than Intel’s Atom nd has been on the low-power market for quite a while. Available only in the Philippnes.
iPhone 3G may have QWERTY
http://www.pmptoday.com/2008/04/18/3g-iphone-design-may-include-qwerty-keyboard/