Mobile

Palm Centro hits Manila and Disappoints

Name: Palm Centro hits Manila and Disappoints
Brand: Palm
Rating: 4.6 (1 reviews)

Abe Olandres April 18, 2008 · 1 min read

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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!

Palm Centro

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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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

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54 Comments

robert munar · 14 years ago

jun martin: do you have any idea wer i can buy d accessories for my palm centroâ€¦

jun martin · 14 years ago

I bought my faux leather case from amazon and had someone bring it over to the Philippines. :D

robert munar · 14 years ago

jun martin: do you any idea wer i can buy d accessories for my palm centro…

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lawrence · 15 years ago

It looks smart though the selling price won’t be favourable putting in mind that most Philippines are low income earners.

Jun Martin · 15 years ago

Jhiro Gonzales: For how much are you selling it?

jhiro gonzales · 15 years ago

I have a PALM CENTRO that was sent to me my Aunt in US. I can’t use it here coz it is blocked by the carrier AT&T. Does anyone interested to buy it?

Jun Martin · 17 years ago

I love my Palm Centro! I’ve been a fan of Palm OS for more than a decade now.

I bought it brand new from someone at tipidcp.com for only Php10,000 with 6 months shop warranty!

@Lynn Morales: location, please? I’d like to propose buying your Centro.

lynn morales · 17 years ago

i have a palm centro, given by my cousin from the states. i dont like the features coz there’s so many applications. if i’ll sell it, what price could be reasonable? it’s turning 6 months old..

darkestmon · 17 years ago

don’t worry about the wifi. I believe there’s an available micro sd sized wifi that fits on Palm centro. I wish someone would try to see if it works.

ocelus · 17 years ago

Yes! bro. & sis.,

Palm centro here in the Philippines are too expensive like you said 2 years ago centro in the other country begin to lower down the value.
Centro have no wi-fi & 3g still to much cost for filipino people. i could rather buy a branded mobile phones who’s guaranteed new and lots of software available.

Welga! Welga! Welga!

ocelus · 17 years ago

Yes! bro. & sis.,

Chris · 18 years ago

how can you say the centro’s “super-expensive”? it’s no bargain, sure, but it’s a smartphone, and not a lot of new smartphones can be had for less than 20k.

i doubt it’ll be sold by globe – they already sell the iphone and this might just eat into the iphone’s market. especially considering how expensive the iphone is.

i like the centro as a matter of fact and am seriously considering buying a black one when my sony ericsson k800 kicks the bucket. i’ve been a fan of palm’s OS and interface for years, even though i haven’t yet owned any of its smartphones, and features-wise the centro’s just right for me. i don’t need another wi-fi-enabled device since i already have a netbook.

i wish you’d written more about the centro, it deserves better coverage than you’ve given it.

boy kuripot · 18 years ago

haha well that’s life. I found this palm centro site where you could win a palm centro http://www.palmcentro-ap.com/index.cfm?fa=refer_a_friend&country=Philippines

promo ends on Aug 14

boy kuripot · 18 years ago

haha well that’s life. I found this palmcentro site where you could win a palmcentro http://www.palmcentro-ap.com/index.cfm?fa=refer_a_friend&country=Philippines

promo ends on Aug 14

Jet · 18 years ago

I’ll rather buy O2 XDA II mini.. I’ve seen XDA II mini is faster in internet using Smart SIM Card.

otoyreyes · 18 years ago

disappointing indeed..

BrianB · 18 years ago

iPhone 3G may have QWERTY

http://www.pmptoday.com/2008/04/18/3g-iphone-design-may-include-qwerty-keyboard/

BrianB · 18 years ago

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.

ChiQ Montes · 18 years ago

disappointing indeed. sigh.. but i don’t think id buy one anyway.. no 3g ? no wifi? — tsk!

Ederic · 18 years ago

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. :)

Connie · 18 years ago

Brian B is right. The 99 dollar price tag included a phone line subscription.

Reggie · 18 years ago

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.

animomedia.com · 18 years ago

its very disappointing

raffy · 18 years ago

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.

noypiako · 18 years ago

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.