Palm Centro review (cobalt blue, Verizon Wireless)

For messaging, you have several choices as fair as e-mail solutions. There's the VersaMail e-mail app, which has built-in support for Microsoft's Direct Push Technology for real-time synchronization with Microsoft Exchange. VersaMail supports a wide range of POP and IMAP e-mail accounts, including AOL, Apple .Mac, AT&T Global, Earthlink, Gmail, and Yahoo Plus. Alternatively, Verizon offers Wireless Sync that gives you access to up to three e-mail accounts. We should note that the Centro is also the first device to support the carrier's new E-mail and Web for Smartphone plan for $29.99 a month. Unlike the Sprint Centro, there are no preloaded instant-messaging clients on this model.

There is a microSD expansion slot on the right side to supplement the internal memory; the Centro can accept up to 4GB cards.

For better or worse, the Centro runs Palm OS 5.4.9 and comes with 128MB ROM and 64MB RAM. We say better or worse because the operating system is a bit stale, but the good news is that it's extremely easy to use. Plus, it's got the advantage of being compatible with Macs right out of the box, unlike Windows Mobile devices. The smartphone also ships with DataViz's Documents to Go 10, so you can open, create, and edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents, and view PowerPoint presentations and PDFs. Of course, you get the standard personal information management tools, including a calendar, a to-do list, a memo pad, a calculator, a world clock, and a voice recorder. There are a couple of extras, such as a Sudoku game, and the Facebook for Palm application was also just announced if you're a user of the social-networking site. For additional titles and suggestions, please check out CNET Download.com.

The Centro's 1.3-megapixel camera took decent pictures.

The Palm Centro is equipped with a 1.3-megapixel camera with voice-recording capabilities. Other than a 2x zoom, the camera lacks any type of editing abilities or controls to adjust the picture or video. Despite this disadvantage, the picture quality of the Centro's camera was pretty impressive. There was the slightest fuzziness to the image, but you could still make out the objects. In addition, the colors were accurate and bright. Video clips also looked decent; there was some slight pixilation of course but it wasn't as bad some of the other camera phones we've seen.

Performance
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 850/1900; EV-DO) Palm Centro in San Francisco using Verizon Wireless service, and call quality was good. Audio was plenty loud and, for the most part, clear on our end. We had no problems talking with friends or using an airline's automated voice response system, and our callers generally had the same praises. Quality diminished slightly when we activated the speakerphone as there was a bit of tinniness to the call. On the plus side, there was plenty of volume. We also successfully paired the Centro with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset.

General performance was snappy, and we never experienced any system crashes during our review period. Browsing the Web was also swift, thanks to the EV-DO speed boost. It also helped when we streamed several radio stations using Pocket Tunes Deluxe, which only took a few seconds to upload. Music playback was pretty good with a decent balance of treble and bass. The sound, however, was a bit blown out at the higher volumes.

The Centro's 1,150mAH lithium ion battery has a rated talk time of 3.5 hours and up to 12.5 days of standby time. We are still conducting our battery drain tests, but we will update this section as soon as we have results. According to FCC radiation tests, the Centro has a digital SAR rating of 1.09 watts per kilogram.