The Phone application is the main center of of the Centro’s phone functionality. It provides phone information such as signal strength, new email and message indicators and can be setup to show your next appointment as well as display a custom wallpaper or number pad.

Palm Infocenter Reviewed Palm Centro and gave out “To the new user, the Centro is a feature packed, powerful phone that offers much more functionality than the standard run of the mill 12-key cell phone. Because of the Centro’s positioning and lower price target you have to overlook the omission of certain features. After all, even with its ripe age, tired look and intermittent faults the Palm OS still remains one of the most intuitive smartphone experiences. By no means is the Centro perfect device but the smaller size and updated software bundle combined with the low price provide a decent value for a capable smartphone.”
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Call quality was great in our testing, with no dropped calls and consistently clear reception.
Getting around the Palm OS was easy as always. However, Palm is going to have to do away with the stylus input and make the operating system finger friendly in the near future if it is going to keep up with today’s most popular trend for input on a smartphone.

PDAStreet Reviewed Palm Centro and gave out “With its handy new shape and bargain price ($99, with commitment and discounts from Sprint), the Centro is just the thing that Palm needs to stay competitive in the fast-changing mobile phone market. It’s a pleasure to use and it can do a wide variety of tasks.
If you’re thinking about purchasing an iPhone, be sure you know what the Centro can do first. It performs most of the functions people want at a price that won’t break your bank account.”
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Nostalgic affection aside, it doesn’t feel like Palm is taking advantage of the opportunities it has right now. Things like its complicated syncing process (particularly with Macs) don’t jive with Palm’s bid for the “youth market,” who undoubtedly are interested in iTunes-like simplicity.

engadget Reviewed Palm Centro and gave out “The phone is good, and the sound quality is solid. Palm equipped the Centro with a nice loud earpiece and speaker, and both do their job admirably. One problem of note is that if you lay this phone on its back during a speakerphone call, you lose about 50-percent of your sound. The effect is almost akin to sweeping a resonant filter down on the signal, like the “underwater” effect you hear in your favorite rave anthems.”
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With the 500V, the company’s ongoing relationship with Microsoft is seen to continue with the Windows Mobile 6.0 operating system.

SiliconRepublic Reviewed Palm Treo 500v and gave out “PROS: Good screen and snazzy operating system—CONS: Could do with more killer applications”
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The new smartphone has 150M bytes of internal memory and a slot for a microSD expansion card. It is also equipped with Bluetooth wireless technology.

PCWorld Reviewed Palm Treo 500v and gave out “Although the Treo 500v runs on 3G (third-generation) networks, it doesn’t support the more recent version HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) protocol, again mostly for cost reasons, according to Bedlow.”
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As for performance, it’s all good, with the 3G web surfing fast as long as you can get a coverage. Additionally you can also use the device as a modem for your computer meaning you can ditch the 3G card and use this instead.

pocket-lint Reviewed Palm Treo 500v and gave out “The 3G connectivity will appeal to the web surfing dudes out there while the keyboard is a plus for getting emails out fast.
Where its biggest problem lies however is that the Treo 500v doesn’t break any boundaries against the competition. Whether it’s the Motorola Q, the HTC Tytn 2, the new BlackBerry 8310, the Nokia E-Series, the Sony Ericsson P series, the Samsung BlackJack and the many more that I can’t care to list here, there isn’t anything new and exciting that we haven’t seen before.”
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We found the most useful apps to be Windows Live Messenger, Internet Explorer and Office Mobile that comes with Word, Excel and PowerPoint. These apps would have been more enjoyable had the keypad been better.

Cnet Reviewed Palm Treo 500v and gave out “We’re disappointed with the Treo 500v’s underwhelming design and feel that the keys are far too squashed together. But it is simple to use, particularly for a Windows Mobile device and while we wouldn’t recommend it to the large-thumbed, it is worth peeking at if you fancy some email on the go action.”
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You move through this lot using the navigation button. If you want to get into the usual icon driven Windows Mobile application selector the right softkey will take you to the Main Menu - but only when you are looking at Recent Programs.

trustedreviews Reviewed Palm Treo 500v and gave out “On the software side, Palm has done well in turning Windows Mobile into something rather more fun and cool to use than normal. On the hardware side there are features missing - there’s no HSDPA, no front facing camera, no Wi-Fi and an average camera. But the thinner, sleeker look is a big step forward for Palm in terms of hardware design.”
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Palm Treo 500v Collection Digital Fans:
Designed as an entry-level smartphone for Vodafone, the Palm Treo 500v doesn’t sports the latest and greatest specs but it’s quite up-to-date by featuring Windows Mobile 6 Standard, triband GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 900/1800/1900 MHz and singleband UMTS at 2100 MHz as well as Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. The Treo 500v unfortunately lacks WiFi as well as quadband GSM and triband UMTS and HSDPA which limits its useful use to Europe and Asia and also limits the Internet speed to 384 Kbps.

The Treo 500v features 256 MB of ROM (with 150 MB accessible for the user) and 64 MB of RAM which can be extended by microSD cards. On the back, the Treo features a 2 megapixel camera. A front facing camera for UMTS video telephony isn’t available. Last but not least the QWERTY keyboard, which should make the device a great messaging smartphone.
The 1200 mAh Lithium-Ion battery is said to have 10 days standby time and up to 4 hours talk time.

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The Centro is powered by a 312MHz Intel XScale processor, and general performance was satisfactory. We didn’t experience any significant or frustrating delays, but there was a brief lag when opening Office documents or waiting for streaming content.

Cnet Reviewed Palm Centro and gave out “The good: The Palm Centro sheds some of the weight and bulk of Palm Treo to make for a more compact smartphone. It also carries an attractive price tag and offers a lot for the money, including Bluetooth, EV-DO support, push e-mail, and a suite of productivity apps.—The bad: The Centro’s QWERTY keyboard is extremely cramped and the hardware feels a bit toylike. The phone’s speaker is on the weaker side, and it lacks Wi-Fi.—The bottom line: The Palm Centro isn’t the innovative product we were looking for from the company, but with its slimmer size, ease of use, and affordable price tag, the Centro is a good option for those looking for their first smartphone.”
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