We heard the announcement earlier this month on the Treo 500v being launched in Europe. Opinions on the 500v are mixed. You can read through many threads in our own TreoCentral Treo 500 forum.
The Treo 500v runs Windows Mobile 6, doesn't have a touchscreen, and Palm has removed the ringer/on-off switch. It's been compared to the Blackjack and the Blackberry Curve. Mike Slocombe over at Digital-Lifestyles did a review of the 500v if you'd like to check that out.
Throughout the testing the interface was snappy, responsive and pleasingly simple to use. We didn’t experience any crashes and have to say it’s one of the best interfaces we’ve used on a Windows smartphone to date (and we usually end up screaming at them).
Today, Palm and Sprint announced their DigitalLife Press Conference that will take place tomorrow, September 27th at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. News at the conference will include Palm's announcement of a new Palm smartphone for Sprint.
So, of course we're expecting to hear an announcement on the Centro. Dieter reported on a leaked image of the Centro last month. Word is that the Centro's screen will be a 320x320 touchscreen, whereas the Treo 550v's screen is a non-touchscreen 320x240. And rumor has it that the Centro will be geared toward the younger crowd and will cost $99. Not too bad for a low end smartphone. I like the looks of the Centro. Slim, running Palm OS, a nice QWERTY keyboard, and 3G.
If the Centro isn't the smartphone being announced tomorrow, I don't know what will be announced. I can't wait to find out. TreoCentral will be there in New York tomorrow covering the Palm news for you, so stay tuned! In the meantime, you can check out the forum threads on the Centro for lots of interesting opinions and pics.
Read the full press release here. Palm and Sprint invite credentialed media, as well as market and financial analysts, not attending DigitalLife to join a one-hour live, streamed webcast about this announcement on Thursday, Sept. 27, beginning at 12:30 p.m. EDT. The live webcast can be accessed using this link.
