New Unlocked GSM Centro Colors and Pricing

Posted By: Kris Keilhack Monday, April 20, 2009 1:17:04 PM

unlocked Palm centroWhile word leaked out several months ago of the forthcoming EOL status of Sprint's version of the Centro, no word has been heard in regards to versions of the phone offered from other carriers or in unlocked GSM form. Beginning sometime in the last week or so, the Palm.com online store quietly began offering the unlocked version of the Centro in two new colors alongside a drastically reduced $199.99 price with the usual free shipping promotion. Disregarding a few very limited-time sale offers, the Centro's new pricetag represents the first time an unlocked Palm smartphone has been offered for less than $200.

The two new colors are variations of earlier Palm color schemes, with the "Ruby Red" Centro looking similar to the old Treo 680 color scheme and less pink than the current Sprint offering. The always-amusingly named "Cobalt Blue" GSM Centro appears nearly identical to Verizon's CDMA Centro and the unbranded CDMA version of the phone sold in non-US markets. The previous unlocked GSM Centro in "Glacier White" with grey numeric keys remains available.

Palm Centro Pricing 4/20/09

The specs on these new GSM colors appear unchanged with RAM unfortunately remaining at 64MB instead of the 128MB seen on the refreshed Sprint version. No word if these GSM Centros offer the soft-touch paint and slightly updated keyboard noted previously by Ryan on the Olive Green Centro.

(Thanks, TreoCentral.)

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$199 Would have been a good price for an unlocked Centro

DarthRepublican @ 4/20/2009 10:35:00 PM # Q
A year or two ago. It might have been enough to keep me from switching to my current Android powered T-Mobile G1. C'est la vie or whatever.
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/
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unlocked phones all have less memory?

anika200 @ 4/21/2009 11:08:37 AM # Q
What is the deal with the unlocked phones having inferior hardward? The treo pro is the same deal, 100mb memory instead of the 256mb from the sprint version. Anyone care to speculate?
RE: unlocked phones all have less memory?
hkklife @ 4/21/2009 11:52:52 AM # Q
Sprint was the first carrier to introduce the Centro and has probably accounted for a greater share of the 2 million+ Centros sold than AT&T, Verizon and unlocked GSM Centros combined.

Why Sprint got the 128MB Centro is unknown, but it could be any of a number of factors--Sprint probably wanted something "new" from Palm for Holiday '08 and prior to the arrival of the Pre and the Treo Pro and they've always been Palm's preferred carrier partner.

Or perhaps Palm /Inventec were able to get 128mb memory modules for the same (or less) price as 64mb ones. Or maybe the initial Sprint Centro demand in '07 & early '08 was so high that Palm had to place an order for more units. So they figured they'd max out the memory available on a Garnet-based device and help distinguish the new Sprint vresion from the Verizon & GSM ones

Also keep in mind that while the Sprint Treo Pro has a faster CPU & more storage memory, it actually has less application memory and hit the market several months after the GSM version. So it's not terribly surprising it'd have better specs, esepcially since HTC has been known to offer several tweaked versions on a single base model.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

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