Fact or Fiction: Replacing my 700p with a Centro will solve all of my smartphone prob

[Jennifer Chappell]

Bob-C has migrated from his Treo 700p to a Centro:

Over a year ago I wrote a letter to Palm on behalf of the Treocentral community (see thread here) concerning issues with the Treo 700p. Palm responded by eventually providing a Manufacturer Release ROM Update (700p MR) intended to either resolve, or at least alleviate those problems. There has never been a consensus within the community as to whether this was sufficiently accomplished. Of those who were still dissatisfied, some resolved their problems by abandoning Palm products while others migrated to the Centro claiming that it did not have the 700p's inherent flaws. I decided to find out for myself and get a Centro....

Read his full article here.

And comment on the article here.

[bling300c]

i find the form factor a bit small for an email device therefore make more mistakes typing. Other than that the centro solved my issues, BT, LAG, MP3, resets and more. It is working great...6 months in...

I am having to replace it due to a faulty charging port though.

Keep the I-Phone and other PDA's The centro is all i need.

[TurboTiger]

Assuming you're sticking with Palm and not holding out for the NOVA, I would go for the Centro.
I moved from the 700p and never looked back.
No resets.
pTunes works great.
No lag.
It's just solid.
My 700p was a source or annoyance with the resets.
Good Luck

[WhoAmI]

Great Article. As a 700p owner - since the week it was first released - I've been thinking about upgrading to a Centro. After reading your review and c considering my 700p is working pretty well still, I think I'll wait till my 700 completely bites the dust here! Thanks again!

[car_designer]

upgrade the rom of your 700P to the rom of a 755P and have solid bug free performance of the 755P and the centro on a device you already have. search the forums for 700P to 755p conversion in the 700p forum. i did it and was extremely hapy with the results. a whole new phone.

the only thing you would then get (pretty much ) by moving to a centro is a smaller device (smaller keyboard too) and no protruding antenna.

[gadgetfreak]

Or buy a 755p online for less than $200 and do an ESN swap without the need to renew a contract.

[zelgo]

The Centro makes the Treo pocket portable--finally!

[unfrostedpoptart]

I say yes. I only had a 700p for a few months (after my wonderful 7135 finally started flaking out after 4 years), but was always having problems with it. And, yes, I had the latest firmware. I got a Centro the day Verizon offered it (I was at the store when they opened and the salesman wasn't even sure they had them). It's been the best Palm phone by far and maybe the best Palm OS device I've ever had (about ten of them, back to the original Pilot 500).

Yeah, a bigger screen would be nice, but I wouldn't trade it for going back to the size/bulk of the 700p (with the stupid antenna sticking out). I don't have a problem typing with my fingernails. The only problem with the keyboard is that the plastic is very reflective, so it's sometimes hard to read the keys.

Biggest pain (common to the 700p and 7135): no 3.5mm headphone jack. I'm forever trying to find my adapters. Also would be great if it had a standard micro-USB jack for sync and power.

[Palm_forlackofchoice]

I had a 700p for 5 months and it had all the problems you talk about. I swithed to the 700WX and despite the crappy low res screen was much happier.

One thing you didnot discuss was radio performance (signal reception).
My 700P and the 700WX had far worse reception than my new 800W and my wifes Centro.

We can be sitting next to each other in same room, me talking on the 700WX and her on the Centro, my call breks up and drops and she has a clear trouble free call. I feel that the 800W is better yet than the Centro.

I too like the form factor and size of the 700p,WX better than the Cenro and 800W. The 700WX just felt so solid in the hand and has beenthe most durable phone I have ever had.

[Dieter Bohn]

GREAT article, Bob!

[OLD_HATCH]

I used a 700p (now sits on my computer desk as a test device ) and now a 755p.(650 before that) I purchased my wife a Centro to replace her 700p and let me tell you its what the 700/755 should have been back then. Even now the Centro runs circles around my 755p.

Of course like mentioned entering and exiting Blazer is much faster not to mention that for some reason web pages load faster on the Centro. The delay of switching between apps is improved slightly with the centro. Cache management like mentioned in the article is great compared to previous devices. This leads to far less resets on the Centro compared to previous Treos.



The Centro as an mp3 player also runs circles around the 755/700p. One thing to mention is when using ptunes with SAG on Treo 700/755 it bogs down soooooooooooo much its almost unbearable if you are trying to do anything else. On the Centro on the other hand its almost unnoticeable.

This is on Sprint by the way but Im sure the concensus is similar on other Carriers


I can also agree about the larger form factor of the 700 keyboard being better.(for me at least)


Everytime I use my wifes Centro I kind of get upset just because of how it just handles everything better. I'm to a point where I just might buy a Centro to put in a 755p body. Although it would be nice if the rom updates for the Centro could be applied to the 700p/755.

[hkklife]

We already have "FrankenGarnet" for an OS, so I'd love to see a "FrankenTreoCentro". I could make a near-perfect Treo out of the best bits of recent Palm devices:

Keyboard size/shape: 700p/w/wx

Screen size & brightness: Whatever has historically had the largest & brightest 320x320 Palm PDA screen (T|E2?)

Overall formfactor (including side-mounted SDHC & not mini/micro): Treo 680

Stability/performance/BT quality: Centro

Phone app: GSM Centro or 680

Camera: 2.0mp from the Treo 500 or the Pro (whichever one looks best)

3.5mm stereo headphone jack & microUSB connector: Treo Pro

Battery size/capacity: Either Treo 650/700 series or 755p or Treo Pro (depends on how thick you want the device to ultimately be)

Stylus: The telescoping T|T series stylus is still the best. Of the Treos, I like the thicker metal styli from the 600/650/700 era.

[Q]

Originally Posted by hkklife

We already have "FrankenGarnet" for an OS, so I'd love to see a "FrankenTreoCentro". I could make a near-perfect Treo out of the best bits of recent Palm devices:

Keyboard size/shape: 700p/w/wx

Screen size & brightness: Whatever has historically had the largest & brightest 320x320 Palm PDA screen (T|E2?)

Overall formfactor (including side-mounted SDHC & not mini/micro): Treo 680

Stability/performance/BT quality: Centro

Phone app: GSM Centro or 680

Camera: 2.0mp from the Treo 500 or the Pro (whichever one looks best)

3.5mm stereo headphone jack & microUSB connector: Treo Pro

Battery size/capacity: Either Treo 650/700 series or 755p or Treo Pro (depends on how thick you want the device to ultimately be)

Stylus: The telescoping T|T series stylus is still the best. Of the Treos, I like the thicker metal styli from the 600/650/700 era.

I'd say make the screen flush like the Pro, too.

The one other thing I'd tweak from the 680 is the SD slot cover. The idea of having a cover is good; the implementation less so. Mine always feels like it's about to break off. And ironically, while I see the benefit from having a cover and did eject a card or three from my 650, I've never lost a card that way.

[sivan]

I gave Bob much crap and told him to try the Centro. Glad it turned out alright. I would also note improved stability, it almost never crashed in almost a year.

I have since got a G1 but still think the Centro was a good phone.

[hotkey]

Much better!

[Kewl 700p]

Agreed with Centro being much better than 700p. Just like Bob, I had one of the first VZW Treo 700p and as much as I love Palm and my previous Treo 650, the 700p was a dud. The Centro is everything that the 700p was suppose to be. I miss the bigger keyboard, but love how much snappier and more stable and better phone reception, etc. that the Centro has vs. the Treo 700p. The 755p is better as well, but I think the Centro is much more pocketable!

[wernst]

The Centro really is the best, most reliable PalmOS device I have ever used, and it sort of makes me mad.

There's nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary about the Centro. Nothing! This is a device that Palm could have built two or three years ago while it still had a large share of the smartphone market. Instead it let the platform languish.

Then magazines review smartphones, the Centro is rarely even mentioned anymore, which is a shame because this is the unit that Palm finally got right.

Argh!!

-Warr

[qwalls]

I have to agree with the previous comments. Loved my Treo 650, it just needed more memory. The 700p was a bit of a let down. The Centro is the best phone/PDA I've owned. And I've mastered thumbnail typing.

[Eguy]

I was following Bob's case right as it was happening (I had to get 5 700p's before Sprint gave me a centro after I had to pay for it) and it fixed pretty much every issue I had with the 700p's. It looks pretty crappy (OS) but it just works, which is all that I ask for.

It is a shame though that it took 3 times to get it right. (700p -->755p --> Centro)

[Dr.Grace]

Originally Posted by wernst

The Centro really is the best, most reliable PalmOS device I have ever used, and it sort of makes me mad.

There's nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary about the Centro. Nothing! This is a device that Palm could have built two or three years ago while it still had a large share of the smartphone market. Instead it let the platform languish.

Then magazines review smartphones, the Centro is rarely even mentioned anymore, which is a shame because this is the unit that Palm finally got right.

Argh!!

-Warr

Agree totally, but I'm so satisfied with the Centro I don't even remember my headaches with the 700p. Centro is the best palm phone ever, at least until the new generation comes out.