Palm has just released its smallest smartphone known as the Centro, and you definitely won’t expect the usual high end features that come with Palm’s releases (admit it - their line of Treos always worked up a frenzy each time they were released, only to be superceded by other notable handsets a short while later). The Centro will strangely enough, occupy the low end segment of the mobile market as Palm aims to revive its flagging fortunes by offering a (much) cheaper alternative to the highly desirable iPhone. The Centro is but a stripped down version of the Treo, being smaller and lighter, and will retail for a mere $100 - a price point that is sensitive enough to make it an impulse purchase in some cases.

The Centro will come with a full QWERTY keyboard for fast and easy typing, complete with the mandatory touchscreen that made the Treo line so lovable in the first place and shuns not its responsibilities of reading as well as sending email, managing documents and spreadsheets on-the-go to keep your productivity levels up even when you’re out of the office. When you first carry the Centro in your hand, you’ll be surprised to note that it weighs a mere 4.2 ounces and measures a wee bit larger than your credit card. It is available exclusively from Sprint Nextel Corp. for the whole of this year in the US, though there’s no word on which are the other carriers that will introduce the Centro into their line-up next year.

When it comes to many things in life, often the more money you ‘invest’, the results you yield often diminish disproportionately. Take the iPhone that retails for four times the Centro - both devices still come with touchscreen capability, are able to surf the Web, manage photos, play music, and send/receive emails. Of course, the iPhone is touted to boast a superior user interface and aesthetics, but is the price difference really worth overlooking some of the Centro’s shortcomings in comparison?

Source: Reuters