Palm Centro under Sprint .. You Tube? Web based mpegs?

Okay just got the Palm Centro from Sprint. Some things on the phone I
just find odd and bordering on stupid compared to Blackberry. And
perhaps I just haven't figured out the phone yet.

It took customer support (India) about 40 minutes on the phone to
activate the phone. It was ridiculous I had to call back 3 times to 3
different agents.

My opinion, the two must important features on a phone are the BACK
and RETURN buttons. On this phone, those buttons are tiny and way too
far on the lower right for single hand use. Also, many of the features
on the phone, like the password lock, require a separate okay button
after an entry...WHY? what should just be keys followed by enter now
requires navigate and press a button. If thats how it works.. that
sucks frankly.

The phone offered a download for web mail setup. I set up my yahoo
account, and can see attatched files in emails but no way to download
or view them?? huh?

I have a password on the phone, how do I manually force lock the
phone?

Web navigation is terrible. Blackberry Curve and 8700 blow it away. Do
I have to use the stylus to select text?? I hate using a Stylus. Try
using one while driving lol. How do you copy and paste?

The navigation button rim is god aweful, after using it for a while it
gets worse. It's a tiny rim of the giant button. Maybe there away to
map some of the other ap buttons.

Sometimes there are great select buttons like refresh on screen but
they are often so tiny you must use the stylus for them. duh.

Ports on the phone are proprietary.. audio, power, etc. WHY NOT BE
STANDARD ??

The keyboard is simply too small for human use.

No way to hide or password specific applications.

That said, and it's enough to send her back, here's the good news (my
opinion)..

Sprint's network is VERY fast and great for media.

Youtube works flawlessly. CNN live on sprintTV is flat out cool.
Blackberry can't do that.. at least not naturally without a
passthrough site.

I was able to surf web sites with .mpeg and other videos and it
downloaded fast and played them in very nice quality. Media
organization seemed very designed.

picture quality seemed good enough, though no flash.. Blackberry
Curve's flash is awsome and takes a good enough pic that you can take
a pic of sheet of paper with text on it at night and be able to read
the pic.

It's got video recorder, BB does not. And the Video seems pretty good.
Some times you need to video things.

GPS. I'm yet to try it out, but will before my return deadline. Added
charge, but this might sway me to keep it.

Overall, the I hate the ergonomics and think some of the ap interfaces
are stupid. Network speed and media on the phone is tough to beat.

Other phones I would consider under Sprint (because of network):

Moto Q - Keys seem slippery and tough. Windows mobile sucks.
HTC Mogul - bad reviews. windows mobile again.
Their Blackberry phone - the phone they carry does not have a Querty
keyboard which is a must.

I guess you can't have it all.

---

› See More: Palm Centro under Sprint .. You Tube? Web based mpegs?

Wildman,

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I guess you can't have it all.

Indeed. Did you look at the Treos while you were at a Sprint store? They
address the problem of the keys being a little too tiny for (most) people to
use... and overall the (somewhat) bigger Treo seems somewhat sturdier than a
Centro. On the other hand, it also costs 3x as much! :-(

[email protected] wrote:
> Okay just got the Palm Centro from Sprint. Some things on the phone I

> The phone offered a download for web mail setup. I set up my yahoo
> account, and can see attatched files in emails but no way to download
> or view them?? huh?
>
Try highlighting the attachment and hitting the center navigation
button. It should pass the attachement to the document viewer or open it
up, if it's an image. That's what mine does anyway.


> Web navigation is terrible. Blackberry Curve and 8700 blow it away. Do
> I have to use the stylus to select text?? I hate using a Stylus. Try
> using one while driving lol. How do you copy and paste?
>
I think you want need to use 'info-K' (info is lower right key)
combination to bring up the screen keyboard.
Copy and paste are the normal way with the 'ctl' key (lower left) and
'c' or 'v' or 'x'

> The keyboard is simply too small for human use.

You're probably right, but the whole thing *does* fit in my pant's pocket.

> GPS. I'm yet to try it out, but will before my return deadline. Added
> charge, but this might sway me to keep it.

I ended up getting a $60 BT GPS receiver that works fine with it.
DeLorme and others have fancier stuff, both receivers and mapping, at a
price. Google mapping works fine but last I looked requires a separate
app (e.g. Where Am I?) to read the receiver and get a flag on the map.
Only the expensive stuff seems to map real time with all the routing,
velocity etc.


> I guess you can't have it all.

Probably not. I have to put on my glasses anytime I want to use it (or
any phone of that size). Still, as you suggest, the price/performance is
pretty good.

g

Joel Koltner wrote:
> Wildman,
>
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> I guess you can't have it all.
>
> Indeed. Did you look at the Treos while you were at a Sprint store? They
> address the problem of the keys being a little too tiny for (most) people to
> use... and overall the (somewhat) bigger Treo seems somewhat sturdier than a
> Centro. On the other hand, it also costs 3x as much! :-(

Not if you're careful. I paid around $200 for a Sprint Treo 700P on
eBay. It was either new or refurbed to the point of being
indistinguishable from new. I've been happily using it for around a year.

The centro was -$49 after rebates on amazon with a two year contract.
But likely still going back.

More questions.

How do you force the web mail to push/pull. It took 15 minutes to get
a test email.

How do you zoom when viewing a pic?

How do you force video to play in loop?

It's not an intuitive phone. Keyboard too small. Navigation Terrible.
Stylus required means it can never be single handed. On screen buttons
often too small. No push email for yahoo and other web mails. But
sprints network is SOOOO fast and the devices media player works so
damn nice it's tempting to keep.

FYI - Rumer has it T-mobile will be going 3G this summer and they will
come out with a 3G blackberry predicted to be the iPhone killer.. not
that iPhone is any good for email or business with its on screen
keyboard. I will wait for that.

I'm hoping Blackberry and T-mo finally get in the game with a phone
that can YouTube, and view other popular internet videos and streams
(msnbc,cnn,etc). Another T-mo phone that will likely go 3G (and
considered a toy today) is the sidekick. Probaby the most comfortable
and ergonomic phone in the market - If it has push email and can play
online video it will be worth a look as well.

Thanks.

Thanks.