I’ve been thinking of getting a smartphone with PDA function since long time ago. However, I didn’t really go into surveying the features and prices for such device because most of them are cater for business and corporate users.

Out of a sudden, on September 27^th Palm Inc. announced its first entry level smartphone : Palm Centro. It is designed for individuals and traditional mobile phone users. Not to mention it’s using Palm OS 5.4.9, not Wiindows Mobile other smartphone in the market using.

Well, Palm Centro is the smallest and lightest Palm phone to date but the size doesn’t jeopardize the necessary features we need such as :-

• 2.2-inch touchscreen phone functionalities with full QWERTZY keyboard
• 64M of internal storage and a microSD slot for up to 4GB additional memory
• Email, sending SMS, Instant Messenging using MSN or Y!M, playing MP3, Internet browsing
• Speakerphone, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 megapixel video-capable camera
• View PDF file and Microsoft Office documents, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• Contact and calendar capabilities
• 1150mAh removable battery for up to 3.5 hours talk and 3 days standby time
• Two colours : onyx black and ruby red

For more details you may want to download this Palm Centro brochure (PDF file).

All these for only US$99.99 if you sign up for 2 years with Sprint, one of the mobile service providers in the United States. Palm Centro will be available on the October 14^th, 2007 for US$199.99, with a US$100 rebate bringing the price down to only US$99.99! Sprint even have a teaser site for Palm Centro.

Not sure how soon will it hit the shelves in Malaysia but for sure I’m so anticipating to seeing its appearance here.