The Palm Centro and Samsung IP 830-W are two qwerty PDA-style smartphones that let you view important documents and emails on the go. The sleeker, sexier design and budget-minded price of the Palm Centro crown it a clear winner against the IP 830-W.
IP 830-W Hardware
The Samsung IP 830-W is a large, thick PDA-style phone with a slide-out qwerty keyboard. The keyboard tends to be a bit cramped and the phone becomes a bit top-heavy when you use the full keyboard. There is a 2.8-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels displaying 262,000 colors. The phone has an expansion slot for an SD card and dedicated headset jack. The IP 830-W is 4.5 inches tall by 2.2 inches thick and weighs 6.4 ounces. It features a 1.3 megapixel camera, a GPS receiver and dual-band CDMA/GSM functionality, allowing the phone to work overseas on other networks.
Centro Hardware
The Palm Centro has a full qwerty keyboard, though the condensed keyboard may prove to be too cramped for some, especially those with larger fingers. The Centro has a touchscreen above the keyboard and comes with a stylus to navigate. The Centro, which weighs 4.2 ounces and is 4.5 inches tall by 2.1 inches wide, has a brighter and larger screen with a resolution of 320 x 320 pixels. It features a 1.3 megapixel camera with digital zoom.
Operating System
The Samsung IP 830-W comes with Windows Mobile 5.2 Pocket PC Phone edition. This operating system features a Mobile Office Suite that lets you view PowerPoint slides and Excel charts and spreadsheets. It also features Outlook Mobile for emailing.
The Palm Centro runs PalmOS. The PalmOS includes support for basic document viewing and email capabilities and syncs with Microsoft Exchange servers. It also includes popular instant messaging communications.
Cost
The Palm Centro runs $79 to $99 USD with a new two-year service agreement. The Samsung IP 830-W is priced at $599 with a new two-year service agreement.
Bottom Line
The Samsung IP 830-W is clearly aimed at the professional, given its feature set and price. The Palm Centro is aimed more toward the mainstream market looking for a more stylized connected device. Unless Windows Mobile is absolutely needed for work purposes, it is hard to justify the price tag of the clunkier device. The Centro is a much sleeker and friendlier device.
Both devices were released a couple of years ago and are highly outdated. Windows Mobile is updating to version 6.5 at the end of 2009, and as of mid-2009, Palm has all but abandoned its PalmOS in favor of the new WebOS, which lacks backwards compatibility. Despite their obsolescence in the wake of the Apple iPhone, WebOS and Google Android, the Palm Centro is the clear choice over the Windows Mobile-enabled Samsung IP 830-W. The Centro is a much more consumer-friendly, streamlined device.
Tags: Palm Centro, Samsung 830-W, Windows Mobile, Centro much, Centro runs, Centro Samsung
