Palm Offers Unlocked Centro Smartphone

After introducing the its inexpensive Centro smartphone last year, Palm is now offering an unlocked version - if you still consider $299 cheap.

Palm unveiled its well-received, inexpensive Centro smartphone with Sprint in September 2007, with the handset launching on AT&T in February and Verizon offering it just this month. Now, Palm is offering an unlocked version of the device without a service plan—and it’s priced at $299, rather than the $99 users have been paying for a version tied to a mobile provider.

The unlocked version of the Palm Centro resembles the version offered through AT&T, albeit without the obnoxious electric green keypad. The unit offers a 320 by 320 pixel LCD display, GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity, and runs Palm OS 5.4.9. The Centro sports a 1.3 megapixel camera, 64 MB of onboard memory (with additional storage available via microSD cards), and offers BlueTooth 1.2 wireless connectivity for pairing with computers and peripherals. The unit ships with Documents To Go Professional Edition (so you’ll still be able to open up Office documents even without Windows Mobile).

Palm has another goody for Centro owners, though: free access to Google Maps with My Location. The service can now plot Centro user’s approximate location on an onscreen map, making it easier for users to find out where they are, what’s nearby, and how to get to their destination.