14 DAY TRIAL // For some users, July 11 is not just the big day when Apple's new iPhone 3G gets to be released, but also the day when AT&T will offer a new version of Palm Centro, which comes dressed in "electric blue". I'm not sure why Palm and AT&T decided to come up with the new [admark=1]Centro exactly on this date (which, by the way, is this Friday - as in, two days from now), but I'm sure that the electric blue smartphone will be cheaper than any of its versions released until now.
Palm doesn't say how cheaper, but since AT&T's current Centros are offered for as little as $99 (with a two-year contract agreement), the new version of the handset could be sold even for less than $50. This would be a real bargain for users who are not interested in handsets like the iPhone 3G and only want a simple smartphone.
Blueness aside, the new Centro will be offering what all the other Centros do: a 2.2 inch TFT touchscreen display with 320 x 320 pixels, Google Maps with My Location, document viewer, email, Blazer 4.5 browser, Bluetooth, MP3 player and so on.
Sold until now in more than 1 million units worldwide, the Centro is clearly one of the most successful products released by Palm in the last few years, which led to the launch of various color versions. For example, the new electric blue handset is the third Centro version to be offered by AT&T (after the obsidian black and glacier white ones). Also, this is the eighth version available in the US, coming shortly after Palm announced the release of an unlocked GSM edition of the popular smartphone.
In conclusion, if you're not eagerly waiting for the iPhone 3G but still want to buy a handset next Friday, AT&T's new Palm Centro will be waiting for you. In electric blue.