Report from bizarro world: Centro, i760 best designed phones

by Darren Murph posted Dec 6th 2007 at 8:13PM

Although "innovative" isn't exactly the word we chose to use when summing up Palm's Centro, apparently the public at large sees things a little differently -- or, so says this report, anyway. According to a buyer behavior writeup from Strategy Analytics, the Centro "attracted the most attention from nearly half of the tested US consumers who are intending to purchase a new mobile device" in Q4, and it even ranked ahead of the second-place Samsung i760 in the "appealing" department. Both of the aforementioned handsets were hailed as the top choices (saywha?) for folks "seeking a multifunction, fully integrated device," while the Nokia Prism and LG Rumor also got a few props along the way. Of course, it's always best to take these "studies" with a healthy serving of salt, but if you wanted something to debate about, you've found it.

[Via MobileWhack]

Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Samsung, Palm OS, Studies

Tags: analyst, analysts, centro, Culture, design, i760, palm, samsung, Strategy Analytics, StrategyAnalytics, study, test

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

CB17 @ Dec 6th 2007 9:07PM

This is a joke right?

Neutral

CB17 @ Dec 6th 2007 9:11PM

Edit: After reading the original report it looks like the subjects were only shown a select few devices...dumb survey...

Highly Ranked

elgee02 @ Dec 6th 2007 9:43PM

Well I will say the keypad on the i760 is probably the best designed (one of the best qwerty keypads I ever used on a phone).

Neutral

MGabriel @ Dec 6th 2007 9:44PM

Of course not two posts down from this as I read it...is an advertisement for the Centro on this site.

Neutral

CB17 @ Dec 6th 2007 10:18PM

Engadget has ads? (FF w/ ABP)

Highest Ranked

robinsmad @ Dec 6th 2007 9:37PM

What's so weird about it? They only tested with a very small, odd selection of phones. I'm sure price and size were a huge plus.

Neutral

BloodiedWraith @ Dec 6th 2007 10:58PM

This isn't hard to believe on the Samsung i760 front. The phone is a wonderful phone, and it's almost completely sold out for Verizon. We're having a tough time keeping up with demand on it.

Neutral

Who? @ Dec 7th 2007 1:34AM

Not hard to believe that Verizon has sold out of the i760; it's the only decent smartphone they've had in at least 6 months. In fact I'd be surprised if it didn't sell like hotcakes--what else are people going to buy? A blue fire mocha cinnamon chocolate, or whatever new color they have? A juke--a music phone that only has 2gb? Jesus. That's a lot of NE2s that have been waiting in the wings, too afraid to pay $175 to terminate and get a real smartphone on AT&T.

Neutral

Dan2 @ Dec 7th 2007 2:14AM

I likes my Blackberry Pearl from Verizon.

Neutral

eimajuno @ Dec 6th 2007 11:32PM

I find this hard to believe, especially someone with bigger hands. I do love Palm Treos, I have owned three (600, 650, 750) and I found the centro's keypad hard to use. Not to mention Palm OS is getting really old. In regards to the i760, I think it is a very capable phone, I'm quite partial to windows mobile, but I find the unbalanced design of the front of the device to be a not as pleasing to the eye as say the xv6800. Also, a sliding windows mobile device is by far the easiest phone to use with one hand. I currently have a HTC TyTn II and HTC Wizard and while I can do a lot with one hand, I find myself using two hands often.

Neutral

OziD @ Dec 7th 2007 12:13AM

funny because the i760 was my first choice when I was going to go with Verizon. I couldn't get a good enough deal on the HTC Touch after I decided to stay with sprint, but they offered me 1 free Centro (and one at 100 bucks), and two katanas for the lines I don't use for dirt cheap.

So now I use the Centro. it's a palm OS device... girls think its cute. But I would have liked a sweeter UI. I have to use a launcher to make it even a little bit visually appealing. And the commercials about multitasking are a complete lie. The phone doesn't multitask. (if you know palm, thats a given, i suppose).

Neutral

DavidF @ Dec 7th 2007 12:39AM

I've had the i760 for a month now and I am liking the little bugger more and more. Online pictures and videos do not do it justice, it is very functional and the form factor grows on you the more you use it. Very well built, fast processor, touch screen etc - Samsung did a good job here for the most part.

Neutral

8703forme @ Dec 7th 2007 12:54AM

Engandget is just bummed that Sprint actually has some good handsets and doesn't know to put it into words

Neutral

Herman Manfred @ Dec 7th 2007 10:42AM

Is it my imagination or did about 30 comments disappear from this article?...

Neutral

Herman Manfred @ Dec 7th 2007 10:44AM

Ah, I see what happened - this is Engadget Mobile, not Engadget - my bad.

Neutral

Victor @ Dec 7th 2007 12:00PM

I've had both guys and girls ask me if my Treo 750 is the new centro. Apperantly there is recognition for the product. I've had 4 girls tell me that they think the centro in red is cute.....go figure...

Neutral

Alex @ Dec 7th 2007 12:52PM

I'm a loyal verizon customer and my office doesn't have a blackberry server. From the smart phone options the only reasonable option is the Samsung, it might not be great, but it's a lot better than the previous slider and the Treo 700W.

Highly Ranked

Steve P @ Dec 7th 2007 3:37PM

You guys are clueless arent you? The Centro IS the coolest multi-funtional device out there. It does everything a full size Treo does and at half the price and half the size! To me that is revolutionary. The Centro deserves all the attention it is getting. I have had EVERY Treo ever made and EVERY Windows Mobile device ever made for Sprint. And so far the Centro is far more reliable than any of its predecessors. And the keyboard is super easy to use even with my large hands. Give it a try for a week. I doubt you will disagree.