looking for Palm centro replacement

[corrallingyourstuff]

Hi.

I've been a Palm Centro user for years now, until I lost my phone.

I'd buy another Palm Centro, only it's already phased out.

Can anyone suggest a phone that would do what Palm Centro does?

The basic functionalities that I'd like to have are:

1. Has a desktop application that I can sync to my phone and vice versa through cable or whatever that doesn't need an internet connection.

2. The data that I'd like to be sync are my calendar, tasks, memos, and contacts.

3. Supports categories for Tasks (@work, @errands...)

Looking forward to your suggestions. Thanks!

 

[PsychTau]

I was a Palm junkie for years until I finally moved to an Android phone because of Palm phones being phased out. I still have my old Centro and my Pixi in a drawer.

I am a huge fan of my Android phone (a Motorola XPRT from Sprint) because of the hard keyboard instead of the on screen one. For me, it syncs my Outlook Calendar and Contacts "over the air" (probably because my work computer is always connected to the internet? I don't know the technical details). It doesn't sync Outlook Tasks or Memos, so I have my tasks in Toodledo and I downloaded an app called DGT GTD from the Android store to sync my phone with Toodledo over the air. I'm sure there are other apps like that out there.

I don't use memos anymore, so I can't tell you how I sync those. However, the phone can be plugged in with a USB cable and there is a program called "Motorola Phone Portal" that can be used to manage things...I have never used it so I don't know what it does. I just plugged it in and it gives me the option to manage the phone as USB storage, "Windows Media Sync", or "Motorola Phone Portal". Not sure how you could sync memos and tasks through those options, or if that is even possible. Maybe someone else will know?

 

[PsychTau]

I also wanted to add that since this is an Android phone, it has an app that gives me access to my Google Docs and it updates over the air anytime I change a Google Doc. Would that work for your memos instead?

 

[corrallingyourstuff]

Can you sync with an internet connection?

I'd also like a PIM similar to Palm Desktop.

 

[hacker]

Can you sync with an internet connection?

I'd also like a PIM similar to Palm Desktop.

No you cannot. Android phones require you to sync OTA to Google services. It is for this one reason, I still stick with BlackBerry devices, because I can sync them locally to as many calendars (or data sources) as I need. See some of my previous posts on how I am doing this.

And I speak with great authority here, having owned no less than 30 separate Palm OS devices (that's my futon below) and being the current maintainer of the code used to sync those Palm devices to Linux, UNIX and Mac systems.

Stick with a BlackBerry, don't bother looking at Android until they figure out what they're doing with the PIM data on those devices.

Having your data splattered all over a dozen and a half different third-party apps, all synchronizing to a myriad of "cloud" services, is just a nightmare of management and migration, should you ever want to move to another device, or share that data in any way.. not to mention the obvious security implications of that.

 

[kmhartnett]

Stick with Centro

I've been Palm-devoted for a long time now, too (first model was a "Handspring").

My wife and I both have Centros, and love the IR "beam" function, among other things. We have both had Centros (without data plans) since they day ATT started offering the phone. Within the last 3 months my wife's phone died, and I had a number of buttons stop working.

All of the newer "smart" phones seem to require data plans ($15 per month or so, per phone).

We decided to buy two brand new Centros (on e-bay), swap out the SIM cards, and just keep going with what we've had.

This works for us for now, and I'll keep researching what the next step will be.

 

[tominperu]

I was in a very similar positon having used the Palm Centro for many years up to about a year ago. Now I am using the Blackberry Curve. There are things I miss about the old Centro but there are better things about the Blackberrry and it is not toooo different. I was using Keysuite for Tasks and Memos on the Palm Centro, with Contacts and Calender on the Palm software itself.

Now with the Blackberry I use Next Action! for Tasks, Action Pad for Memos, Calender Pro and the native Blackberry software for Contacts. Also syncs to Outlook on the desktop via a cable.

My summary would be:

Palm Centro: slightly better for Tasks, Calender and Memos. Slighly better sync to Outlook.

Blackberry: better keyboard and much much better for internet browsing. Better lookng phone.

If I had my time again I would look into the option of an Android if there was a decent physical keyboard on a smartphone available..though then I would then also miss the sync by cable.

 

[radioman]

No you cannot. Android phones require you to sync OTA to Google services. It is for this one reason, I still stick with BlackBerry devices, because I can sync them locally to as many calendars (or data sources) as I need. See some of my previous posts on how I am doing this.

And I speak with great authority here, having owned no less than 30 separate Palm OS devices (that's my futon below) and being the current maintainer of the code used to sync those Palm devices to Linux, UNIX and Mac systems.

Stick with a BlackBerry, don't bother looking at Android until they figure out what they're doing with the PIM data on those devices.

Having your data splattered all over a dozen and a half different third-party apps, all synchronizing to a myriad of "cloud" services, is just a nightmare of management and migration, should you ever want to move to another device, or share that data in any way.. not to mention the obvious security implications of that.

My HTC Evo 3D is an Android phone. It *permits* me to sync OTA to Google services (and, hence, that is pretty easy to accomplish), but it does not *require* me to sync to them.

I may be paranoid, but, with many security issues in the news, I don't like the idea of my personal info being in the cloud.

My PIM is Outlook 2000, and I use CompanionLink (starting at about $50) on my Windows XP notebook PC to sync with the DejaOffice app (free) on my Android smart phone. It syncs contacts, calendar, tasks, and memos (and you can choose to leave any of those out of the sync process if you prefer).

Thus, my data resides primarily in two places: Outlook on my PC and DejaOffice on my phone. DejaOffice also lets me sync from it to the Android contact list, so that the phone recognizes names of incoming callers.

It's not perfect, but, with an understanding of a couple of minor limitations, over the last few months that I have used this approach, it has worked well for me.

Joe

 

[mcogilvie]

The basic functionalities that I'd like to have are:

1. Has a desktop application that I can sync to my phone and vice versa through cable or whatever that doesn't need an internet connection.

2. The data that I'd like to be sync are my calendar, tasks, memos, and contacts.

3. Supports categories for Tasks (@work, @errands...)

You are probably not going to get everything you want. Palm is long gone, and the last monolithic desktop PIM is Outlook. Therefore you might want to look at Windows phones. They have not been popular in the marketplace, but have received decent reviews. I know very little about the new win phones. I jumped from Windows to OS X (mac) several years ago, and moved from Palm to iPhone afterwards. Most smartphone will do 2 and 3. However, you don't explain your reasons for requirement 1. Two possible reasons that come to mind are concerns about security and a desire to avoid a data plan, aka cost. One possibility would be to get an iPod touch (an iPhone w/o phone) and an inexpensive phone.

Do lots of research. My personal best advice is to avoid unpopular products.

 

[Oogiem]

iPhone does all that

Can anyone suggest a phone that would do what Palm Centro does?

The basic functionalities that I'd like to have are:

1. Has a desktop application that I can sync to my phone and vice versa through cable or whatever that doesn't need an internet connection.

2. The data that I'd like to be sync are my calendar, tasks, memos, and contacts.

3. Supports categories for Tasks (@work, @errands...)

Looking forward to your suggestions. Thanks!

iPhone and a Mac, using iCal, Omnifocus, Addressbook, and DEVONThink for the notes.

I was also a long time Palm User, Switched to an iPod Touch and phone for a while until my cell carrier got the iPhone. Now I'm a happy user of just the iPhone.

 

[enyonam]

Former Palm junkie here too. I went with the BlackBerry and while I'm not quite as thrilled with it - I'm pretty happy.

 

[bishblaize]

Android phones require you to sync OTA to Google services.

HTC Android devices come with a local sync identical (as far as i can tell) to my old Palm device. A google account is not required.

 

[tominperu]

So a local sync is possible on an Android phone. I didn't know that! Corralingyourstuff I think you will have good options with either Blackberry or Android phones. Let us know how you get on!

 

[waynepepper]

about Windows phones

Ironically, the Windows phones don't natively sync Outlook Tasks. Go figure.