Palm Centro will ship from the end of the month

Palm has announced a new low-cost smartphone that is set to ship in the UK at the end of February.

The Palm Centro is the company's smallest and lightest smartphone ever, weighing in at about 113g. It is aimed at individuals and traditional mobile phone users looking to manage their busy lives, according to the firm.

While the Palm Centro is based on Palm's ageing Palm OS software platform, the handset features support for Microsoft's Direct Push Technology, and so can link with email systems based on Microsoft Exchange. It also has, web, contact and calendar capabilities, Palm's traditional strengths.

"We are excited about bringing Centro to Europe. Its small size, which incorporates a full keyboard, making text and email easy, is just one of the reasons that traditional mobile phone users are being persuaded to move to smartphones,” said Palm's European vice president, Roy Bedlow.

The new handset offer users the ability to create, edit and view native Word and Excel files. This, plus a suggested price of £199 including VAT, may make it an attractive choice for business users.