Following my article about the iPhone, Nokia N95 8GB, Palm Centro and TyTN II, and the reaction to the fact that the N95 and Centro both received 8/10 for price, here is today's question. What score out of 10 would you give your smartphone / PDA for value?

I stand by my figures of 8/10 for the Centro and N95 8GB because they are very different smartphones with different capabilities, and the pricing choices offered put them at the high end in value terms. Murray also wrote an article on Palm-Mac (which was wrong by the way:)) about my previous comparison.

The Palm Centro has burst onto the UK market with barely a whimper, and is not setting the global smartphone market alight with stories of massive sales and a whole new generation of smartphone users loving their first smartphone. This is to be expected in a world of multi-connected smartphones that include GPS chips and all sorts of other gimmicks that make so many of us trade up so often.

The Centro is not a Treo but it is still a smartphone, and it is one that is aimed at the growing number of people who are curious about the smarter phones they see in the mobile shops. It is aimed at people who want to manage their contacts, calendar and other information in a phone that will not look out of place in a trendy coffee shop or in a meeting room, and Palm has succeeded in that aspect. The Centro is a lovely piece of kit to hold and it is just as good to look at.

The silver edging seems to work within the overall form factor, despite the fact that it is a touch dominating, and even the glossy finish adds a certain something to the look. The Centro feels too small to be a smartphone and resembles a normal feature phone more than the Treo line, and this is a very good thing.

The Treo keyboard was a classic and one that is difficult to emulate in a small space, and so Palm has had to completely redesign the keyboard materials and size to make it fit on the smaller Centro real estate. The keys now feel like rubber and are much closer to each other with less travel than previously which should make for a slow data input experience. Strangely, it does not and I have had few issues with this keyboard design. After a few minutes I managed to respond to emails and add calendar appointments with few mistakes, and the Centro keyboard has a lot of ‘Treo’ about it.

The navigation and call buttons above the keyboard are very flat, but also quite big and I personally like this set up. Everything here works well and within minutes I knew where everything was and was able to keep up to my usual Treo speed. The actual navigation button is quite small and those with big thumbs will not be overly keen on it, but I’m alright Jack:)

The stylus is poor and is made of bendy black plastic. I understand the need to make a thinner stylus, but it could be a lot more rigid than the included one. Hopefully a third party will design a metal one.

The screen is smaller than previously which will be a disappointment to some, but there are other issues that are a little more annoying than the size- the edges around the screen are quite high and this hinders finger navigation most of the time, and in some applications it is noticeable that the text hits the ‘very’ edge of the screen which makes for uncomfortable viewing. It also stops you from copying a whole line of text with the stylus which is a poor show.

On the left side are volume up/down buttons and a voice record button. I did my usual and installed TreoKeyHack to make the volume buttons scroll up and down and have found it more than comfortable enough for eBook reading. On the right is a microSD slot which strangely requires the battery cover to be taken off to insert a card- not a huge deal because you do not need to remove the battery. Finally, the classic slider mute key still adorns the top of the unit which is one of the best parts of any Treo- so simple, yet so necessary.

So, that’s a quick look at the hardware and tomorrow I will look at my first uses to see how well it compares to the Treo 680. I have to say that my first impressions are extremely positive and that, from a design point of view, the Centro is a classy little smartphone that outshines most of its rivals.

Looks like the iPhone SDK is heading our way 'very' soon- "Apple on Wednesday announced that it will present information on the future of the iPhone, including support for third-party programs and big business, at a special media event next week.

"Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features," said an e-mail sent to members of the media. The invitation-only event will be held on Thursday, March 6 at 10 a.m. on the Apple campus in Cupertino." Thanks to Trevor.

AAS has reviewed the Yahoo! Go Client (v3)- "With a big warning on the download page that you ‘have to install this on the internal memory', the target audience (i.e. the non-Symbian geeks) might just wonder what to make of that - especially if they have an N81 or N95 8GB where, to their mind, all the storage is internal!

The big change with Yahoo! Go 3 is that their widgets engine has been ported into the client. These widgets allow access services outside of the Yahoo portfolio - currently there are widgets for MTV News and MySpace. Yahoo is looking to release an SDK at some point in February so other sites can join in the fun. Of course, at that point they're going to have to explain to their users how to install their widget into the Yahoo! Go system - and that'll be a lot of hoops to jump through.

Uptake on the widgets could well be vital to the success of Yahoo! Go but I have to say that adding them is slow, quite painful, and once there are more than a handful, the discovery problem that plagues any index system on a mobile screen is going to be evident.

The widgets are placed into the carousel, a 3d graphical ring of icons for each function. It's eerily reminiscent of the Nokia media launcher in the N95 if it was viewed edge on. While it looks great, it can be a touch slow in operation, and wastes a lot of screen estate in my opinion. But it is one of the few areas that designers can work on the graphics and make something look nice. Even more so, when you consider that everything else Yahoo! Go presents is in a browser-like 2d..."

New York - Gameloft®, a leading publisher and developer of mobile phone games, today announced that "Bubble Bash", a tropical island puzzle game is now available on the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) for players to purchase and download on the new iPod nano, iPod classic and fifth generation iPod. "Bubble Bash" is available immediately for purchase for $4.99.

“'Bubble Bash' has been a massive hit for Gameloft and we’re thrilled to bring this fun, exciting puzzle game to the iPod,” explains Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of publishing, Gameloft. “The success of the game goes to show how original titles can really enhance and create a fresh experience in gaming for iPod owners who seek entertainment on the go.”

"Bubble Bash" has been one of Gameloft's most popular original titles, joining the million mark club.  iPod owners can  now join characters, Malia and Kale in their quest for treasure in an island paradise. Players can explore a vibrant tropical island, from the beach to the rainforest, in this exciting puzzle game. The game lets players toss multi-colored bubbles into the sky to pop three or more of the same color by simply aiming and firing into the cluster before it drops or time runs out. "Bubble Bash" is guaranteed to captivate audiences as it features more than 100 evolving levels that lead to new treasures. Players also face challenging opponents such as angry monkeys, spiders and parrots that try to keep you from reaching your goal. Bubble Bash is an ideal game for the iPod and will appeal to fans of all ages.

Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG will cut 7,000 jobs at its corporate telecommunications unit Siemens Enterprise Networks, officials with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press on Monday.

The cuts would amount to about 40 percent of the telecom unit's worldwide work force of 17,500 people.

SEN designs large-scale communications systems for corporations, but has come under pressure from the availability of cheaper Internet-based telephone systems which has eaten away at its customer base and sales.

The Munich-based company intends to announce the cuts Tuesday after a meeting of its economic advisory committee, according to the officials who asked not to be indetified by name because the official announcement had noy yet been made.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported the planned cuts on Sunday.

Siemens, whose diverse products include trams, turbines and telecommunications equipment, will eliminate 4,000 jobs in the unit worldwide with 2,000 of those cuts coming in Germany, its home market, according to the officials. Another 3,000 workers, including 1,000 in Germany, will be shifted to other units owned by Siemens or to company partners, they said..." More at cellular-news.

Congress May Force Telecoms to Offer Phones without Contracts is a good read over at Brighthand- "Under a proposed U.S. law being debated today, telecoms would be required to offer handsets without requiring users to sign a service contract to get them.

Despite what some have said, this law wouldn't require telecoms to offer unlocked phones that can be used with any telecom, but it would force them to sell all their devices without forcing users to agree to multi-year contracts.

The most obvious example of a product that would be Apple's iPhone. The only way to get this model in the U.S. is to sign up for two years of service with AT&T..."

Today's free eBook is The Four Hundred Thousand "I stand on the balcony outside my parent’s cinder-block apartment, watching contrails drift apart in slate skies. My left hand grips a just-delivered letter, crushes it. I can’t help it, the tracking device that the officer has shot into my hand makes it impossible to uncurl my fingers just yet. It burns.

By direction of the President… the following personnel are ordered to active duty… on that date, the named will proceed to ______ __ Military Facilities for the retrieval of said personnel out of Jet Oberaan(yr-15)/ovaries-2:

In the living room, a printout of number and letter combinations sits on the couch: four hundred thousand, one name for each egg follicle inside me, one name for each potential soldier. I’d stopped reading after the fourth page–there are one hundred and nine pages more. By my calculations, and the doctors’ latest report, I’m twenty-six healthy divisions full of death to our enemy. No surprise I’ve been called. I always sort of knew. I just thought I had more time. I have five days..."