Palm Centro and a Centro demo

zieak ♦ December 10, 2008 ♦ 1 Comment

A side by side comparison of a Centro and a dummy “demo” phone. Initially they seemed identical. Then i noticed the navigation and other main buttons were not quite right. The battery cover wouldn’t come off without partially destroying it. After a thorough check the demo phone could be used to replace the rubber button alpha-numeric pad (as i did), the stylus (although it seemed flimsier), and perhaps the navigation and other main buttons.

My first test of my new macro studio in my workshop. Look closely below the W and E on the phone on the left and you can see the tear in the piece of rubber.

Somehow the rubber cover on the keypad of my Centro was damaged. It kind of looks like a cat bit it. So I took a risk and ordered a “demo” phone on eBay hoping that at least the keypad was identical. It works. Cosmetically it is a little off – perhaps the piece is just a little smaller. And functionally it is a little sloppy in the top left corner – like the adhesive is failing. All I did was use a small screwdriver to get underneath the piece, pry it up, pull it off and replace it.

And the photo quality?  I’m happy with it.  Shooting like this could really help myeBay sales.  I need to make a larger one for photographing my project progress too.