Waiting anxiously for a GSM version of Palm’s Centro really hasn’t kept me awake at night – frankly I’m of the opinion that the manufacturer really needs to shape up if it wants to compete with HTC and the rest of the smartphone gang – but there are some who are more forgiving (or foolishly loyal, perhaps?) and as such will be excited to hear that Palm Europe have announced availability of the SIM-free version of the quadband handset.

“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.  People want more functionality from their phones, and Centro delivers all the vital communication and organisation needs without compromising on design” Roy Bedlow, vice president, Palm EMEA

Your €299/£199 (roughly $400) gets you a GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900MHz) smartphone running Palm’s own OS and with a “Black Onyx” casing.  Aside from the GSM radio, the specs are pretty much identical to the CDMA version on Sprint which SlashGear reviewed back in October.

[via Treonauts]