Mobile Phone Buzz

The Palm Pixi can be thought of as the successor to Palm’s popular Centro series. Like those earlier consumer-friendly models, it has an easily pocketable design with a touchscreen, keyboard, and an affordable price.

This device has a tablet shape, with a 2.6-inch, 320-by-400-pixel, capacitive touchscreen. This display is smaller and has a lower resolution screen than its predecessor, the Palm Pre, but the Pixi itself is smaller and lighter, and sells for a lower price.

This smartphone runs Palm’s webOS, a multi-tasking operating system able to wirelessly synchronize a wide variety of data with online services like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Microsoft Exchange.

It comes with a highly-capable web browser, email software, and multimedia player. Additional third-party applications are also available.

Sprint’s version of the Pixi includes the 3G mobile broadband standard EV-DO. It also has a GPS receiver and Bluetooth, but not Wi-Fi.

This device has 8 GB of built-in storage, 2.0 MPx camera, a GPS receiver, and a 3.5 mm headset jack.

Palm Pixi Specs:
Operating System: Palm webOS
Memory: 8 GB of built-in memory
Screen Resolution: 320 by 400 pixel
Screen Size: 2.6 inch
Keyboard Type: QWERTY
Communications: Bluetooth, CDMA, EVDO
Meda Type: onboard memory
Camera Resolution: 2 megapixels
GPS: Yes
Dimensions: 4.4 inches by 2.2 inches by 0.4 inches
Weight: 3.3 ounces
Battery Type: 1500 mAh
Battery: 1500 mAh
Release Date: 11/15/2009

Advantages of Palm Pixi:

* Very small size, extremely pocketable
* Gorgeous display
* Intuitive, easy to use controls
* Surprisingly robust music player application
* Excellent email functionality
* Very good mobile web experience

Disadvantages of Palm Pixi:

* Keyboard is usable, but not ideal for heavy use
* Relatively low volume output
* Battery life is acceptable, but could be better
* Camera is acceptable, but could be much better

Palm Pixi is a fun little device, and very well priced.

After using it for a week I can say that it’s a very good value for the price, but it may not be right for everyone. The keyboard in particular is my least favorite aspect of the device. While it is adequate for basic texting and email, it isn’t really comfortable enough to use for long emails. Aside from that and the barely adequate camera and the relatively low volume for voice calls and the external speaker, the Pixi is a great little device that deserves a closer look — especially if all of your life’s details are already on Google and you’re a lot more interested in calendar, contacts, email, and the mobile web.

It won’t make headlines as the smartphone of the year, but it’s a lot smarter than your average featurephone and very easy to use. It won’t work for heavy duty corporate types who live and breathe Word and Excel, and are always needing to update their presentations, but it is a good choice for your average (relatively tech-savvy) consumer.

After just a couple of minutes the Palm Pixi user will be connected, organized, and ready to go, with the mobile world at their fingertips.