Palm Pixi Hands On: Smaller Pre With Better Keyboard, No Wi-Fi
The Palm Pixi is just what you’d get when you ask your engineers to take the Pre, keep as much stuff as possible, but make it smaller. It’s a keyboarded candybar (with webOS), but it loses some vitals like Wi-Fi.
The Details
The important bits: It still runs webOS, still has a keyboard, still only for Sprint (for now) and can pretty much do everything the bigger Pre can do. There’s no Wi-Fi, but GPS and the accelerometer are still there. The Pixi is slightly lighter than the Pre, losing a lot of weight from not having to slide itself out to reveal a keyboard, but has a little bit of a lobotomised brain. Palm wouldn’t get into details, but you can make out from the hints and insinuations that the CPU and the RAM were less of what you’d get with the Pre.
What you’d miss the most is the 80 pixels they had to shave off because of the smaller display. At 2.63 inches, all the Pixi can handle is a 320×400 resolution. This translates into more work for developers, who need to somehow manage two different resolution sizes as well hardware different specs if you want your app to run on both phones. Oh, and there’s a 2MP camera as opposed to the Pre’s 3MP camera.
Hands-on Impressions
The Pixi’s handlers didn’t give people a chance to manhandle the phone very much, despite my attempts at charming them by both showering and brushing my teeth beforehand, so the impressions are limited to some typing, some navigating and a lot of eyeballing. What I saw was good. It’s the same OS, so you can do everything you could do before, but the ball is replaced by a touch “area”—the same area you’d use for the off-screen forward and back gestures before. Just tap it and you get the same effect as the Pre. And in all the apps I saw there wasn’t a huge difference in speed between the two devices.
What’s most surprising is that even though the keyboard is technically smaller on the Pixi than on the Pre, each key is more raised because there’s no sliding lid to maintain clearance of. So even though the keys are slightly different and smaller, I was able to thumb out words faster and with fewer errors than before. High five.
Overall, it’s definitely slimmer, lighter and more pocketable than the Pre. It has almost all the same features—no Wi-Fi won’t affect your ability to download apps or music—so you’re not missing on that much stuff if for some reason you choose the Pixi over the Pre. But when asked about whether or not you can run the same number of apps simultaneously, multitasking, as on the Pre, I was once again met with what amounted to “no comment.” Think of it like a less pricey computer.
What’s To Come
Palm is targeting the Pixi at the cheap man segment, the person for which $US200 or $US150 is too much for a phone, but something a little less is just right. (This person also wouldn’t recognise that any difference would be dwarfed by the monthly phone bill anyway, but that’s neither here nor there.) No concrete details on the price, but it’s definitely going to be less than the $US150 of the Pre.
There was no concrete launch date yet, but Palm’s aiming for sometime “before the Holidays”. The Pixi will come loaded with a native Facebook app as well as Synergy integration with LinkedIn and Yahoo. For those of you who like customised backplates, there will be a limited edition run of five artist-designed Touchstone-compatible backs just for you, provided you’re among the people who order the limited edition backplates in time.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@willxcore: Yeah, the fact that even the second webOS device has a different size/res screen than the first is... to say the least, curious. I thought they wanted to attract developers?
isn't this going to be a development nightmare? this is like windows mobile, with too many phones on the market with too many differing specs. this makes me very very upset.
willxcore
Touchstone support was a good idea.
it looks kind of strange to me...
maybe its because of the lack of a set navigation keys or the center button that was on the pre.. it seems like a step away from conventional phone design.
You forgot to mention another key feature that was lost... you can't cut cheese with the Pixi.
Why not just drop the keyboard all together and leave everything else the same?
AaronC-T
@Bigbadbikernerd: /resists making a software joke
@Hilo: Damn youz a baller for REAL.
Looks nice... clean and simple.
Palm should have done whatever they could to leave those 80 pixels on the display, for ease of development, if nothing else.
And no WiFi? :(
@Hilo: And then you woke up?
Chris
@blash: Why not just get a dumbphone and a laptop? If you're going to have to be around wifi to do anything anyway, might as well do it on a real computer and not a phone. If I couldn't get 3G on my iPhone, I'm not sure I'd really want it any more. I'd rather 3G than wifi, but wifi is still really important.
Chris
Ummmm..no thanks. I'll keep my iphone.
I was in Starbucks the other day, surfing on my FREE AT&T wifi drinking a venti mocha. Anyway, this barista comes over and asks if my phone was the new 3GS. I said "yes," and while we were talking, I proceeded to pull out my 17" macbook PRO. (Yes, you heard it, PRO). She said "Wow that is an impressive laptop," so I said "sit on MY laptop and I'll show you something impressive." She proceeded to give me a lapdance right then and there. All this before my biscotti arrived.
I'm guessing if I was surfing on this phone and pulled out a Dell or generic M$ Winblows laptop I wouldn't have been so lucky. By the way, did I mention it was a macbook PRO?
Hilo
@iwuzbord: I have a Pre and I don't remember the last time I used the center button. An up gesture performs the same task. I actually wish that they never put a button on the Pre, because it breaks up the gesture area. If I had never used the Pre, I'd be wary, but no buttons is definitely the way to go. The webOS gestures feel completely natural and unforced.
George Dimitrakopoulos
Jeez, Sprint's really locking shiz down nowadays. The Pre, Hero, Pixie, good job maybe that'll stop people from jumping ship.
As for the phone...it's nice and since they're aiming this for the budget consumer, seems like a damn good deal.
NotoriousNeo
@appletoad: webOS is all HTML/CSS/JS....very scalable. Any decent developer should be able to support multiple resolutions, without too much difficulty.
George Dimitrakopoulos
@blash: The problem is the providers make their money on the service. Less money making opportunities = less subsidies = you pay more the phone. So you'd probably pay more the device itself even though it was less capable.
driggity
What the hell kind of company deliberately takes 1 step forward and 2 steps back? Why would you make a phone like the Pre, then months later release a phone that's so much worse?
I was looking forward to this phone, and just kept wondering how they made it so much smaller. It's not too hard to wonder now.
Chris
looks like treo on roids
@appletoad: Guys, you don't understand the way webOS renders apps - each app is essentially a web page, with most of the styling accomplished via HTML and CSS. Just like a properly coded web page can adapt gracefully to different viewing resolutions, webOS apps are designed (if coded to Palm standards, of course) to shrink or grow to fit the canvas they are given. You can see this already on a Pre - if you get a notification and open the Dashboard to view it, the app you are in will shrink to fit the new viewport.
Libb
Ugh is right. Get rid of the 3G radio, not WiFi - WiFi can be free but I won't be paying $70/month for cellphone service anymore (especially for a gimped device).
Still waiting for a simplified 3G-less device (Internet on cellphones is cool - but again, not when I'd be increasing my monthly bill from about $10/month for pay-as-you-go to $70/month for a contract with Internet) - just gimme a calendar, to-do, contact management, email that syncs when I get home/within range of a WiFi network... and some games to pass the time with. Yeah I can do all this on a dumbphone but not as efficiently/elegantly.
blash
looks alright, Palmberry Messenger pins anyone?
is the next model going to have a rotary dial on it? Im sure thats the one verizon will get.
albokay
Oh god, that's just fugly!
Toni Lähdekorpi
I'm not feelin it, at all.
nukee
@Bigbadbikernerd: Oh u.
Ugh. If this was on AT&T and had WiFi as originally rumored, I'd pick one up, no questions asked.
But honestly, the lack of WiFi is a dealbreaker for me. As is Sprint. Sprint gets ZERO coverage where I live.
@Hi, I'm God: I, sir, can cut the cheese with absolutely no hardware needed...
Need proof? Here, pull my finger...
Bigbadbikernerd
Whatever. The loss of WiFi's a step back.
ArnoldNuddleman
This all looks great but how can you expect to compete (with the iPhone) when you strip fundamentals like WiFi.
Blackberry does the same stuff, like releasing a phone that has wifi but no 3g or 3g and no wifi - or neither.
ZafirOyster
@AaronC-T: Agreed. There's way more room in their line-up for a full touchscreen. This one just looks a little too long. The gesture area looks stupid between the screen and the keyboard.
@spannu: I'm confused. The only thing I got from that was "golden" and "shower".
Haven't you heard of the golden rule? Never shower before the second date.
Or something like that.
spannu
The CPU is a Qualcomm MSM7627. The pre chip is better. More details from engadget: [www.engadget.com]
Cris 'Shamus' Landefeld
@blash: Just get an iPod touch or Zune HD and keep your pay-as-you-go phone. The thing you are wishing for is never going to happen.
@appletoad: Well duh. He's got the new 3GS and a macbook PRO. (Yeah, the PRO).
Chris
@Hilo: Ah, I see what you did there... what with the $ and the blows and all.... clever!
@AaronC-T: If this thing was all touchscreen and had a virtual keyboard, I might have just had to own two phones. This thing, and of course my 3GS.
Chris
@driggity: Well in a small aside, I prefer to buy my phones unlocked and contractless (euros got at least one thing right), so to hell with the subsidies.
But for the rest of y'all, to the telecom companies I say - learn to be better capitalists. If the market exists, you should be able to find a way to service it and make a profit. Offer the phone that you manufactured for $100 for $500 with a $20/month pay-as-you-go plan and market the savings (i.e. $480 for 2 years + $500 is way less than the $2,000+ it costs for a smartphone for 2 years) - that $400 profit margin should serve them nicely.
It kinda sucks, for everyone, when these companies lock themselves into a market strategy that everyone else is using too. The companies are forced to compete (on price) fiercer since they're essentially offering the same options (thus killing their options) and consumers have fewer choices. People get rich off of capitalism because they think outside the box - not because they offer the same service as their competitor in the same parts of the country.
blash
@George: What happens when the next device chops another 80px off?
Actually, setting aside my pro-Apple bias, doing everything scalable via HTML and CSS seems like a good plan. Doesn't it impose limits on what developers can do, though?
Native Facebook app? Where's it now?
I kinda like it.
I like the fish cover too.
Don't know why, just kinda do.
tande04
@Chris: You really don't get 3g in the iphone except major cities and is still really unrealiable have tried an Iphone 3g used it nice phone in such a horrible 3g network. Att is giving the iphone a bad name. Check out pc world 3g tests
periks19
@Chris Coonradt: Even if the screen size and resolution stayed the same and the physical keyboard was replaced with a virtual one that never went away, I'd be okay with that. I just don't like physical keyboards on phones any more. Not after owning iPhones for about a year now.
Chris
@appletoad: Golden shower on every date? That is indeed another one of the rules!
spannu
@maethlin: And there's already one with a physical keyboard, so why not get rid of it in favor of the virtual one for those that prefer it on a different model?
What a missed opportunity for Palm to have both a phone with a keyboard and a small, sexy virtual keyboard phone. Instead you get the Pixi, the phone no one was asking for.
@maethlin: And there are a good number of people who prefer virtual keyboards, like me. Palm already has two different phones with WebOS on it in just a few months; why not make one with a virtual keyboard? It's just so much easier to type on, IMO, and puts much less strain on your fingers.
I'm not talking about a touch screen like the Storm. I want to be able to tap the keys to input them, not press anything down.
Chris
@periks19: I don't care about other people's results. I get a minimum of 1500Kbps download speed anywhere I go in my area. The max I've gotten was 2300Kbps. That's pretty damn fast. I don't care if AT&T doesn't work out in the country because I never go there. I don't travel, so they're perfect to me.
And if you're wondering, I live on the other side of the lake from New Orleans. Perfect area for any carrier. Not too crowded where the networks are saturated, but just crowded enough to give us the good stuff. Lots of rich people, too.
Chris
@blash: By learn to be a better capitalist when you could just buy your way into an oligopoly and screw consumers all day long?
maethlin
@AaronC-T: For gods sake no, repeat after me.... there is a SIZEABLE portion of the population that absolutely HATES virtual keyboards. For evidence... see: Blackberry
maethlin
Looks like the evolution of the Centro more than anything. Not a bad thing automatically but not ground breaking either.
LastError
@The Lab: I was asking for this (a Pre, but cheaper, with a better keyboard!) I have a Centro now, and will probably upgrade when my contract expires in January. Don't care much about camera or wifi. Prefer money in my pocket. :)
ericabiz
@Chris: I do have a dumbphone and a laptop. Right now I have a Nokia 3120 classic and a Lenovo X200T.
What you don't realize here is that a laptop isn't socially appropriate for all situations. I'm not going to schlep my laptop to family, nor to the movies, nor to amusement parks. Being able to answer email when alone and away from a computer is a great convenience (as you understand), but being drawn away from my social life every 5 minutes to answer email being pushed over 3G is inappropriate.
A Zune doesn't make sense to me because I already own a second-gen 2 GB iPod nano and see no reason to ditch it (I'm never going to listen to more than 2 GB of music at once) and an iPod Touch doesn't make sense to me either for the additional reason that virtual keyboards suck. Real bad. And the iPhone OS isn't smart enough to hold onto emails and then send them automatically when it gets in range of a WiFi network.
So... I just went on eBay and got a Handspring Visor Deluxe for $15 after shipping... just for holding calendar and to-do stuff. I probably overpaid, but for a calendar that's not a bad price. Why would I need anything better (i.e. more expensive)? Being able to reach into my pocket and taking out exactly what I need for a given moment that is dedicated to and was designed in mind for that function just makes sense. Sure, I'd like a dedicated keyboard a la whats on the Pixi above instead of the crappy Graffiti system, but it doesn't exist (it should!).
blash
@napilopez: "I don't see the issue."
Well, you are in a small minority. The one thing this has going for it is a more solid feel than the Pre, I would imagine. But no WiFi and a lower-res camera are deal breakers for many who are looking at a phone in this class.
pixelpushing
@Chike Ujuagu: Meh. At least it was amusing to read.
Chris
@Hilo: Eh, it's a funny dream, but you haters never get it exactly right... No NYC Mac-Luvin' hipster goes near a Starbuck's. That's like assuming every Windows user has a gun rack in their truck.
About the phone, though... No WiFi? That is a shame. Removes half the fun of being at home, where my phone becomes like the nimble internet-chewing (except for those Flash bones, of course) mythical "tablet" we all keep hearing about.
pixelpushing
@Hilo: A little much on the douche side, eh?
Chike Ujuagu
@Chris: Huh, really? I don't see the issue. It has no wi-fi, and it has a lower-res camera. Judging by these and other impressions and video, the phone runs pretty much as quick as the pre, at least whilst navigating around.
Not to mention it'll likely be below the 100 bucks price point. The Pre is still their top-of-the-line phone. Not everything released afterwards hassss to be better.
napilopez
@willxcore: Did everyone forget WebOS is primarily based on Web standards? Scalability isn't really an issue, at least not as much as on other platforms. I mean, facebook doesn't die when you are using it on that old 1024x768 screen in the office as opposed to the the 1080p screen on your laptop now does it?
Additionally, it's only shaving off vertical pixels. I don't see the big problem.
napilopez
Is this phone a timed Sprint exclusive too? By the looks of the 'speculated' specs, it looks like it will be more of a Cenrto replacement than an Pre without the slider.
Chike Ujuagu
pixi where is my wifi?
Calzo
showering and brushing my teeth beforehand - wow, those must have been some very tasty handlers indeed. Or is it Christmas yet?
yogibimbi
@willxcore: Due to webOS's HTML/CSS/JS development environment, apps will not need much tweaking and many won't need any at all - it's part of the reason they went in that direction to start with.
Palm's own development guidelines specifically remind webOS devs to keep in mind that future devices will have different screen sizes.
@The Lab: Speak for yourself. A gazillion Blackberry customers may disagree with you on the merits of phones with exposed QWERTYs. :P
From the side by side shot, I see that the colors are faded on the Pixi, so not only smaller, but also worse screen!
If they made this with Wifi and equal screen, It'd be OK. Now it sucks.
okeribok
problem with aiming this at the "cheap man" is that it at least needs a $70 a month contract
takemetoyourtoaster
It's a Centro. Sorry, I feel like the boy who told the crowd about the emperor's invisible clothing.
PaddyDugan
Cute. But not feeling the small screen.
Eulatos
Well now we know what the guys who came up with the Foleo were up to.
BartLee
@Hilo: This comment is PRO (Yes, you heard it, PRO).
@appletoad: resistance is futile...
Bigbadbikernerd
No wi-fi is a deal breaker for people who travel internatinoally. No thank you.
hcho3
Design fail.
The Pre is a great design, they just put the keyboard on wrong, it should of been a sideways slide not vertical.
Nanan00
@spannu: Isn't that how Zeus knocked up a chick?
Skyman747
@Nanan00: completely disagree... the sliding mechanism and awkward curve of the keyboard on the pre was keeping me from purchasing... this looks like a great alternative for business-types that don't need WiFi
highpitch_83
@napilopez: Don't you think it would make more sense to release a BETTER phone than the Pre, and then lower the price on the Pre (like Apple did with the iPhone)?
No Wi-Fi? I'm surprised this isn't a Verizon exclusive. This is probably my new phone. Shoulda called it Centro 2.
@maethlin:
You're right, everybody did hate the BB Storm.
developers should not have to worry about resolutions. the idea of webOS is to use XHMTL and CSS (and such) to that everything can scale.
glaeven
@PaddyDugan: there is no problem with that. thats what they need.
glaeven
Many of you are missing the real problem with the phone, which is the different resolution. How many app developers want to deal with THAT on what is already the "underdog" smart phone platform? They should have found a screen with the same resolution, even if smaller, or increased the screen size.
The biggest mistake Palm could make is to fragments its user base into two slightly different graphic camps. Palm why are you letting me down again??