It hasn’t made it to the UK yet, but Palm’s low cost Pixi smartphone has been on sale in the States for a few weeks now and we’ve been keeping an eye out for reviews as they come in.
The latest comprehensive review comes from TechRadar, who describe the Pixi as, “an impressive device that is thin and portable and app-friendly,” although they had issues about performance and lack of wi-fi
We liked:
The spec we liked most on the Pixi is the weight: at a hair under 100 grams, it is light and thin enough to slip into a pocket.The device supports all of the apps you can download from the Palm App Catalogue that work on the Pre. The Synergy technology that combines email streams from multiple services, adds contacts, and combines schedules now works with Yahoo in addition to Google, LinkedIn and Facebook.
We disliked:
The Pixi never really ran fast enough for the next-generation of powerful apps, and stalled on high-def moviesThis model lacks Wi-Fi, which means – if you are in an office building and have nowhere near adequate 3G, you won’t be grabbing your email at high speeds.
The camera is not only low-res at 2 megapixels, but lacks extra features for zooming or setting white balance (common features on Nokia smartphones)
Palm has said that it plans plan to bring the Palm Pixi to Europe and “will announce more when appropriate,” but we’re not expecting to appear this side of Christmas.
Palm Pixi full specs:
* High-speed connectivity (EVDO Rev. A)
* 2.63-inch multi-touch screen with a vibrant 18-bit color 320×400 resolution TFT display
* Gesture area, which enables simple, intuitive gestures for navigation
* Exposed QWERTY keyboard for fast messaging
* Robust messaging support (IM, SMS and MMS capabilities), including Google Talk, AIM and Yahoo! IM
* High-performance, desktop-class web browser
* Integrated GPS(8)
* Multimedia options, including pictures, video playback and music, and featuring a 2-megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash, and a standard 3.5mm headset jack
* Email, including Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) (for access to corporate Microsoft Exchange servers), as well as personal email support (Google push, Yahoo! push, POP3, IMAP)(9)
* Bluetooth(R) 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
* 8GB of internal user storage (~7GB user available)(10)
* USB mass storage mode
* MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
* The first handset to launch with Qualcomm’s high-performance MSM7627(TM) chipset
* Proximity sensor, which automatically disables the touch screen and turns off the display whenever you put the phone up to your ear
* Light sensor, which dims the display if the ambient light is dark, such as at night or in a movie theater, to reduce power usage
* Accelerometer, which automatically orients web pages and photos to your perspective
* Ringer switch, which easily silences the device with one touch
* Removable, rechargeable 1150 mAh battery
* Dimensions: 55mm (W) x 111mm (L) x 10.85mm (D) [2.17 in. (W) x 4.37 in. (L) x 0.43 in. (D)]
* Weight: 99.5 grams (3.51 ounces)
is a wifi receiver really that expensive or bulky to add to a phone? seems an odd choice to leave it out. My old Palm Centro didn’t have wifi and that was maddening by the end of its life…
If this had wifi it’d be a sweet temptation I reckon. Very nice form factor though…
I guess they needed something to differentiate it from the Pre, and, to be honest, with 3G performance increasing all the time, I don’t think you’d miss wi-fi that much if you’re mainly using the phone as a ‘social’ tool.