The Palm Phone Is a Tiny Accessory for Your Real Phone
We all probably know someone who just can’t seem to look up from their phone to have a face-to-face conversation. Perhaps, a tiny phone will help them connect more? That’s the angle smartphone maker TCL and Verizon are taking with the new Palm Phone. This device leaked a few weeks ago, and everyone agreed it seemed pretty strange. The actual device is even stranger than we thought it would be. It’s not intended to be your only phone — it’s like a backup for times when your real phone is too distracting.
Palm faded into obscurity for the second time years ago when HP acquired it, and then subsequently shut down operation when a new CEO swept in. What remained of Palm’s software was sold off to LG and now runs on smart TVs. The Palm name fell into the hands of Chinese smartphone maker TCL. You might know TCL from its Alcatel and BlackBerry handsets, and now it has revived Palm.
The Palm Phone is tiny with a 3.3-inch display and a weight of just 2.2 ounces. The phone has rounded edges and looks a little like a stretched out Apple Watch. It has very modest specs with a Snapdragon 435, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and an 800mAh battery. Verizon says that’s still enough for “all day” use, but that’s not really the intended use case. Verizon will only sell you this phone for use on an existing line of service.
Verizon and TCL think you’ll choose to leave your big phone at home if you’re headed out to a social event where you want to remain engaged with the people around you. So, you take a phone that isn’t as fun to use. The Palm Phone shares your existing Verizon number, allowing you to just grab it and go. You could just have multiple phones and swap SIM cards, but Verizon can’t charge you more every month for that.
We built Palm with a 12MP rear camera and 8MP front camera, so you can quickly capture that beautiful landscape or snap a quick selfie pic.twitter.com/eO7068c0Fb
— Palm (@palm) October 15, 2018
The Palm Phone isn’t as powerful as your “real” smartphone, but it’s not a dumbphone, either. It runs a full version of Android 8.1 Oreo with a custom home screen that makes a handful of apps easy to access. Android has moved on from tiny form factors, so you may find that a lot of features don’t work as expected, but everything should be there. You can install any apps you want from the Play Store, they just won’t be very fun to use.
Verizon will start selling the Palm Phone in November for $349, which is a lot for a phone that’s supposed to be a backup for your “real” phone. That’s the same price as the recently announced Nokia 7.1.
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