If you remember way back before smartphones were really a thing (although honestly, it wasn’t all that long ago…), you’ll probably remember that Palm Pilots were pretty big, long before even Blackberries got popular. It looks like they’re trying to make a comeback – this time with a brand-new, compact smartphone designed to be more like a smartwatch than an actual, heavy-duty smartphone. In fact, it’s not there to replace your phone, it’s just there you spend less time on your smartphone – if that makes any sense. Right now, it’s called the Palm phone, and it works by being added onto your phone plan under the same phone number as your main smartphone. It runs on Android 8.1 and lets you do pretty much everything else you can do on Android phone.
So why get it at all? The idea is to give you a smaller, less distracting option for when you really just don’t want to lug around your larger one, or when you don’t want to be distracted by all the various features it has to offer. To be honest, we’re not really sure what makes a smaller smartphone any less distracting or cumbersome than a larger one, but at least in fits in your pocket better (would be nice for wearing with a suit, or stuffing in your backpack in case of emergency). You can still use all the apps you need, send texts, etc.
In terms of specs, the Palm phone (that’s it’s name right, by the way) rocks a 3.3” LCD screen, Snapdragon 435 processor, 3gb RAM and 32gb storage, as well as a 1200MAh battery. And yes, there is a camera – two, to be exact. The main camera is 12 MP while the front-facing one boasts 8 MP. And yeah, it’s relatively small in size, fitting easily in the palm of your hand.
Again, nobody really knows exactly why it exists – other than maybe to fill a super niche market and just to get Palm back in the game. If you’d like one, you can snag one for about $350. It’ll be available this November.
