The
Palm Pixi, a "junior" sibling to the
Palm Pre smartphone, finally has an arrival date. Sprint has announced that
the Pixi will arrive Nov. 15.
"We are excited to offer the new Palm Pixi to our customers in time for
the holiday season, and it's a great addition to Sprint's industry-leading
device portfolio," Sprint Senior Vice President Kevin Packingham said in a
statement Oct. 26.
Packingham continued, "Simply put, this phone is fun and easy to use;
with its multitouch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, it's a great device for
messaging and social networking at a price everyone can enjoy, and [it]
delivers so many of the great features people love about Palm Pre in a
fantastic new form factor, making it a huge hit for consumers."
With the Pre, Palm attempted to one-up the iPhone by pairing a large touch
screen with a slide-out keyboard. With the Pixi, Palm has again included both,
though the touch screen is significantly smaller—measuring 2.63 inches, with a
resolution of 320 by 400 pixels—enabling the keyboard to fit below it. The Pixi weighs
3.26 ounces and measures 4.37 by 2.17 by 0.43 inches.
For
a look at the Palm Pixi, click here.
The Pixi will run on Sprint's
Mobile Broadband Network, which the carrier describes as offering more than
twice the coverage in square miles of AT&T's 3G network, and more than 15
times that of T-Mobile's network.
The smartphone will run Palm's
WebOS mobile platform, which lets users keep multiple applications open at
once and easily sort through them like a deck of cards. And like the Pre, Pixi
will feature universal search, letting users search for data on the device or
the Web, including sites such as Google Maps, Twitter and Wikipedia.
Also on board is Palm
Synergy 3, which enables users to link contacts from a variety of sources,
offers layered calendars for a single view of personal, work and other events,
and combines various conversations with a contact in a chat-style view,
regardless of the type of interaction. Palm says there will also be a new
Facebook application on the Pixi, for quick updates and status checks.
The Pixi comes with 8GB of internal memory, a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.1
and Microsoft ActiveSync technology for syncing the device with a PC. And while
it comes with a charger, it's compatible with the sold-separately Touchstone
charger—which, like an electric toothbrush, charges through induction.
The Pixi will be priced at $99.99 with a two-year service agreement, after a $50
instant rebate and a $100 mail-in rebate. It'll sell at Sprint stores, Best
Buy, RadioShack and some Wal-Mart stores. Pixi requires activation of a pricing
plan that includes unlimited data, and Sprint's unlimited calling, texting, e-mailing
and Web browsing begins at $69.99.
New customers may want to take advantage of Sprint's Ready Now service,
which pairs customers with a retail associate who can clarify ways to customize
the device and answer questions—either at the time of purchase or during a
scheduled appointment.
In preparation for the Pixi's debut, Palm
recently reduced the price of the Pre by $50, bringing the price to
$149.99. The
Palm WebOS developer program is expected to begin in December, and from
Oct. 26 through 28 Sprint is hosting its ninth annual developer conference in Santa
Clara, Calif.
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