Palm’s Weird New Device Is Like a Giant Apple Watch without a Strap

Palm 3 Credit: Engadget
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A company named Palm thinks it has figured out what smartphone owners want: an additional (yet tinier) smartphone.

The California-based startup, which is apparently reviving the name of the now-defunct PDA brand, has unveiled its first smartphone, which, to be clear, is not really a smartphone at all.

Instead, it’s a 3.3-inch device that has its own LTE data connection. But instead of being a full-fledged handset, the Palm will rely on a smartphone for calls and texts. Essentially, it’s a sidekick for your primary smartphone.

Because of that, it’s hard not to think of the Palm as a giant Apple Watch without a strap.

Basically, you’d use the credit card-sized Palm when you want to go for a run, hit the gym, or eat dinner at a nice restaurant. All the places where you might not want to bring your full-sized smartphone.

“You have your SUV or minivan, but sometimes you want to take a spin in your sports car,” said co-founder Howard Nuk.

New Device From Palm Engaget
Engadget

While the Palm runs on Android 8.1, it can be paired to either an Android device or an iPhone. But the actual interface takes a cue from the Apple Watch, and uses big, simplified app icons instead of a traditional Android app launcher.

The device itself is about 3.8 inches tall and a third of an inch thick, meaning it’s about half the size of an iPhone XS Max.

There’s no headphone jack, but the Palm has Bluetooth. There’s also a respectable 8-megapixel front-facing camera and a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera. The LCD display is 3.3-inches but packs a pixels density of 445 ppi, which makes for surprisingly sharp clarity.

Inside, the device is powered by a Snapdragon 435 chip and 3GB of RAM. Not exactly flagship-quality processing. Its 800 mAh battery is supposed to deliver about 8 hours on a charge, depending on usage.

Palm Lifestyle Image
Palm

In other words, the Palm isn’t going to replace your iPhone XS Max or Samsung Galaxy S9+, but it’s really not meant to.

More than anything else, the Palm device represents some guts on the part of the Palm company. In the era of smartphones with massive displays and large footprints, the Palm is a sharp 180-degree turn in the opposite direction.

But its success will likely bank on whether or not consumers actually want a tiny, phone-like sidekick for their smartphone instead of, say, an Apple Watch.

The Palm launches in November and will retail for $349. Initially, it’ll be available exclusively from Verizon.

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