When my HTC Hero stopped working properly a few months ago, I figured it was a good time to make a move to a new phone.  I started looking online because I was not quite ready for a new two year contract.  What I found was the Palm Pixi.  I had the opportunity to spend a little time with the Pixi a while back, and my impression was overall pretty positive, though I felt the screen and keyboard were a bit tight.

Since that time, my needs have changed significantly.  I no longer rely on my phone as my sole primary device.  Instead, my phone is now used primarily as a supplement to the iPad, which also comes almost everywhere with me.  So, rather than trying to cram everything into this tiny device, I mainly needed it for phone calls, text messaging, email, and the occasional web search and apps.  Really, though, most of the heavy lifting would stay on the iPad.

My initial thoughts pretty much mirrored my first impression the first time I saw this phone, this is just a tiny phone.  It felt great in my hand.  Although I was a little nervous that it would be so skinny that it would be difficult to hold without slipping, this did not prove to be the case.  Instead, Palm did a great job of putting texture on the back of the phone so that it would remain firm in your grip.

Speaking of how small and thin this phone is, I wanted to take another look at the screen and keyboard, which I had previously reported as being too small to be useable.  After spending a few weeks with this as my primary device, I am finding that this criticism was probably too harsh.  I still would not want to watch video on this screen, or even use it for heavy reading of documents or web sites; but if all we are talking about is checking email, text messaging, phone calls, and other random tasks, the screen worked perfectly fine.  Now, I know I am stepping away from a lot of the features that put the “smart” in this smartphone, so let me again clarify that I am simply talking about how this phone met my needs.  If you are a heavier user or plan to use this as your primary mobile device, especially for multimedia, then the screen may be too small for you.  As a supplement for the iPad, however, it worked great for me.

The keyboard, on the other hand, remained a bit of a disappointment.  The keys (or buttons) on this chiclet style keyboard were simply too small and spaced too close together to maximize its usefulness.  I would have been willing to accept a slightly wider device in exchange for the same keyboard Palm included on the Pre.  The other thing I did not like about this keyboard is the same criticism I have had of other mobile keyboards I have reviewed.  The special keys (numbers, punctuation, etc…) are just all over the place.  There is no consistency among mobile keyboards as far as how these characters are handled, meaning I end up having to hunt and hunt and hunt before I can peck.  Something really must be done to make this an easier task.  My suggestion would be to add another row to the keyboard, which could contain the numbers and some special characters.

Between the screen and keyboard is the gesture zone.  I love this concept, which allows you to navigate items on the screen by gesturing in this space.  On the Pre, the gesture zone consisted of three round sensors, one of which was a button.  The Pixi utilizes a straight line, which you must swipe across.  I found this was significantly more precise and responsive than the gesture zone on the Pre.

This gesture area also doubles as a notification light, which will blink (actually sort of fade off and on) when you have a new email, text message, voicemail, or missed call.  Typically, I am not a real fan of blinking lights tied to the notifications, but this one just seemed to work for me.  I think there were two reasons I tended to rely on it more than I normally would.  First was the placement.  It sits right in the middle of the face, not banished to some remote corner like these lights tend to be, so it is pretty difficult to miss it.  Second is the size and shape.  The long line draws out your attention much better than a tiny square LED light.  The net effect of this was a notification light which I found to be effective, without becoming obtrusive as these lights frequently do.

In addition to concerns about the size, I had also heard complaints that the Pixi used a significantly less powerful processor than the Palm Pre.  If true, then that would make the Pixi considerably slower and less capable than the Pre.  in other words, a considerable deal breaker for many users.  I tested the Pixi fairly extensively, and even put it head to head against my wife’s Pre, and I have to say that any differences in processing power appeared to be minimal (both loaded ESPN’s website in almost exactly the same amount of time).  Sure, occasionally it might take the Pixi slightly longer to load a web page, but for the most part I did not notice any problems with the processor lagging or taking more time than expected.  If anything, when I used the Pre, I had significant problems with lagging, which did not surface during my experience with the Pixi.  If I had not read concerns about the processing power on the Pixi, I probably never would have known there was a difference.

That brings us to what I consider the main functionality of the phone.  As I have said, your needs will likely differ from mine.  For me, however, since I use the iPad for so much, the Pixi has become pretty much a communications tool.  I use it for phone calls, email, text messaging, and similar functions.  Sure, there is more (Fandango, Pandora…)but those basic communication functions account for probably 75-80% or more of my use, so it had better be good. 

I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed on this front.  Now, the functionality of the email and text messaging have not changed significantly since I reviewed them on the Palm Pre, so I will not get into that part of things too much.  I will say, however, that i absolutely love the universal address book, which merges addresses from all of your accounts into one unified place.  I also love the notifications, which are large and in your face, so you know exactly what is going on, but can be minimized so they do not dominate your screen when you are trying to do other things.

With respect to the phone calls, all I can say is that I was able to answer calls when the phone rang, dial calls with no problem, and had no trouble with calls being dropped in between.  Call quality was also crisp and clear, so really…what more can you ask for out of a phone.  Really, this all works together to make the Pixi a fantastic, all-in-one communication tool.

If I was disappointed by anything on this device, it was the incredibly limited storage space available.  In addition to using this as a communication tool, Palm also expects you to use this one for your multimedia needs.  With only 8 GB of storage, however, that is pretty much impossible.  Once you start loading music, photos, and especially video, that 8 GB will simply disappear before your very eyes.  The Pixi desperately needs either significantly more (as in 32 or 64 GB) storage, or an external memory card slot.  Traditionally, Palm has included external memory card slots with their devices, and I have no idea why they stopped.  I think the lack of this capability was an incredible mistake on their part.

Fortunately, as disappointed as I was by the lack of memory, the Pixi continued to impress in other ways.  Most notable for me was the amazing battery life.  I have always said that battery is the weakest link in most mobile devices.  Not so with this one.   The Pixi is the first mobile device I have used in a long time which featured a battery that could keep up with my lifestyle.  My day typically begins at 5:00 AM, and goes pretty much nonstop until around 11:00 at night.  Sometimes I have time to toss my phone on the charger, but not always.  When I was using the HTC Hero, my battery rarely lasted through the day.  If I did not keep it tied to the charger, then I would usually be facing a dead battery before lunchtime, which makes the phone pretty much useless to me.  Likewise, the various Windows Mobile phones I used and tested could rarely last the day without being charged.  The Pixi takes on this challenge without complaint.  Today, for example, after spending the day being used for text messaging, email, phone calls, Internet searches, and various other miscellaneous tasks for the last 15 hours, the battery is only down to 65%.  That is pretty much unheard of in my experience.  

On top of that fantastic battery, of course is the Touchstone charger.  I have to say that in my opinion, this Touchstone charger is pretty much the greatest thing to hit mobile devices since…well…ever.  I absolutely love the convenience of being able to just drop my phone on the charger, without having to worry about connecting the correct wire to my phone.  Of course, the Touchstone does offer another complication, it is almost impossible to keep your phone in a case and use the Touchstone charger, because the case interferes with the connection.  I am confident that there is a solution out there, which would allow the case to transfer power between the Touchstone charger and Palm Pixi.  Unfortunately, it is doubtful any case manufacturers are going to spend much time or any money researching this until HP is more forthcoming with their plans for the platform.

Despite some initial hesitations and concerns, I was extremely impressed by the Palm Pixi.  This is just a fantastic communications device.  The lack of memory does not make it ideal for heavy use as a media player (not to mention the small screen which makes video almost impossible), so it may not be the best device for you.  I found, however, that it fit my needs absolutely perfectly.  It is a great phone, that just works…every time.   Add that to the never ending battery life, and the price (free in many places with a contract) and you can see why this has become one of my favorite devices.

The Palm Pixi is available from Sprint for $49.99 with a two year contract.  The Palm Pixi Plus is also available from Verizon and AT&T for free with a two year contract.

– memory

– battery

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