Palm Pixi Will Debut in Mid-November for $100

Ed Hardy · 10-26-2009, 10:21 AM

The Palm Pixi, the second webOS-powered smartphone, will hit store shelves in a few weeks. As expected, this smartphone will have an entry-level price, making it more affordable than its predecessor, the Palm Pre.

This device will have a different design from the first webOS model -- a tablet shape, with a small keyboard fixed below its capacitive touchscreen.

It is going to be released exclusively by Sprint, who will charge $100 with a two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate.

The Pixi will be released on November 15, and will be be available at Sprint stores, sprint.com, 1-800-SPRINT1, and at Best Buy, RadioShack and select Wal-Mart stores.

An Overview of the Palm Pixi
The Pixi's 2.6-inch, 320-by-400-pixel, capacitive touchscreen will be smaller and have a lower resolution screen than the current model.

As mentioned earlier, this will be the second smartphone running Palm's webOS, a multi-tasking operating system able to wirelessly synchronize a wide variety of data with online services like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Exchange.

It will come with a highly-capable web browser, email software, and multimedia player. Additional third-party applications will also be available.

Sprint's version of the Pixi will include EV-DO mobile broadband. It will also have Bluetooth, but not Wi-Fi.

"Simply put, this phone is fun and easy to use; with its multi-touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, it's a great device for messaging and social networking at a price everyone can enjoy, and delivers so many of the great features people love about Palm Pre in a fantastic new form factor," said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president - Product Development, Sprint.

It won't replace the Palm Pre in Sprint's product lineup -- rather it will be a second option.

Source: Sprint

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questionfear · 10-26-2009, 10:55 AM

Ouch. $200 out of pocket, $100 after rebate is not very good for a phone without...especially since for $50 more you get wifi, more storage and a bigger screen from the Pre. If it were a flat $100 and the resellers could bring it down to almost $0 with incentives that would be a better deal. But IMHO it's way too close in price to the Pre, and it's going to be creamed against every phone rocking wifi this holiday season.

Ed Hardy · 10-26-2009, 11:04 AM

As with the Palm Pre, I'm fairly certain Best Buy will be offering the Pixi without the hassles of the mail-in rebate. If that's true, I encourage everyone to buy this device there.

And the Pixi has an advantage that most of the other phones on the market this holiday season won't have: an outstanding operating system with great bundled software. It's toughest competitors are going to be Sprint's new Android models.
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Magellan · 10-26-2009, 11:18 AM

I think the price point works. $50 is allot of money to many people who don't need Wifi, more storage etc.

harpgliss · 10-26-2009, 11:36 AM

Hi,

Great OS or not, I think not having Wi-Fi is going to be an issue with how well this sells.

I think this is something they underestimate the importance of.

David

Scott_L · 10-26-2009, 11:55 AM

I imagine there are plenty of people that have no need for wifi. I just find it sad that Palm continues to offer smart phones that are so far behind current hardware standards. No matter how good WebOS may be I'm having a tough time convincing myself that a Pre can be my next phone. I keep reading about all the other phones with (much) more storage capacity, expandable capacity, 5MP cameras, and whatever processors. IMO every time I play with a Pre in the store I'm bothered by the Calendar lags.

Since I'll use the old Palm PIMs under Classic I could get ANY phone that offers Palm emulation. So... Hey Motion Apps! How about porting Classic to Android, WM, etc?! Then I could get a phone with "current" hardware specs and not worry about the OS it's based on.

Oops, more on topic. My concern with the Pixi (other than totally lame a#% name) is the complaints that are bound to start about it breaking while in a pocket... Thin is nice - to those that can take care of it.

tmedvick · 10-26-2009, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott_L

I imagine there are plenty of people that have no need for wifi. I just find it sad that Palm continues to offer smart phones that are so far behind current hardware standards. No matter how good WebOS may be I'm having a tough time convincing myself that a Pre can be my next phone. I keep reading about all the other phones with (much) more storage capacity, expandable capacity, 5MP cameras, and whatever processors. IMO every time I play with a Pre in the store I'm bothered by the Calendar lags.

Since I'll use the old Palm PIMs under Classic I could get ANY phone that offers Palm emulation. So... Hey Motion Apps! How about porting Classic to Android, WM, etc?! Then I could get a phone with "current" hardware specs and not worry about the OS it's based on.

Oops, more on topic. My concern with the Pixi (other than totally lame a#% name) is the complaints that are bound to start about it breaking while in a pocket... Thin is nice - to those that can take care of it.

Palm's hardware is up-to-date. The calendar lag in the Pre is not hardware based. Too little storage perhaps, but they learned that lesson from their competition.

The Pixi is a lower priced phone designed to appeal to a different demographic, no wifi is a concession to that and to the desire for the smaller form factor. I think it's reasonable to wait for complaints of users before inventing them.

Scott_L · 10-26-2009, 02:56 PM

We're all entitled to our opinions. Though you agree with me on the storage, I was basing my comments on what I assumed are facts in New releases on Brighthand. To me, 256MB is less than 448MB, 8GB is less than 32GB, 3MP is less than 5MP, without expansion slot is less expandable than with, etc.

I'm aware that the Calendar lag isn't HW related, that's why I am planning on running the older PIMs under Classic. IMO they has more features that appeal to me and operated MUCH faster - even on the old Motorola 16MHz CPU with 128KB RAM.

Believe me, I'm not trying to create FUD about the Pixi breaking, I spend a lot of time reading forums and know that an awful lot of people don't treat their electronics with the best of care. I want Palm (and my Palm stock) to do very well. As much as I want to buy a Pre, I have to stick with my Treo 755p until the Pre is a bit more polished and capacity enhanced. Again, that's me. The Pixi and/or current Pre will suit plenty of others...

I'm backing away now. Not looking for a fight, I just wanted to explain that I'm not beating up on Palm - just sharing my thoughts. Plus my one post was slightly off topic at first, now we've left the building altogether.

jigwashere · 10-26-2009, 03:38 PM

I'm not looking for a fight either, but can you show me an example of a smartphone with the specs you site for under $300?

harpgliss · 10-26-2009, 03:47 PM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmedvick

The Pixi is a lower priced phone designed to appeal to a different demographic, no wifi is a concession to that and to the desire for the smaller form factor. I think it's reasonable to wait for complaints of users before inventing them.

Is inventing a complaint just drawing light to a factor that will limit customers from purchasing or even having an interest in the Pixi?

There are a lot of potential customers over at Precentral that are peeved over the exclusion of WiFi.

These are hard core palm supporters not happy, not just some of us here that like to speculate and theorize.

David