The Palm name is back.
There's a new Palm phone, but it's not quite what you'd expect from a new smartphone nowadays. Rather than being a full-on smartphone, the new Palm phone is a companion device for your main smartphone. The device is about the size of a credit card and syncs with your main Android or iOS smartphone, letting you leave your main phone in your bag or even at home while still having access to your messages and important apps.
One of the main features of the new Palm is called Life Mode. When you toggle on Life Mode, your incoming calls and notifications will be silenced while the screen is off unless you're on a call, streaming music, or using GPS. When you wake the screen up, your alerts will turn back on. The goal is to help eliminate distractions, though you can customize Life Mode to allow notifications from certain apps to come through Life Mode if you'd like.
The specs of the Palm phone include a 3.3-inch HD LCD display, 12MP rear and 8MP front cameras, and Gorilla Glass 3 front and rear with an aluminum mid-frame sandwiched in-between. There's an octa-core Snapdragon 435 processor packed inside the IP68 water and dust resistant body as well as 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and an 800mAh battery that Palm says offers "all-day use" with Life Mode and typical usage.
Powering the Palm phone is Android 8.1, complete with access to the Play Store for downloading Android apps. You can double-press the button on the side of the Palm phone to access Google Assistant, and Palm has teamed up with Fleksy to create a custom keyboard for the device that also offers gestures and voice-to-text. Like many other smartphones nowadays, the Palm phone also offers face unlock functionality.
The new Palm phone will be sold exclusively by Verizon and will be available in November. Because it's meant to be a companion device, you will need to link the Palm phone to an existing Verizon device that will share its phone number using Verizon's NumberShare service. As noted by Variety, pricing for the new Palm phone will be set at $349 full price, $299 with a two-year commitment, or $14.58 per month for 24 months. Also of note is that Verizon's NumberShare service is priced at $10 per month.
Palm is also working to create accessories to help you carry your companion phone around with you. There's a lanyard to strap around your wrist, a premium wallet, and a bike mount. Palm worked with NBA star Steph Curry — an investor and advisor for Palm — to create a sport sleeve for the device, and the company also teamed up with Kate Spade to make a custom wristlet for the tiny phone.
We've seen some connected smartwatches lately that offer built-in cellular connectivity to help you leave home without your phone while staying connected, but the new Palm phone appears to be one step above that. The goal is to help you leave your big smartphone at home to help you avoid distractions, but because the Palm phone has features like cameras, a 3.3-inch screen, and Play Store access, you can still get smartphone-like functionality if you need it. It remains to be seen if this new Palm phone can be a success, but for folks concerned about being too connected with their smartphones, the new Palm could be worth a try.
What do you think of this new Palm phone? Is it something you'd be interested in trying?
