New Palm sort of a mini smartphone
Startup’s Android device an exclusive to Verizon
Palm is back – well, sort of. We’re not talking about a comeback of the PDA maker, back when that meant personal digital assistant. This Palm has Steph Curry on its team and is making a play for the as-yet undefined market – the one for a mini clone phone. So think big guy, small phone.
The new Palm, a small San Francisco startup that has licensed the name, is selling a palm-sized $349 Android device that is exclusive to Verizon Wireless and requires a separate Verizon data plan and smartphone (an iPhone or Android). But it’s not as straightforward as just another smartphone – it’s not oversized like the top sellers, and it’s not really even a smartphone.
The company’s backers, which include the Golden State Warriors’ Curry, are decidedly trying to avoid marketing this latest Palm as a throwback to the long-bygone era of Pilots and Treos – shoot, Curry would have been all of 8 years old when the Pilot was introduced by U.S. Robotics in 1996. Instead, Palm is looking to define a new ultramobile market segment, which positions its tiny but cute titanium or gold, roundededge handset somewhere between an Apple Watch or some other connected wearable and one of the many megasized smartphones now in vogue.
“This is not a nostalgia play; this is a reinvention of the brand,” insists new Palm co-founder Dennis Miloseski, whose resume includes stints at Google, Samsung and GE. But he also says that “we thought it was important to do justice to the Palm name.”
Whatever it is, I suspect it is going to be a tough sell. For starters, the new Palm is difficult to pigeonhole. It’s not meant as a replacement for your regular phone, yet it sure does a lot of things your phone already does. You can make and receive calls, text, listen to Spotify, take pictures – there’s a 12-megapixel rear-camera and flash and an 8MP front camera – and, for that matter, run the complete complement of Android apps.
It’s water- and dust-resistant, too, and can be unlocked with your face. Double-pressing a side button initiates voice search through the Google Assistant. And yes, you can watch video on the tiny 3.3-inch HD display. (Remember when screens of that size were more or less the norm?)
Keep in mind that while you don’t have to carry your “real” smartphone with you to use this new Palm, you will have to pay $10 a month to Verizon on top of what you’re paying for your data plan. So that makes this an expensive proposition at $120 a year plus the $349 for the device.