Palm Pixi Plus deals & review

In a word or two

The Palm Pixi Plus is a light smartphone with serious features and the real “plus” of Wi-Fi.

The Design

With the same slim, nimble frame that we know and love about the original Palm Pixi, the Palm Pixi Plus is an extremely portable smartphone that weighs a little over 100g. The 2.63 inch touch-sensitive screen and QWERTY keyboard remain so you get the best of both worlds – the ability to tap and swipe the screen as well as use a physical keyboard.

It is a smaller version of the Palm Pre although it is a little taller when the Pre is closed, and it does not have the same curved back. The Palm Pixi Plus is still comfortable to hold and use, and features a similarly soft, rubberised back cover that feels good to the touch.

Palm Pixi Plus Specifications

Operating on the Palm WebOS platform, the Palm Pixi Plus supports multi-tasking. And this feature extends beyond the straightforward use of multiple apps at once. For example, you could be writing an email when you receive a text message – the notification is subtle though, appearing at the bottom of the screen so you have the choice to tap it and read the message or carry on with what you were doing.

The touch-sensitive screen is intuitive but not on a par with the iPhone – although it has pluses such as the ability to return to an app without having to hit the home button, over all, the screen can be a little slow to respond to your finger commands, certainly when compared to the lightning speeds seen on the iPhone 3G S.

One feature that does enhance the UI of the Palm Pixi Plus is the Synergy function. This brings your mail, calendar, instant messages and text messages into one stream, making it far easier to manage your social and work life. You can forward text messages on the Pixi Plus and easily transform them into MMSs by adding a photo, which is a great feature – the iPhone 3G S, for example, lets you copy and paste messages but not forward although you can add photos to messages.

Considerations

The Palm Pixi Plus comes with Wi-Fi, a great addition on the original smartphone. However, unlike the Palm Pre Plus which gains extra RAM and memory over the Palm Pre, the Wi-Fi is the Palm Pixi Plus’s only extra feature.

Verdict

There are some impressive features on the Palm Pixi Plus including the ability to record and edit videos, and power save mode/airplane mode available at the press of a button. The Synergy feature combined with IM clients like Google Talk and apps like Facebook mean the Pixi Plus is good for social networking, and the keyboard is easy to use so typing is quick and enjoyable. Although it is a shame Palm didn’t throw in some extra memory and RAM to sit alongside the Wi-Fi, this smartphone has a lot going for it.