Palm Pixi Gets The Hands-On TreatmentPalm Pixi Gets The Hands-On Treatment

I had a chance to spend some time with the new Palm Pixi this afternoon. It's small, light, and perfect for users who prefer the candybar form factor with ready access to the QWERTY keyboard. I found the smaller screen size and lack of Wi-Fi to be detractors, however.The Pixi is a valiant second effort from Palm. Palm has taken webOS a few steps further and will be including a native Facebook application on the Pixi. It also has a few other new applications, such as iLike, an app that helps find information about concerts, buy tickets, invite friends and add the concerts to your calendar.

The hardware itself carries forward the design language seen on the Pre. In order to fit into such a small package, Palm had to make a few concessions. It loses Wi-Fi (boo!), and slows down the processor a bit. It also reduces the camera from 3.2 megapixels to just 2. The camera still manages to take fast pictures, though.

The Pixi is amazingly small. It's probably too small a phone for the likes of me. The keyboard borders on the ridiculous with its scrunched size. Though I was able to type on it reasonably well, I am pretty sure I'd develop cramps after extended use.

Considering that this device is probably headed for the teen segment and not necessarily enterprise users, I am not surprised about the external design too much.

Here's a nice, in-depth video of the Palm Pixi in action.