Palm Phone tested: the verdict - the developers have suffered a complete fiasco

Source: arstechnica

At the end of October, Habré published an article about the Palm Phone - a new development of the company, which is the successor to the legendary Palm. For some reasons, the latter had to leave the market, but her name was not forgotten. Now the rights to the brand belong to the Chinese company TCL, which acquired them in 2014.

The Chinese decided to offer a small phone with a display with a diagonal of only 3.3 inches. Its geometrical dimensions are 96.6mm * 50.6mm. The company has positioned the device as an addition to the main phone. In the end, it seems, it did not work out very well - those who got the phone in their hands do not give the most flattering reviews about the device.

The only thing testers see good is design. The developers have created a cute phone that surprises at first sight. Its form factor is familiar, but the design is quite convenient. In addition, the size allows you to store your phone in a wallet or pocket of any size.

In principle, it is worth remembering that the first iPhone was slightly larger in size - the diagonal of its screen was only 3.5 inches. And the HTC Dream and even less - only 3.2 inches. But the ratio was 3: 2, and here it was 16: 9. The display resolution is 1280x720, which is quite good. Accordingly, the picture on the display looks great.

But the good ends there. The most negative point is the price of the device - $ 350. For this money, you can buy a boo Android or iPhone with not the oldest hardware. You can purchase an Apple iWatch 3 with a cellular module. They cost about $ 380, but the possibilities are not an example anymore.



The phone is positioned as "wearable electronics", but in fact it is not. The number of gadget yuzkeys is strictly limited, because as an independent phone it is difficult to use it, and as for the addition to the main phone - here you also need to think carefully about how it can be used. The size of the display limits the ability to create and send messages. Palm Phone is difficult to hold with both hands, so you need to type with your thumb. Often, four characters are simultaneously pressed. In addition, some buttons are simply not pressed the first time, it is difficult to hit them.

The phone does not have NFC, so it’s also impossible to pay them for hours or “adult” phones. For payment, you will have to get the main device, which is not very convenient. In principle, the Palm Phone with everything has no functions (it cannot be used as a fitness tracker, by the way), and some are simply not very necessary.



The performance of the device built on the basis of Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 SoC, to put it mildly, is not too great. Let me remind the other characteristics - in addition to the processor, it is 3 GB of RAM, plus a 800 mAh battery. The main storage is capacious - as much as 32 GB. There are rear and front cameras, with a resolution of 12 and 8 MP, respectively. Protection against dust and water is present, the standard IP68. There are also wireless communication modules WiFi and Bluetooth, GPS, LTE. Connection to the charger or PC - via USB-C.

The camera has both front and rear. The quality of both is low, but they didn’t expect anything special from them, because hardly anyone planned to use the Palm Phone as a portable camera.

If you can put up with poor performance, because this phone is clearly not for watching videos or playing games, then the main problem is the short battery life. These are just a few hours, and you don’t expect such a problem from a tiny device. Those who tried the phone had the impression that he constantly asks to connect it to the charging.

In general, the device for $ 350 turned out very strange. Most likely, it will become a commodity for geeks, but not for those users who need practical devices that perform a wide range of functions. As mentioned above, smart watches successfully replace the device, and they have much more opportunities.

In the bottom line, the gadget has only two advantages - it is small and looks interesting. The disadvantages are much more:

• price of $ 350;
• poor performance, sometimes there are all sorts of errors;
• high resolution display, which means small design elements;
• no NFC support;
• there is no port for connecting headphones and there is no volume control;
• short battery life.