Sunnyvale, Calif. – Palm today introduced a smaller version of
its Palm
Pre smartphone, called the Pixi, that will be available in time for the
holidays exclusively from Sprint.
The Pixi multi-touch smartphone is expected to be less expensive
than the Pre, although Palm has not yet announced a price.
Both the Pixi and the Pre use Palm’s new WebOS, designed to
compete with the iPhone. The Pixi is
thinner that the Pre and has a 2.63-inch multi-touch screen and QWERTY
keyboard. Using an EV-DO Rev. A wireless connection, the device also has
integrated GPS, built-in 2-megapixel camera, 8GB memory and stereo Bluetooth.
The Pixi can link information on Google, Facebook and Exchange
ActiveSync into a single view, and it also ties in information from Yahoo! and
LinkedIn. Users can get their Yahoo! contacts, calendar and IM, and access
their LinkedIn contacts, including job titles.
Users can also start a conversation on AIM Instant Messenger, Google
Talk or Yahoo! Messenger and continue it by text message later, with
conversation appearing as a single thread.
The Pixi has a removable rubberized back cover that can be
swapped with a series of artist-designed, limited-edition back covers that
Palm will display at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York (Sept. 10-17).
The device can sync with iTunes, and it supports downloadable
apps from the Palm Beta App Catalog.
Palm also announced it lowered the price of the Pre, to $149
after rebates, from $199.
