2009-11-09 18:13:58 - After the considerable success garnered by the Pre, Palm has decided to come out with a follow up device that hopes to reach the same heights as its predecessor. This time around, we are presented with the all new, soon to be released Palm Pixi. This is yet another Smartphone that holds the famed Palm webOS on board and is reportedly going to target a younger, hipper demographic.

All About the OS

One of the primary reasons behind the success of the Palm Pre is the OS under its hood. With their own webOS mobile operating system, Palm may have hit the jackpot and they have no intentions of letting up. Based on recent trends, it looks like Palm is going to be taking on an Apple iPhone-like strategy

by centering all its present and future devices around a single operating system. And in our opinion, they couldn’t have chosen a better OS.

Right now, Apple’s proprietary mobile operating system on the iPhone is arguably the best in the business. With a host of applications available for download, as well as excellent performance ratings, the iPhone’s OS has become widely regarded as being the best in the entire mobile phone industry. However, the advantage of Palm’s webOS is that it has been designed for compatibility with varying screens and resolutions, whereas the iPhone OS is only for standard 480 x 320-pixel displays. The Pixi’s touch screen display has been downgraded to 320 x 400 pixels and the webOS is still working as good as ever on the new Smartphone.

Compromising

By coming out with a device that is going to be cheaper than the Pre, Palm had to make some compromises in order to stretch the budget. In this regard, it is probably the hardware of the device that has taken the most damage, so to speak. As mentioned earlier, the screen has been downgraded – both in size and pixel resolution. The camera has also been downsized to a less-than-average 2-Megapixel snapper.

However, the biggest loss on the Pixi has got to be Wi-Fi connectivity. Although the device will have internet-friendly apps (e.g. a native Facebook application), the loss of WLAN capability is definitely a major blow. Nonetheless, users will still have the option to get online via 3G or GPRS on the Pixi.

Younger Market Segment

Because of the lowered price tag, it is obvious that Palm is trying to target a younger demographic with the Pixi. They’re looking at those consumers that crave for the basic Smarpthone functions, but don’t have the budget to go all out and spend two to three month’s allowance on an iPhone. To further this point, they have come out with the Pixi Artist Edition which is a breath of fresh air in terms of mobile phone designs.

This is definitely as wild as you can go when it comes to design as users can choose from 5 outrageously awesome themes. However, the lack of Wi-Fi connectivity may come back to haunt the device in this regard as internet connectivity is definitely one of the requirements of the younger market segments. Some folks just can live without Tweeting every few hours or so.

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