A new type of cell phone will be available for purchase in November, and it’s a bit different from other phones. The Palm, which is produced by a startup company, is a tiny phone less than the size of a hand with a minimum of apps for people on a Verizon plan who have a larger cell phone that they want to get away from a bit. A Palm phone uses the same phone number as other Verizon phones on the user’s plan, and it’s meant to be a less time-consuming alternative; The Verge has an interesting article about this new device on its website.
The Palm runs on Android and is essentially a minimalist smart phone small enough to strap to your arm during a workout. You can still use it to surf the web, play music, run a few apps, etc., but it simply isn’t big enough or have enough memory and processing speed to tempt the user to spend hours on it. The idea is that this is a phone you might take with you on a weekend getaway where you don’t want to be distracted and not a phone that you’re going to try and run a business with. It is also a cheap add-on to a Verizon plan.
The Palm has a single button on the side that has multiple uses. It doesn’t have a headphone jack, but it does, of course, have a USB port, so you have to make sure it’s charged in the same way that you would any other phone.
A central feature is the phone’s “life mode.” When the user puts the phone in this mode, its battery consumes a minimum of energy and the phone is largely disabled; it can stay on for a very long time in life mode and the user still has a working phone but is able to get on with their life without being distracted
Dil Bole Oberoi
