The Palm Pixi Plus is an updated version of last year's Palm Pixi that's currently available exclusively from Verizon Wireless.
Its price and features make it ideal for those looking for their first smartphone, as it includes a good web browser, email software,and music player. It also has ties into social networking services.
The Pixi Plus is currently $80 with a new two-year contract.
BUILD & DESIGN:
The Pixi Plus is indeed a "pixie" of a phone, very slim and very light - it definitely won't weigh down your pocket or your bag.
The overall design is pretty minimal; the only things you'll really notice when you look at the phone are the display and keyboard. The power/wake button is on the top left corner of the device, while the ringer/silent switch, volume buttons, and covered charging port are on the right side.
The back of the phone includes the Palm logo, camera, and one small speaker opening on each side. The device is plastic with a soft finish that is easy to grip and just textured enough to solve the smudgy fingerprint problem that plagues many other phones.
Display
The display is 2.6-inches and runs at 320 x 400 resolution. It's very bright, even outside. Text, photos, and videos all look nice, with no ghosting or other quality issues to mar the overall experience.
Of course the screen is a bit smaller than what you might see on other, larger devices, but it does seem to be of good quality and with no squinting needed.
Keyboard
Tiny, but usable. The Pixi Plus's keyboard is supposed to be better than the original, but I didn't see much of a difference.
The keys are hard plastic and as large as possible, so there's not much horizontal space between them. I seem to go more for visual than tactile feedback when it comes to data entry on the Pixi Plus, so I tend to look at the keyboard when entering text to make sure I'm hitting the right keys.
The keyboard is adequate, but I wouldn't call it a "home run." Adding calendar entries and firing off quick emails is easy, but there's little more I would do with it.
Other Buttons
The power/wake button is on the top left corner of the device, while the ringer/silent switch, volume buttons, and covered charging port are on the right side.
PERFORMANCE:
Performance with the Pixi Plus is good, but not breathtaking; the smartphone has a slower processor than its cousin, the Pre Plus. The speed difference is only noticeable if you use them side by side, but I must admit that I was pretty spoiled by the Pre Plus' speed.
When I started using the Pixi Plus after the Pre Plus, it took a little while to adjust to its slower pace. Applications take a few seconds longer to start, and webpages take about three seconds longer to fully open.
Wireless/Call Quality
Call quality is pretty good, though not perfect; and there weren't any problems with background noise. I wish the volume was louder though, because I had a few issues hearing, even when it was turned all the way up. That said, Verizon's network isn't too strong at my house, so I typically saw only two or three bars of coverage out of five, and that could account for some of the problem.
One of the more attractive new features of the Pixi Plus is the addition of Wi-Fi wireless networking, which makes the overall browsing experience much faster and more pleasant. Moreover, Wi-Fi generally isn't included on less expensive phones.
Productivity
Like the original Pixi, the Pixi Plus uses Palm's unique Synergy technology to pull your personal information from the Web, like a Google account, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft Exchange, or some other supported service. Simply enter your login details and everything is synced to your phone automatically in the background while you're going about your business. You won't have to manually enter your friend's email addresses or phone numbers; it will be taken care of for you.
All of the webOS productivity applications are included with the Pixi Plus, so you'll get calendar, contacts, tasks, and memos as well as viewers for both Microsoft Office files and PDF documents. The email experience is among the highlights of the Pixi Plus and Google Maps works great too.
Entertainment
Web browsing is quite nice, with a handy "flashcard" view of your bookmarks and nice, readable webpages.
A music player and access to the Amazon MP3 store are included, but the Palm Pixi Plus (like the Pre Plus) does not support Verizon VCast Music service.
This smartphone also includes a video player plus a YouTube viewer, though the screen is a bit small for such things.
Camera
One of my disappointments with the Pixi Plus is the camera; picture quality is OK, but not anywhere near as good as the Pre Plus. It's a two megapixel camera, down one megapixel from the Pre Plus, but the difference in quality is larger than I expected.
The pictures, even using the LED flash, are generally very dark. And if you do find a sunny spot to snap a picture, the background is often blown out and overexposed. I call the camera "OK in a pinch" but definitely not good enough to rely on for important events or even for daily use, if you're a real photo bug.
Video capture works well, though again the quality is relatively poor. The Pixi Plus offers the same video editing tools as the Pre Plus, so you can tweak the exact start and ending points of videos and upload directly to YouTube.
Battery Life
Battery life is pretty good for the Pixi Plus and I didn't get any nasty surprises during testing. I still plugged it in nightly for good measure, and packed the charger for overnight tests, but I didn't encounter the quick battery drain I experienced with the Pre Plus.
CONCLUSION:
The Palm Pixi Plus is a very clever little phone in a tiny package. For $80, it's among the least expensive smartphones available, and takes full advantage of the Palm Synergy platform to keep your life organized, albeit a little more slowly than the Pre Plus.
However, if your budget can stretch it, I recommend going for the Pre Plus since a more capable processor and better camera are worth the extra cost.
That said, the Pixi Plus is still a great phone, and one I'll easily recommend to someone who wants to stay on top of their calendar and contacts and isn't worried about photos. And you can't do much better than that for an $80 price tag.
Pros:
Cons:
