Palm brand returns with mini smartphone companion device

In a world where smartphones are enlarging to tablet-size, perhaps you need a mini phone you can take when you don’t feel like dragging around the real thing.

Remember the Palm of the late 1990s and early 2000s, responsible for some of the more popular PDAs of the time like the PalmPilot. Before it shut down in 2011, the company brought some amazing innovations to the mobile digital device industry that inspired features of today’s phones. Well, now a startup based in California is working with TCL Communications, a Chinese electronics and smart tech company, to reinvent and reintroduce Palm, and it’s bringing yet another device to simplify your life.

We built Palm with a 12MP rear camera and 8MP front camera, so you can quickly capture that beautiful landscape or snap a quick selfie pic.twitter.com/eO7068c0Fb

— Palm (@palm) October 15, 2018

Palm has been rejuvenated by Howard Nuk and Dennis Miloseski, both of whom have previously worked at Samsung Design America. Miloseski also worked at Google between 2007-2012 as Head of Design for its Special Projects division. TCL acquired the Palm trademark from HP back in 2014, with leaks of an alleged new device surfacing in August this year. Palm will make the device in conjunction with TCL.

The mini phone is designed as a companion to a smartphone, with only a 3.3-inch display and quick access to the most-used apps.

Codenamed the ‘Pepito’, the Palm will be equipped with many of the components that leaked in August including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 SoC and a 3.3-inch ‘HD’ 720p display. Palm has confirmed on its website that the Palm will also have the following hardware:

• 8MP front-facing and 12MP rear-facing cameras
• IP68 water and dust resistance
• 3GB RAM
• 32GB of storage
• 800mAh non-removable battery
• Dual speakers
• 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2 low energy
• 802.11 b/g/n 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi
• A non-removable nano-SIM
• Android 8.1 Oreo
• Face unlock technology

The Palm will weigh 62.5 grams and measure 50.6 x 96.6 x 7.4 millimetres, which is about the size of a credit card. The device will also come in either titanium or gold and will launch with a host of accessories including a bike mount, a custom-fit sports sleeve and a Kate Spade branded wristlet.

Edited by Neo Sesinye
Follow Neo Sesinye on Twitter
Follow IT News Africa on Twitter