Check out photos of the Palm's new WebOS smartphone, the Palm Pixi, here.
Bonnie Cha
Bonnie Cha was a former chief correspondent for CNET Crave, covering every kind of tech toy imaginable (with a special obsession for robots and Star Wars-related stuff). When she's not scoping out stories, you can find her checking out live music or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California.
The Palm Pixi is the latest Palm WebOS device and will be available from Sprint. Pricing and exact availability were not announced at this time, but the smartphone is expected to ship in time for the holiday season.
In addition to the Pixi, Palm announced that it will drop the price of the Palm Pre to $149.99 with a two-year contract and after a $150 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate.
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New features
The Palm Pixi brings some new tricks to the table, including the integration of LinkedIn contacts and Yahoo contacts, calendar, and IM into Synergy. The smartphone still offers GPS, Bluetooth, support for Sprint's EV-DO Rev. A network, and 8GB memory but unfortunately, no expansion capabilities and Wi-Fi has been taken out.
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Slim, slate design
The Pixi has a similar shape to the Palm Treo Pro with its slate design, but is more compact and thin at 4.3 inches tall by 2.1 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick and 3.5 ounces.
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Touch screen and keyboard
The Pixi offers a 2.63-inch multitouch screen with a 320x400 resolution, built-in accelerometer, and proximity sensor. Like the Pre, there's also a gesture area for navigation. Below it, you'll find the full QWERTY keyboard, which looks to be the same style as the Pre but we hope a bit more spacious.
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Bottom view
On bottom, you'll find the Pixi's 3.5 millimeter headphone jack and power button. Palm says the smartphone will work with iTunes and of course, the Amazon MP3 Store, which will be preloaded on the device.
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Touchstone Dock
The Palm Pixi will work with the Touchstone Dock, which lets you charge your smartphone wirelessly.
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Pixi's backside
The Pixi features a rubberized, scratch-resistant back cover and this is where you'll also find the smartphone's 2-megapixel camera and flash. There was no mention of video recording capabilities, however.
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Palm Pixi Artist Series; Two Fish by Michelle White
Palm will also offer limited-edition back covers through its Palm Pixi Artist Series. Palm will be showcase the covers at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, which occurs September 10-17.
This cover, called Two Fish, was designed by freelance illustrator and graphic designer Michelle White, who also happens to be a former graphic artist at CNET.
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Skin by Sheri Bodell
This backplate, called Skin, was created by Los Angeles designer Sheri Bodell to reflect some of the clothes she designs for women and celebrities.
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Red Barn by Melissa Hutton
This landscape scene was created by San Francisco-based artist Melissa Hutton, who frequently works in spray enamel, silk-screened images, photography, and epoxy resin.
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Skull by Jeremy Fish
Skull is by another San Francisco-based artist and illustrator (and one of my favorites) named Jeremy Fish. Fish's work is often featured on skateboard decks and transformed into vinyl toys.
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Hummingbird by Cole Gerst
Cole Gerst is an atist, illustrator, designer, animator, and founder of Option-g apparel. He has also designed CD covers and poster art for bands like The Shins, Beck, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
