Source: Sascha Segan (pcmag.com)
During my hands-on with the Palm Pixi, I had the opportunity to ask Palm some pretty tough questions about the new smartphone. Here are some answers from Palm Pixi product manager Phil McClendon. To brush up on Palm's new slab-style smartphone, check out my hands-on report on PCMag.com.
Some context: The Pixi is smaller than the Pre, it will probably be less expensive, and it's shaped like a BlackBerry rather than a sliding phone. Palm says the Pixi is more angled towards messaging than towards multimedia – thus the new Facebook app, Yahoo! IM integration, and always-accessible keyboard.
1.) Sprint, again? Why aren't other carriers getting WebOS love?
"We have shown in a very short period of time that we've started to deploy WebOS devices across the world. ... Sprint's been a great partner for us. Today's day one and Sprint is our partner. We're very glad to have them and it gives us all kinds of different benefits in terms of their 3G network being the most reliable."
2.) HTC says a 2.8-inch screen is too small for capacitive touch. Your response?
"That's not true. It really depends upon how your UI is created. You can create a UI that will respond just fine with your capacitive panel at that side, but there are trade-offs you have to make, and perhaps those are trade-offs they chose not to make."
3.) What processor is being used here?
It's a Qualcomm MSM 7627, a lower-cost alternative to the TI OMAP3 used in the Palm Pre, McClendon said. He didn't give any more details, but the MSM7627 uses the ARM11 architecture, which is potentially slower and less expensive than the Cortex-A8 used in the Pre.
4.) How do you fit WebOS on a smaller screen?
"The spacing between [icons] is slightly less and there's more scrolling involved. If I go to the email application, there's less emails that can be seen on a particular page. ... But if a developer creates their application to be mindful of the fact that the vertical dimension can change, which they should do already because of the notification bar. Really, it's just a matter of scrolling more."
5.) Are there any ways (other than screen size) the Pre is better than the Pixi?
"On the Pre, you have better media performance in terms of higher frame rates and larger resolutions. [The Pixi] will play H.264 at this sub-HVGA size ... whereas on the Pre, it'll play at full HVGA at 30 frames per second."
6.) Why no Wi-Fi?
"What we felt was important for this target demographic was the form factor, the size ... we didn't think it was as important to this particular target customer."
7.) Will the Facebook app or Yahoo integration be available for the Pre?
"We're not announcing that right now ... but it is something we could deploy."
8.) Will all of the Pre's apps run on the Pixi?
"If they follow the guidelines that we provided them, the app will work on both devices."
9.) How did you pick the artists for the "artist backs?"
"That's just the beginning. Right now, as a California company and wanting to support new up and coming artists, we chose them from our backyard.
10.) What is this all going to cost?
No comment.
During my hands-on with the Palm Pixi, I had the opportunity to ask Palm some pretty tough questions about the new smartphone. Here are some answers from Palm Pixi product manager Phil McClendon. To brush up on Palm's new slab-style smartphone, check out my hands-on report on PCMag.com.
Some context: The Pixi is smaller than the Pre, it will probably be less expensive, and it's shaped like a BlackBerry rather than a sliding phone. Palm says the Pixi is more angled towards messaging than towards multimedia – thus the new Facebook app, Yahoo! IM integration, and always-accessible keyboard.
1.) Sprint, again? Why aren't other carriers getting WebOS love?
"We have shown in a very short period of time that we've started to deploy WebOS devices across the world. ... Sprint's been a great partner for us. Today's day one and Sprint is our partner. We're very glad to have them and it gives us all kinds of different benefits in terms of their 3G network being the most reliable."
2.) HTC says a 2.8-inch screen is too small for capacitive touch. Your response?
"That's not true. It really depends upon how your UI is created. You can create a UI that will respond just fine with your capacitive panel at that side, but there are trade-offs you have to make, and perhaps those are trade-offs they chose not to make."
3.) What processor is being used here?
It's a Qualcomm MSM 7627, a lower-cost alternative to the TI OMAP3 used in the Palm Pre, McClendon said. He didn't give any more details, but the MSM7627 uses the ARM11 architecture, which is potentially slower and less expensive than the Cortex-A8 used in the Pre.
4.) How do you fit WebOS on a smaller screen?
"The spacing between [icons] is slightly less and there's more scrolling involved. If I go to the email application, there's less emails that can be seen on a particular page. ... But if a developer creates their application to be mindful of the fact that the vertical dimension can change, which they should do already because of the notification bar. Really, it's just a matter of scrolling more."
5.) Are there any ways (other than screen size) the Pre is better than the Pixi?
"On the Pre, you have better media performance in terms of higher frame rates and larger resolutions. [The Pixi] will play H.264 at this sub-HVGA size ... whereas on the Pre, it'll play at full HVGA at 30 frames per second."
6.) Why no Wi-Fi?
"What we felt was important for this target demographic was the form factor, the size ... we didn't think it was as important to this particular target customer."
7.) Will the Facebook app or Yahoo integration be available for the Pre?
"We're not announcing that right now ... but it is something we could deploy."
8.) Will all of the Pre's apps run on the Pixi?
"If they follow the guidelines that we provided them, the app will work on both devices."
9.) How did you pick the artists for the "artist backs?"
"That's just the beginning. Right now, as a California company and wanting to support new up and coming artists, we chose them from our backyard.
10.) What is this all going to cost?
No comment.
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