Palm’s back into the fold, being brought back to life after Chinese maker TCL, the same company that bought the rights to manufacture BlackBerry smartphones, purchased the Palm trademark from HP back in 2014. Even though the brand has been resurrected, this is a totally different Palm from the one we all remember that helped bring PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) into the market during the 1990s, and subsequently being one of the major smartphone powers in the early days of the 2000s.

This new Palm is young, hip, and ready to tackle the market from a totally different perspective. With the announcement of the aptly named Palm Phone, they’ve taken many of us by surprise! Rather than tangling with the heavy hitters in the space, the Palm Phone is intended to act as a companion – much like how smartwatches aim to keep us connected, while remaining secondary to our smartphones. Needless to say, it’s an interesting new strategy for Palm, but does it effectively get the job done?

In the box:

• Palm Phone
• Wall/USB Charger
• USB Connector
• Quick Start Guide
• Product Safety & Warranty Brochure

Design

This new Palm is forging a new design identity, seeing that this Palm Phone shares no characteristics from past Palm smartphones. As you can imagine, it’s etching out its own identity in the process due to its unconventional size. Speaking of that, the minuscule size of the Palm Phone is the first thing that stands out! It’s obnoxiously tiny, just about the length and width of a credit card. Combined with its lightweight frame, the Palm Phone easily slips into any pocket discretely!

Due to its shrunken size, however, most people will need to readjust their habits when it comes to handling and operating it. Take for example holding the phone with our hand, which requires no more than a few fingers to do. Since space is rather limited, the Palm Phone only features a single power button – so volume adjustment is handled through the software by accessing it in the pull-down menu. Yes, it’s a hassle, but at least we can quickly silence incoming phone calls by pressing on the power button.