Introduction to Palm and the New Phone
Hey everybody, I am Dieter Bohn, And if you are of a certain age you know that means that I am the Palm guy. I used the Centro, I used Pixi, I used the Pre. I founded precental.net, I was all about webOS, I was all about Palm. Then it died, but now it's back. Not the company but the name Palm. It's coming back as this little thing that I was hiding in my hand. It's a tiny little phone to go along with your big, huge, honking phone.
The Basic Idea of the Palm Phone
So, what's all that about? The basic idea here is you don't want to carry around your big, giant phone. So, you can have this little weekender phone, and it uses Verizon's dual number system. So, you pay an extra ten bucks a month, and that allows you to have this phone, share your phone number and also share text messages. You can leave your other phone behind, which is a great idea, except there's a couple of caveats.
Caveats for iPhone and Android Users
If you're an iPhone user, your iMessages obviously won't come over. If you're an Android user, you're gonna need to use Verizon's custom text messaging app instead of the built-in Android messages in order to get your messages. The other question you're probably asking is, what's the deal with this phone? Well, it's an Android phone, and the basic navigation works this way. There's a single, solitary button on it.
The Navigation System
You press it, it turns the screen on, you swipe up to unlock it. If you double tap it, it will launch the Google Assistant, and it will listen to your voice and you can do voice stuff. They did that because they figured it's a lot faster, you're gonna wanna be doing a lot of voice stuff.
The Button Functionality
Now, there are no soft buttons on the bottom, and so there's this one, single, solitary button, and it works one of three ways. If you tap it once itserves as a back button. If you double tap it, it goes home. If you long press it, it takes you to this overview screen.
Face Unlock Feature
They have built-in a custom face unlock feature into the camera, but I'm sure it's nowhere secure as Face ID on the iPhone. So, you can just use a standard unlock pattern if you want. The screen is 3.3 inches and it actually looks pretty good. It's not too bad, and for the basic stuff that it's meant to do, it's got a nice display.
Life Mode: A Feature of the Palm Phone
They have this feature called Life Mode which allows you to completely ignore your phone if you want to. You can turn on Life Mode and completely ignore it entirely. It's sort of like a backup plan to your phone.
A Smart Watch or Phone?
I know what you're thinking, Dieter, is this really a Palm phone? I mean, it's got sort of a Palm logo on it, but it's not running webOS and the only really Palm thing about it is that a bunch of other Palm phones have been tiny. Yeah, you're right. You should almost think of this more as a really big Smart Watch than a really little phone.
The Palm Phone: A Connected Device Plan
You can't buy it on its own; it's actually sold on a connected device plan, so it's an extra 10 bucks a month or you can get it on 15 dollars a month on an installment plan.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey everybody, I am Dieter Bohn,And if you are of a certain age you knowthat means that I am the Palm guy.I used the Centro, I usedPixi, I used the Pre.I founded precental.net,I was all about webOS,I was all about Palm.Then it died, but now it's back.Not the company but the name Palm.It's coming back as this little thingthat I was hiding in my hand.It's a tiny little phone to go along withyour big, huge, honking phone.Well what's all that about?(upbeat music)So, this is the Palm phone,and the basic idea here isyou don't want to carryaround your big, giant phone.So, you can have thislittle weekender phone,and it uses Verizon's dual number system.So, you pay an extra ten bucks a month,and that allows you to have this phone,share your phone number andalso share text messages.So, you can leave your other phone behind,which is a great idea, exceptthere's a couple of caveats.If you're an iPhone user, your iMessagesobviously won't come over.If you're an Android user,you're gonna need to useVerizon's custom text messaging appinstead of the built in Android messagesin order to get your messages.The other question you'reprobably asking is,what's the deal with this phone?Well, it's an Android phone,and the basic navigation works this way.There's a single, solitary button on it.You press it, it turns the screen on,you swipe up to unlock it.If you double tap it, it willlaunch the Google Assistant,and it will listen to your voiceand you can do voice stuff.They did that because theyfigured it's a lot faster,you're gonna wanna bedoing a lot of voice stuff.Now, there are no softbuttons on the bottom,and so there's this one,single, solitary button,and it works one of three ways.So, if you tap it once itserves as a back button.If you double tap it, it goes home,and if you long press it,it takes you to this overview screen.They have built in acustom face unlock featureinto the camera, but I'msure it's nowhere secureas Face ID on the iPhone.So, you can just use a standardunlock pattern if you want.The screen is 3.3 inches andit actually looks pretty good.It's not too bad, and for the basic stuffthat it's meant to do,it's relatively fast.Although, it is Snapdragon 435 processorwith 3 gigs of RAM and 32 gigs of storage.So, this isn't exactly apowerhouse in terms of specs.As far as Palm, the new Palm is concerned,you really are just gonna beusing a few different appswith the same bopping in and out.So, it can run any Android app,because it's running Android 8.1,but really they expect you'rejust gonna use it for music,maybe a little Facebooking,navigation, that sort of stuff.Really simple, weekender phone stuff.(upbeat tempo)Now there is a camera on this,it's a 12 megapixel camera on the back,and I'm sure it's no great shakes.We haven't looked at it on a big screen,but on this tiny screen it looks fine.There's our conference room.If you wanna adjust volume,you need to go into thequick settings thing.Now the other thing I'll notice when I'min the quick settings things here,is there is this Palm button.This is where we start to get intowhy this is a little bitmore like an old Palm phone,at least why they claim it is.So, when you turn on Life Mode,which is what they call it,this basically acts as bothbattery saver and do not disturbat the same time.So, when this mode is on,you turn the screen offand no notifications will come in.And in fact, they turn off the radioso not even phone calls will come in.So, this thing should lasta very, very long timein this mode.It's only got an 800milliamp battery in it,but if you have this mode onthe thing will probably justhang out, it's inert forever.The other sort of cutelittle Palm thing isthey've made this shortcuton the lock screenwhere you swipe up and you get this littlegraffiti area with four buttons on it.Then you can do a search forC, if you wanna do the clock.Or you can jump right intothe camera or messaging, whatever.The home screen here, itis just an app launcher,there's not two different thingsand it's in this honeycomb pattern.You can, of course, move stuff around,drag it around, install it.You'll notice here, Ilong pressed on an item,that brings up shortcutsto jump directly intothings inside the app.It's a really underusedfeature in Android,and I'm really glad theysort of foregrounded it here.That even works from that lock screen,so if I were to go here and write an S,it'll jump into differentshortcuts inside the app.So, jump right into scaninside the camera app,for example, or the drive app.So, that's kinda neat.(upbeat tempo)I know what you're thinking,Dieter, is this really a Palm phone?I mean, it's got sortof a Palm logo on it,but it's not running webOSand the only really Palm thing about itis that a bunch of otherPalm phones have been tiny.Yeah, you're right.You should almost think of this moreas a really big Smart Watchthan a really little phone.You can't buy it on it's own,it's actually sold on aconnected device plan,so it's an extra 10 bucks a months.It's 350, or you can getit on 15 bucks a monthon a installment plan.It can do more than a Smart Watch'cause it can run everysingle Android app,but it can do less than your phone,'cause it's got a tiny screenand you're not gonna wannaspend that much time on it.That's kinda the whole idea here,is this is meant to bea time well spent phone.It's a phone that you turnon, do a couple things,turn off and ignore.You can even turn on that Life Mode thingand completely ignore it entirely.So, it's sort of like aback up plan to your phone.Is that worth 10 bucks a month?Maybe.(soft techno music)Thanks so much for watching,we're gonna have a wholelot more about this thing,including a review, whenit comes out in November.In the mean time, you shouldsubscribe to the channel now,'cause we've got a wholebunch of Pixel 3 content.\n"
