An unexpected entrant into the smartphone market is a new handset called Palm that has been launched in the US. It is basically a pocket phone with a small 3.3-inch display. The phone has been launched exclusively for the US market and is a companion to your primary Android or iOS phone. This means that the Palm will use your existing phone number and you can it when you don’t want to carry your device with you.

When manufacturers are competing to achieve tinier notches in order to increase screen-to-body ratio, the Palm smartphone represents exactly the opposite. Palm offers users a minimal approach. The phone is about the size of a credit card, has a high pixel density LCD panel, and comes with IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.

There’s a custom “Life Mode” on the device to save battery that silences incoming calls and notifications every time the screen is turned off. Moreover, the company claims that the battery on the Palm can last all day and that it has 3+ days of stand-by time.

Palm price and specifications

The pricing of this handset is a bit steep considering the features on offer. The miniature Palm handset has been priced at $350, which is roughly Rs. 25,800 on conversion, and will be sold starting November exclusively via Verizon Wireless in the US. Users will have to pay a monthly fee of $10 (about Rs. 700) over and above their current Verizon plan to connect the Palm to the carrier’s network, reports NDTV Gadgets, citing CNET.

This will be a single-SIM (nano) phone that will run a custom version of Android 8.1 Oreo out-of-the-box. The small 3.3-inch HD LCD display panel also gets Corning Gorilla Glass protection on the front and the back. The phone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 SoC, coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

In terms of optics, the Palm sports a 12-megapixel rear camera with a flash, and an 8-megapixel front camera for selfies and video calling. There is an 800mAh battery under the hood.