Palm phone: the tiny handset puzzling tech fans

A new smartphone that bucks the trend of ever larger mobiles is being launched by a San Francisco-based technology start-up.

The tiny handset is called the Palm, a name reminiscent of the handheld PalmPilot personal computers from the late 1990s. The start-up behind the minute mobile bought the rights to use the Palm name from HTC last year, reports the BBC.

According to The Verge, the Palm is around the size of a credit card and is 7.4mm thick, which is slightly thinner than Apple’s iPhone XS. The new release is notably lighter than the Apple phone, too, weighing in at just 62g compared with the iPhone’s 174g.

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But the small proportions come at the cost of some key features, the tech site says. Buyers can only listen to music through a Bluetooth connection and there is no option to charge the phone wirelessly.

Still, the Palm is powered by Google’s Android mobile operating system, which is paired with a 3.3in LCD display, says Trusted Reviews. There’s also a 12 megapixel dual-lens camera at the back and an eight megapixel lens at the front for shooting selfies.

The company hopes the Palm will be used primarily as a secondary mobile, given that there is “a growing trend of users seeking minimalist phones in order to trim back on their screen time”, the tech site says.

However, it may be some time before the Palm arrives in the UK. The handset is only available in the US at the moment, with no word on whether it will be sold further afield.

Is it a hit with tech fans?

Not really, judging by the reception on social media to the launch.

Fans appear to be puzzled by the Palm’s concept, with many Twitter users arguing that owning a secondary phone to simply cut down the amount of time spent on a larger device makes little sense.