Palm phone $350
Cute phone, but why would you need it?
The new Palm phone has me shaking my head.
The Verizon-exclusive phone is described as an ultra-portable. You can say that again. Verizon also has called it the Palm Companion Device, which also works.
The very small cellphone attracted a lot of attention. But after hearing about it, no one particularly wanted one.
The Palm phone isn't made by the Palm company you may remember. The Palm name was sold to Chinese electronics manufacturer TCL, which is better known for really well-made TVs.
TCL decided to revive the Palm brand starting with an Android phone with a 3.3-inch display. Yes, that's really tiny, but the Palm isn't supposed to be your only phone. Think of it as a tiny phone to use when you want to take a break from your regular phone.
Verizon sells the Palm as a companion device — meaning you have to own a Verizon smartphone first, then they will sell you the $350 Palm phone. You add the Palm to your Verizon account as a $10 per month additional 4G device, like you might add an iPad or Apple Watch.
The Palm phone has the same phone number as your bigger smartphone, and when you receive a phone call, both phones ring. Texts also show up on both phones.
The Palm does run full-blown Android (Version 8.1), so you can install and run any app you like. But the phone runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 435, which is snappy enough for regular apps, but not appropriate for gaming (you won't want to run games on the Palm anyway).
