Thoughts on the Pixi: Why I will Miss my Centro… 24

When the Palm rep emailed to pry the Pixi out of my hands, I was bummed. I had been taking it with me everywhere -- to the local farmer's market, to the gym, on my quest to find a golf course with an available tee time the day after Thanksgiving (Is there an app for that?), etc. The Pixi had become quite the pal. But alas, I sent it back knowing that we'd meet again (perhaps in the form of the rumored Verizon Pixi Plus).

It has been a while since my initial thoughts on the Pixi appeared.  With the New Year upon us, as well as the one-year anniversary of the webOS hoopla at the Consumer Electronics Show, the time seemed right to do Part 2, where I focus on the Pixi from the perspective of a Centro owner.

What I like about my Centro…

Let’s start with a rundown of why I enjoyed using my Centro so much.

Its Weight. I put my Treo 700p in a drawer when I got my hands on a Centro. The difference in weight was so significant.

Let's circle back to the comparison list from Part 1 of my review. The Treo is a heavyweight for sure.

There is nearly a 50g difference between it and the Centro. The Pixi is nearly half the weight of a Treo 700p. To me, a smartphone shouldn't feel like it requires a sherpa to lug it around. It shouldn't weigh down your pocket or purse. It should be something you'll gladly take with you anywhere (like on a golf adventure).

The Plethora of Apps. The other thing that was awesome about the Centro is that I could use all the apps I had grown to love over the years on my succession of Treos. During my time as a power Centro user, the apps I used the most were Agendus, SplashPhoto, eReader and Golden Tee Golf. In fact, the reason that the Palm rep was able to pry the Pixi away is because I haven't managed to wean myself off these apps.

Side note: What about the MotionApps Classic emulator? 

I thought I would give the MotionApps Classic emulator a try, but became puzzled when I searched in the Palm App Catalog and couldn’t locate it. Thinking I may have searched for it using the wrong name, so I tried again with the Pre and Pixi side-by-side. It came up on the Pre, but not on the Pixi.

Curious, I checked with MotionApps and this is what I was told, "You’re right, Classic is not available for Pixi now. However, we do plan to support it in the future, although at this point I do not have a timeline for this."

So it looks like the emulator isn’t a webOS "thing." Rather, it has something to do with hardware. Apparently, the design differences between the Pre and Pixi are significant enough that it isn’t a dunk to have the emulator work on the Pixi.

One-Hand Navigation. The combination of touchscreen and D-Pad on the Centro was perfect for my needs. With the Centro in my left hand, I could maneuver my way around swiftly with my left thumb to get to mostly everything I needed. I even got quite efficient typing with my left thumb. If I had to type something lengthy, it was easy to shift the Centro slightly and go at it with the thumbs of both hands. By the way, the QWERTY keyboard on the Centro was fine for my hands (think petite female).

To put things in context, here's a side-by-side comparison that provides a top-line view of how the Pixi stacks up against the Centro.

What I like about the Pixi…

Its Weight. At 3.26 ounces, it is a featherweight that packs a punch.

webOS – messaging, multi-tasking, multi-touch. The new Palm operating system, webOS, was well worth the wait. Messaging is a snap. Doing several things at once was a huge plus over the Centro (Note: With the Pixi, you should limit yourself to 3 or 4 cards max because it really bogs down). And, to get around that small screen with its smaller writing, having the ability to pinch and grow the screen to a readable size was a terrific (and needed) option.

One-Hand Navigation. To me, the Pixi was so much easier to maneuver than the Palm Pre. Having its QWERTY keyboard exposed, like on the Centro, was a huge plus. Beyond simple navigation, the Pre requires some dexterity. To start, getting access to the keyboard is not a one-handed (or one-thumb) deal. Typing is clunky once you have it open because you are balancing a heavy object (remember, it outweighs the Pixi by 40+ grams) that seems unstable.

On the Pixi, with one or two hands, I just typed. The Pixi really felt great too. Compared to the Centro, the Pixi is clearly next generation.

One notable: With the Pixi,  you do a lot more in the way of sliding and swiping, in addition to pressing on the screen. For the Centro, you just press.

Rubberized Backside. The Pixi has a nice rubberized backing, with or without the Touchstone cover. It just felt right in my hand and I never sensed it would slip out. Both the Centro and Pre are too smooth for their own good.

Touchstone Charging Option. I had a chance to play around with the Palm Pixi Touchstone Charging kit (Dock plus Back Cover) and found it worked better than I imagined. You just replace the back cover of the Pixi (a very simple process) with one that is specially fortified to work with the little round charging dock. That dock works with the travel charger that ships with the Pixi. Then you just place the Pixi on the dock and it uses built-in intelligence to start charging it on contact. Other notables about the Touchstone include:

• Magnets snap the Palm Pixi into place on the Charging Dock and charging begins immediately
• Charges in the same amount of time as wall charger that came with the Pixi
• If your Pixi is on the dock while you're on a call, the speakerphone turns on automatically.
• Pick your phone up from the dock while you're on speakerphone and the audio switches back to the earpiece.
• You can videos in portrait or landscape mode while the phone is charging.
• You can also see the time, incoming calls, and notifications.

I found the Touchstone very convenient and well worth the investment.

• Palm Touchstone Charging Dock ($39.99)
• Palm Touchstone Back Cover ($19.99)

Available at Palm.com or from the PreCentral Store.

Why I’ll wait for the Pixi Plus…

My number one hesitation about the Pixi was the fact that I really struggled to read what was on the screen. Multi-touch helped. However, my sense is that the Pixi Plus (or perhaps the Plus, Plus, Plus) will have a bigger screen without sacrificing much in the way of weight or form factor (hey, one can hope, right?).

Also, there have been lots of complaints about the processor and how there is lag when multiple cards are open. Since processor prices tend to drop over time, perhaps the Plus (or Plus, Plus) will have this issue rectified.

And lastly, 2010 should be the year of the webOS Apps. My hope is that the catalog will be beefed up significantly over time. The reality is, Apple, Google Android and Research in Motion's BlackBerry have got a stronghold on developers. Perhaps something dramatic will happen that tilts things in Palm’s favor (Yeah, I know… there I go hoping for the best again…).

Conclusion:

The Pixi is definitely a step the right direction --towards the mass acceptance of webOS.  It is clear to me that my initial impression was correct --The Pixi is mostly aimed at smartphone newbies. But if a Plus, Plus version comes along, it could clearly straddle the newbie and experienced user market, which translates to more units shipped. That brings me to another forward-thinking idea... wouldn't it be awesome if you could have a Pixi for your casual outings and then slap it on the Touchstone and grab your Pre for work? If the data is hanging out in the cloud anyway, why not?  I have workout shoes and dress shoes with each serving specific purpose. Why can't I have that kind of flexibility in my communication devices? But I digress…

Clearly, Palm is on the cusp of something great. Perhaps, they will be able to get some more traction in 2010 (as opposed to eating Apple, Google and RIM’s dust). For sure, I am going to put the Pixi, and its Plus, Plus variants, on my watch list for the year ahead.

###

Note: You may wonder why I haven't covered how the Pixi works as a phone versus the Centro. My Centro, running on Sprint, was quite adequate here in the San Francisco Bay Area. When I got my Palm Pre over the summer, I disconnected my Centro, which prohibited me from doing a direct comparison. During my test period, I found the Pixi worked as well as the Centro.