Palm Introduces Pixi for Texters

With a name like Pixi, it’s got to be a cute phone and it is. Think Skipper to Barbie, the Pixi is the Palm Pre’s younger sister: slimmer, chattier and a lot more fun. Palm announced Pixi this week, a trim version of the Palm Pre, which was launched in June and received nothing but praise. Pixi runs on the same operating system, WebOS, and will access the same fledgling apps. Pixi is designed to appeal to younger users, but as I’ve said before, there’s no generation gap when it comes to cell phones.

Palm also announced a welcome $50 price drop for the Pre,  which will now cost you $150 with the contract and mail-in rebate. No price has been announced for Pixi, but Palm’s Chief Executive Jonathan J. Rubinstein said it would cost less than the Pre and be available in time for the holidays.

The biggest difference between Pixi and Pre is Pixi’s exposed keyboard designed to make texting easier. It’s about the same size as the BlackBerry Pearl, but offers a full Qwerty keyboard. And like the Pre, Pixi has a touchscreen (a little smaller than Pre), 8GB of storage and GPS capabilities. Facebook and Yahoo! IM apps will come preloaded. Camera is a sad 2MP compared to Pre’s 3MP.

Pixi will also have a removable backplate that can be swapped out with artist designed plates, an appealing concept similar to Dell’s designer series laptops. Commissioned designers include music industry artist Cole Gerst, fashion’s Sheri Bodell, and noted skateboard artist Jeremy Fish.

Pixi, like Palm Pre, will be exclusively available through Sprint.