Customer Reviews

Palm Pixi Plus GSM with WebOS, Touch Screen, 2 MP Camera and Wi-Fi - Unlocked Phone - US Warranty - Black

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I bought this unlocked phone to see me through the rest of my current cell phone contract after my basic non-smart phone gave up on life. The main things that attracted me to this phone was qwerty keyboard, the price tag and the wifi capabilities. I don't currently have a data plan and didn't want to get one, but live in a city where there's free wifi readily available just about everywhere.

I've had this phone for just over a week and here are my main issues:

Wifi/3G:
The first thing the phone requires you do to is to set up an Palm profile. The phone will automatically connect to 3G and uses data to do this. The phone also frequently checks for updates and if you set up your email through the phone it'll frequently check in to give you up to date emails. I bet these are neat features if you have an unlimited data plan, but if you have anything less than unlimited you should be aware of the frequent updates and backups that will drain your data and cause you to go over. This is apparently a common problem with AT&T. You can turn off 3G and set the phone to wifi which is what I've done.

Alarm clock:
You can't sent alarms to go off on custom days. You can only choose ring once, daily, weekdays or weekends. In the end you have find an alarm app that will allow you to set custom days if you have any needs for custom alarms like I do.
The alarm sometimes won't go off but will only vibrate, even when you have it set to make a sound. If you hit snooze the alarm does not sound when it goes off again but will vibrate only.
When the alarm is set the alarm notification shows up at the bottom right of your screen, rather than the top left, like every other phone I've ever had, so you have to know where to look. If the screen locks and you unlock it there is a perplexingly large notification on the bottom of the your screen letting you know there's an upcoming alarm. I don't know why this is necessary.
I ended up downloading an app to use as an alarm clock. I think it's kind of stupid that I have to find apps to replace the phone's built in functions.

Vibration:
I haven't found anywhere to adjust the strenght of the vibration. The vibration can be described as subtle, or discreet. It's weak to the point where I didn't feel the phone vibrating when it was on my lap while I was driving. Not being able to feel the phones vibration over the vibrations of the car is quite a drawback for me. This also means that when the phone is on the bedside table next to me sleeping head, quietly vibrating to let me know my snooze alarm is up, I don't hear it and oversleep for work. True story.

Contacts:
Once you have your email set up and download a facebook app all of your email and facebook contacts will automatically be imported to your contact list. Instead of having the 30 or so phone numbers of people I programmed in ready to go, I now have a list that's 100s of people long. The list just alphabetized - you can pick if you want it by first or last name, but it doesn't sub-categorize where the contacts came from. It would have been neat if it just had a little tabs for facebook/gmail/simcard or something. If you try to clean up the contact list by deleting all these extra people the phone will tell you "facebook profile can't be deleted". You can, when you have the contact card open go to preferences and set it to only show you names saved in your palm profile, or only names saved on your sim. I was really annoyed that it didn't ask permission or give any sort of notification about this mass importing of contacts. People I have as facebook friends only are there for a reason. If I wanted to call them I would have programmed their numbers into my phone to begin with. I read up about it and and app called Supercontacts was recommended as a way to manage this overload of people. Again, I think it's sort of ridiculous that you need an app to get your phone to be functional.

Palm Apps:
My only frame of reference is the apple app store we use for our Ipod touch. In comparison, this palm app store is cluttered and clunky and difficult to navigate. You can sort apps into "hottest right now" and "new" and alphabetical, but I really miss easily being able to pull up the top 100 free and paid apps. I miss being able to group apps into categories like you can on the Iphone/Itouch - instead you just have an endless list of stuff. It's harder to navigate and not really intuitive. It's hard to search for apps that do a certain function without knowing the name - the search doesn't autocomplete and start pulling up things that you might mean. I had to look as various online reviews and suggestions and then go back to my phone to look for those apps.

The only other issue I have with this phone is that I wish I could have programmed it to have the screen wake up if I push any button. Currently you have to touch the power button to wake the screen and then drag the lock icon upwards to unlock the screen. This is fine, but I miss that extra bit of customizing that my old cheapo cellphone had.

The phone is pretty fast, call quality is good and there's a good collection of preprogrammed ring tones. It's pretty easy to get used to although I had to look up what all the gestures were plus I didn't realize the black part below the screen was part of the touch screen and where you swipe to the left to go back/minimize.

I'm happy I got this phone since it's a huge step up from what I had (LG Neon - would not recommend) but if I got this phone from a cellphone provider as part of a contract it would be going back for something that's a bit more streamlined and something where I can set custom days on an alarm clock. This phone taught me that not being able to set custom days is pretty much a deal breaker.

Update: 01/2012: I've grown use to this phone and am enjoying it. The alarm function still sucks - even on the alarm app I downloaded it'll only ring when it first goes off and all subsequent snoozes are vibrate only. I can't be the only person with this issue, right?

In the comments people asked about if it comes with a data cable. The phone had a cable that is a usb/micro usb in the box, with a wall attachment so you can charge the phone either by plugging it into the wall or your computer. It's the exact same cord the Kindle uses, incase you're not familiar with what a micro usb is. I haven't attempted to use this as a data cable, but when you plug it into a computer a message pops up on the screen that asks you "charge only or usb" and you can pick.

My current cell provider is AT&T and they did NOT require me to buy a data plan with the phone. They require you to get a data plan when you get a smart phone from them but apparently not if you just buy an unlocked one. The phone is branded AT&T, and my sim card is with AT&T, so I can't really say if the phone is actually unlocked. I assume it really is since there are reviews on there from people with different cell phone providers.

I would recommend this phone if you're looking for a cheap compact phone with smart phone capabilities. I used the smart phone capabilities pretty infrequently, and I can get away with charging it only every other day. One of my favourite features is the qwerty keyboard for txting. The only issue I've had with it in all the months I've owned it is that the m of the palm emblem on the back of the phone peeled off. Nothing else. No problems with it freezing or switching itself off or dropping calls.

This isn't a top end cell phone nor was it when it originally came out.

pros: It has a fairly responsive touchscreen and a qwerty keyboard. It's pretty thin. Cheapest in it's category. WiFi

cons: Only supports up to WebOS 1.4.5 because of the old hardware. DOES NOT come with data cable. Does not have its own manual, instead it's packaged with the non "plus" model's manual, which happens to be CDMA, a major difference.

Comments: Te phone it worth it, the old WebOS thing is a non issue since most new software is probably too resource hungry, in any case it's still better than a non-smartphone, and if you actually NEED a smartphone you should probably go for something with android or windows, for example. The packaging was crunched up when received, meaning that it served it's purpose in protecting the sweet sweet innards of the package. USB cable was absent, camera is so-so but better than nothing.

tip: DO NOT format (erase all data) this device or else you'll have to jump some loops to make it work again. You'll either need a data plan to create an Palm/HP account, or use some Palm/HP software to bypass this. You DO NOT need a data plan for these phones, you just need to bypass the requirement. Just don't ask your carrier ;)

I have nothing bad to say about this item. While it is listed as an unlocked device, the unit cannot be used without a data plan UNLESS the palm account activation is bypassed. Hp/palm offers an activation bypass tool under their developer web pages that does this easily, after running some programs you must download. This process took me about an hour, and I was hesitant at first because the Hp/palm site stated that inactivated devices would lose SMS and Phone functionality (what good is the device without these?!). However, I believe that statement only applies to CDMA phone running an older version of webOS; I lost neither. The only loss for an inactivated device is access to the webapps, but if you're looking for a ton of apps, get an android phone or just develop them yourself.

I got this item for $81, and it arrived the NEXT DAY with my amazon prime account. For that price, where else are you going to get an unlocked smartphone with a 600 mhz processor, 8 gb internal storage, 256 mb ram, and capacitive touch screen? Granted, the camera is lacking and the screen is on the small side, but for the price, who cares. Battery life is average; it went from 92 to 88 percent overnight, and 88 to 76 after 4 hours of moderate use (texting, brief browsing over wifi).

Good product.

UPDATE:

Just Bought another after giving one to my sister and my SE Xperia X10 crashed (Not a phone I would recommend...) For those wishing to use this phone without a data plan (Like Me), here is the parent site for activation bypass:
[...]

I rarely write reviews since I'm not a native speaker, but I think I need to write something for this good product.

Pros:
Multi-touch screen with 320x400 resolution;
Full QWERT keyboard;
Camera with flash (though only 200M pixels);
WebOS 1.4.5;
Unlocked phone;
Very cheap price.

Cons:
Keyboard button maybe too small for some people, but when considering the small size of the phone itself, it's not a problem.

So here comes the important part of my review. I will make it clear if you're confused with the reviews regarding of the activation of the phone.
===============================================
THIS PHONE IS UNLOCKED!
However, to use the phone, you need to go through the activation process. There're two ways to do this. DO NOT try to activate the phone before you finish reading my review.

Method 1: Using activation-by-pass tool provided by HP.
I don't think I can post a web link here, but you can search "Developing on an Unactivated Device" on google to get the official description of the tool from HP. But when you follow the instruction of the web page, please notice that the method to go into recovery mode for palm pixi is a little bit different with other webos devices. Here's the correct way to get into recovery mode for pixi:

(1). Turn off the phone;
(2). Take out the battery and re-insert it;
(3). Plug the charger into an AC outlet, but DO NOT plug the other side into the phone yet!
(4). Press down the Volume up button, without releasing the volume up button, plug in the USB cable into the phone;
(5). DO NOT release the volume up button until you see a USB logo on the screen.
(6). Unplug the USB cable from the AC charger, and plug it into your PC.

You need to go into recovery mode, and then follow the instruction from HP to use the Activation-bypass tool. After this, you will be able to skip the first-setup steps of the phone required by Palm.
However, I do not recommend this method to activate your phone since some issues cannot be solved:
You will not able to use App Catalog (AppStore of HP). Which means that you can only install softwares in other ways. One is through "WebOS Quick Install" tool on PC side, the other is using "Preware" (Cydia on WebOS) on your phone. The key problem is that the original "Google Maps" installed on the phone is no longer usable, it requires an update. There'll be no way for you to update the Google Maps into Bing Maps without App Catalog, so you'll not be able to use Maps...

Thus, I recommend the second way to activate your phone...

Method 2: Use your friend's ATT sim card.

Among setting up, simply plugging in an ATT sim card will make the first-setup steps go smoothly. After you created a Palm profile, you can then switch to your own sim card. The phone will still be able to use App Catalog even if you run the Activation-bypass tool after that.

In all, this phone is perfect for such a good price.

This is an awesome little phone! Great touchscreen, keypad's a little small (totally fine for me, might be a problem for some people), sturdy, screen has a good size and is responsive, camera is good (I don't use it that much), and the operating software is great (webOS 1.4.5). Honestly as of now I don't see any cons except maybe for the WiFi (which is probably mostly attributable to me because I don't fully know how to work with it yet). If you don't have an unlimited data plan, it's totally fine. All you have to do is:

1. Touch the call icon
2. Touch where it has your carrier name
3. Select "Preferences"
4. Scroll down to "Data Usage" and turn it off

Boom! No data will be used. Simple! This is a great phone and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants an awesome phone for a good price. If you want any more info just comment on this review and I'll see what I can do.

Im really glad I got this phone! I had a LG Prime, but then the screen cracked. I did have a little bit of trouble with my sim card. I have an AT&T gophone sim card, and had to take it to the AT&T store to get the sim card unlocked. Other than that, this phone works great! Its super fast, easy to set up, and I really like the keyboard. It is taking a minute to get used to the menu and everything, but I really like this phone!

So I was shopping around for a cheap unlocked device and I came across this little guy. It was about $100 off contract, so how could I pass that up? I purchased it and patiently waited the whole 19 hours it took to get it. When it arrived, I was really excited to use it, but unfortunately I don't have a SIM card (yet). So in the meantime, I let my aunt use it to try it out...and she loves it. Not more than an hour after using it, she's flying around with it like a damn pro. The only thing she still has problems with is the tiny dialer. But otherwise, it's great.

Pros (according to her): Size, keyboard, responsive touchscreen, battery life, it's something different

Cons (according to me): My aunt won't give it up. Seriously...I may have to buy another one or something because I highly doubt I'm getting this one back.

For those of you wanting something different, maybe you're tired of the same old iOS or Android thing going on, pick this thing up. If you can find it for less than $200 unlocked, it's a steal. I'll admit that it's small, but believe me, once you get the hang of it, you hardly notice the size. Go. Now. Buy it.

PROS
-The phone is very light
-the portrait qwerty keyboard layout, and just type functionality give very quick access to apps, contacts, web searches
-application card metaphor works very intuitively for switching, arranging, dismissing apps
-ringer switch is very convenient
-Synergy on webos lets you pull and consolidate information from many accounts into the phone (yahoo, gmail, exchange)
-notifications are unintrusive

CONS
-so far battery life is poor, it barely makes the day with moderate use
-the back of the phone gets hot after some minutes web browsing
-the App Catalog is not available in some countries, based on the country where you activate your phone, not even for free apps
-The phone is disabled when you connect it as a usb drive to the computer

I broke my T-Mobile phone and was several months away from being due for an upgrade from them, so I began my search for a replacement. I found this Palm Pixi and read mixed reviews on whether or not it would work with T-Mobile, as well as several reviews on difficulty getting the phone started up and registered, etc. I took my chances and ordered this unlocked phone. When it arrived I took the battery out, put my SIM card from my T-Mobile phone in the slot, replaced the battery, and turned the phone on. I had to do about 2 minutes of registration with Palm, then it was up and running. It worked right away with no trouble at all! What a relief after reading the reviews. I was worried it might be difficult. It may have been easy for me, though, because I do already have a data plan so I didn't have to do anything special like turn data off. So I've been using the phone for a few days now and I am happy with it. There are a decent amount of apps, the camera is all right, call quality is good...it took me a bit to get used to the interface but you'll have that with any new phone.

So, in summary, this phone IS unlocked when ordered from Amazon, and does work with T-Mobile hassle free. (Provided you have a data plan.)

I got this phone as a replacement for an old Nokia feature phone that broke. I use T-Mobile in the US, and mainly use my phone to make phone calls. Thus, I didn't want to get a smart phone (from T-Mobile) and the associated data plan requirements so I decided to get an unlocked phone. I did decide that wifi would be a good feature to have if I didn't have to pay much more for it.

What I like:
One of the cheapest wifi unlocked GSM phone
The phone works as advertised, makes calls, text message, and with wifi you can surf the internet
It is pretty light (3.2 oz), yet the screen size is decent size (2.6" screen)
It is easy to set up (once you get pass the bypass (see below!))
Good battery life (2 days of moderate phone talking with data and wifi turned off)

What I don't like:
The phone ringer and vibration is weak
The phone screen dims randomly when you make phone calls (this is bad when you have to hit buttons like when you're entering keys for customer service calls)
The phone is not as user friendly (no profiles, contacts are hard to organize, messenging detail is not well organized, waking up the phone is cumbersome) as my old Nokia.
The camera is not good

I cannot comment on Apps since I have not been able to access the Apps store (I think I need a data plan for that). There is one useful Apps that comes with the phone that is useful but only work when you're connect to wifi (Google Map).

Overall, for the price paid, I like this phone and would recommend this to somebody in my same position.

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Although this phone is relatively easy to use, the initial start of this phone is difficult. When you first turn on the phone and put SIM card in, the phone will try to activate through Palm (which I believe may force you to get a data plan but I'm not sure). Since I didn't want a data plan, I wanted to skip this. So to skip, you have to run the Activation-Bypass Tool (see Palm website).

***Be sure you have the latest version of JAVA (see Java website) and webOS SDK-PDK (see Palm website) installed on your computer otherwise the Activation-Bypass Tool program may not work***