3 ms·

Which is cool until you find out that it's $350.

microcolonel 8y ago
If it's good, it's worth it. I have a phone about this size and it doesn't do anything other than SMS, phone calls, and Snake; and while I would lose the tactile feel of real buttons, if TCL's "Palm" had even one twelfth the standby time of my current phone, and competent enough as a standalone device, it would be worth considering at $350. I don't get why people (including TCL and Verizon, it seems!) are calling it a "second phone", as though everyone in their right mind is reading novels on their telephones. At least half of the people I know are considering switching, or already have switched, to a feature phone because new phones have awful, unpredictable battery life and are unwieldy in size (and recently, because most of the things they thought they gained from smartphones seem to come with massive privacy strings attached). The biggest problem with the TCL Palm, to me (if the standby time is okay, on the order of four days, and it probably isn't with the size of the battery), is that it is locked to Verizon, and only available as a secondary phone; this means I just can't buy or use it right now.
- cmrdporcupine 8y ago
  Yep I keep watching reviews of it and getting infuriated that I can't get it as a regular unlocked phone. I was happy with the size of my Palm Pre/Pre2/Pre3. I'd pay decent money for a phone like that w/ upgraded specs and a good camera. Don't need a big screen.
erikpukinskis 8y ago
Can you explain what you mean? Are you saying you think the size of the display is a primary cost center for phones, so small screen phones would have a substantially cheaper bill of materials?
- cmrdporcupine 8y ago
  I've had it explained to me that one of the reasons that phones have gotten so large is so that manufacturers can push an increase in the battery size. While the display is the primary user of the battery, it is not a linear relationship and by increasing the surface area for the display the battery volume is increased and thus the battery charge capacity. That little "Palm" phone only has an 800mAh battery. Smaller display and GPU would help conserve battery but not enough -- it won't last long between charges. Which is too bad as I really like small phones.
- Splines 8y ago
  > Are you saying you think the size of the display is a primary cost center for phones, so small screen phones would have a substantially cheaper bill of materials? Not exactly. The way this phone is being marketed is very strange - this phone is designed as an "add-on phone", it can only be used as an add-on to an existing line. As a standalone phone $350 isn't too bad, but asking people to pay $350 in addition to whatever they want to pay for their "main" phone is a little much. They're in Apple Watch territory with this pricing and I don't think they have the ecosystem to demand that kind of price.

If it's good, it's worth it. I have a phone about this size and it doesn't do anything other than SMS, phone calls, and Snake; and while I would lose the tactile feel of real buttons, if TCL's "Palm" had even one twelfth the standby time of my current phone, and competent enough as a standalone device, it would be worth considering at $350. I don't get why people (including TCL and Verizon, it seems!) are calling it a "second phone", as though everyone in their right mind is reading novels on their telephones. At least half of the people I know are considering switching, or already have switched, to a feature phone because new phones have awful, unpredictable battery life and are unwieldy in size (and recently, because most of the things they thought they gained from smartphones seem to come with massive privacy strings attached). The biggest problem with the TCL Palm, to me (if the standby time is okay, on the order of four days, and it probably isn't with the size of the battery), is that it is locked to Verizon, and only available as a secondary phone; this means I just can't buy or use it right now.

cmrdporcupine 8y ago
Yep I keep watching reviews of it and getting infuriated that I can't get it as a regular unlocked phone. I was happy with the size of my Palm Pre/Pre2/Pre3. I'd pay decent money for a phone like that w/ upgraded specs and a good camera. Don't need a big screen.

erikpukinskis 8y ago

Can you explain what you mean? Are you saying you think the size of the display is a primary cost center for phones, so small screen phones would have a substantially cheaper bill of materials?

cmrdporcupine 8y ago
I've had it explained to me that one of the reasons that phones have gotten so large is so that manufacturers can push an increase in the battery size. While the display is the primary user of the battery, it is not a linear relationship and by increasing the surface area for the display the battery volume is increased and thus the battery charge capacity. That little "Palm" phone only has an 800mAh battery. Smaller display and GPU would help conserve battery but not enough -- it won't last long between charges. Which is too bad as I really like small phones.
Splines 8y ago
> Are you saying you think the size of the display is a primary cost center for phones, so small screen phones would have a substantially cheaper bill of materials? Not exactly. The way this phone is being marketed is very strange - this phone is designed as an "add-on phone", it can only be used as an add-on to an existing line. As a standalone phone $350 isn't too bad, but asking people to pay $350 in addition to whatever they want to pay for their "main" phone is a little much. They're in Apple Watch territory with this pricing and I don't think they have the ecosystem to demand that kind of price.