Palm’s Pre was certainly a watershed device alongside the impressive webOS operating system, signalling new life into this ailing company that was tethering on the brink due to dropping sales and the migration to other smartphone platforms. While the Palm Pre did not do as well as many people predicted, that doesn’t take away from the capabilities of the Pre which is still able to hold its own even until today. Well, Palm has announced its second webOS-powered smartphone known as the Palm Pixi, but don’t expect any magic fairy dust to be sprinkled all over this device for an instant corporate turnaround – there’s still work to be done, but the Pixi does look like a step in the right direction.

This candybar phone is really slim in nature, where you get a visible full keyboard that while comes with smaller keys compared to the Palm Pre, they’re apparently easier to type with according to first impressions that have circulated around the Web thanks to a higher profile that makes one less prone to making mistakes while typing out a flurry of emails and text messages. You will be able to personalize the exterior according to your liking, making future artsy owners drool in anticipation. The Palm Pixi is able to connect your information from Google, Facebook, Exchange ActiveSync, Yahoo! and LinkedIn to Palm Synergy, allowing you to view the entire collection in a united view for an unprecedented level of contacts intergration.

You get a smaller display though, lopping off 80 pixels, but the 2.63″ 320 x 400 resolution TFT display still ought to work well enough for most applications, with a large enough gesture area to function without any hassle. Other features include robust messaging support, a desktop-class Web browser, built-in GPS capability, audio and video playback, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support and 8GB of internal memory. Basically, this is a thinner Palm Pre with Wi-Fi support not included. We don’t know how much the Pixi will cost when it arrives from Sprint during the holidays, but it shouldn’t be more expensive than the $149.99 which Sprint has priced the Palm Pre.

Press Release