Sidekick syndrome

Before we get into what the Palm is actually like to use, we need to talk about the role it's meant to play. You're supposed to carry it when you don't need the full power (or the distraction) of your main phone. A sidekick device like this can definitely feel like overkill, especially when you consider you have to pay $10 per month to use Verizon's NumberShare service to get your main phone number up and running on the Palm.

I've seen a few people remarking on the Palm's potential as a stripped-down smartphone for children, but for now that's not possible under Verizon's rules. From what I've seen, there isn't anything stopping Verizon from selling the Palm as a standalone phone; it just doesn't want to. There's a fully functional SIM slot here and you could theoretically throw an existing functional SIM into one, but Verizon won't actually sell you one for use like that.

Palm and Verizon also tout the phone's compatibility with Android and iOS, but the latter is a bit misleading. Yes, you can use NumberShare to push phone calls and messages from an iPhone to a Palm, but iMessages won't appear on the Palm. Verizon recommends disabling iMessage and using its own Messages+ as your messaging app, but that's not going to fly for the vast majority of Apple users. There's also the cognitive dissonance that comes with switching between iOS and Android regularly. I can't imagine too many people would be thrilled at having to use a completely different platform (with all of its specificities and quirks) just to get a few distraction-free hours.

The Palm is similarly unfriendly to people who use apps like WhatsApp, which only allows you to be signed in on one device at a time. The app will work perfectly well once installed, but that means you'll be signed out on your primary phone. To be fair, switching service back to the original phone isn't the hardest thing to pull off, but who wants to deal with that every time you want to send a few messages from the Palm while you're out?