Palm Pixi Plus review

Performance is a mixed bag. Browsing is snappy. Indeed, when connected to a fast internet connection over Wi-Fi the Pixi Plus loads and renders pages on screen as quickly as any other phone we've come across, and panning and zooming is on offer too. It loaded the complicated BBC desktop homepage in an impressive nine seconds on average, which puts it right up there with the lightning-quick iPhone 3GS, and scored a creditable 92 in the Acid3 web standards test. But, elsewhere, it struggles, often pausing while launching applications or switching between them, and stuttering momentarily during screen and menu transitions.

Note there's no support for Flash content of any kind either.

Finally, the camera is disappointing, with decent colours and responsive operation but a fixed focus lens and lowly resolution of just two megapixels; photos are a little soft and fuzzy as a result. It does shoot video, though, at a reasonable 640 x 480, and the basic clip trimming tools are extremely easy to use.

But, even if you can get past all that, the paltry selection of apps available to the Pixi Plus is likely to put you off. Compared to the Android Market's selection or the vast repository that is Apple's App Store, the official Palm App Catalog is way down on numbers - we counted fewer than 1,400 at the time of writing.

The Pixi Plus, as with the Palm Pre before it, is a likeable phone. It's very easy to use, browses the web effectively, is lightweight, and has some potential as a business handset too.

But with battery life this poor, and so many other small problems, you'd have to like it an awful lot to even contemplate buying one. The fact that it's so expensive - a free phone starting at £30 per month – hammers the final nail in its coffin.