The first contemporary smartphone launching as part of the Palm brand leaked online on Thursday, with its first known depiction being leaked by Android Police. The render that can be seen above confirms previous rumors about the device having a relatively tiny form factor but dispels the possibility of it launching with a physical keyboard. Manufactured by Chinese tech giant TCL Communication, the newly leaked phone is said to be code-named “Pepito” and will be a Verizon exclusive in the United States, as was already reported this spring. It’s still unclear whether TCL has any plans to make the upcoming mobile product available outside of the U.S. and its official moniker remains unknown.
The first Palm-branded device in seven years is said to feature a 3.3-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 1,280 by 720 pixels and a conventional widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9. The Pepito will be powered by Qualcomm’s entry-level Snapdragon 435 system-on-chip, the same module found inside the likes of the LG Q6, Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A, and the Huawei Enjoy 7 Plus. The low-end silicon will be paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of flash memory, though it remains to be seen whether the latter configuration will be expandable via a microSD card tray. An 800mAh battery (pictured below) is also understood to be part of the package, together with Android 8.1 Oreo.
Given TCL’s track record the actual software running on the Pepito is likely to be a custom, heavily modified implementation of Google‘s operating system. While the small display panel and the choice of a relatively energy-efficient processor should keep the Pepito’s energy footprint to a minimum, the handset is unlikely to be able to offer more than a day of use on a single charge. At least one variant of the device meant to be sold in the U.S. likely carries the model number PVG100, having already been certified by the FCC and WFA earlier this year.