Going by a recent announcement by Palm, the Pre smartphone's "junior" counterpart, the Pixi, will hit the markets November 15! To be available on the Sprint network, the forthcoming Pixi smartphone will be priced at $99.99, after rebates, discounts, and a new two-year contract from Sprint Nextel.

In an October 26 statement pertaining to the release of the Pixi, a new Palm smartphone that boasts Palm Synergy 3, WebOS, linked contacts and a new mobile Facebook app, Sprint's Senior VP Kevin Packingham said: "We are excited to offer the new Palm Pixi to our customers in time for the holiday season, and it's a great addition to Sprint's industry-leading device portfolio."

Sleeker and slimmer not only than the Pre, but also the iPhone 3GS, and even the BlackBerry Bold 9700; the 0.43-inches thick Pixi measures 4.37 by 2.17 inches and weighs 3.26 ounces. It features a 2.63-inch capacitive touchscreen, with a resolution of 320 by 400 pixels; and has a full QWERTY keyboard fitted below it.

Despite the fact that the Wi-Fi-less Pixi is mostly being considered as a trifle notch lower than the Pre, the forthcoming smartphone is still notably efficient at multitasking, and even allows mobile e-mailing, app downloads and Web browsing via Sprint's EV-DO 3G network.

In addition, the handset is also equipped with Bluetooth; GPS; 2-megapixel camera; multimedia capabilities; and 8 GB built-in memory.