I’m reviewing the Palm Pixi Plus for Retail Therapy on BBC Radio Manchester tomorrow (Saturday 26th June) at 10:25 AM. We’ll be coming live from somewhere in the Trafford Centre if you’re out that way.

It took me about two minutes playing with the phone to remember all the things I loved about my old Palm devices. You see I used to be a Palm/Handspring devotee until the dreaded iPhone came along and stole my heart. I started with a Handspring Visor back when PDAs were still just about interesting, then progressed through a series of Treos up to the 680 at which I point I switched to a SonyEricsson P1i and then quite rapidly to the iPhone.

The Pixi Plus made me think of my old Treos because it is just so intuitive to use. In fact, I”d go so far as to say that it is possibly easier to use than an iPhone – especially for those people who are used to a standard Nokia and need a bridging step into the world of the touchscreen.

The touchscreen itself is fab: bright, clear, and very responsive. Multi-touch works just the way you expect if you’re familiar with the iPhone. I’m not convinced about the need for the ‘gesture bar’ where you slide your finger to make things happen, but it’s a nice gimmick I suppose.

Features are plenty: GPS, Wifi, camera with flash, and a fairly well-stocked app store so that you what you don’t have you software-wise. The built-in messaging client is particularly nice, allowing you to maintain conversations across SMS and instant messenger in the same window.

Overall then, a big thumbs up. However, there is a caveat to this: o2 offers the Pixi Plus’s big brother, the Pre Plus, at exactly the same price point on monthly contracts – both devices are free. So unless size and style are the biggest issues for you (and they may be for the teen/twenties audience this seems to be aimed at) the decision will be a straightforward one to go for the Pre Plus. Or, I’m afraid, if you’re a little more flush, the flawed but beautiful iPhone 4.