There was a lot of buzz about a new Palm phone a couple of months ago. But when it was officially announced in the middle of October, it turned not to be a phone at all.

The Palm is a connected device that syncs with your existing smartphone and takes over some of its day to day tasks without you needing to take your handset out with you.

It is a wearable you don't wear, basically. A smartwatch that isn't a watch.

Vodafone has announced that it will exclusively be bringing it to the UK, while Verizon will be its home in the US.

New Palm Isnt A Phone After All But What The Heck Is It image 2
Palm

The Palm is credit card sized, comes with a 3.3-inch HD display, Qualcomm 435 octa-core processor and front and rear cameras - 12 and 8-megapixels respectively.

It runs Android 8.1, so accesses many of the Google features and apps on a customised user interface, and has a non-removable nano SIM inside that you assign to a supported carrier.

It is IP68 water and dust resistant, with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on front and back. Parent company TCL believes, therefore, that you will take it to the gym, running or cycling and therefore won't need your usual phone.

There is technology on board, Life Mode, that prevents calls and texts from interrupting you as long as the screen is off. But the difference between this and simply turning your phone off is that you can look at notifications again just by waking the display.

And there is voice control on board too.

The Palm is a Verizon exclusive in the States and with Vodafone in the UK (for the first six months). It uses Verizon's NumberShare tech to sync all calls, texts and phone number with your main mobile account over in the US and it should use similar tech for the British version from Vodafone.

But therein lies the big question: if it acts like your main smartphone, you have to carry it around like your main smartphone, but has worse cameras and functionality, why does it exist?

We're frankly baffled by it, to be honest. But hey, there might be someone out there that "gets it" more than us.

At least it answers one other question: when is a wearable not a wearable? When it's a Palm.