Palm just announced their new Foleo companion device to smartphones. It looks like a mini-laptop that connects to either wi-fi or a smartphone data connection to gain access to the internet. I couldn't find any detailed specs on Palm's website to figure out if it has a hard drive (doubtful), weight, size, screen resolution, etc.
I expect some people will be disappointed that this device doesn't have direct cellular internet access, but this may be a good move on Palm's part since most people have cell phones anyway and won't want to pay for two seperate services. It will depend on how easy it is to connect to a smartphone. (Speaking of which, I wonder if this would be compatible with the iPhone?)
It looks like Foleo will have web browsing capabilities, email, and pocket versions of Office-like software, and a PDF viewer. Prices start at $499. I expect many more details will become available later today.
Update: Read about Jeff Hawkins' introduction of the Foleo and see a gallery of photos.
My initial impressions: I can definitely see where something like this could be useful and the instant-on feature is nice, but this doesn't look much more powerful than the HP Jornada 820 I bought back in 1998 before my first business trip to Japan. The Jornada was a similar weight and size, had instant-on, and a much more impressive battery life. (If I recall correctly, I used to get 8-10 hours of juice out of it.) Granted, that was in the days before wi-fi and cellular data connections, but otherwise it was a fairly comparable machine.
I think Palm is really missing the boat on two fronts -- no touchscreen and no ability to use this in a "slate" mode. Nearly all UMPC's have that feature, they are dropping in price, have full-blown windows, comparable weight, increasing battery life, and falling prices. Combine that with internal cellular connections, hard drives, USB, VGA out, etc. I don't think the Foleo is going to have widespread adoption -- particularly considering it doesn't have full functionality without the additionaly purchase of a smartphone. UMPCs have full-functionality on their own. (I would much rather spend my money on the forthcoming HTC Shift or Samsung Q1 Ultra.)
That's not to say I think the Foleo is useless (it would probably work very well as a note-taking device for students), but I think Palm is continuing to make slow, tiny, incremental innovations while the rest of the computer industry is blazing ahead at warp speed.
Update: Kevin Tofel shares his thoughts and links to this Palm press release with more info.
Update: UMPC Portal doesn't seem to be too impressed. At least Palm can't be accused of feature bloat.
PC Magazine seems to have a more favorable opinion and LinuxDevices.com verifies these specs:The Folio's bright color screen measures 10.2-inches, and runs in 1024x600 or 1024x768 (SXGA) resolutions. The device has 256MB of RAM, and expandable storage via SD and CompactFlash slots. I/O includes VGA out, USB, Bluetooth, and Wifi.That's good to know that the Foleo has a more standard screen resolution and VGA and USB ports. I'm surprised that it can't handle internet video, however. Even the Nokia N800 can do that.
3 comments:
This is the most useless gadget ever, as some have called it.
Why would I want to spend $500 on this very limited device which syncs with a Treo, when I can spend $500 on a fully featured budget laptop which also syncs with a Treo?
There is no advantage to this device...it's just plain dumb. It's aiming for a market that doesn't exist. Maybe 5 or more years ago, when laptops were more expensive, but today this is totally a waste.
Of course this assumes someone even wants to carry a device the size of a laptop. One of the main reasons why people carry smartphones like the Treo is so they don't have to carry their laptop.
Again, this device is dumb...plain dumb, and will be a total dud in the market.
Palm has gone totally downhill.
Going back to Palm, it's sad to see a company once so innovative and bold reduced to something so irrelevant.
They are going nowhere.
Look at the smartphone market: while other manufacturers are releasing sleak new designs they are stuck with their Treo form factor with minor improvements.
Check out the new BlackBerry Curve just released by AT&T. That is the design the Treo should have had by now.
Palm will slowly fade away, if they don't make some big changes fast. Judging from the release of this device, that isn't happening.
Just to show how dumb this device is, I just checked the Dell website, and you can buy their entry level laptop for $549...complete with Windows Vista, 60GB hard drive, CD burner, and DVD player. So for just $50 more, I get something that is far more powerful and useful.
Oh, and by the way, it can still sync with a Treo, like this Palm device can.
Plus, I don't have to have a Treo to use this device, and judging from the way the Treo is being surpassed in the smartphone market, I'd say that the number of Treo users is shrinking daily.
It was an embarrassment for Jeff Hawkins to announce this as something great.
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