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Palm just finished up their webcast a little while ago, and after seeing what it can do and how easy it is to use, I may have to get one of these when they come out. I’ll give you the highlights of the webcast.
Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm talked at length about the overall focus of the company. 15 years ago they started Palm with the idea that the future was in mobile computing. They wanted to build a device that could do many of the same functions that a desktop or laptop computer could do, but small enough to fit into your pocket.
They started off small by finding a market to which they could appeal. They found that niche with the Palm Pilot as a mobile organizer. Their thought was that they could appeal to a market, then let their product grow. The Palm Pilot eventually evolved into the Treo which incorporated a phone into the organizer, and let you do more of the basic computing functions.
The Foleo represents the next step Palm is taking to bring the computer down to a mobile size. Again they’ve decided to cater to a specific crowd. They are targeting users that are looking for mobile mail and web browsing, but want a larger screen and a full-size keyboard. But there is plenty of room for the Foleo to grow into much more than just an email machine.
The biggest features of the Foleo are the small size, full keyboard and instant-on technology. The device is only as wide as the keyboard itself to allow for the smallest possible size. This allows for a 10” screen which at a resolution of 1024 x 600 should be more than adequate for use. It has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth to keep you connected to your phone and the internet. Even with WiFi turned on, you should be able to use it for 5 hours without needing to recharge it.
What really sets this apart from other mobile solutions is the instant-on function. This is not a suspended state or a sleep mode, in fact the Foleo has only two modes: on and off. So every time you press the power button, it will instantly turn on or off, no waiting. You don’t have to worry about saving what you’re doing, you can just shut the lid and go. Next time you press the power button it will be exactly where it was when you closed it.
The device looks very sleek when closed, you only have ports on one side, all three of the other sides are smooth, you’ll only see the word Palm on the top of the case, otherwise it is very smooth all around. As for the ports you will see the VGA port, a USB port, an SD slot for expansion, a headphone jack and a place to plug in the power adapter.
The Foleo is Linux-based, so you have the option to switch to the terminal at any time. This also means that the software is open-source and they are encouraging people to write their own software for it. They will be making the full SDK available at launch. They feel that if you give users all of the tools, they will surprise you will cool stuff.
For the web browser they have chosen to use Opera, and Versamail and Pocket Outlook will be used for email. You can view flash videos, but unfortunately you won’t be able to see YouTube videos at this time. He did mention that they are currently working on support for them. You will also be able to open and edit Word and Excel documents on it, as well as view PDF files and PowerPoint presentations.
Setup is a breeze, it’s only a four-step process. You pretty much just select the model of phone you have and what carrier you use, then it starts syncing your files. At this time it only syncs your email, attachments, folders and contacts, but support for other files can be added in the future. When asked what phones the Foleo supports he stated that out of the box the Treo line will work, as will most Windows Mobile phones, though he did warn that they have not had the opportunity to test all Windows Mobile phones on the market. He also included that they hope to include support for other platforms including RIM and Symbian and if Apple were to open up the phone to 3rd-party applications they would make it compatible with the iPhone as well.
If you haven’t heard already, Steve Jobs announced today that they would in fact allow 3rd party apps to work in the future. So we should be able to assume that it will be able to work with the iPhone at some point.
At the end of the broadcast he took a few questions, most of the information I’ve already covered, but an interesting point that was discussed is security. You can password protect the Foleo, however, it diminishes the instant-on feature. A feature that he touched briefly on was using your phone as a key, so that as long as your phone is within range of a Bluetooth connection, you wouldn’t need a password, otherwise you would. Now that is cool.
One of the best questions was why I would want a Foleo rather than a laptop? Several times during the webcast Hawkins said that the Foleo is not a laptop replacement. It is targeted at people that want something small to check email and browse with. Right now if you want something this size to do those things you’d have to pay a hefty premium to get a full-featured laptop. You’ll only pay $499 for the Foleo after a $100 rebate, that’s cheap. He then went on to state that over time it may evolve into something that is more of a laptop replacement, but for now that’s not what they are aiming for.
Neat, can the Folio connect to the internet via the bluetooth connection to your cell phone? This would give the user greater ability to be on-line anywhere a phone works.
It’s the price MS’ Origami couldn’t hack — sans touchscreen or tablet wow factors, but with the form factor and the connectivity, with some less convergence, but on the whole: so much more marketable, so much more practical. On balance this could support a lot of mobile productivity formerly chained to bloated or otherwise crippled Windows devices. It’s a flipstart, it’s a smartphone, I can barely type on it and its battery is running out. MS? next offers a $5,000 to $10,000 touchscreen table? Push the boundaries (I write from a tablet pc) but be practical. This could be it. Nice review too, btw. BG
That’s a load of crock; Palm started up because Newtons were too expensive. And the more I look at this thing, the more I see a Psion Series 5mx, copied by someone who couldn’t figure out the clever Psion hinges.
And by not including Symbian (oh, the irony!) on startup, he shrewdly reduced the Fooleo’s potential market share by three quarters.
Please beware about quality. I have used Palm since Palm III. This one works. Palm m515 works. Palm Tungsten died on me after 1.5 years. Palm TX purchased in April 2007 died in 2 days. Second Palm TX purchased in April 2007 died at the end of May 2007. I refuse to send my Palms to the factory for repairing because I have sensitive information on them. It is impossible to turn them on. It is impossible to perform hard reset. Palm’s policy and technology(?) does not permit to remove memory. Amazon reimbursed me for the the first TX when I explained the situation. (Please notice how good the customer support can be!) I try now to get similar resolution with the Corporate Headquarters of Palm. If they will be cooperative, I let you know. However, so far I have 3 dead bricks. I was surprised that Palm did not permit to remove flash memory. More than that, memory must be removable on all modern PDA. At that time, by analogy with blue screen of death for Windows, I suggest black screen of death for Palm. If Foleo has no memory, if this is just a convenient window to the Internet, if I can use it to operate a remote computer, multiple Google applications, print or download files through other media, that may be cool. At least they will be able to repair this device after it breaks.
Foleo is DOA. Do you realize they introduced the LifeDrive almost exactly 2 years ago. I have one. I am steamed that it’s not even supported any longer. I too have a dead Tungsten. I’m pretty sure Palm will follow in the footsteps of its products. Check out my blog on the Foleo at http://www.danmosqueda.blogspot.com
Sparky, it will connect to the internet via Bluetooth so that you can connect virtually anywhere. You can switch it to WiFi when you’re near a hotspot.
Professor, it has the option of an internal CompactFlash card. Once you insert such a card, that becomes your main memory where all data is stored. If it does happen to crash you can simply remove the card and retrieve your data.
We will hopefully be getting a review unit in when they become available. I am interested in testing one out more than ever after hearing your concerns. Hopefully after a thorough testing we can discover if this is a solid device or if it will turn out like some of the Palm products that you guys have used.
I have no doubt that this will be a pretty closed system.
Most people here probably are not going to be the target audiance. These are for people that live and die by their smartphones or PDAs. Think of it more as a accessory for your smartphone rather then something that uses your smartphone to connect to the internet.
Say your a salesmen, always running around from place to place. You spend more time travelling then you do in your office. When people need to reach you they call you, text you, or email you. All of that happens right on the same device. You keep this little folio thing stuck in your briefcase or in your car.. When you need to place orders on a website, or write longer emails or show customer specifications or whatnot you just whip it out, turn it on, and when your finished you shove it back in your bag.
Meanwhile your PDA/Smartphone/whatever is the brains of the thing, the important thing. It’s is always on, always aviable, always connected.
Personally I want the Asus 3ePC and Neo1973 combo, but that’s just me. I am a computer geek and love to mess around with things and do special things. Folio isn’t for me., but I think I understand the point behind it. :)
Too bad. I like the form factor. If the Folio were the T/X expanded to the size of a sub notebook, I’d buy it! I watch movies with my T/X, listen to MP3s with it, I even have a version of BASIC and a C compiler installed!
Too bad indeed.