“Late this spring, Palm, Inc. took the wraps off the Foleo, the first device in its new third product category. When it debuts in the next few months, this won’t be a handheld or smartphone, instead it will something Palm is calling a mobile companion. I recently spent some time with a prototype unit, and I’d like to share my first impressions.” More here.
Palm Foleo First Thoughts
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Is there anyone who thinks this thing is a good idea? Anyone? Bueller?
When it was first announced, it looked okay to me as an ultraportable desktop for web browsing and e-mail, but compared to the Eee PC, it doesn’t looks so gret anymore.
I think it is. We have like 20 employees here who need laptops really _only_ and _exclusively_ to access our Intranet and to check their e-mails when on the road, and to write/read a few office documents once in a while – and for this purpose, a full-featured laptop is just too much, but a smartphone is too little – a device like this would be perfect – especially as it needs almost no maintenance as it seems.
Tom
I absolutely agree, there IS a small niche in between subnotebooks and pda, where this could fit. I think alot of people don’t realize just how significant something like instant on/off can be. If I’m running through the airport and need to check something online, I can instanton this device, and within what 2minutes via bluetooth, be online and looking up my information….far cry from even the fasted laptop with a full blown OS. Roadwarriors could really use a device like this..the price is just to steep…considering that no one else has written to its standard (they say they will gladly work with other phone makers to get it in sync)…you would have to buy the device and get ahold of a treo…you’re talking $800+ for a package, UNLESS…they want to throw in a new unlocked GSM treo for like $100 bucks or free…then we in business…
I just wish this thing were going to be on the market by San Diego Comic Con (last weekend in July).
Instead I’m going to have to lug a laptop* and/or hope one of my staff writers is in the press room when I get out of panels.
The Foleo is the perfect size and instant on is a huge appeal. This thing would last me all day for the kind of reporting I’ll need to do.
*I have a bad back and 5 days of carrying around a 3 pound laptop, plus all my other con gear, even in a backpack, will cause me considerable pain.
I’m sure some kind seller on eBay UK will ship a Psion to you.
http://computers.search.ebay.co.uk/psion_PDAs_W0QQfromZR34QQsacatZ3…
I’m a little confused… Your current laptop is 3 pounds… that’s already tiny! The Foleo is 2.4 pounds… do you really think that 0.6-pounds will make that much difference? Plus what’s the big deal about instant-on, just put the computer in sleep mode! (Unless of course you’re running Linux and it doesn’t support sleep on your laptop.)
The video clip was helpful in seeing the size of the device. At a glance, it seems it might be a good electronic replacement for a “classic size” paper-based dayplanner. If you want something smaller and/or something in combo with a cellphone, I’d think a Treo, et. al., would be the way to go.
While I don’t need cellphone integration, it’s too big for me. I have a Dell X51v that does everything I need it to do, and I can carry it on my belt or in my pocket.
I wonder what the street price of this will be? I could be persuaded if the price were right. Not that I don’t have enough gadgets already…
$500.
I think it’s a great device, with alot of potential. Things like instant on, linux-base and sync support, make it awesome for ultra-mobile sales types…UNFORTUNATELY all of the potential is overshadowed by the amazing price tag…and now with stuff like Eee PC from Asus…they are going to find it difficult to move such a device.
Pricing aside, its a great device and I would love to have one and a new treo to go with it…but it will bomb out on price alone. $199-249 would be a better target for the device, not the $499 preorder $599 retail price they are asking…its insane.
$499 preorder $599 retail price
Ouch! I missed that part. I’ll let all the early adopters get one to help drive the price down. If it gets down to $199.00 then I may think about it.
I don’t think they will have many of those for that price lol…you could buy a jesus phone for that much lolol..Fo r that much it would make more sense to look at getting UMPC with gsm support or a high-end htc
It does look like a very interesting device, until you get to the price. At the same price I would easily pick the Foleo over the Eee PC, but at $500, I don’t see myself considering a foleo.
Looks exactly like my old Portege 3015ct
http://brneurosci.org/linuxsetup23.html
It is insanely cute. I’d get one if I didn’t already have a laptop. I have no need for the smartphone sync. Sounds like there are to many issues (media playing, flash etc.) that are holding it back.
It’s incredibly small, and programmable. If the instant on feature works as good as I’m hoping it does, it really will replace my laptop, because waiting for something to boot is too inconvenient with a laptop, especially in any stop and go scenario.
“instant on” is functionality that makes me still use my pda over my laptop, and if a laptop can do that, without the bulk(and subsequent management of) of windows/osx/linux, then I’m all for it.
Sleep mode is the computer equivalent of instant-on. You’re talking absolute maximum a 2-second difference….
sleep mode uses battery
I’ve personally found sleep mode to be pretty unreliable, particularly in terms of waking up properly. Even with Mac portables/OS X, a combination which is often praised as an example of the “right” way to handle sleep mode, I’ve still run into plenty of instances where a machine will only “wake up” part of the way – apparently powered on, but displaying a blank screen.
On top of that, I’ve found that such situations tend to confound less-technical users – since restarting a computer from that state often requires holding down the power button for a period of time, or physically removing the battery/pulling the power cord in some cases.
Linux?
YES. RTFA.
TFA has this statement, after a search for ‘Linux’:
And Palm is going to the LinuxWorld developers’ conference later this summer to drum up more interest in this platform.
If the answer is in there somewhere, they could make the answer more apparent.
all i want is a device capable of being in my pocket, has ATLEAST 640×480(preferrably 800×600), runs some sort of unix-like system thats free, has integrated phone, and USABLE battery time, no shit, atleast 16 hours usage time.
Well then this isn’t it; the battery life is only 5 hours.
This device runs Linux, But can one actually open a Console window?
Yes, on one of the screen from a earlier look at the device, there was a terminal application installed. The reviewer didnt get in a toy with it, it was just observed in the menu.
I think 16hrs is pushing it for anything very portable. hard for even a full-sized laptop to pull those kinda numbers without a alot of extended bats. Having anything short of a single purpose device like a mp3 player, that can run peripherals at that length of time is a tough bet…Avg lifetime on laptops just recently started getting in the 8-10 hour range for highend machines.
This device would be cool if it was real PC, with real OS installed. With this, I think it has quite limited usage … and that price tag underlines that.
Yes the price is a bit silly. But if its simple to port existing open source code over, we may well see it take off. The foleo’s biggest problem really is the eee pc from Asus. Its also Linux, and being x86 based, runs existing code out of the box. Also, noone have yet to answer if the mail app can be used directly or if its only about being synced with a treo or similar.
Browser: Opera/8.01 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/3.1.8295/1690; nb; U; ssr)
It’s not x86, more likely some kind of ARM. And from previous interviews with Palm’s CEO it won’t be able to playback video full screen because the processor is too weak (that was the CEO’s biggest regret).
Most probably a 400Mhz x-scale.
Ther could be hope left if they put a decent GPU in there but I wouldn’t hold my breath
Hopefully the Eee PC will put pressure on them to either up the specs or lower the price. While the EeePC looks like the better value, the Foleo looks like it may have the nicer OS for this size of notebook and looks a lot sleeker, and if the price was the same or at least closer(maybe $3500-$400 or so for the Foleo) I’d easily go with the Foleo.
late reply but im fully aware that the foleo is ARM based.
and its not just that the cpu may be to weak, but that opera (the browser used) cant use the normal flash plugin. instead it has to use a special SDK vaiant. and it has not been updated past falsh7, while we are looking at flash 9 on the x86 desktop front.
this is why opera software, the maker of the opera browser, is pushing for media tags to be made part of the next html spec, and for them to be based of ogg. this way opera software can better optimize the code of their browser when it comes to handling these formats.
Does this remind anyone else of Psion’s 7+ year old EPOC based subnotebook the Series 7/Netbook?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_7
That tried to position itself between the PDA and laptop markets, with an emphasis on corporate computing rather than home/entertainment use. From the look of the Foleo it’s aimed at the same market. The question is whether a significant market actually exists…
Personally I loved the Series 7, it had a large enough keyboard and screen to be a great writer’s laptop, with better battery life and less bulk than a notebook PC. Unfortunately it wasn’t the success Psion hoped it would be and ended up being the end of the line for Psion’s EPOC portables.
I find it a bit disappointing that this doesn’t use a touch screen. The Psion 7’s clever design allowed you to press on the screen without it tipping over, or hold it in one hand quite comfortably while writing on the screen. Personally I think tapping directly on something with a stylus is much quicker and easier than using a trackpoint. It also offers other advantages, like the ability to quickly sketch something directly onto the screen. Advantages that easily outweigh having to move your hand from the keyboard in my opinion.
The price tag is too much when you pretty much can get the same (and more?) from the Eee. I think the Eee will will win over the home consumer and the Folio will might see some ground in the business sector, cause as we all know they would, any IT manager will buy this over Eee cause its costs more thus it must be better
.
Seriously stoked over the Eee, Nice LCD on the folio if anything though
isn’t the Eee a lower res screen?
Yes, i think the Eee pc is only 800×600…but contrary to popular trolling..I think the device really has a chance to move units if they would adjust the price, liek the previous posted said…I love the features, but for $600 I can get a used X40 which is a sweeeeet ultraportable..I have owned alot of laptops, and the X series was always my favorite.
Yeah, they are nice
I think it’s important to stop thinking of the Foleo as a laptop, though. Sure, you can buy a cheap second hand laptop from ebay of a similar size but it won’t be high-res, the battery life will be poorer (used), and it will take longer to boot.
Personally, I’m really looking forward to this device and I am strongly considering buying one. It just needs an SSH client which I am sure can be arranged… even if I have to port one myself
Yes, but the used laptop you buy will come with tens of gigabytes of hard disk space (compared to the whopping 256 megabytes you get with the Foleo) and will be able to run any application you can dream of, such as Firefox and OpenOffice, plus it will be faster and able to play any media files you throw at it with aplomb. If you’re lucky you might even get an optical drive built in. As far as the boot-up time, that’s mostly a non-issue assuming the sleep functionality works.
…Remind me again, what’s so special about a Palm portable if it doesn’t even have a touch screen?
Edited 2007-07-04 04:18
For the price, it would have to come with all the software mentioned out of the box. Last thing I would want to do is spend over 500 bucks and not have multi-media/flash/mp3 support right out of the box. No thanks.
If they think these things are going to sell at $500 or $600 they’re clinically insane. For $600 I’d rather pick up a refurbished ThinkPad X40 and have a real compuer.
Not that I would buy it, but look at Apple getting away with selling a phone in this price range, so I wouldn’t rule out it success on price alone. It looks like a nifty device anyway and I hope they do well with it.
Palm just delayed their Palm OS II release (the Linux flavour) to somewhere in 2008.
http://www.theregister.com/2007/07/03/palm_os_not_dead/
It looks great – the remark regarding playing Your-tube stuff is positive. In the first article it was said that the Foleo was unable to play Yourtube, but it was not specified that the reason was lack of a player. Actually I thought it was a hardware problem.
And it looks like the thing will be swimming in applications.
The only problems are the horrible pricetag, the poor battery-time and why in the freaking /(&/(&&¤¤”& don’t they replace that damn xScale with a OMAP.
I wonder if BlueNomad conisders porting WordSmith to the Foleo.
Edited 2007-07-04 00:54