Palm's new gizmo is...
- 5 hours of workable battery life, and the charger is cell phone-size, not a giant laptop brick.
- Weighs under 2.5 pounds, and is less than an inch thick.
- No touch pad -- uses a pointer like a Thinkpad.
- It runs Linux.
- All solid-state, of course, no hard disk.
Palm started to tease people last night with a cryptic press announcement saying that Palm founder Jeff Hawkins would be introducing a "new category of mobile device" at the D5 conference, to be followed by a live videocast.
Jeff Hawkins unveils the Palm Foleo at D5.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
I'm at the conference, watching Hawkins on stage. The new product is "Foleo," an Internet interface appliance. It's got a full-size keyboard, and a nice screen. It's for accessing e-mail and the Web, and it's slim, light, and very nice-looking. But it's missing something critical: network access. That's right, it's not that useful on its own. It requires a connection via another device, like the Treo that Palm hopes you're already carrying, or any other gizmo that can share its access via Bluetooth. Update: The Foleo does have integrated Wi-Fi, though Hawkins seems to be downplaying this feature for some reason.
The device, at about $500, is priced closely to low-end laptops. It's a lot smaller, of course, and it has Palm software so it will likely be more robust and useful on the fly than a laptop. Also, it synchronizes data to and from a smart phone. So it's a workable companion to people who live cellphone-centric lives. There are a lot of execs like that. The thing is, most of them already have laptops.
Stay tuned for more. Also, see TreoCentral for the early scoop.
More info:
Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe.
In my opinion the Treo or any smartphone is all about mobility and making the most out of a compact device when my laptop is not around. Lugging around a device like the Foleo greatly defeats that purpose.
From personal experience: I have owned both the Nokia N93 and N95 and missed having a qwerty, so I purchased a separate bluetooth keyboard. Things started off on the right track as I was impressed with this setup, but eventually it became cumbersome and inefficient. Since then I have returned to qwerty devices and vow never to deviate from that preference ever again.
To those few that may not own a laptop this may be a good alternative and I wish them well, but you won't see me waiting in line for one of these things.
Now am I to be glad - that you?ve hyped up a product that REALLY missed the boat? What is the good news? That now I can HotSync my Smartphone to this ?Foleo-freak? and then HotSync to my REAL Laptop or PC? (Maybe then I can sync to my Terra-drives thereafter?) NICE! No thanks. JEFF HAWKINS won?t even waste his time using this! Come on! He even admits to ?staying clear? if your not an avid email user. LOL. EMAIL! Wow.
I guess making a thin/light phone device with a super hi-res screen, multi-media functions, a FLASH player, Wi-Fi, great support with all of the typical apps - ppl expect going into 2008 is too much to ask. (Wait, that sounds like the iPhone doesn?t it?)
This FOLEO product is the demise of Palm. What a waste of thought allocation. (Oh wait ? there WAS NONE!) What a waste of HYPE!
Damn, it?s pretty easy. NO BRAINER!: Give the TX a phone capability. Buyout all of the Home-Brews: i.e.: TCPMP, UDMH, VERICHAT, LJP, NoviiRemote, etc?Make them more user friendly via Palm, and then install Palm to PC remote functions. (Hell, talk to Sega and Nintendo about emulators. (Xbox/Wii is doing it) Take out iPod, DS and the Portable Media Players while you?re at it. Maybe a TV out capability. (N95 style.) Run a few commercials! Buy a racecar ad or to two! Get out of the 90?s man!) GET OUT THE LIGHTBRITE MAN!
Hire some people with a little vision and a lot of imagination. (Who runs these corporations anyways?!)
Hell, I?ll work for ya free. Can?t do any worse ? that?s for sure.
Anyhow Palm ? or Pa1m0ne or palm?whatever. I?m jumping on the Windows Mobile bandwagon. I?m sick of all these HomeBrews to run everyday apps. Barebones systems make me tired. Man it?s clear what people need. However it?s too late to listen. Palm has struck out one too many times. Note to self: Sell stock.
Palm(0ne?) ? No PalmLost.
(My bid atleast.) Sorry to be negative ? but the truth hurts. FrankenFoleo killed its creator.
R.I.P Palm.
No one could have said it better!
I live in an urban area, and I would bet many women like me would love to be able to access email, internet, spreadsheets and documents on something that fits nicely into whichever handbag they are already carrying.
Right now I don't bring my laptop anywhere I can avoid because it's heavy, cumbersome, slow on the start up. Generally a grand pain.
Unless there are some major tech flaws here, it looks like an amazing way to solve my problems for a lot less than a comparably sized laptop would cost.