[luke_in_tas]

Palm Announces the Foleo

Palm today announced their Foleo mobile companion device. It would seem to have a very niche market, but looks like it could be quite cool. There have already been comments from Palm that they hope to make it work with other smartphones (including the iPhone), not just Treo smartphones made by them.

I'm still undecided on this particular device, but if Apple made something similar running OS X it could be the perfect replacement to my 12" PowerBook.

Palm's official site is here: http://www.palm.com/us/products/mobilecompanion/;
Palm Infocenter has a good write up here: http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9...ces-the-foleo/; and
Discussion by Australian Palm users is here: http://auspug.org/forum/index.php?topic=5375.0.

[decryption]

Looks so much like Outlook, haha

Hardware looks interesting. Lets see if it can be hacked to run Linux or something. Use it as a super portable net surfing device? YES PLEASE.

EDIT: Looks like you can surf the net on it by default anyways, as it's got a browser.

I want one to tool around with

[Kuma]

Its not a computer
its a gimped device which just acts as a large screen attachment to your smartphone...

waiting for the iphone...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/30/p...s-on/#comments

[decryption]

Originally Posted by Kuma

Its not a computer
its a gimped device which just acts as a large screen attachment to your smartphone...

waiting for the iphone...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/30/p...s-on/#comments

So unless you have a Treo, this thing won't hook up to an access point and access the Internet?

[luke_in_tas]

Originally Posted by decryption

... Lets see if it can be hacked to run Linux or something...

It actually runs on Linux. Palm want third-part developers to write apps for it, but from what I understand many Linux apps may work on it now without modification.

[Kuma]

Originally Posted by decryption

So unless you have a Treo, this thing won't hook up to an access point and access the Internet?

palm have said it should work with other smartphones.. but havent tested yet...

[luke_in_tas]

Originally Posted by decryption

So unless you have a Treo, this thing won't hook up to an access point and access the Internet?

It has built-in Wi-Fi and will operate without a Treo for web browsing. Where there is no Wi-Fi it uses your smartphone's data connection.

I believe email will also work over Wi-Fi, but that isn't as clear as email is synced with your Treo or other supported smartphone.

Office docs can also be created and edited without the phone.

But Kuma is right. It isn't meant to be a fully featured laptop. It is meant to be an extension of a smartphone.

[decryption]

Originally Posted by Kuma

palm have said it should work with other smartphones.. but havent tested yet...

Yeah, but without a smartphone, will it still turn on and work? Just say I don't own a smartphone, take it with me to uni and open it up, can I hook it up to the wireless network there and start taking notes with it in Word?

[decryption]

Originally Posted by luke_in_tas

It has built-in Wi-Fi and will operate without a Treo for web browsing. Where there is no Wi-Fi it uses your smartphone's data connection.

I believe email will also work over Wi-Fi, but that isn't as clear as email is synced with your Treo or other supported smartphone.

Office docs can also be created and edited without the phone.

But Kuma is right. It isn't meant to be a fully featured laptop. It is meant to be an extension of a smartphone.

Ahh. So Palm isn't stupid

There's no reason why someone can't use this as a PDA really? It looks pretty full featured to me (minus optical storage). It takes flash memory if you want storage, can run 3rd party apps. Normally sub-notebooks like this cost thousands more. Looks like a very cheap ultra-portable computer to me!

Hopefully someone will slip one over to me to review

It would be nice to carry that with me around instead of the bulky MacBook Pro. The Foleo is much lighter

[luke_in_tas]

This is almost the device I want to replace my 12" PowerBook. A very compact, instant on, computer is what I want instead of a laptop. I have a desktop computer (20" iMac) which I use most of the time, and my laptop is primarily for travelling. Something like this fits the bill very nicely.

I wish Apple made something like this running Mac OS X. Although email, web browsing, and office apps are what I primarily use my laptop for, it would be nice to have access to the other Mac applications that I want to use from time to time when I'm travelling.

[Kuma]

I totally agree...
I have got my lovely iMac here to do the grunt work

I want a notebook.. to check/read/write/email
and surf the web

and to be able to download photos to when travelling off the camera.. and maybe run a slideshow or two with it.

[forgie]

This may gain some traction with business people (where communication is paramount) - but I can't really see anyone else buying into it. What's the word on battery life?

[Kuma]

Originally Posted by forgie

This may gain some traction with business people (where communication is paramount) - but I can't really see anyone else buying into it. What's the word on battery life?

if you are carrying a notebook already I cant imagine lugging another unit across town...

if you dont have a notebook.. then maybe....

as for battery life..NFI

but I imagine it would be reasonable... big unit.. biggish battery....

[luke_in_tas]

Battery life is reported to be 5 hours of continuous use.

And I think Kuma's right. This device isn't going to appeal to anyone who already uses a laptop, unless it is to replace their laptop. If you only use your laptop for email, web browsing, editing the odd office doc or doing PowerPoint presentations then this device might be a good solution instead of a bigger, heavier, more expensive machine.

I think there will be some appeal though to people who currently only have desktop computers. I'm sure many of them are happy with their desktops and don't want to replace them with a laptop, and probably can't justify having both. The Foleo provides the main features most of these people would want in a portable for a much cheaper price than a conventional laptop.

[Bart Smastard]

This week Palm Inc released the Foleo "mobile companion", a small 1kg device running Linux with a 10" screen and solid state storage.




It looks like it could have come from Apple, it's slim, minimalist and kind of cute - to this geek (although it's grey colour does make it look more like it a circa late 1990's Newton or a PowerBook Duo) but I don't think Apple have anything to worry about. If they made a sub-notebook (and I hope they do) it would be a lot sexier, rich in features and of course run OS X and all it's goodness. The Foleo is quite hamstrung.

One good thing about it is that because it doesn't use a traditional hard drive it starts up in an instant.

Features of the US$499 Foleo include:

• 10.2-inch color screen (1024x600)
• SD card slot
• CompactFlash slot
• VGA out (1024x768)
• USB Port
• Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi.
• 256MB of RAM

[forgie]

There's already a thread about it: Signal for iPhone/iPod Touch

[Bart Smastard]

Poo. My search missed that. Close this one please mods.

[Bart Smastard]

It looks like it could have come from Apple, it's slim, minimalist and kind of cute - to this geek (although it's grey colour does make it look more like it a circa late 1990's Newton or a PowerBook Duo) but I don't think Apple have anything to worry about. If they made a sub-notebook (and I hope they do) it would be a lot sexier, rich in features and of course run OS X and all it's goodness.

[stewiesno1]

So what is the storage on this thing if it doesn't have a HD ? Is it the flash card and it runs off that ? Doesn't flash storage in flash based storage devices have a short life ?
Stewie

[OziMac]

This isn't quite a sub-notebook, and making it reliant on a Smartphone was silly on Palm's part. They could have raced to the head of the pack with a true sub-notebook and carved out a niche for themselves - they're sure as hell going to need it once the iPhone comes out.

I really wish Apple gets onto this fast - a 12 inch screen, adequate RAM, flash HDD (doesn't really need to be much more than 32GB), bluetooth and wireless and no optical drive in a really slim enclosure. I think it'd be a red hot product, and at the very least more than just a 'hobby'