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Palm cooks up a companion for Smartphones

Palm tipped off those in the tech industry yesterday that it would be making a big announcement today in the area of mobile computing. The company made good on their promise and today Palm announced the new Palm Foleo mobile companion for Smartphones.

"Smartphones will be the most prevalent personal computers on the planet, ultimately able to do everything that desktop computers can do. However, there are times when people need a large screen and full-size keyboard," said Palm, Inc. founder Jeff Hawkins. "As smartphones get smaller, this need increases. The Foleo completes the picture, creating a mobile-computing system that sets a new standard in simplicity."

The Foleo features a 10" screen, full-size keyboard, instant on/off capabilities, weighs just 2.5 pounds and has an estimated battery life of 5 hours. The Foleo is capable of syncing data with a Smartphone via its built-in Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity.

Palm's new device is powered by Linux and serves as a companion to Smartphones. The compact device features an email application, Opera web browser and applications that will allow users to view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents along with Adobe PDFs.

The Foleo has out-of-the box support for most Palm OS and Windows Mobile-based Smartphones. Smartphones which use operating systems from RIM, Apple and Symbian can be supported via a simple software update in the future.

"The Palm Foleo represents our first product in a new line of solutions that will redefine how people work while away from their desks. It starts today with a focus on wireless email, and we expect the Foleo to grow in features and expand its capabilities as the platform grows," said Palm, Inc. president and CEO Ed Colligan.

The Palm Foleo mobile companion will be available this summer for a price of $599. Palm will offer an introductory $100 rebate on the device for a brief period which will effectively bring the price down to $499.

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the price is right
By Quiksel on 5/30/2007 2:10:17 PM , Rating: 3
They may have a winner on their hands with this. Not everyone wants an ultraportable computer, but at the same time they don't want to use the tiny screen that smartphones afford for everything, all day long. Having a real screen and keyboard that fit the bill for communication but not cost the price of a full-featured ultraportable sounds like a tremendous boon.

Now you can have a smartphone and still not lose your eyesight. The boss won't mind trying one out too, since for the price of a smartphone + one of these handy devices, you'll be still under $1000.

Would love to see one of these in action.

~q




RE: the price is right
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 5/30/2007 2:20:32 PM , Rating: 5
$499 after rebate is not bad, not bad at all.

However, I'm still going the UMPC route. The Samsung Q1 Ultra retails for $799 (600MHz/1GB/40GB/7" 1024x600/Vista Home Premium). Buy.com has it on pre-order right now for $777.99 and there's a 7% off coupon that brings it down to $723 shipped.

It weighs only 1.5 pounds and has a battery life of 4.5 hours.


RE: the price is right
By therealnickdanger on 5/30/2007 2:47:06 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, I would rather have a mobile Windows machine loaded with all my apps. I've seen a couple Celeron M laptops go for under $400 in recent months, more than enough power for Office and Internet browsing. Sure, it might weigh a whole 5.5lbs and only last three hours, but the functionality is worth it. Get a copy of PDANet for $20 and you're set.


RE: the price is right
By GodsAnnoyance on 5/30/2007 3:26:26 PM , Rating: 2
I also think this is going to be a colossal flop. The target market is obviously business users, but if most business users already lug around a smartphone and a laptop, what's the point? surely no one would carry all three devices, and i highly doubt they'll dump the functionality of their laptops for a little less weight and a little more juice from this embarrassment of a product.


RE: the price is right
By spluurfg on 5/30/2007 4:01:50 PM , Rating: 2
Smartphones can already do a lot of what a notebook computer can -- view office documents, send/receive email, etc. My boss (the CEO) doesn't actually use a PC at home or travel with a laptop -- he accomplishes everything with his blackberry. I'm sure there are some users out there who fall between him and those that carry a laptop around.

It all comes down to the fact that notebooks are vastly more powerful than we need -- for web browsing, word processing, and spreadsheet monkeying, and perhaps some video, smartphones are already powerful enough. Why would most business users need a Core2duo processor?

I think this product is very smart -- using your smartphone as a modem (if you have internet service on it) this will let business users accomplish what they need to much faster than a smartphone without added bulk. I think they will need to refine it in future generations, however -- 5 hour battery life is better than most laptops, but could still be improved.


RE: the price is right
By erwos on 5/31/2007 8:48:11 AM , Rating: 2
The problem is that they're competing in the UMPC space, and a significant number of second-gen UMPCs are going to look like very small hybrid tablets, which is the same (better?) form factor as the Foleo. Right now, Palm's somewhat OK - none of those are closer to $1100 than $500. But as time goes on, the prices will fall, and when they hit $750, it's going to be a bloodbath. I find it somewhat unlikely that Palm can reduce the price of the Foleo faster than the UMPC prices are supposed to drop.

The other problem is simple economics. The Foleo is _not_ a replacement for a real laptop. $600 for a Foleo (retail!) and $800 for a reasonable notebook - or just spend $1100 on a UMPC and suffer with setting up Bluetooth connections. Not exactly a difficult choice, IMHO, and it's only going to get easier.

This product is going to get squeezed out of the market in the long-term. Hopefully they'll overproduce and leave lots of cheap Linux ultra-portables for us to snap up. :)


You've got to be kidding me...
By UNCjigga on 5/30/2007 2:21:41 PM , Rating: 2
So this is why Palm doesn't have a thinner smartphone--they decided to reinvent the subnotebook instead? This would've been a great idea back in 2003, before Centrino took off and before everyone owned a laptop with wifi. Now its just too little, too late. The folks at Engadget got it right--I don't NEED another device that sticks me with your aging Treos.




RE: You've got to be kidding me...
By Quiksel on 5/30/2007 2:26:01 PM , Rating: 2
I dunno. Your Centrino subnotebooks are $2000. Sure, it does more, but for most tasks, this Foleo looks to be up to it. What do people REALLY do with a subnotebook? Pretty much everything this little device does, and at 1/4 the cost.


RE: You've got to be kidding me...
By UNCjigga on 5/30/2007 3:20:19 PM , Rating: 2
Don't get me wrong, I *love* the idea of a subnotebook for $599. I think some of the new platforms from Intel and AMD will make this a reality in 2008-2009. But by then I'll be able to buy a dual core, full-featured device with Windows or a *real* Linux distro.

You said subnotebooks cost $2000--you can actually get some really nice < 3 lbs notebooks and tablets for hundreds less these days (though probably not as nice as an Asus U1F).

But the main argument against this device is that it isn't a smartphone, and it isn't a PC, so you still need to have both of those, and now you're just adding bulk with a 3rd device. This will never, *never* replace a laptop. Why doesn't Palm just make it easier to wireless sync their phones with a PC (seriously the whole HotSync/ActiveSync process hasn't improved much since 1998)? I'd rather save the $500-$600 and put that towards a new subnotebook when its time to upgrade.


RE: You've got to be kidding me...
By deeznuts on 5/30/2007 6:48:16 PM , Rating: 2
Got a lenovo 12.1 with core 2 duo for $700 after rebate and taxes. Not top notch quality but not $2000 either.


Neat device, is it useful though?
By psychobriggsy on 5/30/2007 4:12:05 PM , Rating: 2
Reduce it to $399 and make it work on its own, and possibly make it a bit prettier, and I'd be all over it. That would only be $100 more than a Nokia N800. Maybe someone will work out how to hack the Linux on it. I guess that it has a large amount of flash memory for storage - 4GB or more?

As it is it will be competing with far more featureful UMPCs, whose prices are steadily coming down.

So, for this Psion Netbook look-a-like, I think it will be a short life. Maybe that's what Palm are planning anyway, as they seem to indicate that there will be other similar products being offered too.




RE: Neat device, is it useful though?
By johnsonx on 5/31/2007 12:16:13 AM , Rating: 2
It does work on it's own. You don't need a smartphone at all, it's just designed to sync with one.


RE: Neat device, is it useful though?
By MobileZone on 6/1/2007 12:38:11 PM , Rating: 2
Of course owners of this Neo-Psion will need a smartphone. As far as I know this thing can not be used in a N-Game grotesque way, so people will still carry smartphones with it (Treos, I imagine).

Also, owners of it will carry a real notebook as well, as this Jr.sub-notebook can not even play videos. It's more like a fancy calculator.

So, at the end, owners of this Jr.Psion will carry it + real notebook + Treo + I'm a fool tag.


By kalak on 6/1/2007 4:13:34 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
So, at the end, owners of this Jr.Psion will carry it + real notebook + Treo + I'm a fool tag.


THAT'S the point...
For better solutions, we need to CONVERGE.... Say, if a Gadget can do a LOT of things, greeat ! But this device adds Nothing, it's a Treo with a bigger screen....


Palm Who?
By Mitch101 on 5/30/2007 2:43:45 PM , Rating: 2
Palm Who? Seriously this looks nice.

BTW did anything come out of Palm when they aquired BEOS?




RE: Palm Who?
By retrospooty on 5/30/2007 5:02:35 PM , Rating: 2
OS6 (cough cough) LOL

Actually I beleive the top programmer and his entire team under him were all hired out from under Palmsource by Microsoft devastating OS6 and thier ability to compete at all. A dirty move by MS, but legal.


RE: Palm Who?
By Mitch101 on 5/30/2007 5:22:16 PM , Rating: 2
Wow thats a shame because BEOS was probably one of the best graphical OS's built.


Weak
By Finality on 5/30/2007 4:12:45 PM , Rating: 2
At least if the screen was flipable like a tablet PC would this be a good product. Price point is way too high something like a Nokia N800 would be more than adequate.....




RE: Weak
By VooDooAddict on 5/30/2007 7:03:29 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed. A flip able screen like a tablet would have been perfect.

I'm in need of a new Tablet PC ...


Been there, done that......
By Devo2007 on 5/30/2007 11:37:58 PM , Rating: 2
Just a thought, but what really makes this better than one of those old Windows CE-based "laptops" back in the day? That concept died pretty quick, and I honestly predict this one will too.




RE: Been there, done that......
By MobileZone on 5/31/2007 12:25:14 AM , Rating: 2
Ditto.


Uh... what?
By ninjit on 5/30/2007 4:51:30 PM , Rating: 2
Is it me, or is calling this a companion to a smartphone, kinda like calling an RV a companion to a car...




wow
By Gul Westfale on 5/30/2007 5:49:28 PM , Rating: 2
so finally a company made a small PC-like device with a large-ish screen and a real keyboard, and then prices it well below the ultraportable laptops... all i can say is WOW!, and when can i get one?

the problem with my palm E has always been that text input is way too slow, and so stopped using it. this really seems like a great machine!




Atari Portfolio?
By johnsonx on 5/31/2007 12:19:22 AM , Rating: 2
Doesn't this remind anyone of the Atari Portfolio?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Portfolio




Reinventing the wheel
By MobileZone on 5/31/2007 12:22:29 AM , Rating: 2
I think this will be a BIG market failure.

Why someone would buy something that does not sync calendars and have an under-powered processor that can not run video since we're in the age of the e-tube?

To make it worse, I doubt that most of the people would pick such a product instead of even thinner Vaios and others around, with 100x more power, BEAUTY and capacity.

To be even more pessimistic about it, the screen can not flip and it can not be used as a tablet, as any product under the size of a small notebook should be in these days.

The batery life is a joke as well, any real small notebook (as the Vaios TX series) can run much, much longer, playing videos and everything.

I'm 100% sure that most of the people will not pick a 499 or something bulky smartphone in the form of a mini notebook instead of a 2K nice and stylish mini notebook. This thing doesn't even run any of the two largest used OSs in the market.

I'm not even mentioning the design. Looks like those old HPs from 2001.

I wish all the success to Palm, but I don't really dig this thing.




It's a waste of money
By kalak on 5/31/2007 9:08:19 AM , Rating: 2
It's a Notebook ? almost.... So, what the point ? I REALLY don't understand WHY people will buy this thing...
WHY buy another device that I will have to carry with my phone? Oh, it's a sub sub notebook for $499... So what ? Give me a dawn REASON to buy this thing !




Terrible Idea
By winterspan on 6/1/2007 5:03:14 AM , Rating: 2
Yes, maybe a handful of the older generation corporate users will find this useful (esp. those who don't own a laptop or even a home desktop computer). But what a waste... Any sane person would forgo the ~$800-900 investment in a Treo & Foleo and instead purchase a simple cell phone and a low-powered sub-notebook or UMPC. I myself would pick up one of those Panasonic sub-notebooks with Intel ultra-low-voltage chips they are under 2 lbs, 40GB+ hd, 1GB ram+, 9-11" screen, with up to 10 real-world hours of battery.(yes I said 10 hours). Although expensive, that is the cream of the crop. someone looking to hit the $500 range of Foleo could easily get a ultralight/sub-notebook with less specs (AMD Geode or intel celereon, small hd, 9-10" screen, ubuntu) for a similar price and it would still kick the pants off of a "Foleo"




Remember the LifeDrive
By 007BAF on 5/30/2007 2:58:41 PM , Rating: 1
This is a loser. I cannot imagine using such a device. It is the final nail in Palm's coffin. Had they ditched it, they could have at least sold the company.

The LifeDrive could have been dusted off and accomplished some similar functions (remember it's wireless keyboard?). The other issue is the Treo's nasty habit of resetting constantly. This goes nowhere. They might move a few thousand and that's it. The iPhone will smother this attempt and steal sales away from the Treo, without which this device dies.

I guess Linux might be interesting as its OS. One bright spot. www.danmosqueda.blogspot.com




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