Palm Releases the Foleo Mobile Companion: Diamond or Dud?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.palm.com/us/products/mobilecompanion/foleo/' target='_blank'>http://www.palm.com/us/products/mobilecompanion/foleo/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"With its 10-inch screen and full-size keyboard, the Palm Foleo mobile companion connects wirelessly with your smartphone to help you do more on the go. Unfold it, press a button, and it's on instantly—while just one touch brings your email to the big screen. Use your Foleo to view attachments, type longer emails, or to get a bigger look at web pages and photos you'd normally view on your smartphone. And with up to five hours of battery life packed into such a compact design, you'll do big things wherever you go."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/palm-foleo-may30.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/><br /><br />Here's the scenario that Palm has created this product for: you have a Palm smartphone (a Pocket PC) and on it you have all the applications you need to stay productive on the go. The problem is that your device has a small screen, and a small keyboard - so while that's fine for short email messages and basic triage on the go, it's not practical for tackling a big work load. The Palm Foleo is designed to replace a laptop, to do more, faster, with a bigger screen (10" wide-screen) and a keyboard. Battery life is apparently five hours, and the Foleo has built-in WiFi. It uses the Palm as a modem if you're outside of WiFi range, and uses Bluetooth to do a one-button sync with the device so all your email and data is the same on both devices. It has a connection port for VGA out to a projector for doing presentations, and <a href="http://www.dataviz.com/news/press/pressreleases/Detail.html?id=174&product=">Documents To Go has been updated</a> to allow better functionality with Office documents. It has a scroll wheel and a nub-mouse. Other specifications are unknown: no word on memory card slots, CPU, USB ports, local storage capacity, whether Flash is supported in the browser (big mistake if it isn't), and there's no mention of an IM client, or anything else beyond the basic productivity pitch. There is a photo viewer, a file manager, a PDF viewer, a terminal application (command prompt?) and of course a Web browser.<br /><br />So that's what the Foleo is. Now here's my take on it.<!><br /><br />I like seeing companies break new ground, and the Foleo is a bit different than anything I've seen before. Sure, we've seen small and light clamshell devices with keyboards - back in 1996 we called them Handheld PCs and it was Microsoft's first foray into the realm of mobile computing. Back then, they were too expensive and too limited in functionality to ever become popular. Now here's Palm, a little over a decade later, pitching essentially the same thing. There are a few key differences: the introductory price of $499 USD is decent (shame on them for doing a $100 mail-in rebate though) but if it goes much higher than that they'll start to lose interested buyers. The way that the Foleo links up with a Treo is interesting and ultimately bridges the gap between being in a location with WiFi and being in the middle of nowhere but still having a cellular signal. <br /><br />The idea of having a device with a bigger keyboard and screen, enabling you to do more work, is a valid one. Most of us call those laptops, but as a big fan of small and light laptops, there's no laptop on the market with a 10" screen and five hours of battery life that costs $499 USD. I'm just finishing up my review of an LG C1 Tablet PC and it sells for around $2500 USD. Yes, you can buy a laptop for around $500 now, but laptops in that price range are thick, heavy, will likely only last two hours on a charge, and adding Bluetooth to replicate the functionality of the Foleo plus Treo adds to the cost.<br /><br />In some ways though, it seems like the Foleo is an admission from Palm that mobile devices can't be used in all the scenarios we need. For instance, check out this quote from the Palm site:<br /><br /><i>"After your last meeting of the day, you open up your Gmail account to find an invite to a restaurant opening. You get directions using Google Maps, which are easy to read on the big screen, and send an email out to a few friends. Subject: It's been a good day. Let's celebrate."</i><br /><br />The core scenarios there are checking Gmail, looking up a restaurant, getting directions, and sending an email with those directions. Aren't those scenarios covered off fairly well with something like the <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,52745">Windows Live Search</a> client?<br /><br />There are some things that would make me interested in buying a Foleo: if it has a USB port and can be charged via USB, that means no bulky power adaptor and travelling ultra-light becomes viable (USB adaptor + USB AC power adaptor). If it can work with other devices beyond the Treo (Jeff Hawkins said that was a goal), that also appeals to me because right now the Treo isn't the best device for my needs. They say five hours of battery life, but that probably means three to four hours under normal circumstances: if they can hit five hours battery life under heavy use, that would be superb. And if they open up the platform to allow other sorts of applications to be installed - say, a basic photo editor - I could see myself using this device in a variety of scenarios where I might not want to bring my laptop. I'd worry a lot less about damaging/losing a $500 Foleo than I would a $3000 ultra-portable laptop.<br /><br />One thing Palm may not have thought about is that there may be a market of non-Treo owning people that would want to buy this product sole on it's own merits: when I was in my last year of college I used my Velo 1 HPC to take notes in class, and it was extremely useful. Laptops have come a long way since then, and many students already take laptops to class, but again the functionality and pricing sweet spot of $500 makes this a compelling alternative for some people. Only time will tell, but I think the Foleo is an interesting foray for Palm that may bear fruit.<br /><br /><i>Jason Dunn owns and operates <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com">Thoughts Media Inc.</a>, a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys mobile devices, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He likes the Foleo more than most people it seems!</i>

[Damion Chaplin]

I'm not sure how well it will actually do in terms of sales, but it is a rather innovative product, especially from a business-use standpoint.

Imagine you have 50-something salespeople out on the road at all times. They've all got a Treo. This is nothing unusual. However, what are you supposed to do when 50+ people ask for a laptop because the screen and keyboard on their Treo are too small? Like you said, laptops that have ~5 hours of battery life are way too expensive (and probably really heavy). In addition, since the laptop will have its own operating system, there's just another spot where things can break down. Now you're supporting not only the Palm/WinMobile platforms, but XP/Vista as well! Now you've got to hire an IT person just to do desktop support for your sales team. Yuck. When you look at it like that, a $500 'accessory' for your smartphone sounds better and better. Of course, that scenario only works if your sales team doesn't already carry around laptops.

If I had a need for it, I would buy it. I don't, however, have a need for it. The real question is will anyone need it? Are there really a major amount of on-the-road people out there who need a laptop but don't yet have one?

[subzerohf]

The main selling points are large display and large keyboard. I am not sure about the large keyboard because I'm happy with the one that comes with the BlackJack. But larger display sure helps when watching a movie or tv show.

Another selling point is instant on and off. I don't about your laptop, but my ThinkPad T60 starts up in 3 minutes or longer. Even the Black Jack takes a minute to start up. A device that turns on instantly is really cool IMHO.

So I think Palm is onto something good here. For some people, they can ditch their laptop and just go with the Foleo.

[midtoad]

over at Brighthand there seem to be a whole lot of pundits who are disappointed. They've had a period of a couple of weeks to specualate on all the features this thing was going to have, and now they're disappointed it doesn't walk on water or make toast.

Personally I see the advantage of this thing as being exactly what Jeff Hawkins talked about. I can ditch the folding keyboard I used to use on my Toshiba e800 or my Palm TX, and use a Foleo instead. That way I get the advantage of a bigger screen too.

Yes, as Jason pointed out, I can buy a notebook for not much more money (and I already have a Windows notebook with 15.4" screen thanks), but it's way too much bigger. And I have a cute MacBook that's now my main computer. But I realize I'm actually reluctant to take it some places - if I drop it or misplace or it gets stolen, I'll be mighty choked. My collateral damage would be far less with a Foleo.

To truly appreciate the size of this thing, for those people who say it's too large: take an 8.5x11" sheet of paper, and fold it in half. You now are holding a Foleo. I sure don't want to type on anything smaller than that.

[iJITSU]

So they created a laptop that doesn't run Windows. Wow. I am utterly disappointed. I thought Hawkins was going to produce a smartphone sized ultra mobile PC with multiple connection options, etc. A full pc the size of a pda or phone. But a keyboard/screen combo so I can carry one more thing around with my smartphone? Defeats the purpose of having a converged device. I am a big Hawkins fan but I predict the complete failure of this device.

[dorelse]

Well, I'll give you my take.

I view this as a new and improved 3COM Ergo Audrey. Which, at the same price, we loved....apparently we we're one of the few, but we did.

I just really struggle with this device...would this truly perform enough functions for me to justify the price, as a second 'laptop' for my home. That's the only place I'd use it...

I'd need to play with one to see I guess.

[Mike Temporale]

Interesting product. While I do see the need for such a device; for me, my tablet / ultra portable does all I need in this area. I'll be watching this device and where it goes. I know many executives that could benefit from this.

[encece]

I certainly dont get it at all. I dont see why anyone would be the least bit excited either.

If you need a full sized keyboard....they make BT keyboards for that.

If you need a bigger screen....they make laptops for that. That do more than this thing will ever do.

If you need something smaller than a laptop, they make UMPCs.

BLAH!

[alese]

I'm not sure how well it will actually do in terms of sales, but it is a rather innovative product, especially from a business-use standpoint.

Imagine you have 50-something salespeople out on the road at all times. They've all got a Treo. This is nothing unusual. However, what are you supposed to do when 50+ people ask for a laptop because the screen and keyboard on their Treo are too small? Like you said, laptops that have ~5 hours of battery life are way too expensive (and probably really heavy). In addition, since the laptop will have its own operating system, there's just another spot where things can break down. Now you're supporting not only the Palm/WinMobile platforms, but XP/Vista as well! Now you've got to hire an IT person just to do desktop support for your sales team. Yuck. When you look at it like that, a $500 'accessory' for your smartphone sounds better and better. Of course, that scenario only works if your sales team doesn't already carry around laptops.
...

There is a problem with that scenario. Buying salespeople notebooks just for mail and browsing is not smart and I guess in that case Foleo would be just right. But I'm pretty sure that if people need notebook is beacuse there are other things that they have to do, stuff like Office, maybe CRM and/or some other corporate applications. Stuff that can't really be done with Foleo...
Also supporting XP/Vista notebooks in a company that typically allready has XP/Vista devices is not that expensive, compared to supporting 50 new devices with Linux on it, especially if you don't allready have Linux.

[cmailliard]

It looks like it runs Palm software rather than Windows Mobile. Also to make this even more attractive Palm should have made the screen a touch screen for note taking and given it a convertible tablet form factor. If these two features where built in I would snatch it up in a heartbeat. I have a Sony TX 10.6 inch screen laptop, which is great but boot up time is slow and does not have tablet functionality for notes. I also have a Sony UX UMPC. This is nice, but the screen is not much bigger than a Treo and is still difficult to take notes on. The Foleo could fit in my padfolio easily and would make note taking and meetings in general nice.

[Pete Paxton]

We have to remember that every device is not made for every person. The Foleo isn't for me but I can certainly see it benefitting some. If you are a traveling business person who needs to keep up with emails, surf a bit and do some light word processing and spreadsheet work, the Foleo may be the perfect device for you. It's when you don't need everything a laptop can do but a pda isn't quite enough. And at $499 - the price works well.

[Don't Panic!]

I guess PALM is not dead after all. 8O I think I won a bet jason???

This is some serious competition on the price-point of current and announced Origami devices from Microsoft and partners. No Vista is a bummer though; But hey, this is PALM we're talking about. :roll:

[GF]

A lot of people compare the cost of laptop to Foleo, it seems that nobody add the software cost to the laptop.

[Mike Temporale]

A lot of people compare the cost of laptop to Foleo, it seems that nobody add the software cost to the laptop.

Thats because you can't add the software cost to the Foleo. Since it's unknown if you can install any 3rd party applications - and even if you can, they won't be the corporate approved apps. That's almost a deal killer right there.

[Clymmer]

The Foleo runs Linux. So the day after it hits the street, it's going to be hacked to do anything/everything. I'm curious to see how wxtendable it will be. I did read that there's a CF slot (MicroDrive!) &amp; some flavor of SD slot. So, that's good news.

C.