Thursday, May 31, 2007

The new gadget is called the Palm Foleo and runs Linux

All were outstanding today, which Palm announced its new "revolutionary" device. The presentation has taken place and we already have data on the gadget.

Palm Foleo Mobile Companion, el nuevo gadget de Palm
Palm Foleo Mobile Companion, the new gadget from Palm

His name is Foleo, and is a device intended to accompany our smartphones (or this is what Palm thinks it will do with him). Makes its big screen and a full keyboard, and its function is to facilitate the editing of the documents that are stored on the phone, as well as manage e-mail, surf the Internet, instant messaging and so on. The gamble seems to focus on the Palm ease of use while the team itself and the development of software for it from developers. It remains to be seen throughout the match that he could get to this apparatus.


In CanalPDA have made a comprehensive follow-up presentation, while in Palmaniac show us a video of himself Jeff Hawkins, CEO of Palm Inc., Talking about the Foleo. I've uploaded to Youtube so we can all see it more easily:


On the Palm and there is a section devoted to the Foleo with videos and explanations, but I will summarize their technical characteristics so that we know what we mean:

  • Dimensions: 254x152x24mm, 900 grams of weight.
  • Battery duration: 5 hours sailing with wifi.
  • Connectors: USB port, video output, SD card slot, headphone jack. Internally has a Compact Flash card slot.
  • Compatible with standard Windows Mobile and Palm Treos. Intention of supporting any other smartphone, including RIM (Blackberry) and Symbian and the iPhone from Apple.
  • Price promotion: 499 dollars.
  • No touch screen with 1024x600 pixels resolution and 10 ".
  • Flash memory storage (no disk).
  • The scalability depends on the cards. Are undecided on the built-in memory (in Palmaniac talk about 128Mb RAM).

El Palm Foleo aporta una teclado completo y una pantalla más grande
The Palm Foleo brings a full keyboard and a larger screen

After the objective data I will give my opinion on it. There are a number of key details:

  • If you include Bluetooth and Wi-Fi integrated, I agree with the people of CanalPDA in which need not be exclusively linked to a computer connectivity via Treo. Surely be a good competition from other computers using the wireless network to surf the Internet and read mail as the Nokia 800.
  • There is much incapié that will be compatible with all types of phones that have bluetooth, not only with Palm. This is something fundamental to its success as it all Treo users is not large enough to demand that the Foleo is sufficient.
  • The first idea that comes to mind is: "Why not take a laptop with extra instead of this?". Here Palm intends to differentiate his team for its ease of use, and speed in the on / off, elements that have always differentiated products to the Palm of your competitors. However, the price will have to be very competitive at the level of other products like the Nokia 800, and not that of a laptop computer.
  • Palm bets by developers. An SDK will be distributed to all emplresas (and individuals) that they want schedule applications for the Foleo. They want to get a variety of applications such as was achieved with PalmOS, which has been without doubt one of the successes of their products.

The Foleo is undoubtedly a very risky bet by Party of Palm, which is trying to create an entirely new segment within the gadgets. Apart from its success or not with this team, Jeff Hawkins has given the nail on the head with the larger screen and full keyboard: it is quite necessary to work intensively with mail and data outside the office, and if it remains cheaper and simpler than a laptop, can be an excellent choice to it.

Time will tell if this team marks a new trend, or is in oblivion as so many disparate products. But I liked that have been so daring rather than stay anchored in the Treo forever, and I hope they succeed. Everything depends on how you focus, in every sense: usuos, public sector, freedom of change, and so on. What do you think? Did you buy someone? What should be able to do to be a viable option?

Published: I agree with point by point the views on the Foleo in Gizmóvil. I recommend reading it.


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