Wednesday, May 30, 2007

As-it-happens thoughts on Palm Foleo

Introducing Palm Foleo

First really raw responses to the Palm Foleo, as the information comes off the web:

I see where they are going with this. With a decent enough third-party developer ecosystem it could even work. The smartphone is supposed to become the "soul pad" of the new personal computer: the central repository for all your critical data around which everything else is just input/output devices. And I do think that's where personal computing will go.

Eventually.

But out of the box... I don't know. Is the lead solution on this thing—email—really going to be enough to make someone who doesn't carry a laptop around say "I need this thing"? I can see developing some great business software that syncs between this and a smartphone. But I need Palm to get people to buy these first, and I'm not seeing the market driver here.

The software looks beautiful and simple. The instant-on, instant-off aspect is more critical than I think some people will understand. And it looks like it will be lighter weight than a PC laptop. But I was really hoping we'd have a touchscreen.

This is going to look to shareholders like Palm is trying to go head-to-head with Microsoft. And it's going to look that way because that's exactly what Palm is doing!

The webcast is starting now, so I'm going to go watch.

Posted by cervezas at 12:42:52. Filed under: Palm Foleo

Comments

I'm trying to like the Foleo, I really am, but I'm having trouble envisioning how this fits into the current high-tech ecosystem.

I have two concerns in particular. One is how this device is going to work without DUN. Most carriers have been disabling DUN on their subsidized Treos, haven't they? Is this only going to work with unlocked Treos purchased from Palm?

The second concern is that it's not clear to me where the data lives. Jeff Hawkins seems to be saying that the data lives on your phone, and that the Foleo is just a way to manipulate that data. Fine, but what happens when your Treo runs out of juice? (With Bluetooth on, that's going to happen pretty quickly.) Does the Foleo still have a copy of the data, or not? If I have a WiFi connection, can I still send and receive email directly, or do I have to wait until my phone is charged up again? And if I can sync my Treo to my internet mailbox, my Foleo to my internet mailbox, and my Foleo to my Treo, what kind of sync conflicts will I run into? Maybe Palm's worked all this out and has a bullet-proof sync algorithm, but my experiences with the Palm Desktop conduits don't inspire confidence...

Posted by samalone2 at Wednesday, May 30, 2007 13:47:47

It looks to me like it's designed to work around the DUN problem by synching with the email that's stored on the phone. Not a bad idea, especially if they have a good SDK for synchronizing PIM and other application data the same way.

As for where the data lives, it sounded to me like this is a synchronized data solution after all, not one where the data all lives on the phone. I have mixed feelings about that myself. If it's bullet-proof, fantastic. But if it's only 99% reliable I wonder if I'd not rather suffer with the storage limitations of the handset (which has good expansion) and the bandwidth limitations of the BT connection and have only one copy of my mobile data.

Posted by cervezas at Wednesday, May 30, 2007 13:56:18

A sync-only solution might work for email and the PIM apps, but it's not going to work for the web browser. It seems like you'd need either a DUN-enabled Treo or a WiFi connection for web browsing. If so, there might be some disappointed customers who get this home only to find out that they can't surf the web with this unless they can find a WiFi hotspot.

Posted by samalone2 at Wednesday, May 30, 2007 14:22:43

Well, thinking a little outside the box here... but what if instead of doing TCP/IP directly from the Foleo to the Web (i.e. using the phone as a modem) you use it instead as a proxy server. Doesn't sound that difficult to me. If your Treo and Foleo browsers could sync all your bookmarks and feeds it could actually be a pretty nice setup.

Posted by cervezas at Wednesday, May 30, 2007 14:32:56

I'd be interested to know how the Foleo compares with the Nokia N800. Let's forget for a minute the connectivity with the smartphone (I know that is the main pont of the Foleo...). But what about a user who simply needs a device to access the internet via WiFi. I find the Nokia pretty good at this. So again, what do you think is the potential of the Foleo as an individual entity?

Posted by feranick at Wednesday, May 30, 2007 15:30:39

I think for most people the browser is the killer app on the N800 and you're right: it works very well over WiFi as long as you are visiting bookmarks or following links to navigate. For a handheld device it's reasonably usable when you have to enter a URL or search query as well, but if you're trying to use it for writing email, it's slow going. At least in comparison to touch-typing on a full-size keyboard.

Keep in mind that the N800 is designed to be held quite close to your face: the fonts are very, very small unless you zoom in to the page, which then simulates the experience of viewing the web through the small dimensions of a mobile phone screen. The Foleo screen is not only much larger physically, it also has higher resolution: 1024 x 600, compared to the N800's 800 x 480. The viewing experience is going to be easier on your eyes, and will present the web to you more like a desktop PC.

For me the N800 is the better deviee for browsing in bed, on the couch, or at the breakfast table. The Foleo is probably better suited for places where you have a desk or a tray table, or where you don't have a "significant other" sitting across from you who feels they're being shut off from you by the back of your screen.

Posted by cervezas at Wednesday, May 30, 2007 15:51:36

I think the mail sync is just a hint of what the Foleo is about. I suspect when the Linux Treos come out, we'll see a much better integration between Treo and Foleo.

Meanwhile, most of my computing these days is in a web browser. The Foleo looks like it might do that quite well in a package that's both light and inexpensive vs. a laptop.

Posted by MichaelG at Thursday, May 31, 2007 10:27:35

I think whats going to happen though is that people are going to want to install applications and do more things on the Foleo.

Palm plans to create a developer base for this device.

Is the Foleo going to create a whole new category and compete with the PC eventually?

Wouldn't it be better if say, Palm created the Foleo as a speedy Linux notebook without its dependence on a mobile phone?

Posted by andrew007 at Thursday, May 31, 2007 11:39:51

The Foleo doesn't seem to depend on a phone to do web browsing (via wifi) or Docs to Go.

It does seem to depend on a phone for BT DUN (of course) and email sync.

It might turn out to be a very good standalone web/wifi/docs device.

Posted by MichaelG at Thursday, May 31, 2007 14:28:34

Andrew Suarez wrote:
"Wouldn't it be better if say, Palm created the Foleo as a speedy Linux notebook without its dependence on a mobile phone?"

I think they actually *have* done just that. But the marketing people believed this had to be presented as a "companion" to your phone, probably in hopes of appealing better to the Treo user base. I think the real market is for people who want smaller, lighter, simpler, and easier to use personal computers that won't break the bank. Go ahead and add the "magic" phone sync features--that's great and Treo users will "get" it. But the marketing message should be "this is a new kind of personal computer" not "this is an accessory for your phone."

Posted by cervezas at Thursday, May 31, 2007 16:06:41

"But I was really hoping we'd have a touchscreen."

I really had that same initial feeling. I suppose it will not be as big of deal since this does have a dedicated keyboard, trackpoint and other hardware navigation buttons.

Posted by twrock at Sunday, June 03, 2007 20:54:58

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