Palm Foleo Details Leaked?
Rumor: In what appears to be an official press release inadvertently posted early in one of Palm's PR rss feeds shows a few details about Palm's expected product launch today. The device will be called the Foleo and is described as a smartphone companion product.
The press release goes on to reveal a few key points about the device, but is light on the details and actual specs, which we expect to hear more about after the official announcement and webcast. Read on for what we know so far...
The key points of the Foleo are described in the release as:
- Foleo has a large screen and full size keyboard to view and edit email and office documents. Edits made on Foleo automatically are reflected on its paired smartphone and vice versa.
- Foleo and its paired smartphone stay synchronized throughout the day or at the touch of a button.
- Foleo turns on and off instantly, features fast navigation, a compact and elegant design, and a battery that lasts up to five hours of use.
- U.S. availability for Foleo begins this summer with pricing expected to be $499 after an introductory $100 rebate.
The release goes on to say that the device is built on a an open Linux-based platform. Palm has already partnered with DataViz and Opera Software to port applications over to it.
The release also contains quotes from Jeff Hawkins and Ed Colligan:
Hawkins says, "Foleo is the most exciting product I have ever worked on. 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. As smartphones get smaller, this need increases. The Foleo completes the picture creating a mobile-computing system that sets a new standard in simplicity."
"As we did with the PalmPilot more than a decade ago, and more recently with the Treo smartphone, Palm is driving innovation and capitalizing on emerging opportunities in mobile computing, a market full of potential. 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." remarks Ed Colligan, president and chief executive officer of Palm Inc.
PalmInfocenter will have continuing coverage of the Foleo announcement thought the day.
Big thanks to PIC Member ballistic for the heads up and posting the leaked press release on PIC.
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RE: Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
There have been posts elsewhere suggesting the "news release" is a fake.
RE: Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
Smartphones will eventually become as powerful as desktop computers are NOW, and desktop computers are already about as powerful as most people need them to be (unless you're running Vista. ;-)
I assume this device would work as a standalone PDA as well? I assume most synchronization would be via Bluetooth? Will it have Wifi too?
I still don't know how large a potential market something like this has.
It's interesting, but obviously we need to see more. It could be a fake release, but I think a fake release wouldn't be as creative as this one is. Most fakers try to come up with something that is different but not competely new, to give an air of credibility.
RE: Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
Oh stop. Phones are going to go away. They will become a generic chipset component just as Bluetooth and WiFi have become.
This is one part of what the future will look like:
http://mikecane.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/lust-lust-lust-device/
And it's due out next year.
RE: Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
>>>But it became clear the smartphone wasn't going to fill that role. It has a keyboard, nice display, except there's a problem. You need a full size screen and keyboard.
And so the answer to that is... A SUBNOTEBOOK!
ROTFLMAO
RE: Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
OK, tell me this has been like that episode of Dallas where the guy comes out of the shower and that entire last season never happened.
The Flopeo announcement was all a delusion of mine, right?
Right?!!?
RE: Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
It certainly is a delusion of someone.
RE: Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
"It could be a fake release, but I think a fake release wouldn't be as creative as this one is. Most fakers try to come up with something that is different but not competely new, to give an air of credibility."
Unless it's disinformation from Palm itself. OTHO, why disseminate it only hours before the real deal...
We'll have to wait and see.
- Tere
RE: Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
I wondered myself why only the first page of that release was captured when there was obviously a second page to it.
RE: Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
I think it's a Palm Tungsten C with Bluetooth and an extra sync application!! Woo hoo!!
RE: Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
2nd funniest line ever on PIC!
I Cross My Fingers
After so much hype, for this to be the crowning device of the touted new product category would be a disappointment, to say the least.
The whole 'smartphone companion' concept seems troublesome - I read it, and I get this immediate sense of 'too many steps'; another device, another link, another thing to carry, another tool to interface, etc. It seems a ponderous concept, against the whole palm ethos of simplicity and efficency and minimization of steps which was what made its original devices so popular - a nexus of ideas that (?I think?) Hawkins embraces ... purportedly
If this is the device to be announced, it also adds another nail to the coffin of the sans smartphone camp. Preaching to the choir, I know, but the days of Palm (software/hardware) as a focused handheld company (my traditional definition: full functionality without the involvement of a mobile phone company) seem to be more and more stuff of memories.
Oh well, I'll be waiting and watching, as I have been for many many years. (Dusts off Palm IIIc, weeps, moves on, and contemplates the iphone)
A vision a mobile computing that makes sense.
- Like Mike said, people don't need to carry Windows XP, they need to carry 'data'. So if you are using MS Office, Sun's OpenOffice suite or Dataviz's Docs2Go, it makes no difference. As long as you can carry your .xls .doc files with you. So a proprietary Palm OS over Linux is not a problem at all.
- Treos will play the role of on the fly, quickly grabbing tidbits of info. To not look like a fool in public you have to have a slim device near your face, not some huge flat odd looking slab of a device that will make people look at you funny.
- Treo, with their screen size and mini keyb will never physically be able to offer a full mobile computing experience. There is a usability/productivity threshold that needs to be passed before mass adoption will occur; and the Foleo might just be that device.
- If a person is outrage at the idea of having 2 devices being optimized for their role, then they likely don't need to do mobile computing.
- The best thing in the long run is for Palm to focus on mobile computing devices like the Foleo and eventually come out with a tiny super slim 160x160 micro Treo that has barely anything inside of it, and it communicates with the Foleo as the 'home base'. You can even think of a nano Treo that seamlessly snaps into the home base Foleo and offers additional processing power, emergency battery life sharing (Foleo to Treo and Treo to Foleo), an enhanced 3rd speaker for louder movies (or simulated surroud), the Treo would act as a 2nd screen (dual monitor), etc
RE: A vision a mobile computing that makes sense.
You could get a call from someone, tell them:
"- Umm Joe, could I call you back? I am at the office right now and since you are long distance I want to switch to my Foleo's VoIP. Call ya back in a sec ok?"
Treo could then interface with the Foleo to do EVDO/Wifi Voip and perhaps even videophone.
New or re-packaged?
RE: The official PR-fluff is out now
http://Tapland.com
- Tapwave Zodiac News, Reviews, & Discussion -
RE: The official PR-fluff is out now
After my divorce, my Palm is my best friend...Palm Pilot that is.......
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Paging Jeff Hawkins's brain
Uh, no. And, uh, no.