Palm Foleo UMPC mobile companion announced
By Dusan Belic on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 12:34 PM PST In Announcements, Devices, Palm
In case you haven’t realized, your smartphone may be lonely from time to time. That’s why you need a companion for it. But not any companion – you need “the perfect companion for your smartphone.” Something what Palm (NSDQ: PALM) just announced.
The Palm Foleo is somewhat hard to understand device. It’s not a UMPC as we previously speculated, nor an Internet tablet device Nokia (NYSE: NOK) sells — it’s a small Linux-powered laptop computer that promises to extend your mobility beyond the smartphone. Or, that’s at least the way we’re pitched from the maker of Treo smartphones. And my rambling starts here…
I can’t see why would someone need yet another laptop computer. Yeah it’s smaller than most laptops, but it’s ANOTHER laptop. Almost every person I know which owns a smartphone, also has a laptop — why would they go for another, less powerfull now. Smaller size? An extended battery life? That’s not the right argument for pouring out more cash. On the other hand, this little fellow (little when compared to other laptops) can fit smaller bags, or is ideal for people who have ONLY the desktop computer and just need to do some basic things online. Still, I’m having hard time understanding the philosophy behind this product.
Enough rambling. Foleo can be used to surf the web — it comes with pre-installed Opera browser, and to manage documents with the popular Documents To Go office suite — special Foleo version of Documents To Go will also come with the device. Specs include 10″ screen, USB port, video-out, standard headphone jack, and slots for SD and compact flash cards for memory expansion. U.S. availability for Foleo begins this summer with pricing expected to be $499 after an introductory $100 rebate.
More information about the Foleo is available on Palm’s site.
