Palm's new mobile companion

Posted: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 1:50 PM

Palm has announced tthe Foleo, designed to be used with another device – like a Palm Treo – for connecting to the Internet via your cell phone’s Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

There are similar little computers on the market today – for instance Nokia’s diminutive N800 Internet tablet.  But unlike the Nokia, Palm’s is a large device.

Foleo is described a 2.5 pound computer with a 10-inch screen with full sized keyboard which runs on the Linux operating system.  It reportedly is capable of instant on and off, one-button access to your email, a PDF viewer and software which allows you to edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.  Palm claims five hours of battery life per charge.

Foleo also has a USB port, video-out port, headphone jack, and slots for SD and compact flash memory expansion cards. There’s no mention of a hard drive.

Ultra-portable computing is hot. Smartphone sales continue to soar and very small, well-connected laptops – including ultra-minis like the OQO and FlipStart are winning over friends everywhere.

Palm founder, designer of the first Pilot PDA and the original (Handspring/Palm) Treo is Jeff Hawkins.  He is also responsible for the Foleo. He told me that the device is “like a PDA but even better”. 

Hawkins worked on Foleo for the past five years – starting when he was developing the original Treo.

“It’s not a laptop replacement but is an awful lot like one,” he said. 

Foleos will work with Treos (Palm OS and Windows Mobile) out of the box. Other Windows Mobile smartphones should work too but Blackberries, iPhones and Symbian-based devices “likely can be supported with a modest software effort” according to Palm’s press release.

Foleo should reach stores this summer. Price is expected to be $499 after a $100 rebate.  Expect similarly-priced super-portable computing devices to follow.

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