The Palm Folio
Last week, Palm introduced the Palm Folio. This thing is a "mobile companion," a new category of devices that Palm is attempting the introduce.
For those unfamiliar, Palm is the company that came up with the Palm Pilot, the first really successful line of Personal Data Assistants (PDAs). The primary line of business for Palm now-a-days is their Treo smartphones. Yes, they still have lots of other products, but the Treo is their main line right now. These things run either Palm OS (just like Palm Pilots do) or Windows Mobile. I have been using a Palm Treo 700p for the past couple of months and I really love the thing. There are a couple of issues (notably with Bluetooth pairing) and Palm OS is showing its age, but it's still a wonderful device. It has full PDA functions (calendering, etc), a mobile Web browser, a full Java JVM (from IBM), an email client, and multiple other cool capabilities. I don't really go anywhere without my Treo anymore.
So, enter the Folio. The idea is that smartphones are great, but stink at typing long emails, reading big documents (like graphic-intensive PDFs), looking at big images, and so forth. And that is all true. Sometimes, you really need a big keyboard and a big screen. The Folio is a very small laptop-like computer. It connects to your Treo (wirelessly) and provides all of those capabilities (it's a full keyboard, a big - ~10 inch - screen). It also can run on its own and runs a stripped down version of Linux. It is also pretty low-power, done all in flash instead of magentic media, is instant-on, and has a very long battery life.
The Folio is getting slammed in the media. The Slashdot hordes don't like it. One pretty representative comment -> "It's too big to be a PDA, too small to be a laptop. This thing looks like a solution looking for a problem. Other than the fact that it's a portable device that runs Linux, I see no reason to spend $500 on this. I'd rather buy a sub-notebook and have the extra functionality." Engadget doesn't like the idea. ZDNet's bloggers are not big fans either.
Basically, people do not want to carry another device around. That is absolutely true. On a daily basis, I carry my Treo and my iPod around with me. I sometimes carry my laptop (12" inch model) with me as well. I would not carry the laptop and the Folio around at the same time, and if I am going to carry one, the argument would be to bring the one that has the most power and capability (the laptop). There are already capabilities to use the smartphone as a wireless modem for a laptop as well, allowing the laptop to connect to the wireless provider's network.
This seems pretty clear-cut. Everything in the media about this device is slamming it, including the biggest Palm fanboys you can find. But something seems off to me. This seems like one of those things that everyone will pan but then, a year or so later, everyone has one. I'm not sure why I think this. I don't have any plans to acquire a Folio myself.
But I do think this device could be a dark-horse success.
Indeed, TreeHugger has an alternate viewpoint on the Folio. From their, post, "All of the Gizmodo and Engadget geeks trashing this thing don't understand that we are entering an era where low power, long life and no moving parts are going to be huge advantages." They are right in some of this -> low power and flash instead of magnetic storage are the wave of the future. With the move of applications from fat-clients to the web, this could be an interesting approach (use the smartphone when that will do, when you need a bigger screen and/or keyboard, whip out the Folio, when you need a fat-client, do that).
When you are on the road, do you really need a fat-client? I think not. I think that easily 95% of what the average traveler does on the road can be done with a Folio. Even when I have my laptop with me, I loath turning it on since it takes forever to boot (even when it's just in hibernation mode and not "off"). Instant-on access, a full display and keyboard, always-on high-speed wireless, and instant sync with my Treo? That covers almost all I would do with my laptop anyway.
This will be an interesting area to watch.
For those unfamiliar, Palm is the company that came up with the Palm Pilot, the first really successful line of Personal Data Assistants (PDAs). The primary line of business for Palm now-a-days is their Treo smartphones. Yes, they still have lots of other products, but the Treo is their main line right now. These things run either Palm OS (just like Palm Pilots do) or Windows Mobile. I have been using a Palm Treo 700p for the past couple of months and I really love the thing. There are a couple of issues (notably with Bluetooth pairing) and Palm OS is showing its age, but it's still a wonderful device. It has full PDA functions (calendering, etc), a mobile Web browser, a full Java JVM (from IBM), an email client, and multiple other cool capabilities. I don't really go anywhere without my Treo anymore.
So, enter the Folio. The idea is that smartphones are great, but stink at typing long emails, reading big documents (like graphic-intensive PDFs), looking at big images, and so forth. And that is all true. Sometimes, you really need a big keyboard and a big screen. The Folio is a very small laptop-like computer. It connects to your Treo (wirelessly) and provides all of those capabilities (it's a full keyboard, a big - ~10 inch - screen). It also can run on its own and runs a stripped down version of Linux. It is also pretty low-power, done all in flash instead of magentic media, is instant-on, and has a very long battery life.
The Folio is getting slammed in the media. The Slashdot hordes don't like it. One pretty representative comment -> "It's too big to be a PDA, too small to be a laptop. This thing looks like a solution looking for a problem. Other than the fact that it's a portable device that runs Linux, I see no reason to spend $500 on this. I'd rather buy a sub-notebook and have the extra functionality." Engadget doesn't like the idea. ZDNet's bloggers are not big fans either.
Basically, people do not want to carry another device around. That is absolutely true. On a daily basis, I carry my Treo and my iPod around with me. I sometimes carry my laptop (12" inch model) with me as well. I would not carry the laptop and the Folio around at the same time, and if I am going to carry one, the argument would be to bring the one that has the most power and capability (the laptop). There are already capabilities to use the smartphone as a wireless modem for a laptop as well, allowing the laptop to connect to the wireless provider's network.
This seems pretty clear-cut. Everything in the media about this device is slamming it, including the biggest Palm fanboys you can find. But something seems off to me. This seems like one of those things that everyone will pan but then, a year or so later, everyone has one. I'm not sure why I think this. I don't have any plans to acquire a Folio myself.
But I do think this device could be a dark-horse success.
Indeed, TreeHugger has an alternate viewpoint on the Folio. From their, post, "All of the Gizmodo and Engadget geeks trashing this thing don't understand that we are entering an era where low power, long life and no moving parts are going to be huge advantages." They are right in some of this -> low power and flash instead of magnetic storage are the wave of the future. With the move of applications from fat-clients to the web, this could be an interesting approach (use the smartphone when that will do, when you need a bigger screen and/or keyboard, whip out the Folio, when you need a fat-client, do that).
When you are on the road, do you really need a fat-client? I think not. I think that easily 95% of what the average traveler does on the road can be done with a Folio. Even when I have my laptop with me, I loath turning it on since it takes forever to boot (even when it's just in hibernation mode and not "off"). Instant-on access, a full display and keyboard, always-on high-speed wireless, and instant sync with my Treo? That covers almost all I would do with my laptop anyway.
This will be an interesting area to watch.
posted by jeffsix at 2:26 PM
1 Comments:
Woo!
Posting felt good. You know it did.
:P
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