How would you change the Palm Foleo?

As much as we respect and admire the man, we sure wouldn't want to be in Jeff Hawkins' shoes these days, what with the cool reaction his promised "breakthrough device" has been receiving in the media and among the army of amateur online pundits. But rather than wasting time knocking Jeff for the somewhat awkwardly-positioned Foleo, why don't we instead use our collective knowledge and preferences to help him make the F2 a product that we'd be comfortable dropping a few bucks on. For instance, what if Palm got rid of the redundant processor, OS, and radios, and simply offered consumers a dumb terminal in which to dock their Treos for under $200? Or what if they let that screen get its swivel on and added 'e-book reader' to the Foleo's list of features? And for heaven's sake, some proper video support please! Those are just our suggestions; what's yours?

[cplain @ Jun 10th 2007 10:06PM]

Self Destruct Button.

[jabar @ Jun 10th 2007 10:27PM]

Best Engadget comment.

[Justin @ Jun 11th 2007 2:36AM]

Ever.

[drtekger @ Jun 11th 2007 4:26AM]

people can stop commenting NOW. It won't get any better than this!

[Keff @ Jun 11th 2007 9:32AM]

At least best first comment :)

[fearless_fx @ Jun 10th 2007 10:11PM]

Needs a better OS and multi-touch screen tech. Hell, they should just build a portable, Microsoft Surface and market it as such.

[Ariza @ Jun 10th 2007 10:16PM]

When I first saw this thing I thought Palm was going to position it as a bare bones lap top.
Something that would do MS Office, Web and e-mail over Wi-Fi and use the treo as a modem when on the road.

then provide a sync function with treos as a bonus but not a necessity.

This would be perfect for companies that have a lot of employees that travel and present using PowerPoint etc - they dont need a full blown laptop just something that gives them access to Power Point, Excel and email.

Plus as a secondary market they would get grandparents and parents that dont need a full blown PC - just something simple to use and inexpensive.

IMHO the Foleos dependence on a smart phone is a huge mistake - it should be a stand alone product.

[zack weinstock @ Jun 10th 2007 10:21PM]

lol idk its just ugly id reccommend scrapping the idea and focusing on smartphones. maybe an iphone rival with a bult in ssd drive and wifi? just a thought

[Johan S @ Jun 11th 2007 12:42AM]

I think if they made something with similar form factor as the Nintendo DS (except with a high resolution widescreen). That means it would fit in a pocket. Also the web browser and applications most be responsive -flawless no-skip smooth scrolling - no compromise on that! Before releasing it they should also practice web browsing on the thing and they can test it by posting on engadget to make sure the touch interface is optimal and usable.

PS> bonus points for a display on top outside

[Benz145 @ Jun 10th 2007 10:22PM]

As much as I like cplain's suggestion in the first post, I say Palm scraps the Foleo and just makes a freaking UMPC! I know they can do it, and I know it would be amazing.

[Shannin @ Jun 10th 2007 10:23PM]

it definitely needs the swivel that you mentioned and a touch screen, does it say anywhere what the storeage size is?

[Jon Martin @ Jun 10th 2007 10:26PM]

ebook reader, be able to swivel the screen like a tablet for ease of holding, readable in sunlight, have a couple of buttons by the screen to page up/page down, better battery life or power by replaceable batteries for those of us that travel and get stuck in airports. I am one of the target folks - I hate carrying a laptop (actually my company laptop goes in checked baggage and I take along in carry on only my sony ebook reader, a USB/AA charger for it, a sealed pack of duracell 'AA's and a HiMD minidisk player. (Hey - 40 hours battery life on the minidisc with an 'AA' - once got caught for 78 hours in an airport and was the only person with tunes that didn't pay out the wazoo for an AC power connection). I'll replace the minidisc the day I can get a 16MB flash MP3 player that I can replace batteries on.

[drtekger @ Jun 11th 2007 1:42AM]

Wow a 16MB flashplayer, so you could hear like 4 songs over and over again for 78 hours. Niiiiiice.

[zorg @ Jun 10th 2007 10:27PM]

Maybe add a hammer to beat some sense into the Foleo haters.

It's impossible to know without testing its usability. That's what originally made Palm a success. If you could tell from specs, any idiot could design a successful machine.

People often told me that my USR Pilot 1000 had terrible specs. How could I stand it? Didn't I want it to be faster, yet cheaper? Bigger, yet smaller? More cutting edge, yet more tried and true?

[Bachus @ Jun 10th 2007 10:29PM]

My 2 cents = find a way to price cut this thing. no one's gonna spend 800 bucks for a shoddy UMPC that comes in 2 pieces. no real world UMPCs have broken that 800-and-some-odd-change price point. This setup would make sense to me if this foleo add-on was around 150-200 bucks. anything more than that and you might as well buy a budget laptop.

[Eric @ Jun 11th 2007 9:57AM]

If it was that cheap. It would kick Apple/Asus/Toshiba and other companies in the balls.

[Sheryll @ Jun 10th 2007 10:29PM]

With its' specs, they can sell it for $99.

[Michael Aaron @ Jun 10th 2007 10:33PM]

I'd love to use this as a remote desktop connection device. The power and processing would all be handled on the remote computer- this would just be a "dumb" terminal to connect with.
I wonder if the OS or the browser will support this?

[spam_from_engadget @ Jun 11th 2007 8:07AM]

> wonder if the OS or the browser will support [remote desktop]

If it doesn't out-of-the-box, it will by the time I've hacked it:

# apt-get install vncviewer rdesktop

Yes, this is exactly what I want to do with it. As long as we can get over this initial negative vibe, I can see a bit community of Linux hackers turning it into something really useful. First step, install Debian; the rest is easy.

[Angelo Brisimitzakis @ Jun 10th 2007 10:35PM]

Lower price and outstanding battery life are a must. It should also serve as a charger for anything with a USB port (like those treo's and palm's it's supposed to work with)

[Karim @ Jun 10th 2007 10:36PM]

Glue some leather to the outside of the case and rename it the "Asus Eee 'Reserve Edition.'"

[Kevin @ Jun 10th 2007 10:38PM]

If they make a Treo including any decent software to make real presentations and a VGA port (or small cable adapter) embedded in the handset... without crappy CF cards or extension modules... that would be revolutionary... Even my $100 camera has a TV out...

[Matt O @ Jun 10th 2007 10:39PM]

if they lower the price they have a hit... $200 dollars and i would consider one

[S @ Jun 10th 2007 10:40PM]

If we are just adding to the foleo, then it needs swivel screen+touchscreen tablet. However, what should the foleo be?

It needs to be fully independent from the treo, with the ability to synch email/docs/media with it. Hell, my 700p is fast enough to play full size divx files, no re-encoding required. It can also view excel, word, and the like.....so why not up the speed a bit, quadruple the ram, and make it out of a treo?

That way you would have continuity in os's, current software would work with slight modding, and since everything is already optimized to run on a low speed processor, battery life would be amazing compared to current umpc's.

[Alec @ Jun 10th 2007 10:45PM]

I don't get an massive backlash from Engadget crowd about the new Foleo. As it is, it's a great product with no rivals in sight. Just what I was looking for. I need a light device with a screen to comfortably browse internet on the go and a normal keyboard to type e-mail, correct Excel, Word and PPoint docs, and read books. I had a Palm TX, but due to screen limitations the Wi-Fi browsing was pathetic. A small laptop would be twice as heavy and twice as expensive. I was going to get a Nokia N800 ($350), but there is a big compromise in the lack of keyboard and again screen limitations to do a PPoint editing stuff. This one does it all and at a great cost of $500. So, kudos to Palm.

[compuguy1088 @ Jun 10th 2007 11:03PM]

I agree as well, with Alphasmart being acquired by Renaissance Learning, this is going to be the only real innovation in the Alphasmart area in years. The Dana was great, but its (still) small black and white screen wasn't the best to do editing. If they kept it the way it is, and allowed it to be used without a smartphone, and had it positioned towards an education audience/ people who like the Alphasmarts, they will find a market...

[iEnigma @ Jun 11th 2007 1:06PM]

It's nice to know at least one person will be buying the Foleo.

[telepheedian @ Jun 12th 2007 11:16AM]

But what about the ASUS Eee? You could have good browsing, small size, light weight, and a full keyboard for less than half the price of the foleo, plus, you don't need to link to your Palm to get it to work.

[Alec @ Jun 12th 2007 2:29PM]

Asus seems like a competitor to Foleo. But no official pricing is available. There are rumors that it's gonna be $200. I doubt that very much. If it's in the $500 I would seriously consider that. But mind you, this is the only one on the horizon to compete with Foleo.

[Ryan @ Jul 31st 2007 8:53AM]

The Foleo definitely needs an X server -- then it could be my home computer away from away. I'm a student and a writer, and it seems the perfect companion (even if it is on the pricey side in relation to its feature set). The Asus Eee looks cheap, and not worth investing in. One more thing to add to the Foleo: an ethernet jack (since I don't have a smartphone and for when wireless is not available) and more usb ports. Expandability could be the Foleo's most attractive feature.

[Peter Hamby @ Jun 10th 2007 10:46PM]

make it not a stupid laptop :D (i like laptops when they are supposed to be laptops not stupid little palm things)

[Michael Puhala @ Jun 10th 2007 10:46PM]

Palm Needs to spend more time innovating in the smart-phone category rather than dreaming up new products that no one will want. When the Treo first came out, everyone wanted one. Five years later, they have not produced a phone that keeps up with the current pace of innovation. Some one over at Palm needs to figure out that thin is in, and further develop the Palm OS such that it can compete with WM6 and Blackberry.

[humpty @ Jun 10th 2007 10:49PM]

They need to make it not look like ass. Take a page from Apple (i hate them, btw), design sells.. this looks like shit.

And, requiring connection to Treo is just limiting your market base. Why would you do something stupid like that.

[Sam @ Jun 10th 2007 10:56PM]

I love how you HAD to add "I hate them, BTW." Just to stick it to us at let us know that some of you are 'just not impressed with superiority.' Smooth.

[andres @ Jun 10th 2007 11:43PM]

you know because is "cool" to hate was well known by the masses... few years ago it was microsoft now is apple and give it few more years it will probably be google.

[Chuckles McGee @ Jun 10th 2007 10:51PM]

I like the "dumb terminal idea". Slide in your Palm, and you've got a keyboard, touchpad, screen, and a battery which can both power the screen and charge the Palm.

[John Doe @ Jun 10th 2007 10:53PM]

Put a real OS on it. Doesn't have to be a full blown version of Windows but CE would be nice. Turn it into a tablet with a reversable screen. And drop the requirement for the Treo.

[KeatonTech @ Jun 10th 2007 11:02PM]

I bought a computer back in 1999 that literally looks exactly the same as this, except for the palm logo. They need to make it look less, well, 1999.

[Tomming @ Jun 11th 2007 2:29AM]

I agree with KeatonTech. My Toshiba Portege 3100CT was bought in 1999. It's still working and it can run nowadays' MS Office/OpenOffice well.

[KeatonTech @ Jun 11th 2007 5:04PM]

Yeah, that's what I have too. Great linux box actually.

[Fred @ Jun 10th 2007 11:02PM]

I'd scratch Vtech off the front

[boe @ Jun 10th 2007 11:13PM]

It needs to lose about 1-2 lbs. I can get a 2.5 lb FULL featured laptop with a larger screen from Sony and others. The only reason I would carry this foliage thing instead is if it was super light, and super slim. What the heck is making this keyboard and screen so heavy? Frankly they could drop just about everything - even an OS, if it could just be a large screen and keyboard for WM6. WM6 already has a browser, e-mail, blah blah blah - what it needs is a keyboard and screen. If you need anything beyond that, then you need a laptop.

Frankly, I'd probably get one of these if it had a standard mini usb inteface - weighed less than a pound and was very slim. I already have a two year old laptop that does everything the foleo does and much more, weighs about the same, even has a dvd player. And I can tether my 6700 to it and browse the web, check email in a full version of outlook. Not sure what the chuck he was thinking short of being completely unaware of what is already available in the laptop market and has been for quite some time!

[byaah @ Jun 10th 2007 11:14PM]

Lower the price, its too close to that of a laptop to buying it. Perhaps adding a decent standalone OS wouldn't be a bad idea, as others have said.

[byaah @ Jun 10th 2007 11:15PM]

to justify buying it* Sorry about the typo

[dimsum05 @ Jun 10th 2007 11:26PM]

1. Full OS
2. Instant On
3. 32Gb SSD
4. Wi-Fi, BT, 3G

That would justify the 500 dollar price tag.

[b00mer @ Jun 11th 2007 8:53AM]

Right... you must be dreaming. The specs you mention aren't available in systems over $1000. What makes you think it'll happen with this machine? If that was the case, I want LED backlit screen, 4gb ram, 32gb SSD hard drive, led backlit keyboard, built-in webcam, and a 400 horse-power engine that will have a 300miles/gallon rating to drive me around town as well.

[carlo @ Jun 10th 2007 11:42PM]

Storage.

Throw a couple gigs into it so you can sync big docs and use as a substantial external hard drive.

Make it a media center.

Touch screen interactivity.

Tablet swivel.

You know that this is shameless, right? Palm employees get paid well to come up with this stuff. I'm not complaining about the opportunity to sound off, but wow.

[The_Duke_Of_Eli @ Jun 10th 2007 11:48PM]

I'm not really sure it needs to be changed. Sure a touch screen, camera or TV-out would be nice, but that's not what this device is for. Gimmkicks like that will just jack up the price. Keep it as a simple internet/basic productivity portable with the feature of syncing with an all-in-one phone. Don't let the Foleo foole-you, it's not a laptop.

[craig @ Jun 10th 2007 11:48PM]

Why would anyone want a device to complement a Treo when the Treo itself is so undesirable? The Foleo/Treo is an ugly double-feature.

I say sell off the assets and return the money to the stockholders. That should get them going...

[carlo @ Jun 11th 2007 12:38AM]

Saying that they should sell off assets and return investments does not address the issue of changing the Foleo as is requested by this article.

Treo's are great devices, and provide an excellent solution for those who prefer not to use Windows Mobile devices but need a business solution. The first ones looked like hell but they evolved into something great.

If anything they should refocus on a redesign with Blackberry as a great example. They have the clunky business model, but they also have the sleek trendy model.

Then, they could see what people are wanting and come back to the Foleo if they still feel there is a market.