RIM's BlackBerry tablet starting to sound suspiciously like a Foleo
By Chris Ziegler 
posted May 13th 2010 12:12PM
posted May 13th 2010 12:12PM
posted May 13th 2010 12:12PM
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Please no Surepress.
It's funny that Engadget uses that picture.
When I first saw the title, my mind went "OH DEAR GOD"
PALM had NO CATASTROPHIC results.
PALM has NO RESULTS. They didnt even launch it and aborted project to concentrate on webOS
Stop the hating... it shows.
@futurerheza the storm 2 is a nice touchscreen phone... and with BB6.0 it will be a GREAT touchscreen phone
So it will be useless or next to useless if I don't have a BB?
@Sponge
I think it will be useless if they dont get it before december.
@jocantonio
It will be useless if it came out right now,
take a look at the storm, that thing is a pos.
RIM stick to making business phones... wtf are you doing
People always bash the folio because its popular. If the folio made it out to market it would have been the first netbook. I don't understand why it gets picked on so much.
@Andrew M
actually it would have been the first smartbook, and people bash it because the OS wouldn't have made it as cool as a tablet/smartbook with webOS
@JeremyBenthem The folio was running linux just like the original eee's I don't know if it had to be paired to a phone, but i think canceling the folio was a mistake for palm, even if Engadget thinks otherwise.
@Andrew M
The foleo was running Palm OS like their smartphones at the time, and it was using an ARM processor. The Eee PCs always used x86-based intel Atoms
@JeremyBenthem. Odd one that my eee pc had a downclocked celeron cpu
@Andrew M : It could not have been a netbook because it would not have worked independently. It required a Treo to use.
@JeremyBenthem
No, the Palm Foleo ran a version of Linux, not Palm OS.
@radarskiy
Not quite. Although the Foleo was billed as a "companion" device and some of the built-in applications (such as the email client) would have required a Treo to use, those restrictions weren't inherent to the device itself. The web browser and third-party email clients wouldn't have needed a Treo, for example.
@atc9000
okay fine, but still an x86-based CPU
Don't forget, RIM said that people don't use touchscreens so do not expect a touch screen on your trablet.
@ComeShot out of context misquoting is useless... dont do it
@SteveyAyo It'll have knobs like the Etch-a-Sketch.
Ummmmmm I don't want this RIM..... Like not at all.....
Out of curiosity, (and this is a serious question) What the fuck would you even want to do with a blackberry tablet? Now that really would be A BIGGER VERSION OF A BLACKBERRY unless they have some different os on it, kind of redundant when you buy a blackberry for portability and its email/business os. Literally the last OS I would want on a media consumption device. No offense to BB os though, its great for business people but stay away from tablets, it's just gonna be a money pit, give me the money they invest into tablets and ill buy palm stock and get rich.
Unless must have ANDROID instead of Blackberry OS
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA....AHHHH HAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!
@Plazmic Flame as funny as you find this, it would most likely be much more useful than an iPad seeing as it would be a business tool
@SteveyAyo
RIM is still getting their mobile OS together and their ideals towards data usage is laughable, don't be surprised if my expectations for a tablet from them is lower than dirt.
@SteveyAyo How would it be more of a business tool than an iPad? I'm honestly curious..
@Internet User proper email client, mobile office, blackberry messenger and pretty much everything else that makes the blackberry a business phone and an iPhone a feature phone
I could see it being valuable for presentations.... It if had the Intel Wireless HDMI built in.
@pauldovi
They already have the BlackBerry presenter, but yea I suppose it would be alright for that kind of thing.
No thanks!
Yeah they're gonna need a little Android magic, up in there. Well, fellows, I'd say now is as good a time as any to buy some Google stock. Even Archos is dipping their toes into the sacred pool of Android.
@nickeedoo Except that google doesn't make any money off Android. 1,000 companies selling Android devices would still result in $0 for Google.
Will it be just like the Storm?
Actually, Palm never really tried this at all. They canceled the Foleo before it was released. I actually think that they could have had a real winner with the Foleo if it had been marketed correctly because if you look at the timing of it, Foleo actually predated the netbook - there's a good chance in my mind that if Palm had released the Foleo it would have been in the position that Asus is now, and we'd all be talking about "Foleo killer devices" rather than hot netbook of the month.
If they are making a great tablet that can piggyback on a 3G connection from a Blackberry, there's no reason it can't succeed. But it will depend on it being a great device and being marketed as such, not exclusively as a companion to a Blackberry.
@weatherman I would agree with you except for the fact that the Foleo was designed to REQUIRE a Treo to operate. If it could work independently (ala smartbooks, netbooks, etc) then yes I agree it could be a big hit. Palm's mistake was to make the Foleo an enticement to buy a Treo. They should be standalone items if the consumers so choose.
@spamfree I don't think that's true. The Foleo had its own Linux-based OS (before WebOS), and it wasn't like it needed to use any hardware from a phone excpet perhpas to piggy back on its 3G connection. It was a perfectly ordinary (if anemic by today's standards) netbook with a 10" screen and a 5 hour battery life. The only thing that was really touted as it being a companion for a smartphone was that it would be able to sync between a phone (either Palm or Windows) so that the email would be up to date between the Foleo and the phone. Once again, I think that was the failure of the marketing in making people think that it would only work if it was paired with a phone. Ironically now that HP owns Palm, there are rumors of a tablet running WebOS coming out. Call it the Foleo Tablet.
@spamfree
I think most people ESPECIALLY ENGADGET f-ed up the Folio and altered perception of the unreleased device... Thank engadget for Verizon selling $300 netbooks with 2yr contracts instead of a Linux OS netbook that could pair over a smartphones Bluetooth, share 3G, contacts... Text & email on a full size keyboard... All without a SECOND dataplan (iPad?). Thanks Engadget... I wanted a Foleo & still do!
If you really look at what has been said about the tablet so far, it doesn't sound anything like the Folio. It seems as though the tablet is similar to a wifi only iPad. BGR states, "Yes, the BlackBerry tablet will not have any cellular networking built in, and will rely on either a Bluetooth connection to your BlackBerry or the built-in Wi-Fi radio" So it seems like it may be a RIM's competition for the iPad. It seems like you could either use the onboard wifi radio or tether via bluetooth to any smartphone with a data plan. (That definitely 1 ups the iPad.) This would give you better connectivity than the iPad. Only problem RIM has to deal with is how Blackberry6 works on that large a screen.
IMO it sounds like a great idea that may allow me to switch to the EVO 4G, but keep things like BBM through use of the tablet. After all, the only major thing Blackberry OS is missing is a legit browser which should come with Blackberry6.
@aeroPM: The Foleo was actually a Linux netbook with Palm Desktop set up as a windows manager. Palm made the mistake of trying to sell a netbook as a companion device, not as a full blown Linux netbook like Asus did that very same year. They were also setting their price point based on the Mac Air, and not some Eee netbook. It was just purely a bad marketing move because they were still uncertain whether a Linux netbook could actually be sold to ordinary users who were scared off by the mention of Linux in regards to anything. The Foleo was marketed as a companion device that was meant to give the user a better experience for typing up emails, doing word processing, and that sort of thing...which sounds like what this Blackberry tablet thing kinda is. The problem is that other tablets being scheduled for release (HP's, MSI's, etc.) do all the things that those Asus Eee's were going to do when the Foleo was announced. Not to mention, that Blackberry tablet better roll an OS build that supports complete multitouch and multitasking, or it's already dead in the water.
I think we should give this some more time to develop and see more details before we automatically kill it.
Leave us Cancuks alone. I hope it's real and has far more capabilities than those mentioned. Make the screen 10" with 1080p and we'll be talking. Add some usb ports, hdmi, flash support and a 10hr battery along with a sick processor and we'll be talking!
@hero785 And a holographic display! And a unicorn!
@Doctor Kwame Nkrumah i absolutely HATE the fact that i agree with you on anything, however i would say that the pre model of touch/full qwerty would be a way to go for RIM... They still DOMINATE the US smartphone market and have the money to try out new things
a hugeeeee bold QWERTY keyboard please!!
@annoynimous Why doesn't anyone design a tablet with both touchscreen and physical keyboards? The form factor would be much like the Pre, sliding out of the bottom of the tablet?
I'm a genius.
It's not so much as it was a bad idea...Asus was selling plenty of netbooks right after Palm folded up shop on the Foleo. The problem was purely bad marketing. If Palm had marketed it as a "Linux minibook", things might have been different. Too bad RIM is making the same mistake with this that Palm did, but even moreso, with a dearth of netbooks out there that can be hacked to do the same thing, it's even more bizarre. The idea of a "companion" device is, to most people, something that is limited in its abilities and probably not worth paying for when you can get something that people perceive as "fully featured" for less.
Blackberries are boring. The company itself lacks innovation or spunk.
The only reason why they are so popular is because they managed to convince the COPR world that their services are the shit. THEY ARE NOT!!!
Thier consumer phones are given for free on any contract thats why they hold such a large chunk of the market.
But honestly who would pay 200-300 for a 2.5-3.0 size screen with a keyboard?
Only those that are afraid of advancements and are not willing to let go of their old ways.
Blackberry die already give that spot to a more deserving company.
Honestly, the RIM tablet might actually be a decent product if:
1) The software is not done by RIM (their phone OS is horribly slow and limited).
2) The unit can tether to your BlackBerry and use the data plan without additional charges being incurred.
3) The tablet does not try to detract or compete with the BlackBerry in the area it is better than everything else (phone & email package).
4) The price is quite low, considering the limitations of the unit.
I'd consider a companion device like that, for multimedia, web surfing, ebook types of applications. Would let me keep my BB for the stellar corporate email support, and get a kind of hybrid access to the bells and whistles of other smartphones (iPhone and Android) and a tablet experience. Time will tell whether they can make something worthwhile (the software will be their biggest headache)
Let's see what the interface is like before we bemoan its death. We don't know what kind of touchscreen it would have. What OS it would have, and the fact that I could piggyback my BB's internet connection would be kick ass.
Clearly there are not enough puns in the comments....come on guys, you can doeth better.