Palm Launches Stripped-Down Laptop Mini
This afternoon saw the confirmation of rumors that Palm would lift the curtain on some sort of "new category of mobile device." Though not quite as exciting as all that speculation might have lead you to believe (and certainly nowhere near as cool as Microsoft's Surface), the new product category Palm has launched is, well, the quasi-laptop.The Foleo has a ten-inch screen and a full-size keyboard, but is smaller and lighter than most laptops –- less than an inch thick and weighing only 2.5 pounds. It's not to be used on its own, but rather to be paired with a smart phone such as the Palm Treo.
The idea is that using a phone's small screen and keyboard to edit spreadsheets and other documents is a real drag, but so is lugging around the average-sized business laptop. The petite Foleo syncs with your smart phone wirelessly (via Bluetooth) to retrieve documents or e-mails you want to work on. You then use the keyboard, screen, and word processing or other office programs on the Foleo to get your work done. When you're done, you sync back and everything returns to your phone.
The Foleo runs a proprietary flavor of the Linux operating system to make all of this possible, which Palm has left open so that other phones like the iPhone or BlackBerry can be made compatible in the future. In addition to editing docs, the Foleo can jump on the Internet via Wi-Fi or through your phone.
It costs $499, boasts five hours of battery life and features a USB port, headphone jack and SD/Compact Flash slots. There are no details yet on CPU power or memory capacity, but expect them to be slim when they're announced sometime ahead of the Foleo's summertime launch.
Pretty cool, though somewhat questionable when a fully operational Dell laptop can be yours for just 50 bucks more.
Watch video of Foleo's announcement here.
Gallery: Palm Foleo
Related Links:
_thumbnail.jpg "Vintage Keyboards")
