Did Garnet kill the Foleo?

While many think the Garnet OS is becoming a bit of a turd in the mobile smart phone market it is still managing to provide a better day to day working experience than anything else Microsoft or Nokia etc has provided. With Apple now on the scene it is arguable that they have lost their lead (personally I still prefer the Palm OS).

Reading back through the last couple of months of Foleo chatter I have come up with a thought (CONSPIRACY! - No not quite, but I do think there is/was more going on than just a need by Palm to focus on one OS).

From my observations I think that a primary problem for the Foleo was Garnet. Basically I think the limitations of Garnet (running on the partnering Treo) were making it hard (impossible?) to allow the Foleo to deliver the user experiance that Palm wanted. Any time the Foleo was shown off it was as far as I can tell, with an 802.11b wifi connection for internet. While this does make sence for showing off web browsing due to its speed over Bluetooth I can't help but feel that there was probably more to it than this.

So.... Due to Garnets inability to truly multi task or its other working limitations (Bluetooth, EVDO?) the Foleo was not able to do all that it was intended. This does of course still result in much the same needed fix, a new OS and a matching OS on both the Foleo and a Treo would also be the logical best case scenario to get the two devices to coexist and provide the best user experience.

Foleo BLUNDER!

Has been a while since I wrote (give me a break, moved house for Christs sake! :), but have been waiting very excitedly for Foleo. This was to be a very very good device. In hindsight I think Palm has made a massive mistake on several levels. But rather than point these out I am going to end this blog (for now only hopefully perhaps) with a question, and also a couple of suggestions.

QUESTION:
Now that the Foleo has been canceled, where should I look for a replacement that would have:

1. Weighed 2.5 pounds. I have an IBM X31 laptop (small 12" laptop - but plenty of times it is not small enough to just toss in a bag or walk out door with)

2. A 5+ hour battery life with wifi on the whole time!

3. Very low power, environmentally friendly, easy and QUICK to charge, even right out of car electrical outlet.

3. Instant on and off (this is a very compelling feature, think about it in daily use)

4. Solid State hard drive, yeah small, but big enough to 'get what u need done'

5. 10" screen (very usable and nice, not a naty little 7" screen or even 8", so forget the rather crummy in use by comparison Eee PC)

5. Word, Excell, Powerpoint, Email, Web Browsing - for MANY of us, this IS what our work day is about.

6. $500

THat last one is the one that really stings. $500! Come to think about it where can I get same for $1000 or even $1500!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just ordered a new Lenovo X61s (very light 12" laptop, $1500) but it WILL NOT be as used as the Foleo would and could have. I am not going to toss the X61s in my cars glove box to pull out if needed, or toss it in my gym bag to do some work on if needed. i am not going to be able to use it without the worry of loosing a $1500 laptop with ALL my valuable data on it.

SUGGESTIONS:
Somewhere there is a factory with capacity and tooling to make these things, maybe Palm could sell from web site only as a 'Beta' for developers and palm or Linux enthusiasts. This will help project germinate, and outside developers might probably do a better job than Palm and Palm. Little hurtful to say this, but overall it would make for happier partnering software developers, and also go a long way to creating a community around product for this category.

How about someone else picking up the pieces. I have to think that if Ubuntu was to sell this item pre-loaded with Ubuntu (with Open Office and Firefox etc) that it would be a very compelling device, possibly more compelling that with a Palm OS! It could even be sold with NO OS by Palm or Ubuntu or other, ready to have a CF card purchased by buyer loaded with OS, Linux of their choice. My vote for a ready to go Ubuntu!

Ok, there are some thoughts, that my dog 100% agrees with, here is to hoping that maybe someone in the tech world (with a brain bigger than my dogs, and he is a small dog) might have a similar insight and ability to investigate this idea...

All the best,

Adam

p.s. - willing to pay lots for a Foleo!

Sane Musings

Computerworld has written a good piece on the viability of the Foleo. Good sane read for those looking for more even handed reporting info without wing nut hysteria.

Link: http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/5606

Most up to date news and insight on Foleo

I have been a little busy of late. I do have a couple of topics to post on regarding the Foleo which will come soon. For now here is a link for some GREAT hands in info on the Foleo from an individual that attended a Sneak Peak.

http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/1263-1.htm

Palm OS II (The Second Coming) Delayed Until 2008

Who will come first, Palm OS II or the Four Horsemen?

http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=13140

http://youtube.com/watch?v=q24AwHV7Mfo

"It's Not A Laptop"

There is now a whole page at the Palm site to explain why, how etc the Foleo is not a laptop. I might be an ant in the grand scheme of marketing geniuses but I think the best way to have got across that the Foleo was not a laptop would have been to not have made it a laptop?

This seams like a perfect scenario for some college textbook to use at some future date as to how NOT to market a product.

Anyway go have a look so you don't look a fool when you try to explain to your 4 year old or grandmother that it is not a laptop.

AND - Just in case you are in doubt, YES I am still very excited to get my Foleo and think it will be a killer lapto... woops I mean companion to my work life, while I am mobile..

Link Here:
http://www.palm.com/us/products/mobilecompanion/foleo/unlike-a-laptop.html

Hands On Review

Palm has had a couple of sneak peeks available for the Foleo at some of their store locations. Treo Central has a forum discussion on one of these events by a couple that attended. Some interesting views and perhaps most notably for me the fact that the Foleo power brick is as yet still a mystery... It was said by a Palm rep that the power adapter would be no bigger than that of the Treo. Here is hoping that it will BE the Treo power adapter. OK, I am a very opinionated individual but I think it would be dumb to not have the Foleo utilize the same power adapter as the Treo. Why carry a second power adapter with a unit that is designed to pair with when you can use the existing one. Laptops users need to carry a second adapter, would Palm really make Foleo users do the same? Well I guess if the Foleo is just a laptop then yes they would :)

Come on Palm, don't F*CK this one up. DETAILS DETAILS DETAILS - get the small stuff right!

On another note my predictions regarding memory and the CF card look to be spot on. Looks like the CF card will be the hard drive for the unit so simply swapping out the CF card will score you more RAM as well as storage space and a solid state hard drive. Not sure if OS will reside on CF card or not.


Go read!
http://discussion.treocentral.com/showthread.php?t=146023&page=2