Palm was showing off its Foleo at a press event in New York City last night, and we were able to get our hands on the device. We're not ready to jump on the naysayers bandwagon just yet. We joked with Palm's reps that the device seemed custom made for tech journalists, in fact. We use smartphones (Palm Treos, in fact). We travel, but don't necessarily need a full-size laptop at trade shows, as we're mostly using e-mail, Word, a Web browser and a photo viewer. We're usually in enough of a hurry that waiting for a laptop to boot could mean the difference between a sneak preview, and a missed meeting. While we do think the Foleo could be a useful device, our hands-on impressions left us a bit more skeptical.
Pressing the buttons
For one thing, though the device is small, thin and light, it still feels like a laptop. We took all of our hands-on pics with the Foleo in one hand and our DSLR in the other, and though it wasn't difficult to maintain a good grip on the Foleo, we've hefted Sony Vaio laptops that felt considerably lighter. Of course, the larger size allows for full-size keys and a nice, wide screen, but users who already own a subcompact notebook won't find enough difference in the size of the Foleo to make its svelte design a selling point.
We did get to give the "always-on" feature a nice workout, but standing in a press room, jamming a power button over and over doesn't come close to emulating the always-on experience. Yes, the device turns on and off as quickly as our Treo. Still, we think it will take some real world testing to appreciate the convenience of the feature. As it stands, the Foleo jumps to e-mail faster, and with fewer steps than our smartphone, but we think it will take some time to decide if this is a viable selling point.
Navigating the interface
Like the Palm OS on our Treo, the Foleo handles applications smoothly. When the PR rep caught us searching for the "close" button on the open document, he had to remind us that "this isn't Windows," there is no close button. You simply go to the next application, and the Foleo closes whatever you aren't using. Unlike Windows Mobile, applications don't pile up and hog memory. Where a Windows Start menu key would be on a Windows laptop, the Foleo has an "Apps" key, which opens the application list. The list of applications is light, but it covers the right bases, including DataViz excellent Documents To Go software for editing Office documents.
The trackpoint felt the same as any we've used, and the clickwheel felt smooth, but we missed a trackpad. We've seen tiny trackpads on UMPCs recently, and we think the Foleo would benefit from alternative navigation options. Still, Palm has kept the interface simple and modern looking. Connectivity options are pretty good, including a USB port and SD card reader on the right side of the device, as well as a tiny VGA port, which works with the included adapter to drive an external display. We're interested in testing this feature with PowerPoint slides, to see if the mobile version of DataViz' presentation software is as robust and useful as the word processor.
Our brief impression
Overall, we're a bit more skeptical, but not gloomy. For many smartphone users, this could be the right tool for the job, as opposed to a much larger, slower and more complicated laptop. The always-on feature offers an experience for which we'll reserve judgment until we've used the device in the real world, over a longer period of time. We're also curious about what sort of software third-party developers will create to extend the device's capabilities, and perhaps find its true killer app. Palm says the device could be available by the end of the summer. We look forward to getting a review unit, so keep checking back for our full review.
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