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wlmoore · 07/20/2007, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wlmoore

So the next round of Foleo Sneak Peek events is coming up--July 17 and 19--and I know a few of us have signed up. I propose using this thread to (a) collect some questions beforehand, and (b) collect some answers afterwards (or during!).

There's no way all the questions will get asked or answered, but a healthy list may help prioritize.

Here's my partial list. (I'm not publishing my really dumb questions.

It was a delightful evening, and all the Palm (and Astraware!) folks were great. I'll be posting sporadically as I remember stuff and find time. Sans ado...

Web sites to visit (some will work, some won't)
- Google Docs http://docs.google.com/
  Didn't work, as expected. I got this page -- http://docs.google.com/?action=unsupported_browser -- same as on an unsupported desktop browser (*cough* Safari *cough*). I will say that prior to the event I published a Google document, and I could view it just fine with the Foleo. So you can view published Google docs read-only, but no editing for now.
- Pandora http://www.pandora.com/
  It never finished loading so I gave up. I was on Astraware's early dev unit, so they said it might work on a newer unit. I didn't try again.
- Treo Central http://www.treocentral.com/
  Works, natch. I posted.
- Sun Java Applets http://java.sun.com/applets/
  Java applets didn't work.
- Google maps http://maps.google.com/
  Works fine.
- Yahoo! maps http://maps.yahoo.com/
  Didn't bother. It probably works.
- Yahoo! groups http://groups.yahoo.com/
  Works fine. I posted.
- Popcap games http://www.popcap.com/
  Didn't bother. Their online games won't work without Java.
- YouTube http://www.youtube.com/
  Didn't bother. Video wouldn't have worked. Palm folks say you'll hear the video's audio but there is no picture; I didn't confirm.
- Palm http://www.palm.com/
  Works fine (except the video I guess). I only tried it because I thrive on irony, but I came away empty-handed

Questions
- Java runtime on command line?
  No java on these units. I hope it comes later.
- Compatible with Treo 650? What phones?
  Heartbreaker...the word is that at launch they'll only support the 700, 750, and 755 (sprinkle your w's and p's appropriately). No 650 or 680. I should stress that this is not finalized, but for now it doesn't look good. The gist is they require a certain version of the Palm OS which the 650 and 680 don't have; Palm has limited software development resources so they focused them on the newer models. I didn't ask but I hope maybe a third party could provide support for older phones. I would gladly pay a third party ~$30 today to support my 650 to tide me over until I can upgrade to a whizz-bang next gen Treo next year.
- How do I transfer a file from Foleo to Treo? SD card? BT?
  Ben answered this.
- GUI built on X?
  I didn't get a clear answer, but all signs point to "no."
- Security features? Physical lock slot? Password protection?
  No lock slot. Ben has described the password protection. Regarding the CompactFlash, there is no built-in security but Palm folks said a kill-feature could be a third-party opportunity similar to on Treo today. I sure hope someone also provides a backup solution.
- What happens when Foleo is tethered and a call comes in?
  Apparently the Foleo stays tethered.
- Does mailto: URL in browser integrate with mail app?
  Ben said yes.
- Warranty?
  I asked; no announcement yet but they will be in compliance with applicable regulations.
- Battery life on standby? Indefinite?
  Like Ben said, a long time. Maybe weeks.
- How do you mount SD card? Does it show up in a file manager?
  Yes it should just show up. However I tried it and it didn't work. It may have been disabled on these demo units to prevent tampering, or maybe there was some other problem. I tried an SD card I use with my Treo 650.
- Relationship of Foleo OS to Access Linux Platform? Any chance of ACCESS Garnet VM running on Foleo?
  I didn't ask but I gather from other sources there is no relationship. I don't know if the Garnet VM could be ported to Foleo, but it seems feasible to me.
- What's the story for printing a document? PC required?
  I didn't ask but it's been discussed elsewhere.
- Can keys be remapped, e.g. Alt or Menu key remapped to Ctrl or Meta?
  Ben says yes in the terminal, so I gather it should be possible in any other apps that need it.
- How easy to manage multiple network configurations: WEP on/off, proxies, etc.
  Ben explained.
- Possible to network directly to a PC via wifi?
  Ben says yes.

Things to try
- The hinge
  Very nice. The friction is just right so for example if the Foleo is sitting on a table you can open the screen with one finger and the base is heavy enough that it doesn't move. As reported elsewhere the product has a very high quality feel. I opened the hinge to roughly 135 degrees.
- Polarized sunglasses; screen still visible?
  Yes! On the unit I tried the screen went black when I tilted my head to 60 degrees to the left from vertical, and reached maximum brightness 30 degrees to the right. So at vertical the screen was very visible. In contrast (no pun intended) my Thinkpad is nearly black at vertical so I can't use it at all with my sunglasses. I don't know if every Foleo will have this same angle, or if it's a random thing at manufacturing. The Palm rep wasn't sure but guessed it wouldn't be random.
- Mount a USB thumb drive
  It's supposed to work and Palm folks do it all the time. However I tried my cheapo Treo-formatted SD card reader and it didn't work. Again either this feature was disabled for demo purposes, or not every USB device will work. Anecdotally one of the Astraware guys said he mounted a USB external hard drive.
- Download a file to Foleo
  I tried downloading a PDF through the browser. A "Save File As..." file browser dialog box opened, but the Palm rep stopped me as she didn't want me to save anything to the device. But it seemed like it would work as expected.
- File manager. What does home directory look like?
  Fairly straightforward and functional, but I wouldn't call it pretty. You can navigate all the way up to root ("/") which might be intimidating for non-Linux users. It wasn't obvious to me how to move a file from one directory to another, but it's probably possible. The only view I saw was equivalent to Windows or Mac style "list views" which are informative but small and busy. I didn't think to ask if there is a friendlier big-icon view; maybe someone else happened to notice. Regardless I think Foleo could benefit from a friendlier file manager that's Home-directory centric, allows easy icon shortcuts to frequently-used dirs, a friendly toolbar, etc.
  I was told when you mount an SD card or USB volume it show up in the "Storage" pane of the file browser.
  I think the home directory was /Home/.
- FTP
  I went to a "ftp://" URL in the browser and got a directory listing with no problem. I didn't download anything.
- Linux shell
  It's there, but Palm didn't want us using it. I abused the privilege and poked around a little bit. I got my hand slapped so I'll be good and not divulge specs. The terminal app is full-screen like all foleo apps. Happily the scroll wheel works in the terminal, which is a nice touch. vi is there, but not emacs.

More later.