1PTUser

I guess we shouldn't be surprised by the specs. 5+ hours of battery life with wifi and bluetooth turned on and a mini/non-brick charger (ala the Treo's.) The screenshot showed the processor at ~415mhz. Seems like they're playing the balancing act. Too much power = too much heat and too little batter life. Still, I hope it will handle near fullscreen video.

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1PTUser

Does anyone know what version of BT it's running and what profiles other than OBEX and serial/modem is supported?

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emajy

Here is a picture of a Foleo next to a 15 inch Macbook.

Attached Images

DIGI0013 (Small).JPG (40.4 KB, 60 views)

emajy

This is something that I believe will happen
although probably not at release

emajy

I posted some of my thoughts on the Foleo on my blog

click here

bcombee

At this time, Bluetooth is only supported in serial mode for the sync and DUN connection between the Foleo device and its paired phone. ObEx is not a supported protocol in this release.

bcombee

The device is actually hidden almost all of the time. It's only visible briefly when you're pairing it with your smartphone through the phone pairing wizard.

skfny

My initial reactions after leaving the store:

1) There is a market for a dumbed down, easy to use laptop replacement - but it needs more features.

2) This thing will really take off when/if apps are developed for it. (Along those lines, I understand Palm wanting to leverage the Linux community, but I think a WM Foleo is begging to be released. TextMaker and PlanMaker would work great on a big screen, and most of the other apps we're waiting for on Linux already exist for WM. Now that I think of it, I owe it to myself to check out an HTC Advantage).

3) I don't think people will be too enthusiastic about BUYING apps for a $600 device. Palm needs to start bundling in a few more, possible have a "free app every month" for registered customers.

4) The most important realization is that the Foleo's hardware is very similar to Treos. Yes, we knew that, but we had always been told that the Treo's processor is the bottleneck preventing advanced desktop-like apps. After seeing the Treo's processor run Word, Excel, PPT, and Opera just fine, I think it's the Palm OS / WM code that is causing us problems. They said the Foleo had some extra support hardware for the processor, but the browser was flying over Wi-Fi.

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A new Avatar to commemorate Silly Season.

TxDot

So the browser speed appears to be subjective. Most others have reported that it was "ok" but not real speedy. Maybe it depends on what you're used to.

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GSM Treo 600 > Unlocked GSM Treo 650 on T-Mobile - Attempting to use a BB Curve

Technology is neither good nor evil, good people will find good uses for it and evil people will find evil uses for it. Phil P.

emajy

I forgot to say Thank You to Ben and everyone in the Palm store for a fun and insightful night.

SteveNYC

Agreed... A very good group of people. They were informative and very pleasant. What they were allowed to say they said and there were enough winks with regard to rumors that I'm personally comfortable with what I expect to see over the next several months.

I will admit that for some of us.... well, I almost feel like I'm at a Star Trek convention and you can't help but wonder if they're looking at me thinking "heck, I get paid to do this. What's up with these guys?" HA!

guinnessdraught

Hey did anybody see the adapter required for video output? How big is it? Is it flexible or rigid? Does it go to a standard VGA connector or an RCA jack?

Also, I googled around somewhere and saw a claim that the DataViz software allows viewing Microsoft Office files but not creating or editing them. This can't be true unless DataViz is planning on selling us the upgrade to allow document creation. Did anyone try this?

Did anyone try opening and editing an office file from a USB flash key?

dpc

Wow, was that your macbook emajy?? That rocks, you're hardcore. The closest i did to that was put the Foleo brochure with the same dimensions on my 12 incher, haha.

What did they say when you brought it in? The 15 incher.

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emajy

I did create a document. I did not try anything from a connected USB drive. I did not see the VGA dongle. It looks like the ones on the mac books.

1PTUser

DataViz DocsToGo have been used to edit MS Office docs for years - and with better format retention than Pocket Word on Win Mobile I might add.

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emajy

It was not my Macbook. I just had the idea to compare them. The guy with the Macbook also had a Sony Vaio with him. I don't think anyone cared what was brought in. Plenty of Treos of both varieties and other smart phones. Although there were a few good hearted attempts to sneak a Foleo out.

wlmoore

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.

electroman

No 680??

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emajy

Here are some answers to some of the questions posed by wlmoore.

You Tube audio did work and so did the video. The video is not ready for prime time.

The GUI is not based on "X". Palm developed the GUI

My digicam SD card when placed in showed up and we viewed the images with the photo viewer.

wlmoore

Here's the VGA adapter. It's flexible and short. It's a standard 15-pin VGA connector.



This is a good question. You can create new documents in Foleo DocsToGo but I don't know if they are MS format files or native DTG format files, or whether or not MS Office can read them on a PC as is, or if they need to be converted by the DTG conduit first.

I couldn't mount my USB SD card reader or the SD card at the Sneak Peek.