Its teh Fooleo killar!
August 29th, 2007
It amuses me to no end when I stumble across these blog entries declaring the Palm Foleo DOA because some other cool gadget has come out that is so much way more awesomer n' stuff. This time around, Aaron at the Morning Paper has a round up of reviews for the HTC Advantage:
…at roughly $900, the Advantage seems to be far ahead on connectivity, usefulness, installed applications and overall positive reactions. The fact it already has phone connectivity would put this as the real competition to the Foleo in my opinion.
Then we have this gem:
Palm Foleo, you have met your enemy and it has the Advantage.
The HTC Advantage is one of the few "competitors" to the Foleo that I've had the privilege of trying. It's incredibly cool and geeky, and it packs in an amazing amount of technology for its size. Still, I would never buy one. As a phone, it's too big (think airport paperback), and as a Foleo-type device, it's way too small. I could probably live with the smaller display, but the keyboard is an absolute torture-fest for touch typists. Imagine trying to punch out an email on steel elevator buttons 1/10 their normal size. It. Takes. Forever.
I think the $900 price tag speaks for itself.
It's unfortunate that so many gadget sharks claim that Palm's mobile companion is a non-starter, all the while pointing to devices that don't begin to offer the same features and form-factor of the Foleo. Sure, the Advantage is cool, just like the iPhone. But neither device offers what this market needs.
Big display. Solid build with full-size keyboard. Instant-on. Killer battery life. Seriously, is there anything else out there?
August 29th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Doesn’t it have USB host to connect a nicer keyboard? I suppose the battery life is okay, being a phone and all.
August 29th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t be seen in public holding that thing up to my ear.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:28 am
re: “Seriously, is there anything else out there?”
I think so.
Although some if the items on that list fail to match the Foleo’s form-factor, many are still contenders because of their extreme functionality and strong expandability (i.e. with a Bluetooth keyboard). I believe that’s true of the Advantage, as well.
re: “I think the $900 price tag speaks for itself.”
As for the $900 price-tag, that’s only $300 more than the in-store price of a Foleo, from what I’ve read. And the Advantage seems less likely to require a bunch of third-party programs to provide basic functionality (i.e. PIM) out-of-the-box.
As far as holding the Advantage to your ear - it’s not meant to be used that way. As far as I’m concerned, Bluetooth technology means Advantage can stay in my pocket or stay holstered until I need to fiddle with it.
Holding a (less than?) 1-pound device that fits in your pocket isn’t so much more ridiculous than carrying a 2.5-lb device the size of a thin laptop.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Thanks for the comments, everyone. West, I understand that there are nifty gadgets out there that lots of people will find more attractive than the Foleo. But for me, there are certain things that I will not compromise on. I will not accept a crappy keyboard or build quality. I will not accept a bloated desktop OS that slows me down when all I need to do is to work on office documents or get email.
For what I want, and for what many people in this market want, there isn’t a device out there that meets all of the requirements. The Foleo is in a league of its own as far as I’m concerned.
August 30th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
re: “For what I want, and for what many people in this market want, there isn’t a device out there that meets all of the requirements.”
Excellent. I hope the device turns out to be everything all of you hope for and expect.
August 30th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Hi Vance;
As the author of said piece that has gotten you so upset, let me clarify a few things.
I think the reported $600 speaks for itself against the Foleo for me. I don’t need to spend that much to get that little functionality when a little more will get me a lot more functionality out of the box.
I could even pick up a used Laptop or UMPC off eBay for roughly the same price that will do everything the Foleo will do plus more.
The Advantage is being touted as Data-centric, not necessarily a phone-centric device. It will pair with any phone just as the Foleo. It is smaller, thereby easier to carry, with more applications out of the box than than the Foleo and the ability to hit the net.
But the real and unspoken issue I think is Ed’s announcement of the Foleo as some sort of Holy Grail of mobile devices. I think that really is a large part of the backlash to the Foleo.
People looked at it and said “Huh?” There are already a number of options that do what Ed said the Foleo will do that people “get” (intuitively understand) faster than the Foleo.
Does that mean the Foleo is without a usage scenario? No, but I believe it makes the case for it a very big uphill battle over some other devices (like the Advantage) and other options (like a smaller laptop / UMPC or HTC Kaiser / TyTN II).
That’s all.