As expected , Palm on Wednesday introduced a unexampled peregrine computing twist . It ’s radically unlike than the company ’s pop short letter of Treo smartphones , and it ’s call theFoleo . It ’s designed to make in conjunction with a Treo , but it provide users a gravid concealment and full sized keyboard — it looks like a modest laptop computer . Palm expects it to be $ 499 ( after a $ 100 rebate ) when the Foleo is eject this summer .
ribbon CEO Jeff Hawkins claims that Foleo is the beginning of a new line of companion products aimed at smartphones — not only Palm Treos , but smartphones made by other companies as well . Hawkins unveiled the new twist at the five hundred : All Things Digital outcome in Carlsbad , Calif.
Prior to the entry , Palm indicated it would announce a new mathematical product , but gave neither the industry insistency nor analysts an in advance look at what it design to introduce .
The Foleo is n’t a computer unto itself — it ’s design as a complementary product for the Treo , allow users with a 10 - inch widescreen display and full - sized keyboard with build in scrolling tool , connecting wirelessly to the Treo using Bluetooth . Any changes you make using the Foleo are instantly displayed on the phone .
palm tree CEO Jeff Hawkins indicate off the Foleo Mobile River computing gadget at the viosterol : All Things Digital conference Wednesday .
“ Sometimes you just need to look at the big screen door , ” Hawkins told meeter at the D : All Things Digital conference . “ You need access to the data on your smartphone on a big display . ”
Using the Foleo , you could respond to e - mails , view attachment , look at Web pages and photos . you may edit and create Microsoft Word and Excel - compatible documents , consider PDF files and display PowerPoint presentations , as well . Foleo can also repulse an outside presentation or projector using a VGA adapter .
you’re able to surf Wi - Fi hotspot wirelessly using the Foleo ’s built - in Wi - Fi capability . Outside of Wi - Fi range , you’re able to alternately or connect over your cubicle phone provider ’s data internet by using a Bluetooth connection to the telephone .
Hawkins said that he primitively conceived the Foleo five eld ago , but that at the time his society — then Handspring , which was corrupt by Palm in 2003 — was focus on too many other areas . “ This only really made gumption when smartphones took off a couple years ago,”he say .
In the future , Hawkins said , more than a billion masses will practice a smartphone , and for them , it “ is going to be their primary reckoner . If you are a enceinte user of a smartphone , Foleo can make sprightliness a great deal better .
“ I consider this is the small calculator with a full - sizing keyboard ever made , ” Hawkins sum up .
Jason Snell conduce to this written report .
