The Asus Eee PC is the closest thing to a Palm Foleo. It’s small, light, affordable (available for just US$350 in most places) and does not compromise in terms of features. In short, it’s an ideal “smartphone companion”. So how well does it work with a Treo 680?

My fellow Malaysian blogger Palmdoc recently got his hands on an ASUS Eee PC. If you have a Treo 680 and an ASUS Eee PC, Palmdoc has written a helpful tutorial on how to hook these two devices together. His step by step instructions (with some modifications for your own telco) will turn your Treo 680 into a wireless modem for your ASUS Eee PC. Treo 680 is GPRS/EDGE only of course, but it’s fast enough for web applications and email.

Okay, it’s a bit contentious to say that a device is a Foleo killer, when it fact the Foleo never shipped. We know Palm has publicly stated that they are working on a new, better version of the Foleo. The Foleo was designed as a “smartphone companion” : lightweight but powerful enough to do basic tasks such as word processing, email and web browsing. With the Foleo 2 in limbo, what are our options? One new device which has taken laptop mobility to a new level is the ASUS Eee PC.

The ASUS Eee PC seems to hit just the right balance of performance, size and price. At just US$400, it manages to deliver impressive specifications :
* 7″ LCD display at 800×480 resolution
* Intel Mobile Chipset CPU
* Memory Onboard: 512MB DDR2 (Upgradeable to 1GB)
* Storage: 4GB Solid State Drive
* SD card reader
* 3 USB ports, 1 VGA out, Ethernet (LAN) port
* Headphone Out, Microphone In jacks
* Under 1 pound in weight (just 920 grams!)

The EeePC has a version of Linux preloaded, but the hardware is compatible with Windows XP, so you can easily install that (or a slimmer version such as TinyXP). Out of the box, the EeePC comes bundled out of the box with loads of applications so that you can immediately be productive out of the box.

If you are interested in the EeePC, check out the initial reviews :

* Laptop Magazine
* CNET
* HotHardWare
* PC Perspective

The Eee PC is also attracting a lot of attention locally, thanks to its attractive price. MyPDACafe, a local online forum, has a discussion thread 16 pages long (as of this writing).

Eee PC versus Foleo

So what can the Eee PC do that the Foleo can’t? At first glance, the Eee PC is quite formidable : it’s light, powerful and expandable (via SD card, USB drives, etc). It doesn’t have Bluetooth, although Bluetooth dongles are cheap these days. It should be quite easy to connect and synchronise the EeePC with your Treo if you have Windows XP installed. The Eee PC can already do what most of the Foleo can do, except for the smartphone synchronization. Of course, the Eee PC is available now at around the same price the Foleo was supposed sell for.

Palm now needs to go back to the drawing board with the Foleo. The Eee PC is just the first version out. By the time the Foleo (eventually) comes out, you can bet ASUS can make it better and cheaper. They also have the advantage of scale, since ASUS is a manufacturer for many different brands including Apple.

You can get the ASUS Eee PC in many online stores including Amazon.com.

Wow, that’s a brave move by Palm. After all, the Foleo was the big “third line of business” introduced by Jeff Hawkins. They swallowed their pride and are moving on. Hopefully this means that we will see new smartphones very soon.

Colligan says that eventually they’ll release a different version of the Foleo, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Give us awesome smartphones, Palm — that’s all we ask for.

Palm Foleo Treo, Smartphone

Earlier this week, Engadget Managing Editor Peter Rojas wrote a long open letter to Palm, bemoaming Palm’s recent lack of innovation and giving some good suggestions on where Palm could improve its future devices. I agree with Peter on how far Palm has fallen : “… from being the respected underdog and innovator to repeat offender in stale gear”.

Get your act together, Palm. Time is running out.

[ via Engadget ]

Palm Foleo, Smartphone Companion

• 416MHz Intel / Marvell PXA27x processor
• Marathon 2700G graphics accelerator with video output
• 128MB of RAM (for running applications) plus 256MB of non-volatile memory
• Dual expansion slots (CompactFlash and SD)
• Dual wireless (Bluetooth and WiFi support)
• One USB port
• 1024 by 600 pixel screen

[ via Brighthand ]

Palm Foleo, Smartphone Companion

We have known all along that the Palm Foleo would be powered by Linux.  Palm just announced what specific flavour of Linux that would be.  For the Foleo, Palm has selected  Wind River as the “prefered Linux Platfom Provider“.  Palm selected Wind River Linux for its standard development and deployment environment that will help speed applications to market, while still meeting the requirements for a stable and robust open mobile platform.  Wind River is best known for their expertise in delivering embedded operating systems .

Palm also announced a third-party solution for remote access called LogMeIn.   LogMeIn provides secure connections between remote PCs over the web – enabling easy desktop remote control, data backup and file sharing. Adding this application to the Foleo gives users the ability to quickly and securely access files and network resources on their home or work computers when away.  There will be 2 versions of LogMeIn, a free version and a paid Pro version.