Palm's hugely anticipated, ultra secretive device, called Fooleo, oops, Foleo was finally revealed to the public. Who are the fools here? Us or Palm? Being a Palm and Treo owner like many others, I was anticipating that it would be "the device" that could bring Palm back to the top. Not terribly surprising yet again, I was disappointed. And judging by the editorials from blogs, media, comments on Palm's own blog that, I wasn't the only one. Has Palm finally proved that they are so unbelievably out of touch with what their Palm loyalists and potential buyers want? Or, are we all so totally out of touch of whatever innovation that Jeff Hawkins has dreamt up for the past few years that we will need to be proven wrong? Either way, I sincerely hope that I am totally wrong because if this Foleo is what I am thinking that it is, then, this may be truly a major costly mistake that Palm has made. Unlike Apple, who has a marketing guru like Steve Jobs who can "wow" everyone with anything he presents, Jeff Hawkins doesn't have the same charisma or the marketing charm to pull it off. So, we are left with a presentation that seems lacking in stirring excitement even in the diehard Palm fanatics.

Yes, there are many Palm loyalists that want a standalone PDA device, but if Palm is going to add the bulk and size similar to that of a UMPC, they'd better make it much better than what's currently out there. Let's see, 256MB of flash memory for storage, 128MB user accessible (oh no, I hope it's not NVFS and we're back to dealing with DBCache again). The interesting idea is that you can add additional SD flash card and it does support USB so that's good, but I'm not sure how good of a solution it can be. And to add insult to Palm loyalists, the Foleo DOES NOT have a touchscreen. What kind of Palm device is it that doesn't have a touchscreen? Sure, it's got a keyboard, but most Palm users rely on the touchscreen because it truly separates what a Windows PC and a portable Palm PDA device is. I personally think that this is one of the biggest mistake they've made with this device since having it with a touchscreen could make it so much better since it could then accept input from the screen as well as the keyboard, which is why a lot of Palm users get a portable keyboard; to have access to full sized keyboard plus being able to utilize the touchscreen.

Although it seems that the Foleo does support Wi-Fi, there hasn't been much information on what it supports. I personally would hope that it would at least support 802.11g if not n because if they went back to the pathetic and horribly insecure and crackable 802.11b with WEP, I will be screaming. In this day and age, anything less than 802.11g would be so useless. Now, one huge thing is that you have to rely on your cellular network for email access, which is perplexing. Why are they supporting Wi-Fi on the Foleo but have it only limited to web browsing and not email? Since they know and have mentioned and stressed that email is such a HUGE thing for their target audience, why force them to go through the outrageous charges that the cellular carriers dictate? This is totally unacceptable as many of us may not have an unlimited data plan and as most of us know, unlimited is NEVER unlimited.

I was originally thinking that the Foleo would have practically all the PIM and applications that the Palm and Treo devices already have but have found that it is not the case. Oh my goodness, this is really getting worse the more I read about it. So, it really IS a smartphone companion, thus requiring a smartphone, so does it mean that this Foleo is a dumb slave device? And if so, what's the point of spending the few hundred bucks so that I can view my web pages in a bigger 10 inch screen? I really fail to understand. Okay, they say that this is meant as a simple device (yes, I can now see that) but what's the point? I understand that Palm wants to go back to their zen but in this day and age, I'm not sure if many of us want it now. If I want simplicity, I'd go back to the older standalone Palms with monochrome screens. Let's take a step back from this and ponder the situation.

The Foleo is meant as a "smartphone" companion, meaning the Treo. So, this means that it's targetted for the Palm Treo users. So, most Treo users already have a lot of features, functions in their tiny little device. People who get the Treo device obviously wants everything with them including a cellular phone, office program, video and audio playback programs, PIM programs and all the other stuff. If the Foleo is a true companion, I would think that it would provide a lot of what the Treo doesn't have. That would include Wi-Fi (okay, at least the Foleo has that but Wi-Max would be so much better), GPS capability (AFAIK, it's not available), larger capacity storage capability (er, that's hardly the case here), satellite radio support (again, not available), video streaming (apparently it can't truly support video either). Oh my goodness, again, how can this Foleo be considered to complement the Treo? This again brings back to the dumb device idea. If the Treo is "smart" and capable of doing so much and the Foleo is limited and severely bottlenecked by the GPRS email retrieval, why would I or anyone want to shell out the few hundred dollars for this? We'd need a Treo first of all, to get much use of it and then, it doesn't really do much. I'd probably would spend the few hundred dollars on a cheap laptop or get a newer smartphone device instead and stick with the small screen. Sigh. If this is the best that Palm can do in terms of innovation, I think this is pretty much it.

In case everyone wonders, I am still a very happy Treo 650 owner and user since I write enough about it on this Palm Discovery blog, but I am seriously thinking about upgrading my device. The 680 is not enough to persuade me to upgrade. I am seriously now thinking of a Win Mobile smartphone to complement my Treo. And I truly mean it that way. The Treo will still be the main device but the Win Mobile smartphone will be around for those tasks that the Treo is not capable of doing. For me, THAT will be my smartphone companion and something that will complement the Treo. Not the Foleo. Sorry, Palm.

Again, I sincerely hope that I am SO WRONG because I really love Palm. But, it certainly won't be the first time I've been proven wrong. I hope that as time passes that there will be some really cool stuff that the Foleo can do that has not been disclosed and hopefully once all the specs are out and people are testing them that it could be something truly interesting. Until then, I am trying to stay optimistic.

Thanks for visiting Palm Discovery.net!

Posted by webmaster as palm, misc, editorial, ConnectionCentral at 2:14 PM EDT

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I've been a bit busy lately doing some reviews among other things and thus there hasn't been a mid-week content posting this week. Instead, I will be posting a review today, a few days earlier since I may not be able to post it on Monday or so. Posts may be even less frequent for the next week but we'll see.

As for the contest, I will have to postpone the drawing until the week after. Thanks to everyone who has entered. Check your email in a week's time or so.

And a very Happy Birthday to Palm Addicts as they celebrate 8 wonderful years of bringing everything Palm and related news, tips, editorials, user submitted content to the Palm community. I have stumbled upon Palm Addicts a few years ago and it's my main staple of Palm news daily. There's always something interesting to read each day.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture

Proporta 3-in-1 stylus on the left, stock Treo 650 stylus on the right

Video of 3 in 1 stylus

Video at YouTube

Alternative link: Vimeo

If you're one of those people who are always looking for or fumbling around asking people for a pen, then Proporta's 3-in-1 stylus may be what you're looking for. As you may already have guessed, this is a stylus that offers 3 features in 1 item. First of all, it is a Treo stylus. It is designed to fit perfectly into the stylus holder of the Treo device, unlike a lot of other multi-functional stylus that can't, thus it can be a great replacement stylus. Second, it functions as a ballpoint pen to provide you with that often needed writing instrument without requiring you to carry it around with you. Since you carry the Treo with you everywhere and the stylus is normally inserted in the holder, you are carrying this multi-functional stylus with you everywhere. Let's not forget that not everyone owns a Palm or PDA device so you can't beam or bluetooth your business card or that file over. And third, there is also a reset tool located underneath the tip of the stylus. Simply unscrew the tip to expose the reset tool. Now you've got that last remaining important tool you need, all neatly packaged in one compact stylus that fits perfectly in your Treo's stylus holder.

What can I say about it? It works. The stylus works just as well as a regular stylus but offers the ball point pen and reset tool when needed. Simply unscrew the stylus tip to remove the reset tool or remove the cap to access the ball point pen.

Here are my observations: Although the idea of having a reset tool is nice, I am slightly confused. The Treo 650's reset button/hole is already big enough to allow the tip of the stylus to go through to reset so I guess it would be useful for those who also own previous Palm devices that would need the reset tool.

I have tried the reset tool with my Zire 71 and although it would fit through, the reset tool wasn't long enough to reach the trigger button deep inside the reset. It did however, fit into some reset holes or buttons like the LifeDrive, Tungsten E2 and of course, the reset tool won't work on others with similar deeper trigger buttons like my Zire 71. So, my suggestion is that the reset tool on this stylus be slightly longer to accommodate the varying access length to the trigger buttons.

I would have preferred that to access the reset tool I could have easily removed it just like that of the cap or head of the ball point pen. Most times when we want to do a reset of a Palm device, we don't want to have to take the time to unscrew something to get at the reset tool. I don't know about you, but I'm normally a bit tense and anxious when I experience a crash on the Treo and having to unscrew a stylus tip would likely add to the aggravation. But then, that's me.

When I need to use the ballpoint pen, I would also have preferred that I could have attached it to the stylus tip, similar to many ball point pen caps where I can put it at the other end of the pen. That way, I won't have to worry about accidentally leaving it somewhere and losing the tip. And as most of us know, most ball point pens still get lost or left behind even when we can put it at the end of the pen. Especially for this 3-in-1 stylus, losing the cap or head will mean that you won't be able to put it back into the stylus holder.

Review Summary

The Proporta 3-in-1 stylus works as described. It's very handy to have not only a stylus, but a ballpoint pen and a reset tool, all in the stylus. Obviously since it fits the stylus holder of the Treo very well, it allows you to have all those tools with you, as long as you have your Treo with you. Other than the reset tool not being long enough to poke the trigger button on some Palm devices and that you'd need to unscrew the stylus tip to get the reset tool, there isn't much to complain about this multi-functional stylus. I love how everything is there in the one stylus that fits my Treo 650's stylus holder, just like the stock stylus. There's no need to carry and possibly lose that pen. Just get the Proporta 3-in-1 Stylus and you're set.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Proporta and purchases made from the affiliate links provided in this posting as well as on this site will help keep Palm Discovery running. Thanks to everyone for their support! Please check out our Proporta affiliate store here. Use coupon DISCOVER for an additonal 10% savings!

Posted by webmaster as palm, accessories, hardware-review at 11:12 AM EDT

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A BIG THANKS to Palm Addicts, TreoBits, Treo Today.net for the recent mention of Palm Discovery.net on their websites! Please check these sites out for great articles related to the Palm device.

You still have time left to enter Palm Discovery's Nutshell leather PDA case giveaway! Simply leave a comment in the written review posting or submit a Palm Explorer Profile and get an additional 4 entries. More details in the review. Deadline is midnight Wed May 23rd.

A BIG THANKS to Peter of Fortte for providing the product for this review.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture

Open Face Case For Treo 650 with Enfora Wi-Fi Sled

Video at YouTube

Alternative link: Vimeo

Slight correction for the video. The case does offer a removable ratchet belt clip in addition to the fixed and swivel clip that I mentioned in the video.

Details from Fortte's website:

Palm Treo 650 with Enfora Wi-Fi Sled Open Face

# Premium Full Grain Leather

Fortte allows full customization of the case including a variety of colors to choose from. In addition to the variety of colors offered, they now offer a new vibrant set of colors in their "Life Color" collection which includes the following colors:

Deep Sea/Kiwi Mint, Deep Sea/Natural Ocean, Deep Sea/Perfect Banana, Deep Sea/Sunset, Kiwi Mint, Kiwi Mint/Perfect Banana, Natural Ocean, Perfect Banana, Sunset, Sunset/Kiwi Mint, Sunset/Perfect Banana.

As well, embossing and further customization options are also available. Please check out my previous review on the Fortte Lateral Pouch Leather case for more details on the services and customizations they offer.

The Open Face Leather Case for Treo with Enfora Wi-Fi sled is (as far as I know, please correct me if I'm wrong), the only leather case or even any case for that matter, that is designed to fit the Treo 650 with the Enfora Wi-Fi sled attached. I knew about this case before I decided to buy the Enfora Wi-Fi sled (I'll be doing a review of that later) and was excited that there's a case for it. So, when I finally bought the Enfora Wi-Fi sled, I knew that I had to get the Fortte case for it. And being someone who dislikes holding anything mobile that is somewhat slippery, this case was exactly what I needed.

The leather case comes available in a choice of belt clips. You can choose from a removable 360 degrees swivel clip, removable ratchet clip, or a non-removable fixed clip. The case I'm reviewing is in black and with the swivel clip. It's a vertical case with an open face design, a design that I really like and a great way to show off the beauty of the face of the Treo. This design can be viewed as a full frontal cutout that allows access to the screen and the hardware and QWERTY keys. At the front, there are cutouts for the LED indicator, the phone speaker, and the power button for the Wi-Fi sled. At the side, the cutout is covered by a protective plastic covering to protect the buttons. At the back, there's a cutout for the speaker (that's always a big plus for me). The belt clip attachment is permanently sewn into the back of the case (another plus since the screw on attachments never stay on for me). At the top, the leather magnetic snap tab wraps over diagonally to easily snap into place to secure the Treo in plase. There's a cutout for the ringer switch. At the bottom, a single strip of leather wraps around the bottom to secure the Treo and sled but also allow access to the headphone jack and power adapter jack.

This is a fine case that wraps up the entire and somewhat bulky package of the Treo and the Enfora Wi-Fi sled. It does a great job of keeping them together and still make the everything look very stylish as well as making it much easier to hold or clip to a belt or pants. Without the case, I was having difficulty keeping my grip on the sled with Treo and I'm so glad that Fortte has created a specially designed case for this. Now, it's so much easier to carry the Treo with the sled and clip it ot my belt or pants.

Most of the Treo is accessible through cutouts in the case including the camera, stylus and headphone jack. The problem I've found mainly lies in the design of the Enfora Wi-Fi sled instead since a lot of the Treo isn't accessible with the sled attached. So, for what the case offered, it gave as much access to the Treo with the sled as possible so I'm quite happy with the case.

Here are my observations of the case. The open face design is quite a nice design which shows off the beauty of the Treo with the sled, allowing direct access to the screen and keys. This design, also, on the other hand, also may allow unexpected accidental screen taps and button pressing since there is no protection at the front. So, those who want protection for the front may find that it may not suit their needs.

I was somewhat disappointed that there was only a cutout for the ringer switch at the top. The SD card slot,the infrared port and the SIM card tray is inacessible when the magnetic snap closure tab is in place. I kept forgetting to remove the snap closure the numerous times that I was beaming some files over, at first, wondering what the problem was, only to discover that, duh, I forgot to unblock the port by removing and holding the tab out while I do the beaming. It's a bit cumbersome but I can deal with it. I just have to remember to remove the top tab before beaming.

I do like the numerous cutouts found in the case, which offer access to various features of the Treo including the camera, ringer switch, headphone and the speaker hole. I love leather cases that come with a speaker hole because they really help to unblock the speaker and sound that emits from the Treo. Thus, when a call comes in, or your alarm rings, you can easily hear it ringing. Otherwise, as with many other leather cases without a speaker hole, most of the sound will be blocked and muffled. So, a speaker hole, although it may not look so nice, is very functional for me. Again, I'm more of a practical user than a stylish user.

The permanent belt attachment sewn into the back of the case is another plus for me since that solves a common problem that I've experienced with other screw in belt attachments that they will tend to fall or unscrew over time. Having a permanent attachment solves this problem. But, alternatively, having it there also "sticks" out a bit which may irk some people, especially if you are placing it on a flat surface like a table. The case with the attachment will not lie perfectly flat.

The swivel clip seems to be sturdy and grips well enough. I like the hook at the end to better grip or clip to the pants or belt. Since the swivel clip doesn't completely touch the back of the case, you may notice that the case may tip a bit over due to the weight of the case. And since it is a swivel clip, and doesn't lock into various positions, the case will adjust according to the weight and gravity pull, which, depending on your preference may be good or bad.

Review Summary

I like how Enfora has created a specially designed case for the Treo 650 with Enfora Wi-Fi sled, offering those who have the sled, a solution to an otherwise case-less package. This case does a great job of keeping the Treo with wi-fi sled together and made it look so much nicer. A lot of the Treo features are easily accessible through cut outs, with the exception of the infrared port, SD card slot and SIM tray, to my chagrin. I do like having the speaker hole at the back, which I consider a big plus. I also liked the permanent belt clip attachment which solves a common problem of a screw on attachment falling off over time but that does stick out, which may bother some people.

Overall, this is a quality leather case from Fortte that allows those Treo users who have the Enfora Wi-Fi sled to have a case for an otherwise, bulky and handful package. It displays the Treo with sled in a very stylish manner yet keeps everything all together and easily accessible. Besides providing protection against scratches and bumps, the nice feel of leather (not to mention smell) also helps keeps your grip on the bulky ensemble. Keep in mind that although the open face design presents the Treo in an appealing way, it also means that the Treo is unprotected. I personally love this case because it now provides me with a great way to hold the two together. As always, you have to balance out your needs and preferences since we are all different in my opinions. Please visit our Fortte affiliate store for more info.

Disclosure: Palm Discovery.net is an affiliate of Fortte. Purchases made from links provided in this review as well as throughout the site will help keep Palm Discovery running. Use coupon FPD1006 for an additional 10% off your order. Thank you for your continued support of Palm Discovery!

Posted by webmaster as palm, accessories, hardware-review at 2:41 PM EDT

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A BIG THANKS to Palm Addicts, Treo Today.net for the recent mention of Palm Discovery.net on their websites! Please check these sites out for great articles related to the Palm device.

You still have time left to enter the Nutshell leather PDA case giveaway! Simply leave a comment in the written review posting or submit a Palm Explorer Profile and get an additional 4 entries. More details in the review. Deadline is midnight Wed May 23rd.

Somewhat of a amusing, okay, not THAT amusing, but more of the smirk or those 'no kidding', Sherlock' (replace the 'no kidding' with the appropriate word of your choice) news that has been hitting around the net lately is the news that sales of handhelds has dropped. Oh, really? Like this article from Wi-Fi planet, or EE Times Asia and elsewhere.

I can't believe that it's THAT surprising that those standalone handheld PDAs are not selling as well as they have compared to previous quarters or years. Let me think. Hmm, now why would that be? Perhaps the reason that the handheld manufacturers have stopped making them or at least stopped coming out with new models? The last standalone Palm PDA device was the Palm TX, which came out in 2005? Gosh, was it THAT long? I vaguely remember my old posting somewhere dug in my older editorials like Dawn of a New Palm about a self-fulfilling prophesy? Let's not forget that Palm has always been known for producing and leading the way with regards to the standalone PDAs. For them to not come up with new models in 2 years obviously tells you that either they have changed their direction and focus, or they think that the old standalone PDAs are dead.

Okay, let's think realistically for now, I do think that as we continue this path of technological change that the growth of the standalone PDAs will likely not be much if at all. Those who have owned a Palm in the past may still have it in their drawers somewhere collecting dust and those who haven't, may very well opt to get those newer Treos instead since they are in color and offer the phone in addition to all the handheld features. After all, who wants to buy old technology when there's something new and probably costs not much more than the old technology. Consider how many people still buy record (LP) players, or 8 track tapes, VCRs when there's the newer technology out there for not much more? But, there still are some people who do. They still work.

After saying all that, I still think that there's still a market for standalone PDAs as I've previously discussed in my PDAs are Not Dead editorial. Just because the higher guys at Palm think that handheld sales are slowing down doesn't mean that people don't want to buy them. I bet you that if there is a new Palm model that enhances what the current lineup of Palms offer, that people will jump to them. Seriously! There are so many diehard standalone PDA users that are itching to upgrade to another standalone PDA, as far fetched and silly as it may sound. People aren't going to stop organizing their lives or require a portable electronic organizer just because Palm, HP and others stopped making them. Come on. And they aren't necessarily going back to the paper organizer either. I tell you that I won't got back to the paper organizer either, although I do write some stuff on it as a hard copy that I keep and archive but the majority of the paper gets recycled since I don't live such a busy life myself.

What am I really saying? Pretty much that Palm had better seriously think long and hard about what they are doing. By alienating their loyal Palm standalone users, they may risk losing them forever. There are many who doesn't want a connected device regardless of how affordable they are. If Palm gets out of the standalone PDA business or niche, there will be someone possibly from China who will come out and take their place. The PDA sales may not grow but they are steady as long as there are people who just need to organize their lives. Abandoning the standalone PDAs is similar to being a printing shop and then deciding to change to become an online publisher. So those that require a hard copy of their documents can no longer get them done through this print shop but, then, they can have them published online. And think that there is only one print shop in town or in the world. So, this can make a dramatic shift in how people do things. That makes sense. Hmmm.

Although having a connected device has its benefits, a standalone also has its merits. Being an owner of a Treo 650, I can tell you that when my Treo goes into a reset loop or just resets, it's frustrating to have to wait that half a minute before I make that call, or do anything with the phone or even just use the Treo. I'm not saying that having a standalone PDA won't reset on me, but at least, my cell phone doesn't have to be offline during that time. For busy executives, this is something they can't afford, to be inaccessible for even that short of a time. That may be why some still use a standalone PDA, or even those older Palms in combination with a regular cell phone.

Again, this editorial is to provide my personal opinion that handheld sales are slumping or going down before Palm has decided to force it to come down, I guess, in hopes of forcing the Palm users to switch and upgrade to the Treos. Even though I'm a happy Treo user, I do understand the frustrations of the standalone PDA user. I do keep my hopes up that there will be a newer standalone Palm sometime in the future and that the TX isn't the last one.

I just hate it when people say that it's the 'way of the future' as an end all answer to everything. Sure, technology can be great and I love technology and all the gadgets out there (being a gadget freak myself), but there's got to be a balance somewhere with regards to everything. I still love the film cameras because they still look so much better than the digital prints. I guess I'm too "old school" and getting too old and haven't gotten myself 'in the program' yet. I guess I probably never will.

Thanks for visiting Palm Discovery.net.

Posted by webmaster as palm, misc, editorial, ConnectionCentral at 3:20 PM EDT

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