Palm Unveils a Two-Hand device - The "Foleo"

Termed the "smartphone companion product," by Palm, this device has the tech gurus scratching their heads.

On Wednesday, mobile device maker Palm demonstrated the fruits of a secret project that one of Palm's founders, Jeff Hawkins, had been working on. Palm's new Foleo is a Linux-powered, laptop-like device that serves as a companion to smartphones. Analysts and observers have started to weigh in with their opinions, and many are less than raves.

Described by the company as its "first smartphone companion product," the Foleo is designed to work in tandem with a paired smartphone. If a user edits a document on the Foleo, for instance, the changes appear on the accompanying smartphone, and vice versa. Pushing one button provides access to full-screen e-mail, and there are editors for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, plus the Opera browser for Web surfing and a Palm-developed PDF viewer.

With a 10-inch screen, a full-size keyboard, and battery life of up to five hours, the Foleo mobile companion will work with Palm Treo smartphones, running either Palm OS or Windows Mobile. According to Palm, "most" other smartphones with Windows Mobile should work with the Foleo, and, with a "modest software effort," smartphones using operating systems from Research In Motion, Apple, or Symbian can likewise be supported.

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