OK Palm, We're Ready for the Foleo Now

Ahh, poor Palm. Sure, they have their fancy new WebOS toys -- but it wasn't that long ago they were banking on the Foleo changing the mobile world as we knew it. Sadly, they were just a little too early, and a little too lame. Here's the good news, Palm: We're ready now. Let me give you a bit of a vision, and you run with it...

Imagine for a moment that your cellphone is as powerful as a netbook. My Nokia n900 actually is that awesome, but we'll pretend I own a Palm Pre. And that it's as awesome.

Ok, back to the imagining: Your mobile computer is great, but sadly the keyboard and screen aren't that great for long form typing. Sure, you can tweet your tweets, book your face, and SMS your SMSers -- but even a moderate length email starts to get annoying. If only there were a way to get your pocket sized computer onto a docking station. A docking station with a battery. And a screen. And a real keyboard. Just like the Palm Foleo almost was!

I'm not suggesting the Foleo should exist in its original form. I'm suggesting Palm (or Nokia?) design a sheath for their mobile computers that could replace a netbook. Really, do you ever have a netbook somewhere you don't have your cellphone? Of course not. Just think about the advantages a Foleo-like device could offer the mobile geek:

• A huge battery to charge the phone while "docked."
• A big screen. Even if a similar resolution, bigger pixels.
• A keyboard as opposed to a thumbboard.
• A webcam, for Skyping?
• A simple way to get mobile connectivity. The cellphone already has it, no need to hunt for WiFi or tether your cell!
• No need for a pricey netbook you really hate anyway.

So there you go Palm. Give us a Foleo, but reinvent it a bit. If you give me a terminal window with WebOS, I might even switch from my Nokia to a Palm device. Do it quick though, because quite honestly -- if Nokia makes the Noleo first, I'll buy that in a heartbeat!