LogMeIn offers remote PC access for Palm Foleo

The third-party support for Palm's Foleo keeps coming in dribs and drabs, but the good news is: it IS coming. LogMeIn is the latest development shop to hop aboard the Foleo train. Palm just announced Foleo support for LogMeIn's remote PC access, which will allow Foleo users to perform remote desktop control, data backup and file sharing. The file sharing aspect hits me as one of the largest benefits since the local storage of the Foleo is very limited.

This offering makes great sense since one of the most empowering ways to use LogMeIn is to remotely connect to a home PC using your smartphone; since the Foleo is a smartphone companion, I think this is a wonderful fit for the mobile user. Palm will demonstrate the LogMeIn service this week at LinuxWorld Expo, so if you're in the SanFrancisco area and hitting the show, sneak a peek and let us know how well it works!

Comments

[Bob Russell]

That seems like a great app, but the app that would sell me on the thing is the following: Remote control of smartphone devices over wifi or bluetooth.

Imagine if you could have an instant on Foleo that could be used as a terminal for your OQO2 or Palm Treo or other smartphones.

You'd never have to worry about keeping data in sync with it. You would never have to take your phone out of your pocket when you had the Foleo around. It wouldn't really matter if you grabbed your Foleo along with the smartphone because you would have the same apps and same data, and it wouldn't all depend on web access the way web apps do.

Win Mobile already supports VGA resolution on its apps. Wouldn't it be amazing to use them on a little Foleo with a great keyboard and display? Plus the Foleo is light and easy to carry, and has great battery life.

You would only have to buy one version of the apps also.

If they made that work seamlessly, I'd stick with Palm (right now I expect to move away with my next smartphone), and I'd pretty much have my computing needs resolved naturally as the speed and quality of smartphones improve over the years. (Especially Office apps and web browsers.)

Why isn't everyone clamoring for this?
Why didn't Palm roll out with this?

Am I completely off my rocker, or is the greatest thing since sliced bread right there for us, but nobody is doing it?!!!!!

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Bob, there are a few Windows-based apps that let you remote control a connected Windows Mobile device remotely; not sure if any of them work over BT or WiFi. I know I've used MyMobiler to do this but that was over a USB cable.

http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2007/07/display-and-con.html

I don't know of any apps like this for Palm however....can any readers help?

[bluemonq]

Kev, I think the caveat is that he'd want that to work with the Foleo, not just any laptop. *That* I'm pretty sure doesn't exist.

[Bob Russell]

Yep... specifically for the Foleo. It could connect to a Palm (or HTC or other) Win Mobile device, but it needs the Foleo qualities... lightweight, relatively inexpensive, long battery life, instant on.

For VGA apps on a Foleo controlling a non-VGA smartphone, it would take some tweaks to Win Mobile, I'm pretty sure. And touch stick may or may not be sufficient for apps that require a touch interface. But still, mark my words, I think it's just a matter of time until this catches on.

What surprises me is that Palm didn't roll out the Foleo with it. Maybe they were afraid it would slow 3rd party development if people were able to run their smart phone apps directly from the Foleo, and didn't have to buy the Foleo version. But any smart developers would surely know that this feature is eventually coming anyway, even if by open source (unless there are specific restrictions put on the Foleo or smart phones to prevent it - which wouldn't surprise me the way carriers operate in the smart phone market).

Soon, I suppose, we might see those qualities in the Intel Linux platform or even in conjunction with UMPCs with a dual OS. But right now, I think it's pretty much Foleo's ball game if you want instant on.

But one way or another, it won't take much until we have Foleo-like terminals for our smart phones, and we are able to do our primary "ordinary" computing on the smart phone.

Nobody seems to ever talk about it, but like I said... Mark my words -- it's coming!

[Ryan Wagner]

I think it is awesome that LogMeIn is going to be on the Palm Foleo. I use the service all the time for connecting to my PC's because it is much easier than using Remote Desktop. Using LogMeIn I can resize the resolution on the fly without having to restart the service, which is something that Remote Desktop makes a hassle.