Like the other people, I think this opens up a promising direction for devices. I would think in the long term, there is no reason why xp or it's equivalent couldn't be the only standard, even in small devices. That would save us costs in programs.
However, I'm not sure I'll be trading in my e800 quite yet - and its soon to arrive bluetooth keyboard. The size comparison is with the e800 extended battery. With the normal slimmer battery I would get more than the 2-4 hours of the oqo, and at almost half the size.
The keyboard looks very awkward. I think either a blackberry type one or a larger 720 almost touch type would have been better. This is in between and I'm nt sure anywhere.
This is still a first gen product but hey, it's smaller than my old newton.
as i covered, the OQO isn't *really* blazing new ground. the IBM PC110 many many years ago was a tiny handheld full Windows running box. then came the Sony U101 and this month, the Sony U50/70 are coming out.
technicalities aside, the OQO will be one of the first handtops released in North America. again, as noted in the above article, i've seen many articles that have OQO folks saying that the product is being targeted at business pro's and hospitals, not us end users, at least primarily. the OQO has many strengths (wacom based touch screen, to market this year, sliding keyboard), but as pointed out in the article it has many weaknesses. there's also the FlipStart PC coming out soon, or, well, Q1 2005'ish, if you can call that soon, which has many improvements over the OQO. check this comparison chart for differences.
there's a video out with the OQO CEO taking the OQO out of his shirt pocket and while i'm sure they strategically got a big enough shirt, it doesn't look like it weighs the pocket down and it fits nicely, the unit *is* under 1lb, so i don't think it'll be that bad.
I know that they are redesigning the multiple interface cable, but is that going to ship with the product? I'm looking at the OQO as a possible wearable computer, with HMD and external keyboard (Bluetooth keyboard and/or Frogpad), and the interface cable (used without the docking station) is a major plus. You did not mention it in this article.
The other thing that OQO has right is that they did NOT include a camera. I understand Suhit's desire to move pictures from his camera to the OQO. That can be done with a USB card reader. But if they had put a camera in the OQO (as Vulcan is doing with the FlipStart), then two things would be true: 1) Low resolution compared to what I can get with an external camera, and 2) I would not be able to take the device to work with me (security guards do not have a sense of humor).
I agree with those who pointed out that many of the specs need to be improved (Disk and Battery are my priorities). But that is what version 2.0 is all about. As the man once said, "It is not how well the bear dances, but that it dances at all." I admire OQO for sticking with it over the last two years and finally getting a product to market, unlike Tiqit who was there first, and still has no commercial product.
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Common Sense is Not Common
As a hovering freelance designer with a few daily pitstops, this device is exactly what I've been looking for, and is essentially what I've been doing on a much more limited scale with my PPC. I lead an active lifestyle, and if I'm not riding my mountain bike to one office, I'm riding my motorcyle to another, so a laptop has never been my first choice of data transport and management.
Thanks for all the juicy pictures, and despite it's shortcomings, the fact that my dream device has been realized is enough reason for me to start saving for one now.
I give it less than a year for this company to die, unless they lower the price. Why spend almost two grand for something that will tear up your shirt pocket? When for $600 you can have a VGA PPC that fits nicely and does almost as much?
When I need a laptop I will bring one for the useful larger screen, but I will always need a PPC to do all the other stuff.
For the money I'd spring for a tablet PC before this OQO brick ! :twisted:
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"This is nothing like anything we have yet to experience." - Bob & Ray
imagine this with a windows 2000 or 2003 server a desktop or laptop and roaming profiles that would be awesome! (forget AS except when doing your daily sync with only one of these devices!)
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The Midlands Hybrid Club MidlandsHybrid.com
Current: Kacey's Wing, T-mo Wing Past: GCM_T, T-Mobile MDA
what if they just built the same thing...but used Intrynsic's Carbonado specs...It would only be running WM2003SE, but I'm sure it'd be the device to buy.
WM can get bigger...whereas XP isnt likely to get smaller. It could be even smaller and have a 24 hour battery life...instant on...WiFi + Bluetooth...USB2...USB host...Video out...all for under $700. I think that would sell a lot more...
The thing that truly must be fixed with this device is the RAM. Everything that I've heard indicates that 256MB is not enough for XP. With a mere 256, I might consider running Windows 2000. But since 128MB isn't enough for that OS (when running modern apps, like Firefox) I'd consider it the minimum tolerable.
It costs too much, anyway.
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“Sometimes I think the surest sign of intelligent life out there is that none of it has tried to contact us.”
—Calvin & Hobbes
Thanks Guys, and Katie too!
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