Where's The OQO?

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/open_letter_to_oqo_time_to_put_up_or_shut_up.php' target='_blank'>http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/ope..._or_shut_up.php</a><br /><br /></div><a href="http://www.oqo.com">OQO</a> has a presence at CES this year, where they've unveiled a new press release predicting availability in the second half of 2004. They have also updated their website with new photos.<br /><br />"OQO today announced its ultra personal computer (uPC), a breakthrough product that will usher the next wave of PC hardware by increasing mobility and flexibility for consumers and the enterprise. Slated to ship in the second half of 2004, the OQO computer weighs approximately 14 ounces, making it the smallest, high performance Windows XP computer with complete PC functionality. Measuring a mere 4.9 inches x 3.4 inches x 0.9 inches, the OQO computer is the size of a PDA with the power and features of a laptop."<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040108-OQO.jpg" /><br /><br />Of course, the question is when we'll see it in stores. Gizmodo has written a <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/open_letter_to_oqo_time_to_put_up_or_shut_up.php">brief rant</a> on the subject, which I can't help but agree with:<br /><br />"Well, OQO, it's time to throw down. No more press releases. No more vaporware. No more prototypes. Either produce a finished device that's ready to ship to stores, or just stop bothering everyone."<br /><br />I'd like to see it happen; more computing solutions benefit the consumer. But I'll believe it when I see it.

[SassKwatch]

I'd like to see it happen; more computing solutions benefit the consumer. But I'll believe it when I see it.
Ditto....on both accounts.

[jb]

Never gonna see it. These OQO clowns have been putting out this story every 9 months or so, for the past 2 1/2 years.

Sure it's coming. I'm hoding my breath.

Eventually when it does show, it will be priced at only $2,500 and we will be back to using good old PDA's.

[Jeff Rutledge]

Another vote for "I'll believe it when I see it" here. To me, all's they've done so far is to show that they're good at making neat looking demo models.

[powder2000]

I have no doubt they'll produce a model but as said before, it will be way to expensive for the average consumer and only appealing to Mr. Corporate :evil: . With the small hard drives coming to light and marketed towards ppcs and other small consumer devices this doesn't seem that appealing to me anymore.

[whydidnt]

Anyone remember the Bitboys? The promoted a non-existent super dooper 3D accelerator for years in the late 90's early 2000. I'm sorry to repor that OQO appears to be headed in the same direction.

I hope I'm wrong, but what is that makes these type of designs take years and years to develop?

I'm willing to bet Sony gets something similar out the door before OQO.

whydidnt

[David Prahl]

When I saw this headline I said to myself "I'll believe it when I see it." And that was before reading the same thing from three other people!

The manufacturer that cried "killer app"...

[Janak Parekh]

Anyone remember the Bitboys? The promoted a non-existent super dooper 3D accelerator for years in the late 90's early 2000. I'm sorry to repor that OQO appears to be headed in the same direction.
Ah, the Glaze3D. :razzing:

I hope I'm wrong, but what is that makes these type of designs take years and years to develop?
No one has done it before? Costs lots of money? Custom IC design? etc.? ;)

--janak

[Steven Cedrone]

Deja vu???

I think we've heard this all before. Wanna bet we don't see it by Fall 2004. :roll:

Steve

[Mitch D]

Has anyone heard a price point on this unit :?:

[jlp]

Especially for JB, instead of insulting the company created by people who have successfully worked for top companies (Apple, IBM, Oracle, MIT) creating top designs (amongst which the Apple Titanium, IBM Thinkpads, etc.) you should learn a bit about what you don't seem to know much about, go to the OQO site and thoroughly reviewing their new site, and read the last 2 or 3 pages of comments at the OQOPC discussion group at YahooGroups.

You'll learn that they thoroughly enhanced the first design, they are now producing the device and performing heavy tests with corporations.

***Comment removed by moderator SJC

.

[Steven Cedrone]

Please, let's not start throwing insults around...

Steven Cedrone
Community Moderator

[jlp]

Steve C,

Being unfair and partial???!!!

Finish what you've started and delete the injuriating comment by JB as well... :evil:

[Air]

I don't care if the company is lead by Einstein and the Pope. It's VAPORWARE. Spiffy web page and PR releases every now and then doesn't make it less vaporous.

This thing is in the same category as Duke Nukem Forever.

[Janak Parekh]

This thing is in the same category as Duke Nukem Forever.
Hey, Duke Nukem Forever isn't completely dead -- they're still developing it, or so it seems. Maybe the two will be released on the same day? 8O

--janak

[Thinkingmandavid]

Powder 2000 wrote

have no doubt they'll produce a model but as said before, it will be way to expensive for the average consumer and only appealing to Mr. Corporate
I agree, it will be to expensive. That is usually the case anyway with most of the new pda's coming onto the market. When we can afford them it is because something else new is coming out.
Just like the Nexio, I like it but the price for what you get is to expensive for my blood.

[Air]

They should start selling it as mini laptop already, just like Sony 505, then work the kink from there.

Otherwise, by the time they are done late this year. PPC would have 3D graphic accelerator, dual wireless, 4GB hardrive, USB2go able to hook up to portable CD-ROM/DVD..... all for less than $600.

then it's really game over for them, no matter what. The OQO will be located in no man's land. Not powerfull enough as a low end laptop, but too cumbersome to be a PDA.

Plus Sony already have UI101. why bother? order it from dynamism right now...

[murph]

i wanna play Duke Nukem Forever on my OQO! how long do you think i'll have to wait for that?

LOL!

[jlp]

My my my... :roll:

Much ado about nothing, looks like many people here know very little about the OQO:

Truth #1 the OQO is smaller than an ipaq 5550 !! (check here, end of page (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22922&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=10))
Truth #2 the newest OQO is a much improved version from the WinHEC 2002 introduction (bigger screen, sliding screen to reveal thumbboard, removable battery more connectors, etc.)
Truth #3 no current PDA is able to run WinXP apps nor will they be able to run them sooner or later, WinCE is not WinXP
Truth #4 you can add 3D, 4 GB HDD etc. it's still so much less powerful than any 1 GHZ PIII (and 1.5 GHz P4 as you may know) desktop or notebook; which is what the OQO is to be compared with.

Yes the OQO will certainly cost more than $2000, but I (and many many people) will gladly drop their desktop and underpowered, underfunctional, undercapable PDA just to have a 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 device.

[Janak Parekh]

Much ado about nothing, looks like many people here know very little about the OQO:
Actually, I think most people get the premise of the hardware.

Truth #1 the OQO is smaller than an ipaq 5550 !! (check here)
Debatable. It's noticeably thicker, and I know you refer to a thumbboard, but a) not all people need that; b) there are innovative thumbboard integrations (a la iPAQ 4350) that don't make it thicker.

Truth #2 the newest OQO is a much improved version from the WinHEC 2002 introduction (bigger screen, sliding screen to reveal thumbboard, removable battery more connectors, etc.)
Sure, I'll believe it. I hope they've used the time productively. :)

Truth #3 no current PDA is able to run WinXP apps nor will they be able to run them sooner or later, WinCE is not WinXP
Believe it or not, I'm very glad of this. Apps take time to start up on XP. XP in my experience is a bit less stable, and has a boot time if you want to do a soft reset. Desktop apps are ill-designed to work on a ~ 4 in. screen. Etc., etc. I'll be curious to see what they do to get around these limitations.

Truth #4 you can add 3D, 4 GB HDD etc. it's still so much less powerful than any 1 GHZ PIII (and 1.5 GHz P4 as you may know) desktop or notebook; which is what the OQO is to be compared with.
No. 3D chipsets and larger hard drives take up much more power. We're unlikely to see that until the next generation of hard-drive and 3D technologies.

Yes the OQO will certainly cost more than $2000, but I (and many many people) will gladly drop their desktop and underpowered, underfunctional, undercapable PDA just to have a 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 device.
Not necessarily. At that price segment, the OQO competes, as others have said, against the ultralight laptop market.

--janak

[Kati Compton]

Yes the OQO will certainly cost more than $2000, but I (and many many people) will gladly drop their desktop and underpowered, underfunctional, undercapable PDA just to have a 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 device.
I'd rather have a PDA.

With a screen that small, I don't think I could do the things I would need a laptop for anyway. That's what's kept me from getting the Sony U101 even with the drool factor and the CURRENT availability.

So I'm not going to pay $2000+ for something that I would only use as a $500 PDA.

Given that my mother-in-law refuses to use her 15" CRT in anything better than 800x600, I bet many people will be put off by the small screen when considering the OQO as a desktop/laptop replacement.

Besides, you have to go pretty high on the food chain at this point to pay more than $2000 for any computer. So it's not like this is something that is going to work for the average Joe computer user who can get a nice $600 (or less) Dell.

While (obviously) there will be some people very interested in the OQO if it is released this time, I don't think it's fair to expect everyone to be quite as excited about it as you are.

[Thinkingmandavid]

I would not be willing to spend 2,000.00 dollars on that. For me it is not worth it. I know some have complained about MS and I understand that, and like many on here I have had trouble with XP.
I am not willing to spend 2 grand on a laptop when I know I will not need to for getting what I want in a laptop.

I also believe many get the basic idea of this device but are not lured to it to the degree you are.
I personally do not like the design of it, so I would not buy it.
I would prefer to buy a Fujitsu P1000 or P2000. :)

I also do not see myself giving up the real estate space like kati mentioned. For me in grad school it just would not work out. Not only that, getting work done, web surfing, etc....would not be as much fun for myself, oh, and dvd watching as well :!:

If there are some who are going to drop their ppc, desktop, and laptop for this device, I think it will be relatively few.

[jlp]

D@m, Janak, that was a fast answer!!!


Truth #1 the OQO is smaller than an ipaq 5550 !! (check here)
Debatable. It's noticeably thicker, and I know you refer to a thumbboard, but a) not all people need that; b) there are innovative thumbboard integrations (a la iPAQ 4350) that don't make it thicker.

Please, just read the figure before making comments. With half an inch shorter and only 0.27 inch thicker the OQO IS smaller. You can debate all you want numbers speak for themselves and 0.27 is NOT noticably thicker either; that's insignificant.

Truth #3 no current PDA is able to run WinXP apps nor will they be able to run them sooner or later, WinCE is not WinXP
Believe it or not, I'm very glad of this. Apps take time to start up on XP. XP in my experience is a bit less stable, and has a boot time if you want to do a soft reset. Desktop apps are ill-designed to work on a ~ 4 in. screen. Etc., etc. I'll be curious to see what they do to get around these limitations.

You can plug to any screen size you want with the enclosed cable!!! (PLS THE OQO SITE!! it's all there)

Truth #4 you can add 3D, 4 GB HDD etc. it's still so much less powerful than any 1 GHZ PIII (and 1.5 GHz P4 as you may know) desktop or notebook; which is what the OQO is to be compared with.
No. 3D chipsets and larger hard drives take up much more power. We're unlikely to see that until the next generation of hard-drive and 3D technologies.

It was somebody else who was arguing that adding these features to a PPC could make it up to par with an OQO. I guess you got this wrong.

Yes the OQO will certainly cost more than $2000, but I (and many many people) will gladly drop their desktop and underpowered, underfunctional, undercapable PDA just to have a 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 device.
Not necessarily. At that price segment, the OQO competes, as others have said, against the ultralight laptop market.

The OQO is a desktop device in PDA size. Nobody uses an ultralight as a desktop replacement nor is able to put it in their jacket or normal pant pocket.

.

[jlp]

a quick computation:

How much do yo pay nowadays for a desktop plus a high end PDA?
650 for the desktop
650 for the underpowered, under capable ipaq 5550 (compared with the OQO for those who did not get it)

And how much would you pay for a 20 GB HDD and additional accessories to make the ipaq more comparable with the OQO?

400? 500? 600?

So that's very close to $2000 right now and you still don't have, by very far, all the capabilities of the OQO.

You all remind me of Palm users who rebuked (and drooled over) PPCs, saying they didn't need color, multimedia, stereo sound, large capacities, etc. ... until Palm or Sony made one and they got it :roll: .

I perfectly remember a PalmOS user who commented about how he would never have thought about how cool and great it was to have MP3 on his device... before he got it.

So wait and see, test one, get it and you'll never go back :D

.

[Kati Compton]

Please, just read the figure before making comments. With half an inch shorter and only 0.27 inch thicker the OQO IS smaller. You can debate all you want numbers speak for themselves and 0.27 is NOT noticably thicker either; that's insignificant.
Given the clamor over the size of the X5, I hardly think that .27" is insignificant. When I was looking at laptops, a quarter of an inch made a big difference in thickness to me, and that was much smaller as a percentage, and so should have been even less noticeable.

You can plug to any screen size you want with the enclosed cable!!!

Of course you can use an external monitor with it - it would be a bad design if you couldn't. But that doesn't address its usefulness as a laptop-replacement. I personally don't want anything smaller than 12" in a


(PLS THE OQO SITE!! it's all there)
Having people read the site isn't going to make them magically agree with you. If that's what you're looking for, you may want to start an OQO forum, as a Pocket PC forum may not be the right... er... forum for this level of discussion.


Not necessarily. At that price segment, the OQO competes, as others have said, against the ultralight laptop market.

The OQO is a desktop device in PDA size. Nobody uses an ultralight as a desktop replacement nor is able to put it in their jacket or normal pant pocket.
For someone who is telling other people to read the OQO site, you're missing some of the text. Even OQO compares it to a laptop / ultraportable laptop.

http://www.oqo.com/hardware/basics/][/url]
The OQO ultra personal computer (uPC) is a fully-functional Windows XP PC small enough to fit in your pocket, yet powerful enough to replace your laptop. The OQO computer is the much-anticipated mobility solution for people who until now had to choose between the bulk and awkwardness of a laptop and the limited capability of a PDA.

The OQO computer has all the functionality of a ultraportable notebook computer...

It's very unlikely that people will replace their desktop with this if they haven't already with a laptop.

And frankly, a 1GHz Crusoe isn't enough power for me anyway. Let alone only 256MB RAM. Those specs are too wimpy for what I need.

[Scott R]

My two cents...I don't like the new thumbboard design. The old one looked much more usable. I like the idea of thumbboards. When they're done right. Sadly, nobody seems to do them right. The original Blackberry and the Danger Hiptop/Sidekick are very, very good. The new crop of thumbboard-equipped devices are poor for one reason or another. Most are too small. The Sony UX50 keys are too flush. I guess I'd have to hold this one personally to play with it, but I'm not liking what I'm seeing on that front. As I said, I liked the look of the thumbboard on their old design.

Scott

[jimski]

[quote]Truth #1 the OQO is smaller than an ipaq 5550.

Well lets see. OQO - 4.9 x 3.4 x 0.9 = 14.994 sq. in. vs. 5555 - 5.43 x 3.3 x 0.63 = 11.289. So the 5555 is almost 25% smaller. Please get your facts straight.


[quote]
You can plug to any screen size you want with the enclosed cable!!! (PLS THE OQO SITE!! it's all there)

The OQO is a desktop device in PDA size. Nobody uses an ultralight as a desktop replacement nor is able to put it in their jacket or normal pant pocket..

OK, well this may be true, but I think you are going to need an awful big pair of pants to carry your 15" LCD monitor, mouse, external CD/DVD player, bluetooth dongle, modem, etc. Maybe a pair of those clown pants would work.

Can't wait to be crunching numbers on a 20 column spreadsheet in an airport lounge with this baby, while my boss stands over me tapping his foot.

[Pat Logsdon]

You all remind me of Palm users who rebuked (and drooled over) PPCs, saying they didn't need color, multimedia, stereo sound, large capacities, etc. ... until Palm or Sony made one and they got it :roll: .
With evangelists like this, who needs detractors? :roll:

Thin is in. If it's thicker than an Axim, people won't want to put it in their pocket, no matter how cool it is. Unless, as a previous poster said, one has very large pants.

If I have to carry it in my briefcase, I'd rather have a laptop with a nice large screen, thanks...

Points for the gee-whiz factor, but it's too much money, and too much bulk to be pocketable. No sale for me!

[ricksfiona]

Out of all the postings there is one thing I did not see... Support.

Would you want to buy an expensive device like this from a company that can't seem to put out a product when they say they are?

I think the OQO is a pretty cool machine and it MIGHT work for the corporate user. But a corporate user who is going to do REAL work will want a keyboard that a laptop offers. Not some slideout deal or an external device.

And this device really won't service the PDA community. The mathmetician among us said the 5550 is 25% smaller than the OQO, and that's saying a lot. You can't comfortably lug the 5550 in your shirt pocket. Jacket yes, not shirt.

And who said the 5550 is underpowered? I love my 5550. I don't use my laptop anymore. With Textmaker, TransACT (this I wish improvement), Bluetooth, WiFi, 128MB, great screen, Stowaway keyboard and SDIO.... Pretty close to perfect. With Flash memory prices coming down, I'll be able to watch a DVD on my iPaq while having a good deal of space for work data and MP3 files.

If you need portable power, storage and usability, a subnotebook will run circles around the OQO. And who will want a handheld device that takes 1 - 2 minutes to boot up? No thank you.

In reality, OQO missed the boat. If they go under, it would be symbolic gesture that the heady, unrealistic and dillusional companies that rose during the dot-com boom are finally all gone.

[Bloop]

What’s up guys it’s almost midnight and I just got home from CES. It’s kind of late so I’ll give my quick impression on it and info from the guy. (Sorry I only read like one or two replies so sorry if I repeated anything, sorry about that)

This item is not a PPC it’s a small version of a mid range portable notebook. The price point according is about “…$1,800 or somewhere under $2,000.

I did hold it, it’s kind of thicker than I would like. But still very tiny for the power it’s packing. It has a very nice key pad, it’s kind of like the Sony design, but much easier to push the buttons. The screen reminds me of a T-mobile sidekick in terms of viewing. There is mouse type thing that laptops have (not a touch pad the other thing) But I find it was hard for me to get the hang of holding it and using it at the same time. (I guess it something you just have to get use to). The screen is touch sensitive. The device doesn’t get very hot at all. The guy said that he had been using it all day long and that they are going to improve the cooling system even better. Over all it is a nice size but over all I think it looks ugly.

In terms of what the guy said, they are still doing a lot of testing and debugging on it. It’s Running Windows XP Pro. It has some chip I haven’t heard of (""transmeta processor) but runs at 1gig. Has a 20gig hard drive, 256 ram. About 2 - 3 hours of use. Bluetooth and 802.11b. Screen resolution was 1280 x 1024. It has a Fire wire and USB port.

Well I’m off to bed sorry about spelling, grammar and repeated content. Good Night

[bjornkeizers]

Let's face it. The OQO is up there with things like Duke Nukem Forever in terms of vapor density, and Zodiac in terms of "will someone actually buy this"

No, you can't compare it to a PPC - the OQO would win some of those points. Yes, we can compare it to a laptop, but it's not as usable as one, and it's more expensive. I can buy a top-of-the-line laptop right now for far less then two grand, and it'd beat the snot out of the OQO any day of the week. It's caught between a rock and a hard place. Too expensive as a PDA, not good enough to replace my laptop. It'd be the exclusive domain of geeks and business types, but any IT manager can see that the OQO just isn't a good investment.

[mountainfrog]

Truth #2 the newest OQO is a much improved version from the WinHEC 2002 introduction

The term "newest" implies there was a predecessor. Where was this first one other than on paper? Was it sold in any retail or business market or was it relegated to arena of the development lab and press releases? I do not believe a full working model (not a prototype) was ever sold.

The problem that I see with this device is twofold. First, the development of this unit takes so long that by the time it will be ready to be released it will already be outdated. That has already happened. It only has a 1ghz processor and 256mb RAM (according to the product specifications on the website). I would expect that by fall 2004 this will be the lowest end and cheapest computers being sold.

Secondly, I also see the screen size for the device to be way too small for regular, continued usage. I use one the smallest sony picturebook laptops as my main computer. Do you know how annoying it is to be constantly scrolling b/c stuff doesnt fit on the screen or to be squinting b/c the text is just too small or to miss out on web sites b/c they are not designed for a small screen. Buttons/links that extend beyond your view and are on non-scrolling frames cant be accessed. I cant access half the links on my bank account web page because they extend past my viewable area! I didnt realize this when I purchsed my laptop and probably would not have, if I knew that I was going to have this difficulty.

I suppose you could use an external monitor but if you need a monitor to effectively use this device doesnt that lessen its value as a compact computing solution? It really isnt an all-in-one solution if you cant use it easily alone without supporting hardware.

It may be OK for intermittent usage but why would anyone pay that much money for something with limited usage? I suppose those with lots of money to burn that want the "wow" factor would be enticed but that is not a strong, sustainable business market. This may the "wow" device this year, only to be replaced by another device next year. Perhaps they are planning on making money on patents on their technology and not actual sale of the units.

Nonetheless, I would be thoroughly impressed if this device goes to the retail market this year and is still competitve with the current technology. Based upon their past performance, I will re-iterate what others said and I will believe it when I see it.

-julie

[Steven Cedrone]

Steve C,

Being unfair and partial???!!!

Finish what you've started and delete the injuriating comment by JB as well... :evil:

If you are referring to this comment:

These OQO clowns have been putting out this story every 9 months or so, for the past 2 1/2 years.

It wasn't a direct attack against you... Unless of course, you do work for OQO...

We can take this part of this debate off-line, PM me to continue this discussion...

Steven Cedrone
Community Moderator

[ucfgrad93]

Sorry, I don't think this product will see the light of day. It reeks of vaporware to me.

[JA]

What a joke! :roll: Recipe for OQO owners succes: Build a prototype, get some press, add some overzealous fanboys to troll some forums, and get that investment money, then live high on the hog until the money runs out. Then you just "announce" the next version of your vapourware product. Repeat steps as needed until retirement! :twisted: JA

[Buddha]

Funny I seem to remember that a couple of years ago one of the hypes and 'selling points' was to be that it would sell for around a 1000$. Inflation I guess :razzing:

[Racer-X]

Especially for JB, instead of insulting the company created by people who have successfully worked for top companies (Apple, IBM, Oracle, MIT) creating top designs (amongst which the Apple Titanium, IBM Thinkpads, etc.)
Well, it is clear they are the best and brightest in the art of marketing vaporware. :roll:

[possmann]

concept is neat but it will cost too much, and battery life will suck compared to laptops. I just don't see this thing ready for prime time anytime soon - next several years. The technology culture will have to change and battery life will have to really increase in order to make this something useful.

[jizmo]

People seem to be awfully hostile about this thing and whenever that happens there's always a hint of fear involved. :roll:

Personally, I'd always like to welcome superior products to market. Competition pushes the market on and drives PPC manufacturers to push the envelope further.

Completely another issue is whether this'll success or not, but imo It's great to see that such things are do-able.

/jizmo

[Kati Compton]

Personally, I'd always like to welcome superior products to market. Competition pushes the market on and drives PPC manufacturers to push the envelope further.

Completely another issue is whether this'll success or not, but It's great to see that such things are do-able.
Of course. All I've been saying is that this is not a device that would be useful to me personally. But I would like to see it become a reality. It's just that OQO doesn't yet have a good track record with reality. ;)

[ucfgrad93]

Personally, I'd always like to welcome superior products to market.

Unfortunately, it hasn't come to market. The OQO is the little piggy that stayed home.

[Racer-X]

Personally, I'd always like to welcome superior products to market.

Unfortunately, it hasn't come to market. The OQO is the little piggy that stayed home.
No, they are telling you it is the little piggy that stayed home. So far, we've seen pictures of the piggy, and mock ups of the piggy, but the piggy hasn't shown himself.

oink.

[Air]

Pre order now....

OQO + Duke Nukem Forever exclusive package.
only $3000+ limited availability, and release date will be determined soon.

(..no really, It's soon...really reallly soon, we promise)

[Janak Parekh]

People seem to be awfully hostile about this thing and whenever that happens there's always a hint of fear involved. :roll:
I'm not the slightest bit hostile about it. :) I just don't see this device as a "PDA-killer". If successful, this, along with Paul Allen's Vulcan MiniPC (http://minipc.vulcan.com/default.asp) and the MCC Antelope (http://www.antelopetech.com/en/index.aspx?view=i-products_ModularComputingCore.htm) will form a new niche. And I don't doubt the possibility of the technology being miniaturized. I do doubt the battery life, but I'd be glad to be wrong on that. In fact, if the price and specs are right, I might end up getting one... but almost certainly not to replace my Pocket PC/Smartphone/etc.

--janak

[mountainfrog]

People seem to be awfully hostile about this thing and whenever that happens there's always a hint of fear involved. :roll:


I believe there is a big difference between being hostile and being critical. Being hostile implies some enmity is involved and that is not the case from what I see in the posts. Critical, yes, but not hostile.

I also believe that this thread arises not from fear but frustration and annoyance. Frustration and annoyance at another revolutionary product being promised but not being delivered, especially being promised over and over again.

Lastly, I believe all of us do embrace and do not fear new technology. If you were to poll the general public, how many of them would have a wifi, BT-enabled PDA that can connect with their BT phone in order to browse the internet via a GPRS connection? How many would even know what you were talking about? Probably very few.

Just my 2 cents.

-Julie

[Hooked]

Again we are looking at devices as discrete categories rather than a contiguous range of functionality.Some people say, this thing is too big and the OS too cumbersome to replace their pda.Others say the specs are too low and the price is too high to be a replacement for their notebook or desktop.

But, IF this thing ever actually appears and IF it works, it may fit someone's needs better than the other devices currently available.Whether it's this thing or the whole smartphone vs. pda argument, no single device can be optimized for every utilization.
It is always going to be some sort of compromise.

It's just nice (or will be nice) to have yet another choice.And like Janak said, there are other solutions similar to this coming from other vendors.So whether this particular offering is vaporware, the overall "niche" does not appear to be.

I don't know if I would buy one of these, especially at >$1000.But I wish these guys success, if for no other reason than it will cause the pda vendors to look at some of the functionality and say "Why don't we put that in our next model?"

And Santa if you're reading this, next Christmas I want a handheld, fuel-cell power supply with a universal DC connector....and a compass in the stock.

[Ratel10mm]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oqopc/message/1099

It seems that they are trying to get out of the vapuor and into the real world at last. :wink:
For me & my boss, we'd love to have something like this to run our controls software on. (Even my brand new Ipaq 5550 isn't anywhere near powerful enough to run it)
1: because it should be a lot tougher than the Dell laptops we currently use.
2: because it's a lot smaller, so less hassle to carry around all the time. Ever tried using a laptop all day out on site? Yes? Then you know what I mean! :wink:
3: It will fit in a tool box, or even a large pocket!
4: So it's much more discreet, and less likely to get nicked, 'cos you can hide it much easier! 8)

All in all, I'm looking forward to seeing one,
if they ever make it to market! :lol:

[Kevin Daly]

I note (with apologies if anyone's already mentioned it, but the thread is very long now after all) that the article on Brighthand on this subject is headlined "OQO Makes Bid For Vaporware Hall Of Fame" :wink:

Most frustrating personal vapourware story:
When I was a poor university student (languages, not IT) back in the early '80s I relied on one of my elder brothers to do all the actual computer buying (since he had money)...starting with the Sinclair ZX80, then ZX81, then the BBC Micro model B, then BBC Master...
Anyway, one of the cool things available for the BBC was a BCPL programming environment. The main problem being that references for BCPL were very thin on the ground (non-existent would also describe them well at that time in this place). Acorn (makes of the BBC Micro) advertised a book on programming BCPL. "Aha!" we thought, "We have only to get our slimey hands on said book and enlightenment will be ours".
So, when I found myself in Europe in 85-86 and popped over to London I naturally made my way to a shop where all manner of wondrous BBC Micro-related merchandise was sold...but sadly, no BCPL book. I enquired of a staff member (this being back in the ancient days when staff in technical shops actually knew stuff) and learned that Shock! Horror! the book in question had never in fact been published (although advertised as existing for several years before that).
A definite case of Vapour-Lit. I apologise for this lengthy diversion, but this disappointment has been a scar on my twisted soul for almost 20 years, it's so nice to have an excuse to bring it up and bore everybody with it.
PS. For the curious, BCPL begat B which begat C, which begat All Manner Of Woe But At Least They're All Better Than Cobol.
I'll now return you to your normal programming.
0X

[sbrown23]

My my my... :roll:

Much ado about nothing, looks like many people here know very little about the OQO:

Truth #1 the OQO is smaller than an ipaq 5550 !! (check here, end of page (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22922&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=10))
Truth #2 the newest OQO is a much improved version from the WinHEC 2002 introduction (bigger screen, sliding screen to reveal thumbboard, removable battery more connectors, etc.)
Truth #3 no current PDA is able to run WinXP apps nor will they be able to run them sooner or later, WinCE is not WinXP
Truth #4 you can add 3D, 4 GB HDD etc. it's still so much less powerful than any 1 GHZ PIII (and 1.5 GHz P4 as you may know) desktop or notebook; which is what the OQO is to be compared with.

Yes the OQO will certainly cost more than $2000, but I (and many many people) will gladly drop their desktop and underpowered, underfunctional, undercapable PDA just to have a 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 device.

My, my, my... so wrong about so much. :roll:

#1 - Wrong, do some volume calculations.

#2 - Who cares if it keeps improving if none of it's iterations ever make it to market? BFD! Where can I buy one? How about the last few "dates" these were supposed to be on the market? Did anyone get one then? All this supposed power in this thing, but I CAN'T FRIGGIN GET ONE! :twisted:

#3 - No, WinCE is not WinXP. It is not intended to be. If you didn't know, WinXP is a full-blown desktop operating system. You tried to make some point about how the 1GHz processor in this thing is so much faster than 400MHz XScale, but you failed to realized the comparative impact of the OS installed on the processors and that XP on the OQO is likely to be much less responsive than a much, much lighter OS (CE) running on a slower clocked processor.

#4 - This one is comedy. Show me any benchmark that says the 1GHz Crusoe processor from Transmeta is anywhere close to the performance of the 1GHz Pentium III. Crusoe is a terrible performer, clock for clock against the PIII or Athlon. Notice how the 1GHz Crusoe is absolutely DESTROYED by PIII's running at 866 or even 800MHz.

http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/2/0,3363,sz=1&i=21450,00.gif

From PCMag review of Tablet PCs here - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,944047,00.asp

It will be overpriced, underpowered for any but the most menial tasks, and the battery life in such a small device (w/ HDD, higher clocked proc, and smaller battery) will likely be pretty bad. I haven't tested the device, but based on all this info, I am obviously not too excited about it. If tests of it came out positive and the priced dropped big time, then I might have a little enthusiasm for the product.

Stop spreading your FUD about the OQO being so much better than PDAs.

[Skoobouy]

What a joke! :roll: Recipe for OQO owners succes: Build a prototype, get some press, add some overzealous fanboys to troll some forums, and get that investment money, then live high on the hog until the money runs out. Then you just "announce" the next version of your vapourware product. Repeat steps as needed until retirement! :twisted: JA

It isn't the first time this as happened. I remember when the OQO was first announced, way back in the PDABuzz days, there was some guy who just went medieval on everyone who said it was a goofy idea. Go figure.

[Mitch D]

With all the anger towards this unit has anyone here heard of the Tiqit? I just came across a article about it at the Register.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/34803.html

It looks interesting, here is a link to the makers website:

http://www.tiqit.com/index.shtml

With any luch this one is not vapour ware :wink:

[Tom W.M.]

Too expensive as a PDA, not good enough to replace my laptop.
Where have I hear that sort of thing before...

Ah! Yes! The Handheld PC market! And we all know where that led.

Failure.

[jlp]

As far as size is concerned try adding to an ipaqeven only a quarter of what the OQO has (the rest I'm afraid is impossible) a thumbboard, USB CF card, a 20 GB harddisk, a CF VGA card (can't add the 3 at the same time anyway!!).

That's not mentioning a 5" W-VGA screen, Firewire, etc. which can't be added to my knowledge.

It'll be 4-5 times bigger than the OQO, and still be an underpowered and undercapable PDA, unable to run WinXP apps, period!!


Somebody here said these posts were critical and not aggressive!

Really?

Where is constructive criticisms?, the only kind that's civilized!!

I only see:
ironic (not to say stupid) remarks
aggressive wordings (example, quote: "DESTROYED" written in caps and bold typeface)
plain ignorance, the guy didn't test the device, much less saw one in real life, but yet assures "battery life will suck compared to laptops ... and battery life will have to really increase in order to make this something useful." Is that your idea of truth and criticism? :roll:
remarks in the like "I don't like it/want it/it's too big, too slow....." yet again have not even used it, much les had one in their hand
etc. etc. (I haven't the time to go again thru all the posts; read them once; the list would be 3-4 times longer)


So people, please stop useless irony (we've had more than our share), calm down, cool off...

We all like a goo word, but too much is too much.

Be nice and civilized, PLEASE!!

.

[Ed Hansberry]

So people, please stop useless irony (we've had more than our share), calm down, cool off...

We all like a goo word, but too much is too much.

Be nice and civilized, PLEASE!!

.
I suspect once you learn the definition of "irony" and then learn how to post nice and civilized yourself, people will reciprocate. :roll:

Heaven forbid we don't all jump on the OQO bandwagon with you and sing happy songs and think happy thoughts. lalalalalalalalalalalalalalaaaaa!

[jlp]

The OQO is here: (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oqopc/message/1099)

How about this: (below quotes are from the link above from a CES interview with OQO's CEO Jorry Bell and device handling; near the end of a long post; before it's very interesting too but these following quotes pertain to dozens of preproduction units being lent to showgoers to handle and corporate testing) On this pre-production run, everybody got 20 units to test." so that's at least 40 units, most likely quite more.

A little further we read: The UPC will go into limited corporate distribution this spring, and then Joe Public should be able to get his hands on one by the third quarter. However, these pre-production units look nearly ready for prime time. I would guess that if the corporate phase goes smoothly, Joe might get his hands on one sooner rather than later.

[jlp]

And to the nay sayer(s) who pretend the OQO in the past was only pix and a mockup, please see the Photo link on the OQOPC @yahoogroups to see 3 fully functioning devices from July 2002; it was presented unofficially to some people at PCexpo then.

So that's more than a year and a half ago.

[Rob Alexander]

The OQO is here: (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oqopc/message/1099)

Well, no it's not. That's what everyone is really talking about that you can't seem to get through your head. It's been "almost" here for over a year now, but it's never actually been released. And it's still not released. By your own words...

dozens of preproduction units being lent to showgoers

You may not realize it, but the "pre" part of "preproduction" means it's not being produced yet. I think what most people here are saying is that we're all tired of reading about this perpetually preproduction device. When you can come back and tell us that we can go to a particular store or web site and order a production unit, then it might be worth talking about. Some will be interested and some won't. In the meantime, there's just no interest... they used up their preproduction interest in this device over a year ago. [yawn] I'm going to bed.

[Pat Logsdon]

A little further we read: The UPC will go into limited corporate distribution this spring...
Ahem:

Last spring, Oqo promised its "ultra-personal computer" -- a pumped-up PDA that runs Windows XP -- by the end of the year. The wallet-size computer promised a 1-GHz Transmeta chip, a 20-GB hard drive and more, with a price of less than $1,000. Reader Nick Didenko noted, however, that nine months later the specs have become less impressive while the estimated price has ballooned to more than $1,600.
PLEASE do not quote promises from OQO people - they've cried wolf one too many times.

[Janak Parekh]

With all the anger towards this unit has anyone here heard of the Tiqit? I just came across a article about it at the Register.
Yep, we've posted about it too. That was the fourth in this niche, apart from OQO, Vulcan, and Antelope.

--janak

[jlp]

Well you get it all wrong: pre-production IS production in quantities smaller than full production.

If the word production after "pre" is being used it's to indicate it's being produced!!!

Get it?!! Or else one would use another word, say prototyping for example.

The smaller quatity produced is for the purpose of making larger scale testing (usually prototypes are only for in-house testing; preproduction is for a larger circle: beta tester which are under NDA and usually are external but usually close to the company (especially since OQO is a small company)) it's also for late adjustments in the design and manufacturing process. And in this case it's also for corporate (beta)testing.

At the time of preproduction, no drastic changes do take place (nothing important get added to the design) unless a serious problem is encountered.

Preproduction is for adjustments, not drastic changes.

That means the unit is close to 100% (95% to 99.9%) that of the full production version.

Capito? ¿Entiendes? Compris? Get it?

[Janak Parekh]

Well you get it all wrong: pre-production IS production in quantities smaller than full production.
You don't seem to understand our point. None of us doubt that technology has miniaturized to make the OQO possible. However, many of us doubt the company's ability to deliver a product in mass quantities to consumers. This doubt has been built up by false promises over the years. Just because a unit is in preproduction doesn't mean they can mass-manufacture at a profit!

The other issue that has been raised is whether or not the OQO will take over an existing market segment (say PDAs), carve out its own niche, or fail to gain a foothold. I still think, despite your assertions, that the jury is out on this one.

--janak

[jlp]

A little further we read: The UPC will go into limited corporate distribution this spring...
Ahem:

Last spring, Oqo promised its "ultra-personal computer" -- a pumped-up PDA that runs Windows XP -- by the end of the year. The wallet-size computer promised a 1-GHz Transmeta chip, a 20-GB hard drive and more, with a price of less than $1,000. Reader Nick Didenko noted, however, that nine months later the specs have become less impressive while the estimated price has ballooned to more than $1,600.
PLEASE do not quote promises from OQO people - they've cried wolf one too many times.

Well, I've seen nowhere on OQO site from the first day when I saw it in April 02, I've seen nowhere OQO stating the price of $1000; even quoting any price.

And I've probably read them all.

(Even the device size was misquoted and other "journalists" spread that error even further.)

It's "journalists" all over the web that mis-interpreted what OQO said to bring out of thin air this wrong figure. Jory Bell and OQO always said something like "a price equivalent to an entry level notebook". That was a safe quote.

And still now, no price is officially given!!!

.

[jlp]

Well you get it all wrong: pre-production IS production in quantities smaller than full production.
You don't seem to understand our point. None of us doubt that technology has miniaturized to make the OQO possible. However, many of us doubt the company's ability to deliver a product in mass quantities to consumers. This doubt has been built up by false promises over the years. Just because a unit is in preproduction doesn't mean they can mass-manufacture at a profit!

The other issue that has been raised is whether or not the OQO will take over an existing market segment (say PDAs), carve out its own niche, or fail to gain a foothold. I still think, despite your assertions, that the jury is out on this one.

--janak

OK Thomases of the modern age, just wait and see; I DO have faith in them 8), especially now that I read about the dozens of units produced (probably much more) that are working devices and that Joe Public is RIGHT NOW able to put his hands on...

Amen :wink:

.

[jlp]

This reminds me of the movie "1492: Conquest of Paradise" in which Gérard Depardieu as Columbus says (quoting an ancient philosopher): "Those who see the light before all the others are condemned to pursue it in spite of the others" (personal -but quite accurate I think- translation from the French soundtrack)

[Pat Logsdon]

Well, I've seen nowhere on OQO site from the first day when I saw it in April 02, I've seen nowhere OQO stating the price of $1000; even quoting any price.

And I've probably read them all.

(Even the device size was misquoted and other "journalists" spread that error even further.)

It's "journalists" all over the web that mis-interpreted what OQO said to bring out of thin air this wrong figure. Jory Bell and OQO always said something like "a price equivalent to an entry level notebook". That was a safe quote.

And still now, no price is officially given!!!

.
Did you look very hard? On OQO's news page, in a press release from April 16, 2002, I found this direct quote:

Target price for the core module is expected to be around $1,000 in initial, low-volume quantities and should drop as the product ramps to its market potential the following year. It is due to market in the second half of 2002.
Here, I'll even give you a link:

OQO Price estimate (http://www.oqo.com/company/news/)

[whydidnt]

This reminds me of the movie "1492: Conquest of Paradise" in which Gérard Depardieu as Columbus says (quoting an ancient philosopher): "Those who see the light before all the others are condemned to pursue it in spite of the others" (personal -but quite accurate I think- translation from the French soundtrack)

Dude...

It's just a computer. I don't think it compares to Columbus' exploration of the western hemisphere.

You still are missing the point. We've been hearing that this device is coming "soon" for 2 years now. Most of us are tired of the hype. If/When they are ready to start selling this to the public, some of us will look at it (and probably buy it). But until then it belongs in the Vaporware Hall of Shame.

whydidnt

[Pat Logsdon]

OK Thomases of the modern age, just wait and see; I DO have faith in them 8), especially now that I read about the dozens of units produced (probably much more) that are working devices and that Joe Public is RIGHT NOW able to put his hands on...
Be sure to post here when you get yours...

:wink:

[Ed Hansberry]

Did you look very hard? On OQO's news page, in a press release from April 16, 2002, I found this direct quote:

Target price for the core module is expected to be around $1,000 in initial, low-volume quantities and should drop as the product ramps to its market potential the following year. It is due to market in the second half of 2002.
Here, I'll even give you a link:

OQO Price estimate (http://www.oqo.com/company/news/):rotfl:

Only missed it by about 2 years and $1,000. :roll:

[jlp]

This reminds me of the movie "1492: Conquest of Paradise" in which Gérard Depardieu as Columbus says (quoting an ancient philosopher): "Those who see the light before all the others are condemned to pursue it in spite of the others" (personal -but quite accurate I think- translation from the French soundtrack)

Dude...

It's just a computer. I don't think it compares to Columbus' exploration of the western hemisphere.

You still are missing the point. We've been hearing that this device is coming "soon" for 2 years now. Most of us are tired of the hype. If/When they are ready to start selling this to the public, some of us will look at it (and probably buy it). But until then it belongs in the Vaporware Hall of Shame.

whydidnt

Whydidnt you understand what a parallel is??!!

And whydidnt you get that I never compared it to the exploration of the western hemisphere??!!

Whydidnt you understand I was just quoting Gérard Depardieu??!!

Whydidnt you understand what preproduction is and that it signifies the device is in (limited) production RIGHT NOW!! ??

And whydidnt you understand that a preproduction device has the best chances to go into the full production phase sooner than later??!!

And whydidnt you understand that the device now being built is not the same one that was introduced in April of 02 all of which amply justifies the delay??!!

:roll:

(some/most of the questions/remarks above are amply valid for most people here, including Ed H.)

.

[jlp]

Have you seen the 3' 11" QT video on OQO site?

If somebody could be kind enough to convert it to MPEG1 and share it with us, so I can view it over and over on my Very-Soon-To-Become-Instinct PPC?! :D

[Skoobouy]

That's quite a lot of energy you've got there, Mr. jlp. Out of curiousity, are you the same guy who posted up and down PDABuzz years ago about the OQO? Sure looks like the same style. What exactly are you trying to convince people of? I would certainly have no need for an OQO, and it looks like a very niche product (like Shuttle desktops, tablets and such).

If I have a cheap desktop that performs better, and a PDA that's smaller and does what I need, why would I spend so much money for a device that can "sort of" do the same thing as either, but only after lots of adaptation and effort? Not to mention that, no matter how small it is, nothing that expensive is really "portable" like my iPaq 1935.

[JA]

And whydidnt you understand that the device now being built is not the same one that was introduced in April of 02 all of which amply justifies the delay??!!


Whydontyou just go away??!! :roll: JA

[Kati Compton]

plain ignorance, the guy didn't test the device, much less saw one in real life, but yet assures "battery life will suck compared to laptops ... and battery life will have to really increase in order to make this something useful." Is that your idea of truth and criticism? :roll:
Their site says something like 2-3 hours. I just ordered a laptop with 5.5 hours with the regular battery or 7.5 hours with the extended battery. So obviously the OQO has a shorter battery life than *some* laptops at least. Which is critical for plane rides.
remarks in the like "I don't like it/want it/it's too big, too slow....." yet again have not even used it, much les had one in their hand
The stats tell me that it would not be appropriate for me. For example 256MB of RAM isn't going to be enough for an XP machine for me no matter what the form factor or what company made the device.

[Kati Compton]

etc. etc. (I haven't the time to go again thru all the posts; read them once; the list would be 3-4 times longer)
Now THAT'S interesting. You are telling us essentially that we're all making stupid comments, but yet you haven't read them.

And you're yelling at us and being rude about how great you think the OQO is. In a number of cases your facts have been shown (by the OQO web site that you are touting) to be wrong. With the level of intensity of your posts, I would expect you to have completely read the OQO site and to have your facts straight.

Unfortunately, your rabid attitude is doing OQO a disservice and making people dislike the OQO when they might not have originally. Some people here doubt that the OQO company will release the OQO as full production, but no one would be upset to see it happen. But I think a number of people are getting sick of hearing about OQO.

[Phoenix]

I'm surprised that no one has touched on what is one of the most obvious issues about this device: the boot up and shut-down times.

Who wants to pull this device out of their pocket and wait for two or three minutes while it boots up each time they need to access info, and then more time to make sure it shuts down properly? Who would want to wait even a minute for it to come out of hibernation or rehibernate? Maybe a minute or two or three isn't a long time in and of itself, but when you're trying to get something done, that's an eternity to just stand there waiting for some stupid device (whatever it may be) to ready itself so that you can access it. The whole nature of this device is that it will be accessed many times throughout the day while on the move, which is the whole point of it being pocketable. Do this many times throughout the day and this device becomes clunky and a real time waster. It's inefficient and impractical. It would be like waiting for a cell phone to boot up. Could you imagine a doctor needing to wait for this in order to access info? Ridiculous. And you'd have to turn it off or hibernate it each time you were through otherwise the battery would die within an impractically short period. And before someone says, "How's waiting for this device to boot up and shut down any different than waiting for a laptop to do the same?", I'll preemptively answer that by saying that the difference is found in work environment, how people work, and what kind of info is being accessed.

First of all, when you're on the move, more times than not, you're going to want quick and immediate access to your info. A PPC is an instant on and off device. Anything that runs XP is not. Besides, the info someone is most likely to access, isn't going to be something that requires the power of a device running XP. You're going to be looking up scheduling info, contact info, a spreadsheet, notes, maybe a photo - those things. All of those things, and I would even venture to say, that most all of the info that anyone would need to have access to at all times (meaning: while on the move and on their feet) - so much so that it can fit into a pocket - can easily be loaded onto a PPC. No one needs a laptop or anything running XP to access those things. If what you're accessing requires a machine with the power of a full fledge computer, then you'll probably be working at a desk, or in your car, or on an airplane, or some other stationary location where you can touchtype with a full size keyboard and work with a full size mouse, and take advantage of much larger screen sizes to actually get some work done without killing your eyes. Working with a handheld is not the same as sitting at a desk and doing other things while you have time to wait for a computer to boot up, and that perhaps is even plugged into an outlet and therefore can be left running where a person would work with it for long periods, so that they wouldn't need to boot it up and shut it down a thousand times throughout the day. And if they ever did need to leave the computer, they could simply leave it plugged in and lock it until they come back. When you're at a desk, or on an airplane, or sitting in your car, you can wait for a computer to boot up, and people expect that. When you're on the move, on your feet, no one has time for this. It's not practical or efficient to wait for something to boot up each and every time you need to access simple information.

Not to mention, XP is so much more complicated of an OS than CE, which means that there are going to be more problems to contend with.

And what I don't understand is how are you supposed to make serious use with XP working with such a small screen? Could you even see? Do they ship a magnifying glass with this thing? The visual nature of XP is on a handheld is far less practical than CE on a handheld.

If what you're accessing requires the power of XP, it makes no sense to purchase this device. Anyone would be far better off with a slim laptop. I mean, if someone really needs to carry information with them that can only be accessed with a full-fledge computer and XP, are they really going to need such frequent access to it that it needs to fit into a coat pocket? A slim laptop wouldn't do?

And yes, yes, I understand that there are vertical markets where there may be people who could honestly make use of this device. But in my eyes, vaporware or not, those people who could honestly justify such a device are seriously in the minority, and this device is more for bragging rights than for actually getting anything done.

[Janak Parekh]

I'm surprised that no one has touched on what is one of the most obvious issues about this device: the boot up and shut-down times.
I have - on earlier debates. :) jlp asserts that OQO has fixed this and that it will have nearly-instant resume/suspend. Again, I'll believe it when I see it.

--janak

[Phoenix]

I'm surprised that no one has touched on what is one of the most obvious issues about this device: the boot up and shut-down times.
I have - on earlier debates. :) jlp asserts that OQO has fixed this and that it will have nearly-instant resume/suspend. Again, I'll believe it when I see it.

--janak

Instant resume and suspend... does this behavior apply to when the device is booting up from a cold state and when shutting down completely? Because with XP, this is going to have to happen. You can only hibernate and wake up so often before reboots are needed.

I hope so for the sake of this device. Otherwise this thing will turn out to be nothing more than an expensive paperweight in the efficiency department.

[Janak Parekh]

Instant resume and suspend... does this behavior apply to when the device is booting up from a cold state and when shutting down completely? Because with XP, this is going to have to happen. You can only hibernate and wake up so often before reboots are needed.
Right -- I think I mentioned earlier in this thread the OQO equivalent of a soft-reset is very time-consuming.

That said, I have managed to do suspend-resume cycles with XP for about a month at a time without too much trouble (at which point it usually locks up during the resume). But it still doesn't have the runtime properties of a ROM-based PDA.

--janak

[Ed Hansberry]

You will like the OQO
You will like the OQO
You will like the OQO
You will visit their site and then you will understand
You will like the OQO
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/spiral_3.gif
You will like the OQO
You will like the OQO
You will like the OQO

[jlp]

I would expect you to have completely read the OQO site and to have your facts straight.

I DID then. I'm sorry that my memory is not perfect.

etc. etc. (I haven't the time to go again thru all the posts; read them once; the list would be 3-4 times longer)
Now THAT'S interesting. You are telling us essentially that we're all making stupid comments, but yet you haven't read them.

Read my post again carefully and you'll see you didn't understand correctly. When I said "read them once" I mean read them once, no more no less (read as in red, not read as in reed)

[jlp]

You will like the OQO
You will like the OQO
You will like the OQO
You will visit their site and then you will understand
You will like the OQO
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/spiral_3.gif
You will like the OQO
You will like the OQO
You will like the OQO

Excellent, it cracked me up!! :D

[Ed Hansberry]

My whole thing with the OQO and its ilk is not whether or not it is near instant resumes. Let us pretend it is instant resume. Can you imagine firing up outlook and navigating to your tasks to find something? Or switching calendar views? Blech. I don't even like using Outlook on my full keyboard for that stuff. I much prefer to just use my Pocket PC.

Or my gas log. It is in Excel. I can open Pocket Excel and enter the data on my PPC faster than I can launch Excel on my 1.2GHz laptop with 512MB of RAM and browse to the folder and open the document.

I just don't see the OQO being an alternative to a PDA for current PDA owners. I see it being an alternative to a laptop for people that prefer very beefy desktops.

Oh man, how many hours of battery life will the OQO get? I get 8-9 out of my 2215 just listening to WMAs when traveling and that includes occasionally looking up data.

The OQO will be fine for some, but I think it is even more niche'ified than a PDA is.

[jlp]

plain ignorance, the guy didn't test the device, much less saw one in real life, but yet assures "battery life will suck compared to laptops ... and battery life will have to really increase in order to make this something useful." Is that your idea of truth and criticism? :roll:
Their site says something like 2-3 hours. I just ordered a laptop with 5.5 hours with the regular battery or 7.5 hours with the extended battery. So obviously the OQO has a shorter battery life than *some* laptops at least. Which is critical for plane rides.

The Truth is all the truth:

OQO site says (emphasis added) Lithium polymer battery (two hours movie viewing or up to eight hours general productivity per charge)

The brochure handed out at CES says "up to 6 hours under normal usage." according to this post (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oqopc/message/1100)

So its main purpose is not just to watch movie, tho it can do that too. In general usage battery life is therefore quoted to last a full day of work.

So that's much better than most and as well as the top performers.

remarks in the like "I don't like it/want it/it's too big, too slow....." yet again have not even used it, much les had one in their hand
The stats tell me that it would not be appropriate for me. For example 256MB of RAM isn't going to be enough for an XP machine for me no matter what the form factor or what company made the device.

8O

May I ask you what you use your PC for? Video signal processing? Studio sound processing?

I have 256 MB on my 1.5 GHz P4 box, I always have close to 10 apps running in 20 to 30/40+ windows and I don't feel the need to upgrade anytime soon.

.

[jlp]

Then I never pretended that the OQO is for everybody.

You don't like it? fine!
You don't want it? fine!

I'm just jumping in to rectify absurd and/or incorrect quotes, uneducated and wrong guesses presented like "Gospel Truth", etc.

.

[Kati Compton]

May I ask you what you use your PC for? Video signal processing? Studio sound processing?

I have 256 MB on my 1.5 GHz P4 box, I always have close to 10 apps running in 20 to 30/40+ windows and I don't feel the need to upgrade anytime soon.
Computer engineering research is the most intense purpose. I've used up to 1.5 gigs of virtual memory (in addition to the 768MB of real memory in my desktop) at some points.

So the desktop that I'll be using at work is 3.2GHz, 1 Gig RAM.

The laptop I'm trying to get is 1.6MHz, 768 megs RAM.

I don't feel it's necessary to only have one machine, as I need different things from each. From my desktop I need power. From my laptop I need as much power as I can get at a weight that won't hurt my shoulder to carry for long stretches. So the one I ordered is ~5lbs with battery and DVD/CDRW.

[sbrown23]

I'm just jumping in to rectify absurd and/or incorrect quotes, uneducated and wrong guesses presented like "Gospel Truth", etc.
.

Rectify? How about them performance claims? You completely ignored the fact that you were WAY off when you said that it would be comparable to a P3 1GHz or P4 1.5GHz. It was shown that even an 800MHz PIII will thrash a 1GHz Crusoe.

You were wrong when you said it was smaller than the iPaq 5555.

How about rectifying those truths?

[jlp]

I'm just jumping in to rectify absurd and/or incorrect quotes, uneducated and wrong guesses presented like "Gospel Truth", etc.
.

Rectify? How about them performance claims? You completely ignored the fact that you were WAY off when you said that it would be comparable to a P3 1GHz or P4 1.5GHz. It was shown that even an 800MHz PIII will thrash a 1GHz Crusoe.

You were wrong when you said it was smaller than the iPaq 5555.

How about rectifying those truths?

Everything being relative, try to compare what's comparable:
a) the OQO is still quite shorter
b) you forget that I talked about adding to the ipaq what the OQO already has: 20 GB HDD, thumboard, Firewire, etc., etc. these alone would make the ipaq much much bigger than the OQO. You can't take some things and leave the rest, you have to see the whole picture; and the whole picture is that the OQO HAS those features.

As far as speed is concerned when using a computer I don't care about benchmarks, I care if my device is fast enough for the tasks I need it for; or else I'd had changed my 1.5 GHZ P4 a long time ago. In fact I had a Pentium II Celeron @ 333 MHz just before and I noticed the P4 was not that faster for many tasks.

The speed of a computer is not restricted to the CPU alone as you should know but also made of the Bus, graphics card, HDD, etc. that all influence a computer overall speed!!!

This is why I don't care much about benchmarks. They should be taken relatively to the task the machines are used for and include measurements for everyday tasks, not just counting how many empty loops a CPU can iterate.

Especially since 90+% of the time the CPU is only working at a fraction of its capacity.

So who cares if your car can do 200 MPH or more if all you need is a small fraction of it.

Of course if I had to choose between different devices that do the same, I'd take the fastest, cheapest and best fitted, but here it's different. As of now there's only one computer that has desktop capabilities and that can fit in my pocket.

Again everything is relative as Albert would say!!

[sbrown23]

So you make comparisons, then contradict yourself. Nice. :roll:

[jlp]

Best of CES 2004 (http://www.techtv.com/news/ces2004/story/0,24195,3591502,00.html)
Mobile Computing:
OQO Ultra PC

:clap: :razzing: :werenotworthy: :razzing: :clap:

[Thinkingmandavid]

out of all these points, how many of you are converts to the OQO?? just out of curiosity.
It will never be a laptop replacement for me, it will never be a pda/ppc replacement for me. I cannot be convinced other wise and one good reason is that it is ugly :!:
the link that was included in your post said under 2000 :!: That is a lot of money to me for such a device. I get the impression most of us here are staying our ppc's :wink:
Oh, and I am not a convert.

[Pat Logsdon]

Oh, wow! I've just spontaneously converted to the OQO camp because some cable TV channel says it's really darn cool! Where do I sign up?

:roll:

[Ed Hansberry]

Best of CES 2004 (http://www.techtv.com/news/ces2004/story/0,24195,3591502,00.html)
Mobile Computing:
OQO Ultra PC

:clap: :razzing: :werenotworthy: :razzing: :clap:
Congrats. Didn't the Dataplay win in CES 2001 for their tiny optical storage unit? :wink: :lol:

[Jason Dunn]

Wow. What a lot of energy spent on something that doesn't exist yet! Despite what JLP has asserted, pre-production is a nice way of saying "hand built prototypes". Pre-production hardware typically lacks the polish and quality of the final unit, often using different plastics, etc.

I think the OQO is a really cool idea, but until it's available for purchase and the media is writing reviews of the final shipping product, this is all just speculation.

[jlp]

Wow. What a lot of energy spent on something that doesn't exist yet! Despite what JLP has asserted, pre-production is a nice way of saying "hand built prototypes". Pre-production hardware typically lacks the polish and quality of the final unit, often using different plastics, etc.

You're certainly right for some devices, but this is not some device it's a precise one, the OQO. And that precise device, according to people who did touch one of several functioning OQO devices at CES, (which doesn't seem to be your case :roll: ) this computer looks like a production (or what would/will be a production) unit.

Remember the Fujitsu(-Siemens) Pocket Loox? It was the very first announced device of its class, announced late January 02 to be available a couple of weeks after CeBIT 02 (i.e. late March, early April). It only became available in September. Also the XScale was announced by Intel around 2 years before the first XScale equipped device (by Toshiba) came out.

And these were from multi-billion $$ companies.

Remember it's the very first device of a totally new computer paradigm and they want to be sure it's done right. The fact that they didn't come to market with the first device they came up with is a proof of seriousness. They did some private and limited corporate testing and user feedback suggested many important improvements: a tumbboard under a sliding screen, a mouse-stick & buttons, a wider screen, a removable battery, many expansion ports on the cable, etc.

.

[Kati Compton]

And that precise device, according to people who did touch one of several functioning OQO devices at CES, (which doesn't seem to be your case :roll: )

I'm sorry, I just don't see what's :roll:-worthy here. It just reads as being rude.

[jlp]

And that precise device, according to people who did touch one of several functioning OQO devices at CES, (which doesn't seem to be your case :roll: )

I'm sorry, I just don't see what's :roll:-worthy here. It just reads as being rude.

How relevant is it to talk about other devices when the subject is about the OQO and the OQO alone??! Even if it was true for every other devices that preproduction units were of lower quality/used lower quality plastics, etc. THIS DEVICE doesn't according to people who touched and handled it. They have first hand experience while Jason obviously (from his own remarks) doesn't, yet talks about it as if his comments apply to the the OQO as well.

This justifies the ironic (not rude) icon/comments I've used.

.

[jlp]

On a lighter note, here are some new information coming from OQO's chairman Andrew Popell. It looks like we might see their device as early as June 04:

http://www.idg.com.sg/idgwww.nsf/unidlookup/3BF7F2DC3FA91F2A48256E1B000C5D27?OpenDocument

[Ed Hansberry]

On a lighter note, here are some new information coming from OQO's chairman Andrew Popell. It looks like we might see their device as early as June 04:

http://www.idg.com.sg/idgwww.nsf/unidlookup/3BF7F2DC3FA91F2A48256E1B000C5D27?OpenDocumentIt is not the first time since 2002 they have announced pending availability.

[Kati Compton]

This justifies the ironic (not rude) icon/comments I've used..
Actually, it was rude (or read that way), and no it doesn't. The moderators decide what is and is not relevant, and the moderators decide what does and does not justify rude behavior. In this thread you've consistently over-reacted to other posters and walked a very thin line of acceptability. As moderator, I am telling you to be less rude. If you would like to discuss this issue further, PM me.

[ux4484]

this whole thread.....seems so oddly...familiar, and...redundant.....

;)

[whydidnt]

this whole thread.....seems so oddly...familiar, and...redundant.....

;)

Yes, I should have learned long ago that you can't argue with - not to mention REASON with fanatics. :devilboy:

Thankfully this discussion was just about technology and not something that really hits people's hot buttons like religion or politics. :pukeface2:

whydidnt

[rock]

This justifies the ironic (not rude) icon/comments I've used..
Actually, it was rude (or read that way), and no it doesn't. The moderators decide what is and is not relevant, and the moderators decide what does and does not justify rude behavior. In this thread you've consistently over-reacted to other posters and walked a very thin line of acceptability. As moderator, I am telling you to be less rude. If you would like to discuss this issue further, PM me.

From paranoia to power trip on one page. :roll:

[rock]

jlp - I completely agree with you. The OQO is the ultimate portable device. It is the perfect replacement for my e805. I'm tired of the compromises PDA's force upon us. It will be nice to have real hardware and a real OS. $2000 is cheap for this device IMO.

[jlp]

jlp - I completely agree with you.
Thanks. 8)

$2000 is cheap for this device IMO.

Indeed it is, especially if you consider it replaces a top of the line PDA (while being much more powerful and capable) and desktop for most tasks.

Now the good news is this link (http://www.oqo.com/enterprise/corpsales/), that allows large corporations to register for their pilot program.