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Friday, January 26, 2007 Smaller Is Better, Say Makers of Ultraportable PCsBut will consumers agree? OQO, Samsung, Sony, and others test the waters. By Wade Roush
If you're itching to upgrade to Windows Vista, the new Microsoft operating system to be launched Monday, January 29, chances are you'll need a new computer, given Vista's hefty hardware requirements. And when you think about spending $1,000 or more on that computer, chances are, you're picturing a desktop or a laptop--not a half-kilogram device with a screen smaller than a piece of toast. But engineers at San Francisco-based OQO (pronounced "oh-kyoo-oh") think 2007 might be the year when U.S. computer buyers come to think of diminutive "ultramobile PCs" as practical alternatives to the personal computer's beefier desktop and laptop manifestations. Their new OQO 02, launched January 7 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is 14 centimeters wide, 8 centimeters high, and 3 centimeters thick--small enough to toss in a purse or a large pocket. Yet it's a full Windows Vista-capable computer, with a 1.5-gigahertz processor, an 800-by-480-pixel touch screen, a slide-out keyboard, and three kinds of wireless connectivity. "If you're a mobile professional, you need to be connected to the Web and access applications as part of your daily life--so your computer needs to be small enough and light enough that you're willing to take it with you when you leave your desk," says Bob Rosin, vice president of marketing at OQO. Laptops don't meet that standard, Rosin argues. "If your computer weighs five pounds and requires a briefcase, that's very different from something you could throw in your jacket pocket." The company's previous product, the OQO 01, held the title of "world's smallest Windows PC" for two years and attracted business customers who needed small PCs for field inspections and similar mobile activities. But as a general personal-computing device, the OQO 01 was met with mixed reviews and sluggish sales. The new model includes many upgrades recommended by OQO 01 owners, such as a brighter screen, a better keyboard, more-powerful batteries, and a docking station with an optical disk drive, according to Rosin. Even with such improvements, it's not clear whether U.S. mobile professionals--OQO's initial target market--will be attracted to sub-notebook-sized PCs. The OQO 02 belongs to a new generation of small Windows computers, including ultramobile PCs such as the Samsung Q1, that can run the same software as Windows desktops and laptops but are designed to be used from a sofa, conference room, or airplane seat. Miniaturized PCs have proved popular in Japan, where consumers have shown a willingness to pay extra for high-powered devices in small packages. But the gadgets are still largely untested in the United States, where they're often criticized for their slow performance, their tiny or nonexistent keyboards, and their high prices. (At $1,000 to $2,000, the devices often cost more than laptops of equivalent power.) Some consumer-electronics watchers say OQO and other companies are beginning to overcome the basic problems that make small PCs tricky to use. For example, U.S. users don't like to type or write on touch screens, so some manufacturers are including real keyboards with improved tactile feedback, while others are simplifying onscreen interfaces so that users can get more things done with fewer gestures and clicks.
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Comments
Gaetano Marano on 01/26/2007 at 10:38 AM
55
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I've found a (much smaller than OQO and Q1) advanced Cellular Phone + full performance WindowsXP Computer, all in a small 143 x 92 x 30 mm, 560 g. case!
List of features and image here: www.gaetanomarano.it/news/001samsung.html
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smithsomian on 02/07/2008 at 1:07 PM
18
http://www.umpcportal.com/products/product.php?id=57
ecelyot on 01/26/2007 at 5:17 PM
2
if the iPhone does what Jobs and Apple state it will then OQO isn't even in the ball park.
It is instructive that OQO 1.0 did not rock too many worlds; perhaps because the market is too small?
Listen to my Music, watch movies, phone everyone and surf the web and do my work too.
Can OQO do that for $600 plus tax? Seems a hard act for OQO to follow.
gabrielg01 on 01/26/2007 at 7:13 PM
298
The iPhone is just another overhyped, candy-colored yesterday's device for the iFools. A cell phone without 3G is not a latest generation machine.
bshanks on 01/29/2007 at 9:15 PM
3
As a test of its usability, I took the OQO to a wiki conference in place of a laptop and it did the trick. It's the only thing that I know of that fits in your pocket, has a keyboard, and can run standard Debian GNU/Linux without undue hassle.
The article claims the OQO 01 had a number of problems, but they weren't problems for me. It's significantly slower than today's laptops, but my other laptop (other than the oqo) is 5 years old, so the OQO was actually a slight step up for me. The limited battery life is ameliorated by the small size and light weight of the batteries; I just carry a spare battery with me in my pocket next to the OQO. One of my few complaints about the 01 was that the keyboard was not backlit.
So, I expect that OQO 02 will be great, too. My only fear is that the increase in size will make it that much less suitable to fit in one's pocket.
My plan is to buy an OQO every other computer (with normal laptops interspersed in case I ever want to do heavy-duty number crunching or run games).
However, I am a niche market. I suspect that computer nerds like me will all acquire UMPCs once they get cheaper. I suspect that other people won't buy them until we have computer screens in our sunglasses and air keyboards (at which point the GPS and location-based social networking and IM will become killer apps).