OQO 01+ Ultra PC

OQO 01 + Ultra PC Introduction In a slight deviation from the normal subjects of 4WinMobile reviews, we had the fantastic opportunity of getting our hands on one of the new breed of Ultra Mobile PCs coming to the market. For most of us, the primary function of owning a PDA is to increase productivity, and let us have access to information we need whilst away from our PCs. In todays market, PDAs have become very adept in this role, so, the question is, what would it be like to actually be able to carry your PC around with you, giving you access to everything you may need at any time. Read on to find out! Supplier: eXpansys UK Manufacturer: Product: OQO 01+ Ultra PC Colour: Gunmetal Grey Cost: £1700.61 Inlcluding VAT, different prices available for differing specifications Supplier Web Site: http://www.expansys.com Supplier Product Web Site: OQO 01+ Manufacturers Page: OQO Welcome to another exciting review at 4WM. Many thanks to Rob Wolfenden at eXpanys for supplying the OQO review unit, without great suppliers, none of the great reviews at 4WM would be possible. For your delectation all photographs are thumbnails which may be clicked on to load an image. Specifications Technical 1GHz Transmeta Crusoe Processor 30GB hard drive (shock-mounted) 512MB DDR RAM 800 x 480 W-VGA 5" transflective display (indoor/outdoor readable) 3D accelerated graphics with 8MB of video RAM QWERTY thumb keyboard with mouse buttons and TrackStik Speaker Digital pen Interfaces Bluetooth wireless 4-pin FireWire (1394) USB 2.0 3.5mm stereo headphone jack Microphone OQO docking cable includes: 3D accelerated 1280 x 1024 VGA video output Additional USB Additional FireWire (1394) Ethernet DC power Audio out Battery Removable lithium polymer battery Power supply Supplied with UK & EU Mains lead Has facility for in car charger, also supplied Standby time Battery life up to three hours, depending on usage Dimensions / weight Dimensions: 4.9" x 3.4" x 0.9" Weight: 14 ounces Wireless Technologies (WLAN) 802.11b wireless Operating system Windows XP Professional Tablet Edition Applications Wordup Excelmeup Packaging The OQO arrived in a very elegant and stylish box. Jet black in colour & Very befitting for the sophisticated computing equipment ensconsed within. On opening the box, everything is in its place and securely held, so there will be no problems in transit, and the OQO reaches its destination in relative safety. Whats in the box? OQO 01+ Ultra PC Cover Case Docking Cable Power Supply, with both UK & European Cables Car charger, which needs to be used in conjunction with the Power brick User Guide & Documentation Design and Form Aesthetics Now, to me, the OQO is an extremely fine looking piece of technology, with clean lines & distinctive styling. It would not look out of place on the Starship Enterprise. The sliding screen design is reminiscent of its not too distant technoligical cousins, the current WM5 PDAs, namely the HTC Wizard (or should that be Prodigy?) and the HTC TyTN. Screen The screen on the OQO is truly amazing, so clear and bright, and at 800x400, not too shabby at all in the resolution stakes. It is incredibly usable, and the documentation states that the screen is transreflective, which means it is viewable both indoors and out. So, being ever curious, I had to put this to the test!! Once the initial charge was out of the way, and the rigoruos playing to orient myself with the device, I carried it off into the garden to see how it fared in daylight. And to my surprise, the screen did indeed live up to the hype, it was perfectly readable in daylight, although at the time of the test it wasn't a bright sunny day, but it wasn't that dull either. PDA manafacturers take note!! Construction The OQO is an incredibly well constructed unit, feeling quite solid in the hand. No loose fittings, or places where the case didn't quite fit together, no obvious places where quality control wasn't adhered to. The operation of the slide unit containing the screen is extrememly smooth & positive, giving the impression that it would have a resilient life-span, although in reality only time would tell. Size Comparison A 4WM review wouldn't be complete without a good size comparison, and as you can see, the OQO isn't a great deal larger than most PDA's, OK, it's a lot larger than the smartphones, but not full PDA's In the first photo from top to bottom, we have the I-Mate SP5m, the Loox N560, the O2 XDA Exec & the OQO Ultra 01+. Thickness wise, the OQO is slightly larger than the Exec, and only looks slight larger than the others. In the second photo, from left to right, we have the Orange C500, the I-Mate SP5m, the MDA Compact, the Loox N560, the O2 Exec & The OQO 01+, with the final photo showing a few of the devices open. Carrying on the size theme, I've created a comparison table, against data we've collated for other devices in previous reviews. While the OQO doesn't look a great deal bigger than the others, in fact, it is actually shorter & thinner than the O2 XDA Exec, something I think is a complete marvel. The flip side is that the OQO nearly twice the weight of it's heaviest comparitor, once again, the XDA Exec, and in use, you can definitely feel the difference, although it's not surprising with the amount of features the OQO is packing. Buttons and Ports If there's one area in which the OQO excels over the current plethora of PDAs, it's in the connectivity stakes, the OQO sports most of the ports that you'd expect to find on a full size PC or Notebook, which is no mean feat for a device of its relatively miniscule proportions! The Left hand side, is home to the left hand Wireless antenna, as well as the Firewire port. The Right hand side, sports the 3.5mm headphone socket, a ventilation grill, the right hand wireless antenna and sports the digital pen silo. Looking at the top, the top most edge sports another ventilation grill, this is one ultra mobile device that likes to keep cool! Moving on to the bottom of the device, is the most heavily populated port wise, from left to right we have the OQO power & docking cable sockets, followed by the scroll wheel, and finishing with a single full size USB port. and following on to the front, where with the OQO closed, only the power button is available, but, slide the OQO open, and you are presented with the OQO keyboard, mouse buttons & numeric keypad. Finally arriving at the back of the device, we find the battery! Nothing unusual there you may think, but there is, the battery itself sports a charge indicator, that is activated by pressing the button. First Impressions The OQO is a very impressive piece of kit, it is quite visually appealing, only slightly bigger than a standard PDA, well,Ok, slightly bigger than an O2 XDA Exec, but it truly is a complete system in a very small package. I love the docking cable aspect (more later), it's revolutionary in my opinion, as the amount of desk space it saves is amazing. The fact that the OQO has wireless and Bluetooth built in, really means the device is truly connectable in most situations, equalling the top range PDAs easily1 I have use it over Wi-Fi, CAT5 Ethernet and not forgetting Bluetooth to my SP5m. Connectivity As previously mentioned, the OQO comes with 802.11b Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in. The wireless performance of the device was extremely poor, culminating in the OQO being unable to maintain a connection to my router, while all my other devices had no problems and good signal strength. This gave me cause for concern, but in my initial playing, I discovered the OQO manager, and within the performance tab I found an option to turn of the Bluetooth radio, the tab contains a note describing that disabling Bluetooth would improve Wi-Fi performance, as well as extend battery life. Lo&behold, that did the trick, the Wi-Fi connectivity was instantly improved, but in reality, it still only grabs a really good signal when close to the wireless router, which may point to an incompatability between the built-in wi-fi and the router itself. At the other end of the scale, I found the Bluetooth range to be excellent, connecting to my I-Mate SP5m without any problems, and maintaining a connection effortlesly. Included Accessories Docking Cable The OQO doesn't come with a docking station, oh no, it comes with something far more interesting than that!! In the box with the device was what I initially thought was a VGA out cable, thus enabling the connection of the OQO to an external monitor, but no, I was mistaken, this cable is much more than that, it is what OQO calls the Docking Cable.....I've not seen anything like this before, but the cable plugs into the front of the OQO & offers the following functionality: Firewire, Power, USB, Earphone, 10/100MB RJ45, External Monitor. Blooming well it works too. I'm currently typing this sitting here at my desk with a USB Keybaord/Mouse. USB Hub, and standard CRT Monitor all plugged in, giving me that desktop computing experience that you get with a full notebook and docking station. Top marks here, the fact that the dock is a cable, makes carrying it a breeze, simply wrap it up and put it in your bag.. Absolutely marvelous, top marks to OQO on this (in my opinion, as I'd never seen something like it before!) innovative connectivity adapter. Spare Stylus/Digital Pen Unlike most PDA's, the OQO didn't come with a spare stylus, or digital pen as the documentation calls it. Luckilly, I managed to get away without losing it for the whole review period. The Stylus is of standard construction, a solid shank cast from plastic, and shaped almost like a pen. European Charger, UK Plug Attachments and Head Adapter OQO thoughtfully include various power options here, providing both UK & European adapter cables which plug into the adapter brick. Also provided in the box is a car adapter cable, which is a welcome addition for a portable dvice, and usually something you have to purchase seperately, so again, top marks to OQO for providing this in the box. The car adapter is slightly different from most, in that it plugs into the adapter brick, which means that you need to carry that as well to charge the OQO in your vehicle, not a problem, just different! Extended Battery Another plus mark for OQO here, in that the extended battery is also provided along with the slimline standard one, and I found that during the course of the review, I permanently had the extended battery attached to the OQO, mainly for peace of mind. Slip Case Not too much to say about the slip case! It appears to be made out of nylon, and there is a thicker insert that I could feel within the lining, affording greater protection to the scren whilst the OQO is ensconced within. The case is of reasonable quality, although it doesn't come with a belt clip... Although I'm not sure I'd like to carry the OQO on my belt!! Add-On Accessories Expansys sell a small range of accessories for the OQO, ranging from replacements of items that you get with the OQO as part of the package, to cases and battery adapters. I've picked a few to include here, the first being a leather case with a belt clip, although, with the weight of the OQO, I reckon you'd need a pretty strong belt to hang it on!! Unfotunately, there are no larger pictures to look at with these accessories, so accept my apologies here!! Next on my mini hit-list is the Stronghold metal case for the OQO, which looks every bit as stylish as the OQO itself. You can be sure that the OQO would be well protected inside here. I'll finish with a very useful accessory, especially if you wish to use the OQO in a desktop environment, but don't want to an external monitor. The Accessory in question is the desktop stand. Essentially a single piece of rigid plastic, that will hold your OQO at an ergonomic angle, although you'll still need an external keyboard, either USB or Bluetooth, both work equally as well and definitely turn the OQO into a true desktop replacement. Software Included Applications The OQO was delivered with the following software packages, I've broken this down into two parts, core standard applications that you would find on most Windows XP computers, followed by the OQO additional software that you wouldn't find elsewhere. Microsoft Office Small Business Edition Word 2003 Excel 2003 Publisher 2003 Outlook 2003 Powerpoint 2003 All instantly recognisable and familiar to most! OQO Additional Software The following applications are OQO or Tablet PC specific, in that you wouldn't find them a normal PC! OQO Manager The OQO Manager application allows you to configure how your OQO behaves, and is configured by a series of tabs. App launcher Tab. This was the only real use I found for the scroll wheel, and even once I'd figured it out, I still didn't use the scroll wheel a great deal, preferring the pen or joystick mouse. Once you have a few apps configured in the app launcher, you can then 'double click' on the scroll wheel, which then pops a funky oblong containing your quicklaunch apps, as well as your running programmmes. You can then move left and right by rocking the scroll-wheel, thus cycling through the applications, one more click, and you've selected the highlighted entry!! This is most useful when using the OQO in tablet mode, although I did find it just as quick to move the cursor to the task bar with the pen, perhaps quicker. Using the pen certainly was a more fluid movement when in full flow!! Alias Sketchbook Pro 2 An unusual addition, but fun all the same. Alias Sketchbook Pro is a drawing program. A little more sophisticated than Windows Paint, it allowed me to remind myself of how useless I am artistically! The program caters for the usual file formats, TIFF, BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG & Adobe Photoshop PSD files. Sticky Notes This is a 'post-it note' application, and it is rather funky as well as typed and written notes, you can either record or embed sound files into the note. The application is developed by Microsoft themselves, and I don't recall seeing it anywhere else to date.the notes are saved when you close them, and there are facilities to export/import, but it still doesn't beat the functionality of Outlook notes for me. Tablet PC Tutorials This looks like a program that is installed on the system, but is actually a link back to the Microsoft Website, where you can download the the Tablet PC tutorials for your own use. I didn't have enough time during this review to download and try them out, so I can't comment on the effectiveness on the detail they would provide. Get Going with Tablet PC This one is an installed application, and aims to familiarise you with your tablet PC. The basic information imparted is on using the tablet computer pen, and using the tablet PC without a keyboard and mouse. In sequence, the program provides instruction on how to hold the tablet pen, customisation of the tablet PC by asking whether the user is left or right handed, using the pen instead of a mouse, teaching you how to effect mouse clicks using the pen. The program then gives the user a chance to practice what has just been taught. Moving on, instruction is then given on how to use the tablet PC input panel to enter information, the scope including how to access the pen input panels, and tips on correcting text once entered. It is quite comprehensive, with plenty of links to take you on to further information should you require. In Use In use, the OQO seemed to be a bit on the sluggish side, so the first thing I did was go into start/settings/control panel/system taking the advanced tab and changing the setting to adjust for best performance. This is standard practice for me and I do it on all Windows XP machines I build/configure. Initially I though the sluggishness could be down to the OQO downloading updates from the Microsoft site, because as I type this note into Outlook Notes, everything seems to be fine. Nope, the sluggishness continues, I think it could be that the OQO has a problem driving the external monitor at 1280x1024, I came to this conclusion as the unit doesn't seem as sluggish when using it in standalone mode. With this in mind, I tried changing resolutions, although that didn't make much difference, and I finally concluded that the OQO is just a little sluggish compared to more modern notebooks, I suppose the comparison is unfair moving from my 2.2GHZ P4 Dell, to the OQO with a 1GHZ Transmeta Crusoe processor, which is primarily aimed at efficient battery use. I'd set the OQO up to replace my personal Dell for the duration of the review, (apart from my work laptop, which I have no choice but to use for work, so I still need to lug it around unfortunately!!)... And in use the device itself runs hot, I can feel it heating up as I use the built in keyboard!! At one point, the heat was quite uncomfortable. I found a solution and rememdied this by quickly nipping into the OQO manager, and increasing the fan setting to introduce more cooling, although that increases the fan noise somewhat, but it's definitely manageable, and it definitely reduced the heat to a more acceptable level. Pen Input I'm not a big fan of handwriting input, as I always seem to find that if takes a lot of effort on my part, and I can type much faster than I can write our the screen, even on the OQO's small key board, that being sand, this entire section was written using the pen input panel on the device. The accuracy of XP tablet edition is truly amazing, with only a few words being recognised incorrectly. As I played on, writing on the screen did become easier. although I still found khat the angle I had to hold my hand at a little Uncomfortable but that could Just be me. So the conclusion is, that while the handwriting recognition is excellent, the keyboard still wins in my world! Keyboard To aid ease of use, the designers of the OQO have thoughtfully included function key combinations for key functions, giving quick access to facilities such as toggling Wi-Fi on and off, muting sound and switching the video between the OQO TFT and an external monitor. One major downside, especially when using the OQO at night or in poor light conditions, is no keyboard backlight. The addition of a backlit keyboard would make the OQO so much more usable in my opinion, it would then be perfect for those late night computing fixes, or at least upstairs in the bedroom when the other half is asleep!! The keys on the keyboard are quite small, especially for someone with club fingers like myself, I regularly found myself hitting more than one key at a time. Although with practice, my accuracy did grow. An interesting aspect is that even though the OQO is a lot of computer packed into a tiny case, they still managed to find room for a numeric keypad sepearate to the main keyboard, something my Toshiba Laptop hasn't even got, and that's a large beast! A Technology Day Out I'm working in London today, so I made sure the OQO's extended battery was fully charged and clipped on and bonded to my I-Mate SP5m via Bluetooth and off I set. The OQO was powered on at 06:53 when the train started to roll, and duly connected to the Internet via the SP5m. My initial question is, how will the battery fare on the 2 hour journey?? I set about answering unread posts on 4WM! This is a good test of the devices capabilities, as it's also the first time I've used the OQO's keyboard in anger, as I'm typing these notes in realtime. I'm finding the keyboard a little difficult to get used to due to the small size of the keys in relation to my large digits, but as time passes I'm becoming a bit more accurate. The bluetooth connectivity with the SP5m has been rock solid, no drops so far in 35mins, although operating at GPRS speeds with full IE is taking me back to the days of dial-up! Saying that, 4WM is perfectly usable in mobile mode, albeit the text is a little small! Battery life after 35mins is down 11%, another check after 1 hour 30mins of continuous use, shows the battery is down to 73%. After 2hours, the battery is down to 64%, but I did reboot after trying to reconnect to the Internet, and then realised that it was the SP5m that couldn't connect to GPRS, which meant that it needed rebooting, not the OQO. Funnily enough, the OQO also saved the day, I suddenly discovered that I couldn't send or receive any emails on my Blackberry, due to my corporate Exchange account being full. A quick jump on to webmail courtesy of the OQO, a quick clear out and service is restored. Strange that it's not possible to do that from the Blackberry itself, or is it? On the journey home, and after a fresh charge, I decided to do more 4WM surfing, the connectivity was quite resilient here, surviving two tunnels, the web page request then completed as if nothing had happened at all. I'm impressed by this. The OQO is definitely a lot more snappy when driving it's own screen, as I've discovered in my use of it today. So it could just be a case of the of the graphics chip not being up to driving an external monitor, as mentioned in the general in use section. Technology Day Out #2 Well, after my first day out, I'm back on the train, once again using the two hour journey to catch up on 4WM posts and carry on work on the OQO review, on the device itself. This time connectivity is being provided courtesy of the XDA Mini S over Bluetooth, and once again the connection has been rock solid all the way down, well, an hour into the journey and everything is running as sweet as a nut. The pen section was just written using the stylus on a moving train, which is why the recognition abilities impressed me, but, this part is being typed on the OQO's built in keyboard, and I would estimate that using this method, I'm at least 10times faster! I think pen input has it's place when you don't need to input large amounts of data, in my opinion of course. After an hour and a quarter of intensive use, including connectivity to the net via the Bluetooth/Mini S combo, the OQO battery is down 25%, which in my estimation isn't bad at all. One hour and forty inutes in, still under intense use, battery is at 64%. Pondering my thoughts here, it really is handy having a full XP desktop mobile with you, giving full Outlook access and everything at your fingertips! now I know this can be achieved by a PDA, but let me set the scene: I build my review notes using Outlook notes, as connected to an Exchange server, this gives me access to them from any PC. The OQO was connected last night, so everything was synced and up-to-date without me having to think about it. The MiniS is running AKU2, so is kept up-to-date using Activesync Server synchronisation, which means I didn't think about that either but, the major downside is that this doesn't include notes, which means the MiniS is out of step unless I connect it to the PC..... So, the OQO wins this round! C'mon Microsoft, include Notes in Activesync Exchange server synchronisation. The day out of the way, and I'm back on the train for the journey home once more, and not wanting to waste time, I dug-out the OQO, powered it up and re-connected to the internet via Bluetooth & the MiniS. So, after another hefty session, the battery is now down to 50% without a recharge in between this time. Focusing on the usefulness aspect of the OQO once more, I was able to logon to internet banking, set up a transfer and pay for another gadget that I'm adding to my already sizeable collection. Now to me, that is a real world use of technology and not just technology for technlogies sake. Allowing me to make the most of my time, in a productive way of my choosing. On that note, I'm going back to sleep now, the other productive use of train time Pro's and Cons Pros Full XP in your pocket Excellent Transreflective Screen Stylish Form Factor 30GB Hard Disk Good connectivity built-in Excellent Docking Cable Cons Sluggish Processor Runs very hot No keyboard backlight Conclusion No doubt about it, the OQO is one hell of a package. It packs what you can get on a full size desktop in to a package not much bigger than an XDA Exec, and I'm left with no doubt that this is a staggering piece of technology, the connectivity options alone are impressive for a device this size, with USB, Firewire, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi all coming as standard. I'd love to be able to get my hands on some of the other similar devices being produced, such as the Sony UX50, to see how the compare to the OQO 01+ Ultra PC. The only real downside for me was that the OQO was sluggish in operation, the Transmeta Crusoe had issues when used in a desktop arrangement driving an external monitor, I can't say for sure whether this was due to the Transmeta Crusoe processor, or the graphics processor. This may be an unfair comparison with the processors within the current crop of full notebooks. That being said, the OQO was more than up to daily tasks, and perfectly usable. The device fared far better when driving it's own screen, and boy, is that screen a pure joy. Perfectly viewable inside or out, the screen does exactly what is says on the tin. In my opinion, for these devices to hit mass market penetration, the price is going to have to come down considerably, at £1700, the cost is truly phenomenal when compared to a PDA. Within the conclusion, I'd also like to extend further thanks to Rob Wolfenden and eXpansys, the review unit power supply developed a fault, meaning that the OQO couldn't be charged. I contacted eXpansys, and another unit was in the post for next day delivery, now that's what I call customer service. 4WinMobile rating:- 85%