I purchased my OQO 02 one year ago, and I must say I enjoy the device as much as I did when I first purchased it. This is my third OQO, previously purchasing the OQO 01, selling it within a few months to purchase the OQO 01+, which I sold in six months. They were both great devices, but they just didn't have the ability to provide the desktop replacement I desired.
Many have scoffed at the marketability of the UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC). I believe they are here to stay, especially with the obvious increase in devices from HP, Fujitsu, Samsung and the advent of new chip designs from Intel specifically for such devices.
I consider myself a practical technologist. In other words, if I see a problem or inefficiency in my practice, I search to find practical solutions for those problems. Ok, I admit I'm a gadget geek as well, but I'm also cheap, so I look for solutions I can justify practically. I desired a device to replace my desktop, that was pocketable (so it could replace my laptop), and had a range of connectivity options. A three year quest for such a device has the OQO 02 as the best device to date.
I can mount the OQO 02 to the docking station at my office which contains VGA and HDMI connections to push my 21" widescreen monitors which are displayed in portrait mode. The docking station is very sleek and small, but still has three USB ports in which I run my scanner, printer, wireless keyboard, and mouse. The docking station also includes a DVD RW drive.
The OQO 02 can easily fit in the palm of my hand. I currently run Windows XP Pro on the
device with 1 GB ram, 32 GB SSD drive, 802.11g, and Sprint EVDO. I also utilize the leather executive case, which can convert as a stand for the device. As a side note, I would highly recommend running XP pro on the device. I have tested Vista on the device, but it is somewhat painful.
Obviously, the shortcoming of such a device is the processing power. I have found this not to be a significant issue with XP. The main reason being 99% of my software are web based hosted applications. In other words there are very few programs that I actually run from the device. The genius behind the device for me is the ergonomics. The keyboard actually has a separate numpad, which works much better than any of the laptop numpads that are mapped into the keyboard.
Just to give you a taste of the versatility and usability of the device, I give you a couple of days in the life. As I mentioned before, I use the device as my desktop replacement. A client appointment arrives and I undock the OQO utilizing Wi-Fi to access all of the client's data. Later in the day, I have a meeting at a client's attorney office, which I need to access a client tax return for the last two years via EVDO. When I go home for the day, I take the device with me and after the kids are in bed I update my blog and browse the news. The next day I have a cross country flight to attend a conference in which I have preloaded a couple of movies on the device to watch on the plane. At the conference I connect the OQO to the projector for my class presentation. All in a device that can fit in my pocket and weigh less than a pound.
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