Slightly larger than a PDA and weighing less than a pound, OQO’s Model 01+ is the smallest Windows XP computer. OQO has been working on this device for several years now, but Tom’s Hardware was finally able to get their hands on one. The OQO sports a 1GHz Transmeta Crusoe processor, a 1.8″ Toshiba 30GB 4200rpm hard drive, a 5″ 800×480 resolution screen, USB and Firewire ports, a micro-sized keyboard with a joystick for a pointing device and 512MB of DDR266 which is soldered onto the mainboard so that eliminates upgrades. The keyboard might scare many people away, especially those with larger fingers, but the OQO can be purchased with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and users may control the OQO with a stylus.
However, with those specifications you can’t expect the OQO to be a fast computer and the benchmarks prove it. Tom’s Hardware compared the OQO against similarly spec’d ultra-portable notebooks. The notebooks scored much better in every test.
The thing that interests me is not how well this device performs but how the OQO Model 01+ fairs when compared to Microsoft’s new Origami or other manufacturers’ UMPC (Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer) devices. At last week’s Intel Developer Forum, Microsoft revealed its plans to revolutionize the PDA as we know it. They called it Origami and it is a portable device smaller than an ultra-portable notebook but larger than the OQO. If you haven’t seen Microsoft’s video for Origami,it well help answer a lot of questions.
ArsTechnica described how the Origami will run on a modified version of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition loaded with Windows Touch Pack, making it friendly for stylus-free, finger usage. The specification for Origami also calls for a 800×480 resolution screen but packs a punch with a 7″ display, an Intel Celeron/Pentium M or Via C7 processor (really, anything will be better than the Crusoe in the OQO), upgradable memory and a 30GB or larger hard drive. However, the Origami has one huge advantage, its price tag. You see the OQO cost over $2000 as reviewed by Tom’s Hardware and I can’t imagine that a stripped version would be all that much cheaper. The Origami makes it’s debut with a price range of $600-1000.
I don’t think the OQO will have much of a market now that the Origami is gaining some hype. I could have seen the OQO selling like hotcakes 2 or 3 years ago when we first heard about it, but not anymore. The OQO is plagued by old technology – slow RAM and an ancient processor. Microsoft hit a high point with Origami, now I’m just waiting to see if Apple will ever act on that tablet rumor. Microsoft isn’t the only one with a UMPC, they are just the first to make it popular. Expect to see some great UMPC devices emerge from companies like Samsung and Intel.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
The OQO is nice and I’ve been a fan since the original sketches came out. The OQO finally got a touch screen in Model 01+ which is great. As the current owner of the smallest commercial centrino laptop w/ keyboard every produced (JVC 7310), I can say that I’ve been in this ultra-mini laptop space for years now. The program is the XP user interface was not designed for pen-based input. Honestly the Sony U70 and Motion LS800 slate-Tablet are far better choices for the keyboardless crew. The current cheerleading in the blogosphere for the Origami shows how out of touch most technology writers are with the actual application of technology in the workplace.
The original OQO didn’t sell like hotcakes the past few years and the reason is NOT slow RAM and an ancient processor as you suggest. For word processing, email, browsing and form-entry it is more than adequate. The real problem with the original OQO, yes I was an owner, was not the hardware per se but battery technology is horrible and the Windows UI useless for pen input. No matter how much Microsoft insists on dressing it up with a fancy program launcher, we still have to use applications design for keyboards/mice. Adding an active touchscreen in Model 01+ helped some but it hasn’t changed the fundamental software UI design problems. The other issue plaguing the OQO was the niche market was too small for a system like that. As a doctor, I need my PDA as much as I need my OQO but most of the buying public doesn’t want to pay extra money for the portability while sacrificing features. Ask yourself what makes Origami so much more different than tablet PCs? Size? No. Price? No. Honestly, no one will pay more than $500 for a machine like this in the mass market when a full laptop can be had for the same amount of money with a keyboard. Truthfully, these systems will come in closer to $800-$1000 and the American market will skip over this all again just like they have with ultra-portable laptops. Maybe the blogosphere needs to seriously look at the history of portable computing in the United States before jumping on the Origami bandwagon. Whoever wants portability can spring for a smart phone and have it last all day long on a single charge. I can promise you that Origami will be another colossal failure.
Dear Bill Gates,
Instead of coming out with the Origami (what marketing genius chose that name?), how about just improving the crap you’ve got now. You know? Stuff like Windows? I mean I really wanted to upgrade my Treo600 to the 700, but I just can’t because I just don’t trust Windows. Too many crashes, rebooting and Malware for me to trust your OS on my phone, which I would die without. I really want to believe that things will be different with Origami (damn that name), but with your recent announcement that Vista will not be EFI compatible, I’m starting to think that you have forgotten what it’s like to create and innovate and grow a market. My bad, I got you confused with Steve what’shisname? Thinking back, Microsoft, hence you, have never really innovated technology. You’ve only entered it AFTER seeing someone else innovate and then try to take it over or kill it with brutish tactics.
Your stand-offish attitude towards developing a universal Filesystem that works across various OS is another sign of your arrogance and desire to stifle creativity and innovation. Sure, you got the X Box, but you only came up with that after Sony. Yeah, they came after NES, but they INNOVATED when they did. And they’ll do it again (if the dern thing ever reaches market. Grrrr!). Heck all of your new and improved features for Vista are blatant rips from Apple’s OS X. And it’s a bad rip too, requireing more minimum spec than Apple. I’m sorry Mr. Gates, but I think I’m going to have to pass on Origami. There’s only so much a battered wife can take before they are either killed or run for safety. I think I’ll run. OS X here I come…….
Signed,
From One Geek to Another
Hey Paul,
I wrote a really lllooonnggg post about how I saw Origami (it wasn’t nice). Anyway, the comment didn’t show up and I didn’t have the forsight to Command-C before i clicked the submit button, soooooo, here’s an article that I thought you’d enjoy.
Microsoft: A 21st Centrury Company?
Sorry about that guys, my anti-spam filter is going haywire.
Viperteq: I believe Origami would refer to the alleged versatility of the device (how a single piece of paper can become so many things). And all the same it’s just a project as I understand it, for instance as Longhorn was to visit. Nice rant though, very huffy.
http://utexas.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053403&id=7912683
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shr30
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/sxnw/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathansnook/111588971/
got me this:
http://www.mobilitysite.com/articles/link.php?id=320
Paul, Love the blog.
Thanks for the pics Colin!
I remember reading about this in an APC (Australian PC) magazine once.
It looks awesome.