OQO e2 - What is it for?

I pretty much started off this Blog by writing about the OQO Model 01+ which I owned quite recently. Its a fantastic piece of engineering and design which is fatally flawed by a number of defects. Since then OQO have lent me their newer model on three separate occasions to ask for my thoughts so, at the risk of going over old ground, I thought I should put down my latest thoughts about their product.

During the time since I owned the 01+ and now my thoughts/ feelings about UMPCs have changed a little and I'm left with the question "What are they for?".

Recently I've gone for a high feature mobile phone and a big UMPC, what some would call UPPC (Ulta-Portable PC). Those being a Nokia E90 Communicator and a Fujitsu Siemens P1610-HSDPA respectively.

This is the best combination of devices that I've had the pleasure of owning and using to date. Firstly the Fuji is just superb for portability but also usability...I can work on it at a desk with an external mouse all day and not feel cramped. Sometimes I do that and occasionally I venture outside and use it on Brighton beach. Why not? The screen is daylight readable, it has built in 3g and it'll even flip around and be a touch screen tablet which I've found surprisingly useful.

The Nokia is also superb. Most importantly, and notably different from my previous phone - the HTC Hermes, is the fantastic battery life. Often at the end of the day I put it on charge and its still reporting full battery...I'm a heavy user and I have the WiFi connected for the E90 to act as a VoIP phone, Bluetooth on, I use the GPS with Nokia Sportstracker when I go out walking, etc, etc. Its also a very very solid phone with great software and its got a surprise attribute that I like...My girlfriend will happily pick it up and make a call from it. She knows how to use it straight off...because its a Nokia...a standard-ish Nokia interface with hardware buttons, unlike my previous phones. Its also a decent RSS feed reader, speakerphone, web browser, radio, etc, etc.

Now the OQO model 02/ E2 is supposed to fit somewhere between these two devices, in my other pocket perhaps. The question is what does it do that my Fuji can't do? The Fuji is always in my backpack. What can it do that my E90 can't do?

The answer is this: it can do anything your desktop can do, reliably, every time. What I mean by that is that, whilst its not my choice for Blogging or anything involving proper sit down "work time" what the OQO does is give you a platform to log into web interfaces, connect to servers, use Office files, etc. from your pocket.

The Fuji doesn't fit in your pocket, not by a long shot, and if you try to do certain things with a Nokia Communicator you'll be left frustrated. Casing point: I provide hosting and hosted Exchange mailboxes for several companies and I have a web control panel to my providers.

When I get a call to reset a password, create a new mailbox, set up a new website, etc. I can log in to the web interface and make the change instantly. I have tried doing that from the Communicator several times and wasted ages trying to get logged in. Its a heavy page with a gotcha and it just won't load properly on the E90. I've ended up phoning someone and talking them through how to make the change for me!

There are numerous examples of sites that, for whatever reason, don't work on the S60browser and there are plenty that don't work on the Nokia 770's browser either. For the foreseeable future this will most likely be the case for all mobile browsers...web sites just aren't tested on every mobile platform.

Its the same with PC based software if you need to use that for your job, or perhaps so that you can offer technical support wherever you are (as a micro company owner I sometimes need to do this). Non-Windows portable devices just can't compete here.

But give me an OQO in my spare pocket, with HSDPA, and wherever I am I can fire up Internet Explorer, log into my control panel and do what I need to do. For a short, sharp, fix I'm not sure the OQO can be beaten. Its very small and its optimised for the task. The screen is as big as it possibly can be on the chassis, the keyboard is probably as good as it can be, its got HSDPA, etc. I'd rather have a touch screen and the pen should certainly stow somewhere on the device and be much more accurate, but those are relatively minor things.

The only problem with the OQO really is the price. I certainly can't justify having my E90 in my left trouser pocket, my Fuji 1610 in my back pack AND £1600s worth of emergency OQO in my right pocket...

But if you need most of the functionality of a laptop in your pocket for short bursts of work, or perhaps browsing on your commute and you can justify the cost I highly recommend the OQO e2 HSDPA 1.6Ghz 1GB 32GB SSD. OQO sell through Expansys in the uk www.expansys.co.uk