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Entered CNET Catalog: 04/17/2007
SKU: 1030206
Manufacturer: OQO Inc.
Manufacturer description
Ergonomically designed for usability on the go, the model 02 features an integrated backlit thumb keyboard, track stick, and capacitive TouchScrollers. Available with integrated mobile broadband capabilities, the model 02 enables extended connectivity with the Sprint Power Vision Network or Verizon Wireless BroadbandAccess Network. Enjoy mobile Internet access that doesn't require a wireless hotspot for connectivity on your model 02 with the embedded mobile broadband option. Encased in a magnesium alloy chassis, the model 02 is a standalone handheld computer with shock mounted hard drive and drop detect technology. At the office, the model 02 functions as a desktop PC.Product summary
The good: Sleek black design; HDMI output; raised, backlit keys make it the most comfortable UMPC for typing; number pad; screen-side scroll bars.
The bad: Weak performance and battery life; BlackBerry-style keyboard not great for productivity.
The bottom line: The OQO model 02 is a well-designed, attractive UMPC. If not for its slow CPU and short battery life, it would be a clear category leader.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 04/23/2007
The ultramobile PC, or UMPC, has certainly attracted plenty of attention over its short lifespan. Despite good looks and sleek industrial designs, however, these pocket-sized PCs have left us disappointed, thanks to clunky interfaces, high prices, and poor battery life. The $1,849 OQO model 02 (configurations start $1,499) is a solid step forward, but it's still less than practical in most real-world situations. It shares a general design aesthetic with the Sony VAIO UX390--although the underpowered VIA processor in the OQO means the VAIO offers better performance, to say nothing of battery life. In the end, each UMPC we've seen, including the OCO model 02, suffers from one or more fatal flaws. With a better CPU and a longer-lasting battery, the OQO model 02 would be much easier to recommend (we had a similar sentiment about the original OQO from 2004).
Like the original OQO and the Sony VAIO UX390, the OQO model 02 features a slide-out keyboard and looks vaguely similar to a T-Mobile Sidekick. The OQO is slightly smaller than the UX390, measuring 5.6 inches wide, 3.3 inches high (when closed), and 1 inch thick. Slide the 5-inch wide-screen display up, exposing the keyboard, and the system is 4.8 inches high. The OQO model 02 weighs only 1 pound (1.8 pounds with the AC adapter), which is lighter than the smallest ultraportable laptop and a few ounces lighter than the VAIO UMPC. It's also smaller and lighter than another high-profile UMPC we reviewed recently, the Vulcan FlipStart E-1001S, which has a bulky blue clamshell look and weighs 1.7 pounds.
Aesthetically, the OQO model 02 is the most attractive UMPC we've seen, and a vast improvement over the drab original OQO. When shut, it's all black, and sliding up the screen reveals a full, backlit QWERTY keyboard, made up of miniaturized keys. For two-thumb BlackBerry-style typing, the keyboard is easier to use than the VAIO UX390's, thanks to the OQO's slightly raised keys, but it's still not good for heavy typing. We also liked the separate number pad on the right side.
Besides the keyboard, there is a pencil-eraser-style nub on the right side of the tray, used for moving the mouse pointer, and there are left and right mouse buttons to the left of the keyboard. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's pretty easy to get pinpoint control of the cursor. Unlike the VAIO, the OQO doesn't have a touch-sensitive screen, although two touch-controlled scroll bars (like those found on a laptop touchpad) sit to the right and below the screen. So far, our favorite method for controlling a UMPC comes courtesy of the Vulcan FlipStart, which has a tiny 1.5-inch touchpad.
The 5-inch screen (slightly larger than the VAIO's) features a 800x480 native resolution, which is disappointing, considering the 1,024x600 resolutions found on other UMPCs. A built-in zoom mode can easily change the onscreen resolution to 1,200x720, which looked surprisingly good for an interpolated resolution. The zoom setting ended up being our preferred mode for Web surfing, even though it made some onscreen text hard to read.
You'll find a slim selection of connections on the OQO model 02, plus an unexpected bonus. In addition to the usual suspects--single USB 2.0 port, and headphone and mic jacks--the OQO surprisingly includes an HDMI port for connecting to an external display. We would have liked to see a mini-FireWire jack or perhaps a media card reader, but the included ports are par for the course among the current generation of UMPCs, with the exception of the HDMI connection. Networking options include 802.11a/b/g wireless and Bluetooth. A built-in Sprint or Verizon mobile broadband antenna is a $149 option (you'll also need a monthly service plan from your mobile phone provider). A docking station is available, offering HDMI and VGA outputs, three USB 2.0 jacks, Ethernet and audio connections, and an integrated optical drive. It runs $299 with a CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive, or $399 with a DVD burner.
OQO offers three versions of the OQO model 02. Our $1,849 review unit was the high-end choice, with a 1.5GHz VIA C7M processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 60GB hard drive (a standard 4,200rpm 1.8-inch drive, unlike the solid state drive in the Sony VAIO UX390), and Windows Vista Ultimate. A $1,699 version is available with Windows XP Pro and only 512MB of RAM, and a $1,499 model drops the CPU to 1.2GHz, the hard drive to 30GB, and also has only 512MB of RAM--which is acceptable for Windows XP.
Compared with the other second-generation UMPCs we've looked at, the OQO model 02's VIA processor put it firmly at the back of the pack in CNET Labs' Multitasking, iPod encoding, and Photoshop CS2 tests. It trailed the Vulcan FlipStart with its 1.1GHz Intel Pentium M and the VAIO UX390 with its 1.33GHz Intel Core Solo by a wide margin. Despite the low benchmark scores, we were able to surf the Web with ease, although playing back video files could be a choppy experience. Clicking through the Windows Vista menus and options was another source of lag. The blame for this can be attributed to the VIA processor--found rarely in PCs (such as the $599 Everex StepNote VA4101M, as well as the high system demands of Windows Vista.
Battery life has always been one of the big weak spots of UMPCs. For a device that shares a lot in common with PDA-style cell phones, getting only a couple of hours of use makes it of questionable value for those who expect a handheld device to easily last through an eight-hour work day. This was another area where the competition outclasses the OQO. While the solid state hard drive in the Sony VAIO UX3900 and the frankly huge battery pack on the FlipStart helped those systems achieve a reasonably acceptable battery life of around 3.5 hours, the OQO model 02 ran for just 1 hour and 24 minutes on the same DVD battery-drain test, using an external DVD drive powered by the USB port. Bear in mind that this is a particularly grueling test, and under real-world conditions, you're likely to get more than two hours of use. A double-capacity battery is also available as a $199 option.
OQO backs the system with an industry-standard one-year parts and labor warranty. There's a toll-free number for tech support available Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., PST. The company's Web site provides an easy way to search the knowledge base, driver downloads, and documentation.
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Find out more about how we test laptops.
Sony VAIO UX390 Windows Vista Business Edition; 1.33GHz Intel Core Solo U1500; 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 224MB Mobile Intel 945GM Express; 32GB NAND Flash Memory
Asus R2H Windows XP Tablet PC Edition SP2; 900MHz Intel Celeron Ultra Low Voltage M353; 768MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 945GM Express; 60GB Toshiba 4,200rpm
OQO model 02 Windows Vista Ultimate Edition; 1.5GHz VIA C7M Ultra Low Voltage; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; 64MB VIA/SG3 UniChrome Pro II IGP; 60GB Hitachi 4,200rpm
Vulcan Flip Start E-1001S Windows XP Professional; 1.1GHz Intel Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage; 512MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 64MB Mobile Intel 915GM/GMS/910GML Express; 30GB Toshiba 4,500rpm
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 User Rating: 
9/10
Had it for 6 months; love it
Pros: Really good design, lots of nice touches. Not 'sluggish' actually
Cons: Expensive, especially with the new HPs coming out now
I also have a 60 gig hard drive which is good too. The pointer device works really nicely and I like all the little touches that make it shine - the slide-out keyboard that auto-illuminates when it becomes dark, the (optional) tablet functionality, the slide-bars, and the fact that it screams when you drop it! The glowing blue lights on the function keys are cool too...
It is small enough that you can almost treat it like a PDA. You can carry it in a (large) pocket. You can keep it on standby and in about 2 seconds it is ready for you to continue where you left off.
The screen is really bright; you can actually save quite a lot of battery power by turning the brightness down a bit. Even when you do this it is still a very bright screen.
On the minus side, the new 'mini notebooks' do seem pretty good value at around $500 - but they are still larger than this and not really comparable.
I always used a PDA, even going back to the 'Windows CE' days. But having this is much better. I use Excel, Firefox, Webaroo, Python, tk, Word, Thunderbird, Google desktop, Galactic Civilizations, etc - anything that I use on my other laptops I can use on this. But I can also use it as I used to use my old PDAs - for todo lists, calendars, contacts, making quick notes, etc.
There's nothing else out there that compares to this. I spent a long time choosing and I've had 9 months of good use so far. I'm really pleased with it. 9/10
User Rating: 
1/10
OQO Horrible Return/Exchange Policy!
Pros: nice looking paperweight
Cons: Customer Service /Returns /Repairs
As an IT Director in military I almost bought a couple hundred of these devices for some of my users and I am so glad now that I never did. I would never recommend this product with these policies in place to my worst enemy. I hope in time they will choose to overhaul their policy to something a little more reasonable to the customers.
OK, I sent my OQO and had it back fixed in 3 days. That was months ago and it has not locked up once since then! I absolutely LOVE the OQO and would recommend it to anyone.... Just don't get it directly from OQO... use Tiger Direct or someone that provides a better warrenty!
User Rating: 
8/10
I love my OQO!
Pros: tiny but very usable
Cons: could have better battery life
User Rating: 
5/10
Nice product but needs better processor and longer battery life
Pros: Lovely screen, great design and very useable keyboard
Cons: VIA processor is just too underpowered, battery life isn't great
On the plus side it does have a great keyboard and using the mouse buttons with the control stick is easy. It also has a fantastic screen and screen text is very readable.
If OQO released another machine with a decent processor and improved batterly life I would have no hesitation in giving it 10/10.
User Rating: 
10/10
Must-have tool for IT
Pros: Can get on and fix a server from anywhere
Cons: My unit has EV-DO Rev 0 :-(
User Rating: 10/10
Awesome product
Pros: Convenient size, laptop alternative
Cons: Can't think of one
User Rating: 
4/10
Nice concept poor execution
Pros: windows OS in a pocket device
Cons: no touch type keyboard, noisey, runs hot
User Rating: 5/10
I was expecting more innovative changes to the keyboard
Pros: it runs desktop operting system
Cons: lack of a touch type keyboard, low batter life
User Rating: 10/10
Is that a PC in my pocket or am I just glad to see you?
Pros: It fits in your pocket. It's a real PC. And it accepts ink input.
Cons: You can never be too light or have too long a battery life.
Plus, with EVDO, I'm always connected. The money I save on the coffee I drink at the Starbucks hot spot should pay for this in a few weeks.
You do need to buy an optional pen to use the active digitizer screen. Do it. Handwriting recognition is the be all and end all of input.
I wish battery technology was better so it would run longer and weigh less but Moore's law only seems to work with silicon, not lithium. 2GB of RAM would also be nice but the memory manufacturers don't make a micro-DIMM more than 1GB.
So there are some tradeoffs but I'd buy it again.
User Rating: 
3/10
Very Poor Customer Service
Pros: Small size
Cons: CPU is sluggish, Poor Customer Service
User Rating: 9/10
Online Student's Dream
Pros: Well designed appeal
Cons: Basic accessories sold separately
Today when I needed to stay at work late, so I whipped out the OQO, tapped into my online class, downloaded the pdf reading assignment and read my homework. Thus I had no reason to leave the office fast to get home. Instead when I got home, I watched some TV instead because I'd completed my homework thanks to the OQO 2.
I have only owned mine since Saturday, but I would have liked for it to come with the digital pen and a case...any cheap rag case. It's a computer for goodness sake!
User Rating: 3/10
Poor customer service
Pros: Very small and light
Cons: Gets very hot while using it, freezes occasionally, hangs and crashes, poor customer service, stingy 14-day return policy
User Rating: 9/10
This Machine is fun
Pros: bright Lcd, mobility,
Cons: battery life, speaker volume low.
User Rating: 10/10
AMAZING DEVICE
Pros: great for any type of business person, full office suite
Cons: low battery life
User Rating: 
2/10
Poor Support & Defective Products
Pros: Cool Idea to Shed Our Laptops
Cons: Defective Products and Very Poor Customer Service and Support
? My new OQO Model 02 unit was defective out of the box. I contacted OQO but OQO offered only to allow me to send it in for repair, not to replace it with a working new unit (which was what I paid for). Adam Gould, the top manager of support, felt this was an adequate response ? clearly no understanding of customer service, even the customer support agent was surprised by OQO?s stance. It took many phone calls, e-mails, and complaints to get OQO to finally agree to do an exchange with a new and functioning unit.
? Rather than sending me a new unit as an exchange ? which is what OQO had agreed to do, OQO sent me a refurbished/repaired unit ? clearly it had been someone else?s unit as there was still someone else?s information still on the device! How could this be!?!?!?!?
? After a couple of hours of working with the refurbished unit, I have now realized that it too has some kind of hardware defect, this time related to the fan ? which doesn?t seem to be operating at all on the second unit.
? I purchased a docking station, which while ?cool? looking, but it immediately ?ate? the first disc I inserted and cannot be coaxed into releasing it ? it whirrs and grinds, but that?s it. Defective Docking Station so I can?t install software.
? I ordered an executive case to keep it scratch free, that was over a month ago and nothing received. The store people tell me they just can?t figure it out, they say that everyone else?s orders for the same case are being fulfilled almost immediately, but for some reason mine is not. Further, as the ?store? isn?t really OQO, it?s outsourced, they can?t do anything about it and really have no idea what to do ? nor will they divulge the names or contact information for anyone at OQO that might be able to help. I guess it doesn?t matter ? who needs a case if the unit doesn?t work.
Finally, the product itself. All frustration with the repeated quality problems and inability of the company to support its products aside, the ?idea? of the product is far better than OQO?s execution. I am a business executive, I travel regularly - who wouldn?t want a small portable computer that is connected anywhere you go? As a practical matter, the device isn?t really sufficient as a laptop replacement while travelling ? which was my hope. For e-mail and basic web browsing, it is only marginally improved from more phone-like appliances ? however when the highly limited battery life, slow operation, and heft vis-à-vis other options is taken into account ? this device offers a poor set of trade-offs.
Any company making hardware will have problems with their product ? it?s a given. The real test of a company, and ultimately the experience the consumer has, is in how the company responds to a customer when there is a problem. In the case of OQO, there have been both TOO MANY problems AND a repeatedly demonstrated inability to provide minimally acceptable customer service. I would highly recommend looking elsewhere for your portable computing and connectivity needs ? this isn?t it.
User Rating: 
7/10
Amazing and lacking at the same time...
Pros: Small, great screen, great connectivity
Cons: No memory slots, active pen, slow, backordered acc.
The OQO-2 is a great size, just a little bit bigger than my IPAQ 4700 and slightly smaller and lighter than the Vaio UX, but with a bigger and brighter screen. The keyboard is easy to use and the raised keys are better than the Vaio's flat keys. Bluetooth and 802.11g work great. I have the Sprint EVDO card built-in and it works great too (I had my Sprint subscription with a USB card and it was easy to do an ESN swap to the OQO-2). The machine feels sturdy and solid. The screen is bright and very sharp, and the Zoom In or Out and Screen Orientation functions are great.
My gripes are generally minor. The biggest squawk is NO MEMORY CARD SLOTS, which means I must bring a USB memory card reader to transfer files and photos. With the extended battery I get 3 hours of use, even though the power meter says 4+ hours. The OQO-2 uses an active pen but there is no slot for it. Finally, eliminate any apps that use memory resources (Norton AV for one) because performance will drop.
My non-machine gripe is with backordered accessories. I ordered a car/airline adapter, extra pens, and dock/optical drive when I ordered the OQO-2 3 months ago and they hasn't arrived yet; no ETA either when I inquired. I ordered accessories through both Dynamism and OQO.com and both are backordered.
The small screen may take some getting used to but the OQO-2 is perfect for me.
User Rating: 9/10
My ultimate dream machine...
Pros: TINY, decent performance, excellent design, replaces my larger subnote!
Cons: Battery life, extreme shipping delays from OQO and poor communication from the company
For why I think that this is the best thing that has happened to personal...TRULY personal computing since the HP200LX.
User Rating: 9/10
Great for mobile user
Pros: pocketable, plenty fast for business apps, great usability
Cons: loud fan, battery life
So far, I've used the OQO 02 for note-taking in meetings, the Internet, games, office apps, presentations, Skype, and watching DVD's. As long as the CPU is on full performance the video quality is smooth. I've also used the machine to compile some Java and C# programs, and while it's slower than my desktop, it is still usable.
The screen is really bright and the keyboard is actually fun to type on. WiFi has the same range as my notebooks.
Although the battery life is not that great, from a technical standpoint it may not be fair to compare the default OQO battery with the default Flipstart battery. The default Flipstart battery is the "high capacity" battery and it is an option to buy the "slim" battery. In contrast, the default OQO battery is the "slim" battery and the option is for a thicker, double-capacity battery. So if one has comparable batteries I suspect the battery life on each will be similar. Also, the OQO 02 uses very little power on standby. I've left it on standby overnight and the power drain was only 15%. Since it comes out of standby in seconds, the machine could be usable all day if you only need it in spurts instead of continuous use.
In comparison to the Flipstart, the OQO 02 is also available with more RAM (1 GB vs. 512 MB) and with a bigger hard drive (60 GB vs. 30 GB).
My only real gripe is the fan noise. The fan gets very loud when the CPU is working hard. This lessens the quality of the built in microphone and has also gotten me a few strange looks in meetings as everyone heard the fan rev up to speed. But aside from this complaint the machine is a real pleaser.
User Rating: 10/10
Real life user loves the 02
Pros: Size, connectivity, power
Cons: Battery life (until I get the double capacity battery)
It's solidly built, ultra connectable (I have the Sprint EVDO version) and is a replacement for my full size laptop AND my blackberry when I travel.
