The model 02 weighs just 1 pound and measures 5.6 inches by 3.3 inches by 1 inch -- small enough to fit inside a suit jacket pocket. It's built in three slices, much like a sandwich. The top slice is a 5-inch display, the middle and thickest part is the keyboard and computer, and the bottom slice is the battery.
The screen slides back exposing the keyboard. The battery snaps off and can be exchanged for a double capacity version that increases the thickness to 1.25 inches. Although the screen is always exposed, it comes with a pre-applied screen protector. An optional hard leather case ($59) adds protection without adding much bulk.
The unit is held with two hands, using your thumbs to type, much like a BlackBerry. But the keys are further apart and there's a separate numeric keypad, making typing even easier. There's a pointer stick on the right side of the keyboard, and two touch-sensitive areas near the lower right corner of the screen for scrolling vertically and horizontally.
Two zooming keys are on the lower left of the keyboard and two mouse buttons are on the upper left, one above the other instead of side-by-side, which took getting used to. The keyboard works well and has good tactile feedback. The backlit keys are easy to see in all lighting conditions.
The 5-inch 800-by-480 resolution screen is extremely sharp and very bright, usable in nearly all lighting conditions, and I had no difficulty reading the small text. I needed to either scroll horizontally or zoom out to see the full width of some Web pages. And when using some applications, I occasionally needed to scroll down to get to a selection button at the bottom of the window, a minor inconvenience.
The 02 comes with a choice of Windows Vista or XP Professional. The unit I tested had XP with a 1.5MHz VIA processor, a 60GB hard drive, 1GB memory and WiFi. A built-in 3G wireless option (choice of Sprint or Verizon) is available, but was not on my unit. The list price is $1,849.
Other models with a slower processor and less memory start at $1,499. The model 02 comes with a compact charger and an adapter that provides an Ethernet plug and a video port to use an external monitor or connect to a projector.
The OQO performed much like a notebook with a similar speed processor and memory: Startup speeds were 35 seconds from off and 7 seconds from standby. I installed Microsoft Office 2007 and used Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Explorer. I also ran my SlingBox on it, using the 02 as a small TV player. All worked well, just as expected. The built-in WiFi had lower sensitivity than my full-size notebooks, but worked throughout my home. The standard battery lasted a little more than 2 hours and the extended battery ($199) lasted 4 hours 15 minutes
