From: Joel M. Sciamma (joel_at_inventors-emporium.co.uk)
Date: Thu May 06 2004 - 03:42:43 PDT
Chris,
> Has anyone seen the OQO handheld PC (www.oqo.com) being released this US
> fall?
Yes, I see it's finally happening but a checklist of features does not a
handheld make. It's a shame they seemed to have backed off from their more
interesting earlier ideas.
You can look at it either as a small tablet PC or a Super-Zaurus and either
way it will have some interesting applications but the big problem is the
OS.
I had a good play with a Zaurus recently and one can see possibilities in
something that is connectable, has lots of memory, is fast has a great
colour screen but none of those really equate to what I get from the Newt.
Having a very compact, high performance cpu with lots of storage is a handy
resource when connected to a decent keyboard and a bigger screen but away
from those the OS takes over in importance and controlling XP with a stylus
is some distance away from being productive or effective. PocketPC is in the
same place.
As ever, getting your data into the machine is the big issue. Without good
HWR in-place, everywhere, gestural control and a pen-aware GUI, it all gets
a bit too much like hard work. Drawing inky trails over everything is not
actually doing very much unless there is someone else actually interpreting
these squiggles for you into something useful.
I use a graphics tablet to operate my Mac instead of a mouse but in no way
does this make it like a Newton - it also lacks the open data structures and
is generally more pedantic than the Newt for any particular task - XP is the
same.
After all these years I also trust my Newts to keep my data sacred no matter
what happens and have a long enough battery life to do a week of work. I
don't think I can say that of any desktop OS device shoehorned into a small
box.
All the moans about even an MP130 being too bulky to carry around pale in
the face of something like the OQO device. No, what we need is a wafer-thin
Newt that is all screen, about the size of the MP2K's screen - flash memory
and full connectivity. Forget the kid-on keyboard for a foldable Bluetooth
device and support external screens.
Joel.
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