Handtops, UMPC - Handtops - The Meaning of Pocketable and Portability -

I carry my OQO handtop/uPC/UMPC/microPC/tweener/palmtop in my pocket in the slim, form-fitting neoprene case that came with it. Whenever I need the OQO, it's with me and it is not sitting on my desk, in my car, at home, in my brief case, or in my bag. It goes right into my front pant pocket (jeans, khakis, cargo pants, and even in dress slacks). I can sit down just fine with it, although I will usually pull it out when I sit down and place it on a table where I'm at.

Unlike my other subnotebooks and uPCs before the OQO--Toshiba Libretto, Sony Picturebooks, Fujitsu Lifebook P-series and B-series, and my beloved Sony U50--it is everywhere I go because it's in my pocket with my keys, wallet, and cellphone and the OQO provides me the full Windows XP computing experience that I enjoy and demand in any notebook that I use.

I have Palm PDAs, PocketPCs, a Treo smartphone, unsmartphones (mostly Nokias or Sony-Ericssons), convertible Tablets, desktop replacement notebooks, regular 10"-12" notebooks, subnotebooks (Picturebook and Libretto), Rex PIMs, iPods, and GameBoys, and the biggest issue I had was that I couldn't take them every where with me.

I tried carrying the Picturebook and Libretto with me in a fanny pack or in a Franklin Planner case, but I always left it behind.

I switched from a iPAQ 3955 to the iPAQ 2215 because of the pocketable size.

When I used my Nokia 6820i cellphone I wore it in my front pant pocket with my wallet and my keys sat in my other front pant pocket. Now I put my OQO (which is inside of it's slim neoprene OQO case) in the pocket with my keys and carry my wallet and Treo 650 in the other pocket. Yes, my pockets are heavy and sometimes I wear the Treo on my belt using a clip.

Bottom line here, is that I can discretely carry the OQO with me to the Mall shopping, waiting at the doctor's office or for my wife to be done running her errands and I can sit in the car and surf, read, edit a file, watch TV streams, etc., carry it to meetings and take notes inconspicuously, etc.

I cannot do this with any other Windows device.

I can do it with my smartphone, but I don't have Windows and have to deal with compromises on a hamstrung OS such as Linux, Windows Mobile, and PalmOS.

When it comes to instant on, I usually put it in Standby mode so that within 3 seconds after I push the power button, it snaps back to life and is ready for action.

Part of the luxury of pocketability and portability is the compromise of data input and screen manipulation. In the notebook world, many of us know this as a keyboard and either a mouse, a trackstick, or a touchpad. On a Tablet, this is an on-screen keyboard or hand writing recognition (HWR).

Bottom line, most of the world is use to a keyboard, next they are use to dealing with a thumboard (e.g. the thumboard used on a BlackBerry, Treo, and SideKick), and very last is HWR. Technophobes such as Congressmen, lawyers, sales people, CEOs/executives, and government field workers have converged on the BlackBerry because it delivers email and they can type on it effectively using the built-in thumboard. The special needs community has embraced the SideKick. Corporate America has embraced the Treo for it's interoperability with Exchange through Goodlink, it's input ability, and overall platform versatility.

For a Handtop to be pocketable and portable, you need a self-contained device that you can bring by itself in a very slim scratch-resistant (not drop resistant) case that has a universally accepted input device like a thumboard or a keyboard.

In the past and present, many subnotebooks have failed because their full-sized keyboard are too small and too cramped to type on. This has been the biggest complaint to all of the subnotebooks in the past starting with the Toshiba Libretto, to the Sony Picturebook, to the Fujitsu P-series and B-series, to the Sony U1/3/101/TR, to the current Toshiba Libretto, etc. Conversely, slate Tablets and the first generation UMPCs have been slammed because there is no integrated keyboard available and no one knows how to use HWR. One must learn to cope with HWR, while a thumboard automatically allows us to mash away at the keys.

The compromise is the thumboard. People understand it, they are used to it, and their expectation is different than a normal keyboard when it comes to typing, but it's there and mentally they will get over the fact that they can type fairly quickly using the thumboard while on the go. If they need a full-sized keyboard, they are prepared mentally that they need to bring one with them (a folding USB or Bluetooth keyboard preferably).

My final thought on this entry is screen manipulation. Devices that are pocketable such as cell phones, BlackBerries, Treos, and some of the Handtop vendors use passive touchscreens that are easy to manipulate one-handed, with a finger and fingernail, and without requiring a special pen.

I believe that having an active digitizer, aka you need to use a special pen, on a screen that is 5" or less is insanity. I have yet to hear a valid need for an active digitizer on a Handtop. Jaggies? Erroneous screen touches? Come on, it's a 5" screen. The Sony U and UX prove that a passive touchscreen that can be manipulated by a fingernail works at 800x600 and 1024x600 resolutions and does not affect either issue that passive screen detractors have claimed. Bottom line, every portable device uses passive touchscreens.

Anyways, this is just my [not so] humble opinion.
I've wanted this portability and everywhere I go Internet access since the mid-90's and it's almost here.

Read this article, it sums up all of the negative press around the UMPC and sums up the same issues identified with subnotebooks and Handtops such as the Sony U and OQO: link