Handtops, UMPC - My trusty friend

I have been dazzled, bewitched and also somewhat bewildered this last little while by the goings on in the Handtop arena.

It all started when I had to go without my OQO Model 01+ for several weeks, a long story for some other time. Carting a laptop around in a shoulder bag was a sure fire way to have me combing the various sites in search of relief.

The news of the Flipstart's impending arrival filled me with glee untold, until the specs and photo's, that is! Oh (unprintable). The OQO Model 02 had me in ecstasy, until the delivery times sunk in. The revulsion I felt for the HTC Advantage was equalled only by the lust for the HTC Shift. (Six or more months away, where am I going to get my fix?) The Yasin US702W turned out to be a concept, oh cruel world, and the Samsung SPH9000 is still not available. I found myself drooling over the Sony UX for the umpteenth time, all the while knowing that my eyes were no longer good enough. It has been hell.

Some of the most dazzling and enchanting designs for Handtops and hand tops are out there at present, just beyond reach. It was an itch I could not scratch.

The reality is that the market is in for a right old time of it in the next few months or so. Designs like the Flipstart have promise but it still remains to be seen whether or not they will deliver, UMPC's seem to be getting their act together after a bad start, and companies like HTC and Intel are bringing a somewhat fresh breath of air. Its so exciting, its so new and vibrant and.... unobtainable!

Once reality sets in, and I consult my pocket book, things do not look so great. All these choices almost available, tantalisingly just out of reach.

I finally got my OQO back, a real friend, a trusted companion. The world was not such a maddening, topsy turvy place after all.

The break has done me some good. Having to use a laptop on the go has reminded me of just why I bought the OQO Model 01+ in the first place. It is not too slow to use, it is not too hot to hold, and the battery life can be dealt with. It is a unit I can have with me when I need it, and can use as required.

Like a pair of dark protective glasses and a lucky charm rolled all in one, the OQO Model 01+ has brought a little sanity back into my world, cut out the dazzle and banished the bewitched.

In time, the new models will appear, and I might once more be beckoned by their siren call, my senses befuddled by the allure of their sleek new appearance and promise of performance as yet unknown, but until then, my trusty companion is all that I need.

For all its comparative lack of speed, and many other faults, the OQO Model 1+ is still a compelling device. It looks good, it is usable, it runs a Windows desktop OS, it can perform almost any task its newer brethren can promise to complete, and it is here, now, in my top pocket, ready to work.

As a backup system, an always carry machine at a price, it is still, even in light of the promise of things to come, a very competitive and useful Handtop. I am no longer bewildered.