Handtops, UMPC - OQO vs. Flipstart

Hello all,
I have a huge problem. I just cannot decide between these two devices.
I kinda wanna use these for a little gaming if that helps. Along with regular apps.
I would not use the WWAN on any of these so that is not a strong point.

My Points:
OQO: Small, Portable, Good Keyboard, Like design, Active Digitizer
No third party power options, Not as good performance, Not very good gaming performance, No other OS
FS: Semi-Small, Not as portable but still some, Great keyboard, also LOVE design, better performance
512 mb of ram, No touchscreen

Any help on this??
Thanx for future help.

Read edgemaster's other blogs.edgemaster's Recent Blogs

OQO vs. Flipstart (Tags: FlipStart, OQO)

Comments

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edited: Jul 26 2007 + elsewhere

Check out MeanSquare's comments in the middle of this page: link
just below some very nice pictures of UX and OQO keyboards.
The comparison though, is with OQO v1, not v2; so some things may have improved since then.

07/26/07 + edgemaster

And yes Kenrick, I got the hardware click, easy to press thing from the pocketables review.

Recent Blog: OQO vs. Flipstart

edited: Jul 28 2007 + nguyenallan

edgemaster said: "So Flipstart vs. Oqo.... I am leaning towards the flipstart, but I have heard that the keyboard is still a little hard to type on because it takes little pressure, and clicks when you press it. Thoughts?"

Flipstart keyboard is great.... very responsive.....does not require a lot of pressure to type. You can type on this thing all day long without any problem (maybe at a slower typing speed).

Recent Blog: Flipstart....so far so good

07/28/07 + edgemaster

That sounds really good. I am 99% sure that I am going to get that one. It sounds like the perfect device for me. Poor, poor, sexy OQO...

Recent Blog: OQO vs. Flipstart

07/31/07 + edgemaster

I just don't know though, I am now heavily leaning towards the oqo now for a couple of reasons:
1. Can run games ok. Just went and looked again at the videos on via arena dot com and it runs pretty well.
2. Smallest, Most portable.
3. Great Keyboard (compared to ux)
4. ACTIVE DIGITIZER
5. Better User Community. Especially because there is virtually none for FS.
6. 1 GB of RAM. Going with 512 MB of RAM just doesn't feel right.
7. Looks WAAAAY sexier. In fact, I even had my kid sister say "Oh are you buying me a barney computer?" (barney = fictional purple dinosaur.)
8. Broader(?) range of accessories.
9. WAY better docking station.

Recent Blog: OQO vs. Flipstart

08/01/07 + elsewhere

edgemaster said: "I just don't know though, I am now heavily leaning towards the oqo now for a couple of reasons:"

Ok, then- I guess I can be selfish.
I'll sit tight, and hope you end up with a Flipstart after all,
so that in a couple of weeks I can respond to your post titled:

"1 1/2 WEEK OLD FLIPSTART FOR SALE"

as I probably won't comment (much) on the

"1 1/2 WEEK OLD OQO FOR SALE"

thread likely to follow (or preceed) it.

08/01/07 + elsewhere

For what its worth, my major gripes with FS are-

* size (modulo the slim battery)
* ram (512 is probably okay today, but will seem scrawnier and feebler as the FS ages)
* number of units sold / active community

The third I worry about most, actually, as it seems that Vulcan is explicitly marketing it as a niche
device for a very small userbase. Sony blogs and flogs their UX all over everywhere they can.
Ditto for OQO, though they mostly employ rabid fanboy/fangirl hordes.

FS only resells through Dynamism, who are known for.... high QOS, high price, very small volume of business.
Is Vulcan going to release a v. 2.0? Or is this some.... bizarre research project with no actual
intention of generating revenue?

Outside of HANDTOPS.COM I have not heard of a single live person with a FS, who is not a reviewer,
and including this site, I have not discovered a single entity claiming to be a fan.

This troubles me.

By a considerable margin, the FS seems "best of breed" for me, of the current lineup of products
but I'm waiting for ....someone.... to add value from the outside.

ecsk2: thanks again for FCC pictures.

08/02/07 + edgemaster

lol elsewhere, What makes you think I would make one of those? (

) So you are saying that you would be willing to buy the Flipstart or ??

Recent Blog: OQO vs. Flipstart

edited: Aug 06 2007 + elsewhere

Still unsure.

I lost the bidwar on tmmburke's FS, so I guess I'm not getting one
in the immediate future. We'll see...

08/06/07 + elsewhere

Still unsure.

I bid on tmmburke's FS on eBay but lost,
so I guess I'm not getting one in the immediate future.

I'd still like to see evidence that other people are actually using them,
and/or that Vulcan is in this game for real.

We'll see...

09/30/07 + Joshua

I see a few people who have mentioned the UX, and I haven't seen that. So I'll throw my 2 cents in regarding the original question of the FlipStart vs. OQO.

I have used both, the FlipStart extensively, and for your suggested usage the FlipStart offers some real benefits. First of all the performance of the FlipStart is vastly superior - the OQO's Via C7-M CPU has meagre cache and the architecture of that device makes it feel slower than "slower" UMPCs (I compared an original 1GHz Origami machine to a 1.5GHz OQO). The screen on the FlipStart is also much, much better with nice colour, sharpness and no touch screen - remember that the digitizer on the OQO relies on an optional stylus. The lack of touch screen means the sharpness is really beneficial.

The OQO's keyboard is, frankly, horrible. FlipStart's dual shift keys and "straightforward" layout makes typing more intuitive.

FlipStart's 512Mb RAM and small HD are drawbacks, and I find it shocking that the 30GB has been part of the specification since 2004, yet three years+ later, the machine still has the same spec!

I've played Warcraft on the FlipStart. It was tolerable; not "fast" but also not unplayable.

FlipStart is smaller than it looks - but you'll want the slimline battery for putting it in your pocket and that gives you a short battery life.

Overall: OQO is very pretty, very flash, very "shiny". You can get stuff done on it, with effort. FlipStart works. It's intuitive and quite comfortable. Neither device is perfect but at the revised price point, the FlipStart is very attractive.

The Fujitsu is an 800MHz system with a very different chipset I thought; performance is probably going to be similar to a 1.2GHz Ester UMPC. I'd say the FlipStart's saving grace is that 1.1GHz Pentium-M, it might make it a hot little beast (and OQO is hardly frigid, and has vents placed where you might hold it!) but it means it will actually deliver decent performance, about the same as a budget laptop (say, 1.6GHz Celeron-M, sort of thing you'd pick up for $600 or so).

09/30/07 + Joshua

Elsewhere: I'm actually using one. Have been since August. It's very impressive, with the obvious caveats that I'd like more RAM and a larger HD. Specifically, the industrial design is pretty much optimal for the class and use of device (the MR-1 "relative" looks like it improves upon it, but at a price!).

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