We can’t help but think that if OQO had seen this much interest a few months back, they may not have gone bankrupt. An OQO Model 2+ UMPC – the company’s most recent model, complete with OLED touchscreen, Intel Atom 1.86GHz processor and integrated Qualcomm Gobi 3G WWAN – is currently listed on eBay, with bidding already at $5,100.
OQO have confirmed that they have closed down, with no remaining stock to be liquidated and no provision to repair or service any of their UMPC range. In a statement on OQOTalk, the shortfall is blamed on “financial constraints”; according to Bob Rosin, SVP of sales and marketing at the company, a deal is being explored with another PC vendor, over the OQO technology and engineering team.
It’s been a week of mobile device reviews, along with the Bluetooth accessories that go with them, here at SlashGear, with Samsung’s Tocco Ultra S8300 and Instinct S30 showing up for playtime. We also gave our opinion on the big news in Bluetooth headsets, in the shape of the Plantronics Voyager Pro and the Aliph Jawbone PRIME. Finally, HTC’s Touch Diamond2 flaunted itself in a video unboxing, while the Mophie Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 3G got its review.
OQO have apparently canceled all pre-orders for their Model 2+ UMPC, leading to the assumption by many that the company is facing receivership. The OQO Model 2+ was recently pulled from online retailer Expansys; we’re yet to hear anything concrete regarding the situation from OQO themselves.
The world’s smallest full-featured PC is a title held by the OQO. It’s a small UMPC that’s been around for a few years, and OQO was due to release a follow up, the OQO Model 02+ early this year. However, due to financial troubles and other problems for the company, it looks like the OQO Model 02+ is not going to be released any time soon.
Details are still emerging about OQO’s Model 2+ UMPC, and one of its most interesting aspects: the OLED touchscreen. Aside from brighter colors and improved contrast, OLED is said to offer much-reduced power consumption over LCD; that bodes well for a mobile device like the Model 2+. In the field, though, things aren’t looking quite so positive, with Steve Paine reporting 10.5w drain with the backlight on high – that works out to potentially under 2hrs use from the standard 17wh battery.
There are now two of OQO’s Model 2+ UMPCs out in the wild, and the second – which has the SSD option – paused long enough to get unboxed by MID Moves’ Steve Paine. The solid-state drive seems to make a big difference, with its maximum 53MB read and 35MB write rates keeping Vista moving along smoothly, despite the Intel Atom processor.
Unboxing video of the OQO Model 2+ after the cut
OQO’s new Model 2+ was only officially announced back at CES, but the OLED touchscreen UMPC is already going places. Pocketables’ Jenn is taking it on an Intel-sponsored MID tour, and since one of the biggest changes in this generation of hardware is the switch to the Atom Z540 1.86GHz processor, she’s run some benchmarks of her test device.
We kicked off the week with our yearly visit to Macworld, finding a slightly subdued show floor but plenty of excitement about Apple’s final keynote address at the conference. Anticipation was high, with several new products expected to launch; instead, however, the only hardware news was a 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro. No Mac mini update, no iPhone nano, no new iMac, and certainly no new iTouch tablet. Phil Schiller attempted to channel some Jobsian enthusiasm over iLife ‘09 and iWork ‘09, which are certainly adept pieces of software, and the price changes for iTunes could shake up the download world a little, but it wasn’t the “going out with a bang” for Macworld that many expected.
After that, it was CES 2009, and the SlashGear team decamped to Las Vegas to cover the best-known consumer electronics show on the calendar. The impact of the recession has certainly made its mark on CES, with what looked to be a lower attendee turnout and several booth cancellations. Headline gadgets were also fewer and further between, though there were still a few notable announcements.
OQO’s UMPCs have always been tempting devices thanks to their compact size and impressive build-quality, but the company can now add performance to their list of abilities. The OQO Model 2+ marks a shift for the company to Intel’s Atom range of mobile processors, in this case the 1.86GHz Z540, paired with 2GB of RAM and either a 120GB HDD or 60GB SSD. Most impressive, perhaps, is the new OLED touchscreen – in fact the Model 2+ is the first such mobile computing device to have one – which, with the Atom chipset’s hardware video decoding, produces some incredible picture quality.
Chrome OS: Waiting Is The Hardest Part…Though Necessary
Apple is no longer the Nordstrom of Tech, they’re the “New Nordstrom”
Can Anything Replace Windows XP As the Best Netbook Operating System?
Hey, Premium Notebooks or Netbooks, Get the Basics Right!
SlashGear Japan
