On the Bluetooth side, you can connect wireless input devices like keyboards and mice, Bluetooth printers, and cell phones to use as modems for Internet access. File transfers and IP networking are supported, but Bluetooth headsets are not, for some odd reason. We'd like to see headset support so we can use it as a music player or VoIP phone. Our main complaints about OQO's Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, however, are the older and slower standards used. We'd like to see 802.11g and Bluetooth 2.0 for better performance. Flash-card sized Wi-Fi adapters are only just moving to 802.11g, however, so it's hard to find fault.

Speaking of performance, the 1GHz Transmeta Crusoe chip does a surprisingly good job, although it's simply not built for CPU-intensive tasks like high-end gaming and processing large image or video files. There's a 30GB hard disk, and a non-expandable 512MB of RAM, giving it an overall feel of a 3- to 5-year-old laptop speed-wise. Which is perfectly adequate for the surfing, email and Office applications used by most business travelers, but you won't want to edit your home videos on it.

The OQO is a great way to take a presentation on the road, however, since you can just hook it right up to a big monitor or projector using the included docking cable, a hydra-headed contraption that also has second USB 2.0 and FireWire ports, as well as audio output, an Ethernet connector, and a DC power jack. As we mentioned previously, it would be impossible to fit a CD/DVD player into a paperback-size device, but the USB and FireWire ports make it easy to connect an external optical or hard drive (plus other standard peripherals like printers, scanners, and digital cameras). We hooked up an external CD drive to install software with no problem, but note that the 4-pin FireWire port does not support power over FireWire, so you'll need a power supply for all devices you plan to use. In addition to an external drive, you could also install software over a network. We actually missed an internal PC Card or ExpressCard slot more than an optical drive, through, since one of those would allow use of broadband cellular modem cards, like Kyocera's KPC650.

The docking cable and stand work together to create a very neat desktop integration with a large monitor and full-size keyboard and mouse. In this configuration, the external screen can be up to 1280x1024 in resolution, making it much easier to read than the ultrafine tablet screen. We had to use the special OQO Cleartype setting to make type thicker and blacker on the screen, and thus readable without reading glasses. We still had to squint, however. It's definitely the finest-pitch screen we've used on a regular basis. It's also rather dim compared to a standard laptop. But the screen works well in both indoor and outdoor lighting, with its transflective screen and ambient light sensor that adjusts backlighting automatically.

We wish the keyboard also had backlighting, since it's hard to see in the dark, but that would just further decrease the already measly battery life. The OQO is supposed to get about 2-3 hours out of a charge, but with Wi-Fi on all the time (as at a hotspot), your mileage will be less. We had an extra battery and were constantly charging one while using the other, then swapping. We highly recommend buying the optional double-capacity battery.

We suspect most OQO buyers will either love or hate their purchase. Those for whom a truly mobile Windows XP machine is a necessity will adore it and spend inordinate amounts of time showing it off to airplane seatmates. Those for whom a CPU workhorse or built-in optical player/recorder is key will pass it by. No matter which camp you're in, the OQO is just the beginning of a whole new crop of handtop PCs, and the pickings can only get better.