OQO Model 01+ Review: A Full Windows XP PC in Your Hand

Years before the word "netbook" existed, a small company called OQO tried to fit an entire Windows XP PC into something that could slide into a jacket pocket. The OQO Model 01+, announced in September 2005, was the second generation of that idea, and Mobility Today reviewer David Ciccone tested one over several weeks, publishing his findings as a four-page review at mobilitytoday.com/articles/oqo_model_01_plus. This article rebuilds that review from archived copies of all four original pages, combined with well-documented general history about the device, clearly kept separate from each other below.

What Was the OQO Model 01+?

The OQO Model 01+ was a handheld computer running a full copy of Windows XP rather than a mobile or scaled-down operating system, putting it in a category now commonly called an Ultra-Mobile PC, or UMPC. Unlike a Pocket PC or Palm-powered PDA from the same era, which ran their own dedicated mobile operating systems, the Model 01+ was, in every meaningful sense, a real Windows PC shrunk down to fit in one hand, complete with a slide-out thumb keyboard, a small touchscreen, and standard desktop ports.

How the Model 01+ Improved on the Original Model 01

OQO founder Jory Bell had pursued the idea of an extremely small full Windows PC for years before the first Model 01 shipped, and that original device became a genuine hit within its niche, frequently selling out according to Mobility Today's own account. The Model 01+, announced on September 27, 2005, was pitched as the direct successor, with the review describing it as carrying "some more juicy features" than the original: a faster roughly 1GHz processor, more onboard memory, and a larger hard drive. It's worth being precise about what the recovered pages actually confirm versus general history: the review favorably compares the 01+ to the original on overall capability, without listing the first-generation Model 01's exact specs side by side — so readers wanting that precise comparison should treat it as separate, previously documented history rather than something this specific review re-verifies.

Key Specs: Windows XP, Transmeta, RAM, and Display

The unit Mobility Today tested ran Windows XP on a roughly 1GHz Transmeta processor, a chip family known for prioritizing low power draw over raw speed. The review's own performance testing found real limits here: the reviewer deliberately loaded Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 onto the unit to gauge its ceiling, and while it ran, the review was blunt that nobody should expect to do serious graphic-intensive work on it, calling it better suited to word processing, web browsing, and occasional line-of-business Windows software.

Tablet PC Edition

One of the more pointed complaints in Mobility Today's review, echoed by several reader comments left on the article afterward, was the absence of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition on the unit tested. The review states plainly that it hoped OQO would eventually "answer to everyone's request to put TabletPC OS on the OQO," and multiple commenters separately raised the same frustration. General historical accounts of the Model 01+ do describe a Tablet PC Edition configuration being offered by OQO at points in the product's life — but that's separate from what Mobility Today's specific review unit was running, and this article keeps the two clearly apart rather than implying the tested unit had tablet functionality it didn't.

Pricing at Launch

Mobility Today's review lists the tested configuration's price directly as $1,899.00 MSRP, close to the roughly "$2,000" range often associated with the Model 01+ generally. Reader comments left on the article over the following year point to real-world price movement after launch: one commenter, posting in late October 2006, mentioned paying roughly $2,300 for their unit only a month earlier and then seeing pricing drop toward $1,800 shortly after — the kind of steep early depreciation common to niche high-end hardware once initial demand cooled.

The Mobility Today Review

Mobility Today's original OQO Model 01+ review, written by David Ciccone, was published as a four-page article, with page 1 first appearing on December 25, 2005 and a lightly retitled "UPDATE:" version of the full piece republished on January 14, 2006. All four pages were located and recovered from archived snapshots for this retrospective, so nothing from the original review had to be left out or guessed at. The sections below map directly to the original page structure, matching the page-jump navigation on the archived article: "Pg 1 - The box arrives!", "Pg 2 - Protect that OQO!!!", "Pg 3 - OQO 01+ Design", and "Pg 4 - OQO Model 01+ Performance."

Page 1: The Box Arrives

The review opens with the reviewer recounting a personal history with OQO's founder going back roughly five years, framing the original Model 01's eventual release as the payoff of a long-rumored idea. From there it moves into a specification rundown for the 01+: a roughly 1GHz processor, 30GB hard drive, 512MB RAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, FireWire, audio, a thumb keyboard, and an 800x480 indoor/outdoor-readable LCD, shipping with a removable lithium-polymer battery, docking cable, desktop stand, universal power supply, carrying sleeve, and digital pen. The page closes on the docking cable, addressing complaints the reviewer had seen elsewhere about its bulk and concluding it was smaller and more manageable than expected, with extra functionality built in: 3D-accelerated 1280x1024 VGA video output, an additional USB port, an additional FireWire port, Ethernet, DC power, and audio out.

Page 2: Protect That OQO

Page two covers the accessory ecosystem in detail: a steel-and-rubber desktop stand that the reviewer specifically noted wasn't a true auto-connecting dock, a neoprene carrying sleeve for basic scratch protection, and two optional purchases — a belt case and a hard-anodized aluminum "stronghold" case built to protect the unit while keeping its ports, digital pen, and sliding keyboard usable. The most memorable moment on this page is a real-world charging test: the reviewer connected the OQO to its air/auto power adapter before a roughly 2.25-hour drive to Atlantic City, New Jersey, having deliberately drained the unit fully beforehand, and reported it reached a full charge by the time he arrived.

Page 3: OQO 01+ Design

The design-focused third page walks through the bottom-edge port layout — power connector, docking connectors, a multifunction trackwheel, and a USB port, described as the device's "mission control center" — along with the trackwheel's scrolling and volume behavior, the sprocket-and-track sliding keyboard mechanism, and a small joystick the reviewer felt fell short by lacking click functionality. It also covers the unit's footprint, with the reviewer describing comfortably carrying it in a suit jacket, winter coat, or glove compartment, and recounting grabbing the unit out of its stand to finish part of a client proposal during a taxi ride to catch a train.

Page 4: Performance, Battery, and Heat

The final page — the one whose archived URL, /articles/oqo_model_01_plus/4.html, was the seed for locating this entire review — covers real-world performance, battery life, and the reviewer's closing pros, cons, and rating. Battery testing included a roughly 2-hour-5-minute continuous video playback session using a Slingbox stream, and an overnight standby test in which the unit still had around 1 hour 45 minutes of battery remaining after nearly 24 hours idle, a result the review calls "truly impressive." For typical email and web browsing, the review states users could expect 2.5 to 3 hours of use, and notes OQO's own stated battery lifespan of approximately 400 full charge cycles.

On heat, the review is direct: "This unit produces almost an unbearable amount of heat making it extremely uncomfortable for long use." The same page flags the missing keyboard backlight as a real annoyance, describing the workaround of digging through Windows' on-screen keyboard accessibility settings while riding a train through a tunnel.

The Original Verdict: Pros, Cons, and Rating

Mobility Today's review closed with a clearly structured verdict. The stated cons were excessive heat, no handwriting/Tablet PC tools, a stand the reviewer felt should have been a true docking station, and a trackwheel he wished had been placed on the opposite side of the unit. The stated pros were portability, OQO's technical support, and overall design. The review's final numeric rating was 4.1 out of 5 — a genuinely positive score that still left room for the frustrations documented throughout the piece — and its closing lines call the assignment one of the most enjoyable reviews the author had written, recommending the device as a secondary, travel-focused computer rather than a primary machine.

The OQO Model 01+ in UMPC History

It's easy to look at a five-inch Windows XP handheld from 2005 through the lens of everything that came afterward — netbooks, then tablets, then modern folding and handheld PCs — and miss how unusual the Model 01+ was for its moment. Netbooks as a mainstream category didn't really arrive until roughly 2007 and 2008, meaning the Model 01+ predates that wave by a couple of years while still running full desktop Windows rather than a cut-down mobile interface. Devices like it were commonly grouped under the Ultra-Mobile PC label, a category defined less by any single company's product line than by the shared engineering problem every maker in it was chasing: a genuinely pocketable device that didn't ask you to give up real Windows software to get there.

Finding an OQO Model 01+ Today

For collectors of early UMPC hardware, a surviving Model 01+ is a genuinely interesting artifact — a physical example of how far manufacturers were willing to go to cram a desktop OS into a handheld shell years before that became common in a very different form. Anyone considering a used unit today should expect the concerns typical of any twenty-year-old battery-powered device: degraded battery capacity given OQO's own roughly 400-cycle stated lifespan, a sliding keyboard mechanism worth testing for looseness or wear, and the real likelihood that period-correct software and drivers may be difficult to source. This isn't investment guidance — simply practical context for anyone weighing a purchase of vintage OQO hardware.

FAQ

What was the OQO Model 01+?

A handheld computer running full Windows XP rather than a mobile operating system, with a slide-out thumb keyboard, a small touchscreen, and standard desktop-class ports — a category later commonly called an Ultra-Mobile PC.

How did the Model 01+ differ from the original Model 01?

Mobility Today's review describes it as carrying "more juicy features" than the original, including a faster roughly 1GHz processor, more memory, and more storage, though the review doesn't list the first-generation Model 01's exact specs for a direct side-by-side comparison.

What operating system did it run?

Windows XP. The specific unit Mobility Today tested did not run Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, a point the review and several reader comments raised as a disappointment.

What processor did it use?

A Transmeta processor clocked at roughly 1GHz, described in the review as adequate for web browsing and office-style work but limiting for heavier, graphic-intensive software.

How much RAM and storage did the reviewed unit have?

512MB of RAM and a 30GB hard drive, per Mobility Today's listed launch specification.

What size was the screen?

Roughly 5 inches, at 800x480 resolution, described in the review as readable both indoors and outdoors.

What was the launch price?

Mobility Today's review lists the tested configuration at $1,899.00 MSRP. Reader comments posted later noted street pricing shifting toward roughly $1,800 within about a year of launch.

How was the battery life?

The review reported around 2 hours 5 minutes of continuous video playback in one test, 2.5 to 3 hours for typical email and web browsing, and about 1 hour 45 minutes remaining after nearly 24 hours in standby — results the reviewer called "truly impressive."

Did it have heat problems?

Yes. The review lists heat as a standalone con, describing the unit as producing "almost an unbearable amount of heat" during extended use.

What was the keyboard like?

A slide-out thumb keyboard built on a sprocket-and-track mechanism, which the reviewer found stayed securely tight after use, though he criticized the lack of a keyboard backlight.

What was the final rating?

Mobility Today's reviewer gave the OQO Model 01+ 4.1 out of 5.

Reading all four pages of Mobility Today's original OQO Model 01+ review together tells a fuller story than any single page could: a genuinely ambitious, genuinely flawed handheld Windows PC, built years before the market had settled on what "ultra-mobile" should even mean, reviewed by someone who clearly wanted the category to succeed even while cataloguing exactly where this particular device fell short.