The World's Smallest Windows PC in 2007! OQO Model 02

Greetings and welcome to an L G R thing .

And this thing is the O Q O Model 02 starting at $1500 for the base model and upwards of $2300 fully equipped .

The Model 02 was quite the exciting product when it launched in 2007 .

This is from a specific point in the late two thousands where laptops P DS , smartphones and netbooks were all on the market simultaneously each fulfilling their own mobile computing needs .

But the model 02 was part of a new breed of device , the ultra mobile personal computer or U M PC .

The hype began with O Q OS Model 01 all the way back in 2004 , sporting an impressive sliding display , revealing a physical keyboard and mouse underneath the UN PC term hadn't even been coined then .

But this was an early glimpse at what that would entail a 12 punch of technical capability in small size .

The model 02 arrived three years later with a similar form factor but an even more impressive array of internal hardware resulting in its claim to fame of being the world's smallest PC to run the latest feature complete version of Windows .

And it was introduced to the public by none other than Microsoft co founder , Bill Gates .

During his keynote address for the 2007 consumer electronics show , these are actually some full blown windows PC devices that can even run the latest Windows Windows business .

You see this is when you take your hand and it's just a touch screen device or this is more traditional in terms of the input .

Well , he kind of introduced it anyway , Mr Gates didn't refer to the model 02 by name and calling it a touch screen was a tad misleading while the 02 did indeed feature capacitive controls for scrolling the screen vertically and horizontally touching the screen won't do anything beyond accumulate fingerprints much like the model 01 before it .

The 02 featured an 800 by 480 resolution magnetic field sensitive five inch L CD screen requiring an additional $100 stylus pen accessory to interact with the panel directly .

Otherwise the model 02 is simply an X 86 compatible PC in a tiny form factor capable of running standard Windows software .

And that was the driving force behind San Francis based O Q O Incorporated building computers with the capabilities of a laptop , but with the form factor closer to a P D A shame , they didn't last very long as you may deduce by the obscurity of the company today despite the planned model 02 plus , making it pretty far into development .

O Q O never attained the level of profitability needed to stay in business and they shut down in April of 2009 .

Curiously .

A model 03 popped up in 2010 from Chinese manufacturer , audio tone , but it turned out this was an unauthorized copycat device and O Q O had nothing to do with it .

So yeah , while things like the bootleg oh three , the prototype 02 plus and the H S D P A model E two all existed in some form or another .

What we're looking at today is the original model 02 .

And this is courtesy of an L G R viewer named Joey .

It's only on loan to me for this video , but I'm more than grateful for the opportunity because the things are exceedingly elusive , especially in fully working order .

Well , mostly working order .

It handheld computers from the mid 2000 s are a real toss up in regards to a usable life span .

And this model 02 is over the hill .

In that respect for one thing , the sliding screen no longer holds like it used to with the metal guide rails barely keeping it horizontally steady anymore .

And the latching mechanism that once clicked the screen into place has long ago lost its strength .

A screen protector was at least installed from the factory .

So the plastic on the L CD is still nice and fresh .

No word on whether removing it will cause half the screen to die or not .

But you know , so far so good .

Then there's the battery situation or lack thereof .

With the original 4500 milli amp hour lithium ion polymer battery starting to bulge no longer holding a charge or properly fastening to the back of the device .

And lastly , the little 1.8 inch 4200 R PM hard drive inside sounds like it's on the brink of death while there was a 32 or 64 gigabyte S S D option available from O Q O .

It seems most opted for a hard disk instead make sense for 2007 though being that they were lower cost while offering nearly twice the storage at 60 to 120 gigs , the exhaust fans are also impressively loud , but that seems to have been an issue since launch according to the reviews from back then .

Yeah , it's not even doing anything that intense .

It's just copying files from a thumb drive .

You sure wouldn't expect the 02 to sound so much like a hair dryer .

This thing is loud the same unfortunately cannot be said for the audio with its internal speaker barely cranking out enough sound to cover up the whirlwind of fan noise direct .

Oh , well , it still runs for the time being .

So let's see what it can do .

Starting with the keyboard , which is a nifty 58 key thing reminiscent of the Blackberries and sidekick phones of that era .

The keys are rather close together and understandably tiny .

So it takes some getting used to further complicated by all the stuff that's moved around to use with the function key .

On the other hand , it has an actual numb pad so I can forgive the rest for most applications and it's even backlit when the ambient light sensor detects dark a handy feature for those late night computing sessions on the go .

Then there's the track stick as they called it , which is the mouse somewhat similar to the track point mouse on I B M think pads and that it doesn't spin around and stays in place to be nudged along the X axis .

The two largest keys over on the other side are the left and right and mouse buttons a pretty natural place for your left thumb anyway , so that makes sense along the bottom of the unit are a couple of nice surprises including a full sized USB 2.0 port , the charging port slash docking connector and air cooling vent , a full sized hdmi output port and a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack .

Not to mention Bluetooth 2.0 .

So you can even connect wirelessly to a modern smart device and transfer data that way in addition to the physical connections .

So yeah , expansion options are legit on the 02 with USB accepting hubs so you can plug in all sorts of things and HDMI allowing you to plug in displays at solutions of up to 1900 by 1200 .

This of course defeats half the purpose of having such a small system to begin with .

But it's still a way more compact option than expanding a laptop and way more capable than expanding A P D A .

There was also this neat looking docking station that O Q O sold alongside the 02 that really makes it look like something from the future , a mid two thousands future .

But still it looks awesome .

I don't know what it is but I dig the aesthetic of oddly suspended components like this .

Anyway , that's about it for stuff .

The right side doesn't have anything , the top doesn't have anything .

The left side just has the power button security slot and the battery release .

Oh , I almost forgot there is this little antenna that folds out giving you better reception both for the integrated 82 11 G wifi and also for the optional E V D O mobile broadband service .

Yep , this could also connect to a cellular provider like Verizon or Sprint making it not only a U PC but also an M ID or mobile internet device .

Yeah , that was a class of computer for a moment in time .

At least the late two thousands mobile boom was nuts .

And in case you're curious yes , the aerial does actually improve reception .

I got about twice the bandwidth with it out , although it didn't come close to reaching my 200 megabit connection speed either way .

In fact , nothing on the model 02 runs as quickly or smoothly as you'd hope .

And for several good reasons , the first is that it was never that speedy to begin with .

It relies on a via C seven M ultra low voltage C P U at between 1.2 and 1.5 gigahertz .

And in the days before the Intel atom , this was a fine choice for a tiny PC in 2007 , but it's still much slower than even laptop processors of the time by some performance benchmarks .

It's about on par with a 600 megahertz Intel Cellar on then consider its single gigabyte of ram while also running Windows Vista .

Not to mention the poor hard drive on its last legs .

And it's a little wonder why it chugs yet , even if it had an S S D and another gig of Ram Vista clearly isn't the best choice for the 02 S C seven M chip set .

It can't even run the aero glass interface due to the integrated V X 700 graphics .

So it's no surprise .

The 02 originally didn't come with Vista at all .

You might have noticed this sticker underneath for Windows X P tablet PC edition .

And yeah , that's what the early units understandably had preinstalled , too bad .

This one now runs vista then because the potential here is excellent , some late nineties to mid two thousands gaming .

I mean , it's a handheld computer that handles Quake three and unreal without breaking much of a sweat .

That's still pretty impressive in my mind .

Not that the mouse nub and cramped keyboard are suitable for much of anything in terms of first person shooters .

But uh what you gonna do and the five inch L CD is a respectable dimension for mobile gaming even today with the overall size shape and design kind of reminding me of the P S P go from 2009 .

The 02 really is a lovely transect panel that's nice and bright though not bright enough to consistently overcome the glare from the glossy plastic with or without the screen protector .

And it gets worse with the biggest setback in terms of the display being how it handles resolutions beyond its native 800 by 4 80 .

It's fine with lower resolutions , but anything higher results in a zoomed in image controlled by the mouse cursor , meaning that games like Sim City four fall apart with its minimum resolution of 800 by 600 reliance on edge scrolling .

And of course , the C P U and graphics chips at combo aren't enough even for games from 2005 with titles like fear refusing to start up at all and no , it does not run crisis though , I certainly tried to force it anyway .

Out of sheer curiosity , most games beyond 2005 refused to start at all due to the graphics chip with the newest one I got running being flat out two from 2006 .

And well , that was not pretty .

Yeah , this means that beyond productivity applications , the 02 is best suited to older PC games and various emulators in terms of performance capability .

For example , P CS X runs playstation one I S OS at a respectable speed depending on the game .

In question , it's nothing to write home about .

But compared to Windows P D A s at the time , this was crazy impressive stuff .

And DOS box runs pretty well too when configured properly .

So games like Commander Ken and Doom are right at your fingertips though .

Again , that keyboard is the largest constraint , especially when playing older games that use control alt and shift those keys are actually toggle keys on the 02 , meaning that you press them once and it keeps the button held down so you can then press something else .

I guess that's one way to get an auto fire button .

No turbo game pad required .

But yeah , no , the model 02 was unsurprisingly not built for gaming in any respect .

The keys are just too tiny and the mouse is just too nubby result in anything beyond a few minutes of novel fascination followed by finicky frustration before you give up and go back to web browsing .

Not that the internet performs much better .

At least on the modern web .

The websites and browsers have only gotten more complicated and memory intensive and the 02 is once again , not equipped to handle most of them .

Even performing searches takes oodles of patients to endure .

And multimedia sites like youtube are sheer torture even on lower video settings .

L G R entertainment mu So despite the limitations though I can't help but think about how the 02 was so close to being my ideal mobile device .

Back in 2007 , I was all about things like P D A s and smartphones and netbooks back then having owned an IPA pocket PC , a blackberry pearl and an H P mini 1000 netbook .

When combined , they met all my mobile wants and needs .

But I always dreamed of having a more capable handheld device .

Had I been able to afford an O Q O model two and actually seen one sold in stores .

I totally would have been tempted enough to grab one back then .

Instead I completely missed out on the UN PC train of the late two thousands only remaining passively curious about later devices like the GP D win and similar windows palm tops .

But really once I got my first touch screen smartphone in 2011 , well , I've never fully looked back except for when I cover things like the model 02 that is .

And I hope you've enjoyed looking back with me at this fascinating footnote in portable computing history .

Once again , I hope you had fun checking out this piece of obscure tech .

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And as always , thank you very much for watching L G R .