4. Go Anywhere, Do Anything – At A Cost

Built-in 3G is more power efficient than using an external adapter - as well as being easier to juggle on the move. OQO claims you’ll get three hours on a charge from the standard battery without any radios on and about half an hour less of battery life with Wi-Fi or HSDPA activated. According to the vendor’s specs, the 9000mAh extended battery double the battery life. We measured two hours 27 minutes usage with HSDPA on, which was almost exactly the same battery life we observed when using the device to play music from the hard drive with wireless off using the standard battery.

The extended battery certainly adds extra weight and our tests put it closer to five hours in general use than six, but with care it will get you through a full day (and a fully charged standard battery is light enough to have in your bag too).

The OQO e2: supreme portability comes at a price.

Like previous OQO models, the e2 is sleek and supremely portable; it easily fits in any bag or in a larger pocket. It’s far and away the best tiny tablet PC we have seen to date, and is equally useful if you never touch a pen. The system is powerful enough for the kinds of applications you’d want to use on a screen this size, although it might struggle if you use it as a desktop system with the docking station. The keyboard is a compromise, but works for mobile use. HSDPA is the fastest connection that’s currently available with cellular networks and the management software is much better than the tools available with external adapters and many other 3G-enabled notebooks.

All this mobility comes at a cost; not just the compromises made to fit so much into such a small package but the overall price, too. The cheapest model is the equivalent of $2,200, though Asian vendors are selling it for around $1,900. Unlike the student- and hacker-friendly Asus Eee PC with its basic price and specs, this is a high-end, high-powered, high-priced system aimed at the business user. If you can afford it and you need the portability, you’ll love it.