that does no good for those of us who are professionals & must leave our devices running non-stop for various background applications & even IM, email, VOIP, P2P, etc.

thats why everybody is pushing for the holy grail “full work day” battery life of 8 hours, in which i agree.

I also disagree that the device needs to run all day without inturruption to be mobile. Sure, battery life is not great, but using an OQO with SSD, the startup and sleep times are near instant. This allows me to sleep it anytime, and wake it up pretty much on the spot. I do not use the extended batteries since they are larger, but I do have 3 standard ones, which easily gets through a full work day. The standard batteries are little slivers that fit into my pockets of my sport coat and to be honest, are barely noticable. This allows me to work from the park, my favorite coffee shop, or anywhere. I’d take this office any day versus slogging away in the office. I’d like better batter life, but it’s not too bad. Even with the 2 spares I carry, the total is still small, and lighter than most laptops. Briefcase? What’s that? I just use a sportcoat or vest. Office anywhere, no walls, no wires, no briefcase… gotta love it.

@ Lee and @ Al:

What other PC format that uses a battery gets better? Maybe a PDA, but they don’t run a full OS.

It’s all right to be disappointed, but just waht were you expecting? Battery technology hasn’t advanced as much as other tech has, so while some improvements have been made with battery life, it just isn’t there yet.

We might see some better improvements when UMPCs using the newer low-power chips from Intel start hitting the market.

I have 5 batteries each for my digicam and digicamcorder because I know how much they suck up batter power. Additional and/or extended batteries for UMPCs will also be the answer for a while I suspect.

Woadan

Hmm… According to http://ultramobility.blogspot.com/2007/06/oqo-model-02-review-part-iii-desktop.html Neil Balthaser uses an OQO with a Tekkeon myPower ALL. So, it certainly seems to me like it’s possible to use an OQO with an external battery. (He plugs the myPower ALL cigarette adapter into the OQO Car adapter. But for him, the end result is still lighter than most laptops, 2.2 lbs including a keyboard and extra hard drive.)

I suspect what you’re saying is that the Wibrain does not have a specialized power supply.

At least with the Wibrain you can use an external battery like the PPS. That is not possible with the OQO.

All these years…and still, your battery rules you…not the reverse. A mobile unit that potentially cuts off 1/4 of the way through the work day IS useless. Since my lovely wife spilled a half cup of coffee into the keyboard of my tablet…I am definitely in the market…both the Wibrain and the OQO are off my list.

I disagree. I own an OQO and it is incredibly useful. Battery technology has a long way to go. A 1 lb OQO can only have so large a battery without making it too big and bulky. Actually, OQO sells a 2x battery that gets 4-5 hours of use time and it is not that much larger than the standard. Also, please remember that most notebooks get around 2-3 hours of battery life with standard battery. In the end, you either have a full PC with Windows XP or Vista or a smaller device that is a phone and email machine (smart phone). try using your VPN at work with a treo or blackberry. Not going to work! OQO and wibrain (don’t know the wibrain) are far from perfect, but for mobility and access to a full OS, they can’t be beat!

What a waste – and same with the OQO. Under my definition of a mobile device, even 2 1/2 hours is useless. I don’t want to have to start watching my battery meter as soon as I start using the device. And if I have to carry the charger with me and be constantly worried about finding an outlet or being forced to carry spare batteries around like they are nickels in my pocket, I might as well just consider the device to be a plugged in device and keep it home.

That’s not a mobile device, it’s nothing more then a device that temporarily works when not plugged in.