OQO launched its ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) in September 2007 and has now released an upgrade complete with a built-in HSPDA module for high-speed mobile broadband.

Housed in an extremely small chassis, the Model E2 weighs just 500g and is sturdily built.

The screen shifts up to reveal a Qwerty keyboard and numeric keypad along with a small and rather fiddly mouse control.

There’s a good amount of spacing between each key, although you won’t be able to use all 10 fingers - most people are likely to use just their thumbs. Additional keys are limited to left and right mouse buttons and zoom control. Controls for volume, brightness and a Vista Start button are noticeable by their absence.

The bottom of the chassis is home to a USB2 port, docking connector, audio jack and built-in microphone. There’s also an HDMI port, but this should be seen as a smaller alternative to a VGA or DVI output and not a way of watching high-definition movies on an HDTV since it’s not HDCP compatible. Regardless of HDCP support, HD video is well beyond the graphics capabilities of the Model E2.

OQO has gone for a 1.6GHz Via processor, namely the C7-M ultra-low voltage chip, and supplied it with 1GB of Ram. Via’s VX700 chip handles the graphics and since it has no dedicated Ram it ends up stealing what it needs from the main system memory. OQO has also stuck with a standard 1.8in 80GB model spinning at 4,200rpm rather than a solid-state drive.

On our test system, Vista Ultimate took a total of one minute, 45 seconds to boot. Once up and running, it was perfectly capable of browsing the internet, dealing with Word documents and the like, but loading individual programs was frustratingly slow. Even simple tasks such as opening the Control Panel or a browser window took a good few seconds.

The new HSDPA module lets you browse the internet at high speed whenever an HSDPA signal is present. Should you drop out of an HSDPA area, it will continue at slower GPRS speeds. In our tests, using T-Mobile’s network, we couldn’t get above 400Kbits/sec - well short of the 3.6Mbits/sec synchronisation speed.

HSDPA speeds are limited by various factors including contention, which in central London can slow things to a crawl, but we were hoping for faster. Don’t forget you’ll need to provide your own Sim card to use this service, preferably with an unlimited data tariff.

The 5in screen has a native resolution of 800x480, which doesn’t leave much room for the Vista desktop. The Model E2 can work at 1,000x600 or 1,200x720, but the quality drops as it shifts from its native resolution. The touchscreen requires an OQO Digital Pen (£20), so finger navigation is out, but vertical and horizontal scrolling can be performed by hand using the two strips at the bottom right of the screen.

Battery life was disappointing, with the standard 4,500mAh battery providing just two hours’ usage. A 9,000mAh battery is available for £120. The Model E2 also runs hot, with audible fans attempting to cool things down. It’s not going to burn you, but it will become uncomfortable over extended periods of time.

This new HSDPA Model E2 is compact, well built, features a usable keyboard, and beats Medion’s Rim1000 and Sony’s UX1. But we still prefer Samsung’s Q1 Ultra with its faster Intel processor, larger screen and better battery life. It’s also much cheaper at less than £1,000.