At a tabletpc user group get together here in Portland long ago, we got a chance to see an LS800. Good feel, nice screen (9/10 -- my ST5022 being a 10/10 <g>) and enough power to get the job done. Battery life could've been better though (get two).

IMHO, it would be a great choice for a note taker.

get a stowaway keyboard.

Gordon

My dream machine is a cheap ultra battery efficent LS800, SSD disk and Atom/Nano.

The OQO isn't a Shift sized unit. It's smaller, almost exactly the area of a Moleskine pocket notebook (but about twice as thick). When I tried one out, I didn't have any problems inking on a screen that size. (Coincidentally or not, the Newton, about the size of a VHS cassette, has about the same size screen, so I'm used to it.) I've read complaints that the screen is too small though. Then again, I've read complaints about every aspect of the OQO.

In any case, it certainly wouldn't be inconvenient to take it to meetings.

Matt, I use LS800 with SSD and 1G RAM and extended battery. I pair it with a Stowaway keyboard, but I miss being able to type on my lap, which you can't do with a slate and bluetooth keyboard. It is a perfect size to replace your filofax. In fact I gutted a filofax leather cover and stuck LS800 with a velcro to turn it into a digital filofax. I run PlanPlus 4.0 on it and use pen to do everything. Sounds like a dream? Yes, except, LS800 keeps having resume problems from suspend mode. Pathetic isn't it? Windows is both the best and the worst of the modern computing world.

I have an OQO 02, which is fantastic as my second machine. It acts as an expensive powered, intelligent hard drive. It has bigger capacity and I carry all my files in it. When even LS800 is too big, I quickly copy PlanPlus file over to OQO and off I go. Yes, you CAN do useful work with it, but you could dig a ditch with a spoon if you had to. The screen size is too small for intensive inking and the digitizer is no good with EverNote ink. Right now my OQO is dead and being sent for repair, but it is an amazing machine.

I have decided real work is done using a convertible with bigger than XGA screen and good keyboard. I still use M200 for heavy work but it now rarely travels. I would get a 1kg notebook with a full size keyboard, which will be kept in the bag, and carry the LS800 in your hand, if inking is important to you.

If you are not much of an inker (which I doubt you are), I would consider an OQO, Win Mobile phone and Celio Redfly, or alternatively an OQO with a 1 kg notebook. With an intelligent syncing system in place, you just walk out with the OQO and never be caught with out your data.

I feel a bit stupid saying all this to a guru but I have been at tablet game since 2003 and still searching for the right combination.

Cheers,

Kwon

A really perfect very mobile and useful device would be something like an OQO (perfect width and height) but not so thick with a very bright LED backlit high resolution display, longer battery life (more than 7 hours), a useable one handed keyboard (something like a FrogPad, so you can hold the OQO in your one hand hand type fast with the other hand), a touch stick and the latest capacitve touch + active from Wacom, and everything below 1500$, that would be perfect.

I have an OQO 02. When I gave up on my Motion m1300 the OQO and the LS800 were the two machines I considered.

The reason I went with the OQO is portability. It fits into my pants/jacket/coat pocket or I can hang it on my belt. The advantage of being able to take it with me even if I don't think I'll need it outweighed, for me, the small screen size.

I find no problem in inking on the OQO and, unlike a previous poster, don't have a problem with Evernote. On the other hand, the limited screen real estate does impact work with page based documents.

If you already take the Shift everywhere you would take the LS800 then the size of the LS800 might be better for you (although it is significantly taller - more the size of a p1610/20). However, don't discount having a computer available at times and in places that you didn't plan for.