We've always wondered exactly what people were supposed to use UMPCs for, and now we have at least one answer: as GPS units. Yep, that's right: OQO and Garmin have released an official kit to turn your $2,000 OQO 02 into a $400 Garmin GPS unit. For $237. No, we have no idea who would buy this, but if you're feeling like throwing some bills around, you'll find a Garmin Mobile PC unit, car mount, and power adapter in the box, as well as a small note from us with an address you can send your additional silly money to for proper disposal.

PS. - Yes, we know you can also buy the Garmin adapter for $99 and the mount for $59, but it's the ridiculous bundle pricing that's got us all hot and bothered.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

We knew the OQO model 02 was hanging around at CES playing on Sprint's (demo) XOHM network, but we were finally able to hunt the unit down and snag a pic of the interface. Now, if only we could pick one of these up sometime soon...

Ugh, not more pictures of Palm's Centro, you gasp. Yes... and much more. This time, it's the Centro nuzzled up for some quickie shots with Sprint's Treo 755p and new Vogue (that's, HTC Touch to the rest of the world) and what must be Sprint's take on the new OQO Model 02. A veritable who's who of soon to be launched Sprint handsets. Better yet, our tipster -- contrary to previous reports -- "noticed little to no difference in typing on the QWERTY with the Centro to the Treo" while noting that the Centro was "much nicer to hold." He also says that the Vogue was running a 400MHz Qualcomm processor (not the standard OMAP 850) with 256MB ROM / 120MB RAM which suffered "no slowdown" even while running 15-20 applications. Check out all the sneaky pictures in the gallery below. Oh, as to the device to the right of the Vogue and below the OQO: that's a mystery, any ideas?

Update: That other handset turns out to be the LG Rumor, which looks to be positioned for the Facebook and MySpace messaging crowd. More on this later.

[Thanks, Catharsis and Stephen]

We know you want to take home the cake, er, OQO Model 02 -- and you've got your assignment. This weekend is the last you'll have left to construct and to submit your cake in our annual baking contest, though. In case you've forgotten, here are the prizes up for grabs:

• OQO Model 02
• Samsung Blackjack
• A copy of Gears of War and an Xbox 360 Wireless Headset
• v-moda vibe la mocha headphones
• Mystery swag bag #2

So what do you have to do to win? Well, first up we'd recommend you check out last year's cake contest. So that's right, bake us a gadget-shaped or Engadget-themed cake, send us a picture (or pictures) of the cake and the baking process and we'll pick five winners (as judged by the editors of Engadget). Last year's winners were pretty freaking awesome, so don't disappoint us!

A few rules:

1. No photoshops. Seriously, we shouldn't have to explain this one. Take lots of pictures -- be able to prove it's your cake, and that it's real! Note that you don't actually have to mail us a cake.
2. Contests are open to anyone in the U.S. Unless you work for Engadget or Weblogs, Inc.
3. Enter by dropping your pictures of your cake in comments, or email your pictures in to contest (at) engadget (dot) com, subject "Birthday cake" (no quotes).
4. Yes, even professional bakers are allowed to enter, so let's see some creativity! Best cake (as judged by Engadget) wins!
5. You've got until 11:59PM EST Tuesday the 13th to enter your cake.
6. You can enter this contest more than once and you may enter our other Birthday contests, but you can't win more than once. If you happen to win more than once (which is pretty unlikely, but still) we'll ask you to choose just one of your prizes.

Thanks and good luck!

It was tough to find something better than a Wii or a GeForce 8800 GTX to cap off three days of birthday day giveaways, but we scored a pretty sweet prize for ya: an OQO Model 02! But that's just the grand prize, here's the complete list of stuff you can win today:

• OQO Model 02
• Samsung Blackjack
• A copy of Gears of War and an Xbox 360 Wireless Headset
• v-moda vibe la mocha headphones
• Mystery swag bag #2

So what do you have to do to win? Well, the results of last year's cake contest we're so, uh, delicious, that we decided to do it again this year. That's right, bake us a gadget-shaped or Engadget-themed cake, send us a picture (or pictures) and we'll pick five winners (as judged by the editors of Engadget). Last year's winners were pretty freaking awesome, so don't disappoint us!


A few rules:

1. No photoshops. Seriously, we shouldn't have to explain this one. Take lots of pictures -- be able to prove it's your cake, and that it's real! Note that you don't actually have to mail us a cake.
2. Contests are open to anyone in the U.S. Unless you work for Engadget or Weblogs, Inc.
3. Enter by dropping your pictures of your cake in comments, or email your pictures in to contest (at) engadget (dot) com, subject "Birthday cake" (no quotes).
4. Yes, even professional bakers are allowed to enter, so let's see some creativity! Best cake (as judged by Engadget) wins!
5. You've got until 11:59PM EST Tuesday the 13th to enter your cake.
6. You can enter this contest more than once and you may enter our other Birthday contests, but you can't win more than once. If you happen to win more than once (which is pretty unlikely, but still) we'll ask you to choose just one of your prizes.

Thanks and good luck!

P.S. - Today's our official birthday, thanks for three amazing years!

Good news to UMPC-lovin' Verizon users in the house, OQO's Model 02 is heading your way. We already knew it was sporting Sprint EV-DO when we saw the cute little slider at CES, and it's not like there's much of a swap involved, but we're sure plenty of VZW users will be pleased to learn that they don't need to jump ship to get wireless data on this thing. However, as nice as the addition of Verizon might be, along with that announcement last week of a Vista edition of 02, what we really want OQO to start working on is shipping these things out the door -- 6-8 weeks seems like such an eternity.

[Thanks, Alan S]

It's been pretty much exactly two years since we first hassled Jory about this, but OQO officially announced its latest handheld PC, the Model 02. This time they've improved pretty much everything, from the sleek, new black casing and backlit keyboard (with actual keys!), to the brighter LCD screen and integrated EV-DO. Specs have gotten a much needed bump across the board, with the most expensive model they're offering sporting a 1.5GHz VIA processor, 60GB hard drive, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 5-inch, 800x480 pixel display (with active digitizer for pen-based input), Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, integrated EV-DO (courtesy of Sprint), and even an HDMI-out port. The Model 02 also has a few other slick features, like the ability to zoom to 1000x600 and 1200x720 interpolated modes, a sensor that automatically protects the hard drive in case of a drop, and an optional docking station with a DVD+-RW drive, HDMI and VGA video out, three USB 2.0 ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. There are a couple of disappointment -- namely that battery life is a paltry three hours unless you pick up an extended life battery, it's only Vista-capable, not shipping with Vista (at least not initially), and there's no longer a slot for the stylus -- but overall this is the upgrade we've been waiting for. Click on for some more pics, as well as a shot of the OQO in the docking station.