The first thing that needs clarification: In practical terms (I won’t go into the technical details), the screen does not actually offer a resolution of 1200×900, but only 800×600 — however, the picture is as sharp as if it was 1200×900.
That was a bit of a disappointment at first, as I had expected to browse the web with a “desktop resolution” (in my naïveté, I expected there to be a toggle switch between hires monochrome and lores color mode).

Much more of an annoyance was the Sugar interface though — it proved to be way too limiting for an experienced computer user like myself (e.g. documents can only be saved through the Journal activity).
I was delighted to learn that I could install a different window manager — so I opted for Xfce, giving the XO a much more familar interface.

That in turn enabled me to install pretty much any application that could also be found on a regular Linux PC — like Firefox for web browsing, as well as MPlayer and VLC for multimedia files.

Unfortunately, my XO is suffering from the sticky keys syndrome; the left ALT key is stuck, which makes the keyboard pretty much unusable. Nobody seems to be quite sure what the cause is — whether it’s a hard- or a software issue — so it remains to be seen whether there’s gonna be a fix for this.
In the meantime, I’ve figured out that there’s a workaround; remapping can be used to disable the ALT key.

All of this has taught me a lot about Linux (sort of… ) — knowledge that might come in handy, considering that I intend to become a full-time Linux user soon (more on that at a later time).

Beyond that, I’m not entirely sure what to use this machine for, as it’s not really suitable for day-to-day productive use. For example, I have yet to use my beloved TiddlyWiki on this machine.

Bottom line: The XO is not quite what I had expected, as it’s hardly a replacement for a “proper” UMPC. But it’s definitely a nice gadget — a geek toy!

PS: A few weeks ago at the airport, the security guard was quite enamored of the device — but she gave it back to me, eventually…

My first impression of the device was very good; it looks fun and sturdy. The display delivers a very crisp image, and the screen can also be rotated.
I haven’t done a lot of testing yet — let alone read the manual (which is only available online) — but it can safely be said that the Sugar interface takes quite some getting used to for regular PC users like myself.
The keyboard keys are small (of course) and feel a bit wonky, as there is no proper pressure point; the contact points have little more than a rubber coating, but I assume that’s intentional to make it more resistant. It might take some time, but I’m confident I’ll get used to typing with this.
Based on this very preliminary review, I think I’ll have a lot of fun with this device – despite some of those negative points.

I wanted the XO primarily as a fun gadget, but its small size will certainly prove useful in many ways — e.g. serving as an ultra-portable device used when carrying a regular laptop might be too cumbersome (e.g. in the car… ). Also, it has been suggested that the XO might “be a great ‘distraction free’ writing machine” — sounds plausible!
How I’m actually gonna end up using it, though, that is yet to be seen (I’ll report any findings here). Either way, I will almost certainly do a lot of TiddlyWiki stuff on it, using it both as a notebook and as testing platform.

From my perspective, the XO hardware has several advantages over its main “competitor”^[1], the Asus Eee. The main criterion here is the larger screen and higher resolution^[2] — not to mention the exclusiveness of this device (which, personally, I don’t much care for though)… A drawback is the lower processing power (e.g. 433 MHz vs. 900 MHz CPU) and smaller storage memory (1024 MB vs. 4/8 GB).
For more information, there’s an interesting in-depth dissection of the XO-1′s hardware on bunnie’s blog.
Ultra-portable laptops seem to have become a fad (again?), with a number of companies jumping on the bandwagon — so we will certainly see more developments in this field.

A few words on the OLPC project in general:
I’m not entirely convinced that a laptop is what children in poor countries (or regions/districts) need the most.
However, a laptop does allow for easier distribution of reading material — think downloading an e-book vs. ordering a truckload of paperbacks. So this might indeed provide a significant boost in spreading education.
However, I’m still skeptical as to whether the money that went into this project could not have been used in a better way. We might be wiser five or ten years from now. At the very least, the kid getting that second laptop funded by my order will have some fun with it, and that should be worth something…

1. Of course the OLPC project is non-profit, and the XO-1 not a regular retail product…
2. In monochrome mode — which should be sufficient for most tasks — the XO’s 7.5” screen has a resolution of 1200×900 (800×600 in “backlit” mode). The Eee’s 7” screen has a tiny resolution of 800×480 pixels (a larger version is in development though).