In its story yesterday entitled PC’s That Are a Lot Smaller Than a Breadbox, the New York Times discusses how you work with really small and really powerful walkaround computers like the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet and the OQO-01.

“These microsize versions can do many of the simple tasks of their bigger cousins, but are limited by the size of the screen. The tiny processors, after all, are as powerful as the desktop machines of a few years ago,” the article notes, going on to say, “To use more than a stylus or a thin thumb keyboard, a user must stitch together a fully functioning system out of parts that all speak the current lingua franca, Bluetooth.”

It carefully notes that “while full-size keyboards are the tools most commonly added to a cellphone or a hand-held, there are also mice, headphones, microphones, digital cameras and even satellite navigation receivers.”

“The advantage is that people can carry just the parts they need,” the article advises, having already noted that such computers measure their weight in ounces, not pounds.

The one user quoted in the article makes a salient comment: “I use both this and my cellphone in the same manner. They’re read-only devices.”

I found it odd that the new Sony Vaio UX Micro, subject of another story in the paper this week, wasn’t mentioned even obliquely, since its appearance with its unusable keyboard seems to be the spark for the Times’ interest.

I also note how the story kowtows to PDA and Blackberry interests by not ridiculing the notion of surfing on a screen narrower than 800 pixels wide.

One day a paper of the Times’ alleged electronic sophistication will not lump together PDAs, walkaround surfing tablets like the 770, overloaded handhelds like the OQO and UMPCs, and small notebooks. Perhaps the telling detail is the second photo illustrating the story — of the FrogPad one-handed keyboard. Despite its title, really the story isn’t about PC’s smaller than a breadbox but about keyboards that you might want to use with one, when you’re not using it as a read-only device.

Still I guess I am glad that the Nokia 770 is at least being recognized and not ignored by the Times as it has been in the past.