What in the World is a Touchbook?!
Once upon a time, there was the notebook. Then it merged with tablets to create the tablet hybrids. Then there were netbooks, which are basically small notebooks. And now, a whole new category of mobile computer is coming out for real and it's appropriately called the touchbook.
A touchbook is a notebook sans the keyboard. A touchbook has the same clamshell form factor, but instead of a keyboard on the lower panel, it has another screen which can be the same size as the main screen. The main screen can be as traditional as in any other notebooks. The lower screen, however, can be used for additional control and navigation features in addition to providing the virtual keyboard.
The concept is not entirely new. An article in 2008 describes some of the the design goals of what we can now call the touchbook. The same article cited ASUS as one of those who showed off a prototype during the Computex 2008 event. In the same year, OLPC also had plans of a dual screen device.
Microsoft had an R&D project called the Courier. It was announced some time in April 2010 that they are ending the project, although a patent filed by Microsoft in June of the same year seem to conflict with the earlier announcement.
What's exciting is that Acer is releasing a real touchbook in early 2011. The product is called Iconia. It's a touchbook done right so far although there's definitely more room for growth and improvements.
The hardware design possibilities for touchbooks pave new roads to explore. What if to make it hybrid, where the main screen can be folded down transforming into a tablet/slate? What if the screens are detachable so that the main screen can be used as a tablet/slate? What if the detachable screens are both usable as separate tablets/slates?
On the software side, two screens mean more estate for content and interaction. It's like taking the Nintendo DS design to the PC level. What if the lower screen is programmable? So much so that it can have a presentation mode, a multimedia mode and a gamer control mode. Imagine an application customized digital DJ mixer interface, for example. A lot of applications may be designed to take advantage of the dual-screen design. For example, the touchbook form factor seems natural for digital book readers (or e-readers).
Haptics
would of course be an important feature to put in place. It would be a drastic adjustment for the people of today to switch to the virtual keyboard that does not provide any form of "feedback" to the user's actions. Haptics would help make the adjustment "friendlier" and more comfortable to "grow" in to -- like it's second nature.
The laptop of the future is here! And it's called a touchbook. I agree with the different possible modes for a touchbook as described by Mike Elgan in his 2008 articles: tablet mode, laptop mode, book mode and two-person mode. It would be a matter of time when the design would be mainstream (translate: cheaper). Acer's Iconia is believed to be priced at 1500 EUR, or around 2000 USD, when it releases this January 2011. That price actually seems fair already for something with 2 14" multi-touch screens and Intel i5 core. Of course, it can be cheaper... and that may depend on how successful the new form factor can be.
A touchbook is a notebook sans the keyboard. A touchbook has the same clamshell form factor, but instead of a keyboard on the lower panel, it has another screen which can be the same size as the main screen. The main screen can be as traditional as in any other notebooks. The lower screen, however, can be used for additional control and navigation features in addition to providing the virtual keyboard.
The concept is not entirely new. An article in 2008 describes some of the the design goals of what we can now call the touchbook. The same article cited ASUS as one of those who showed off a prototype during the Computex 2008 event. In the same year, OLPC also had plans of a dual screen device.
Microsoft had an R&D project called the Courier. It was announced some time in April 2010 that they are ending the project, although a patent filed by Microsoft in June of the same year seem to conflict with the earlier announcement.
What's exciting is that Acer is releasing a real touchbook in early 2011. The product is called Iconia. It's a touchbook done right so far although there's definitely more room for growth and improvements.
The hardware design possibilities for touchbooks pave new roads to explore. What if to make it hybrid, where the main screen can be folded down transforming into a tablet/slate? What if the screens are detachable so that the main screen can be used as a tablet/slate? What if the detachable screens are both usable as separate tablets/slates?
On the software side, two screens mean more estate for content and interaction. It's like taking the Nintendo DS design to the PC level. What if the lower screen is programmable? So much so that it can have a presentation mode, a multimedia mode and a gamer control mode. Imagine an application customized digital DJ mixer interface, for example. A lot of applications may be designed to take advantage of the dual-screen design. For example, the touchbook form factor seems natural for digital book readers (or e-readers).
Haptics
would of course be an important feature to put in place. It would be a drastic adjustment for the people of today to switch to the virtual keyboard that does not provide any form of "feedback" to the user's actions. Haptics would help make the adjustment "friendlier" and more comfortable to "grow" in to -- like it's second nature.The laptop of the future is here! And it's called a touchbook. I agree with the different possible modes for a touchbook as described by Mike Elgan in his 2008 articles: tablet mode, laptop mode, book mode and two-person mode. It would be a matter of time when the design would be mainstream (translate: cheaper). Acer's Iconia is believed to be priced at 1500 EUR, or around 2000 USD, when it releases this January 2011. That price actually seems fair already for something with 2 14" multi-touch screens and Intel i5 core. Of course, it can be cheaper... and that may depend on how successful the new form factor can be.
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