Multi-head Meets the Laptop

PARENA writes: "Estari comes with a Dual-Screen Laptop! "A what?!" Yes: Dual-Screen. In fact, they are 2 15" TOUCH screens. According to TwoMobile: 'Unlike electronic tablets, the 2-VU(TM) allows users to view two full-page files or documents simultaneously. Users can page through two books at once, or take handwritten notes in a notebook on one screen while paging through a book on the other screen.' Sounds pretty cool!"

Comments

Is see it already.....

[curtisk]

when you see someone holding this laptop sideways it means one thing......

they're on Playboy dot com, checking out the centerfold, the way they were meant to be checked out!

:)

Cool device though.....

Early promotions

[Mattygfunk]

It isn't due out until the 4th quarter 2002. Why would their marketing department allow this out now? Their concept is new(ish). Why give potential compeditors a break by announcing it now. If I was them I'd announce with a month or two tops before I even acknowledged I had a product like this.

Watch out for the cheap rip-off with a similiar design released soon (before this one is???).

oh puhleaze

[gnudutch]

>The 2-VU operates in the Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP® environments and features the Adobe Acrobat Reader®. This strategy avoids the problems of a propriety, closed environment while maintaining the file integrity offered through these state-of-the-art digital rights management platforms.

Win2k and Acrobat. Could this thing be any MORE proprietary and closed???

Re:oh puhleaze

[lblack]

Nope.

The general public has caught on to all this brouhaha about how proprietary, closed environments are bad for business. They can even see how that might be so. Unfortuately, they still have no idea what it means.

In the last six months, there's been a definite upswing in the inclusion of sentences like the one you quoted in marketing literature. Most of the time, it's a complete misnomer.

"Our new workstation comes pre-loaded with Windows XP, Microsoft Office and the Adobe Suite, allowing you to create documents in industry-standard formats and avoid being locked into a proprietary model." Uh, what?

It's sort of like when "portability" was a big thing, and you saw references to it in the literature for virtually every product, even those that were designed to run on very specific hardware/software setups.

This is what happens when capitalism takes it up the ass from marketing. It stops being a battle of the better products and becomes a battle of the better brands.

And there is so much market-space that nobody can really claim to be an authority on everything they will buy. You and I might know something about computers, but I know virtually nothing about refrigerators (I recently bought one and was amazed at the amount of research I had to do!). Sometimes, people just don't have the time or inclination to research a purpose. The marketers target those people with nebulous claims that fall roughly in line with what they've been reading in the Business and IT sections of their newspapers (always the most whorish sections, of course).

Bleh.

l

How about battery life?

[diatonic]

I would think that since the display is typically the biggest load on the battery of a portable device (laptop/handheld/etc.) that they will have to work really hard to get a decent amount of time with those big bright displays lit up. If you were using it as an e-book reader you would need the battery to last longer than a few hours.

The dark side of the eBook

[groupthink]

This is why eBooks coupled with insane legislation like the DMCA are such a threat. Once a digital book is comfortably readable, the textbook industry will move to eBooks, keeping the students, who are required to purchase them, from exercising the rights we have become used to.

The concept of no longer owning the book, is introduced. For a price, you get access to the text for a period of time. Still want access to it after a year? Gotta pay.

Such concepts as selling the book back to the bookstore when you're finished with the class, or selling it to another student, will become things of the past.

Sure this is a great device, but with the textbook industry drooling over the students as a captive audience, the ramifications of such a device are worth considering.

Re:Remember when....

[carlos_benj]

Did you even look at it? it's not a dual head laptop, it's more like an ebook with a folding screen.. Probably not much bigger then a normal book.

Did you read the article? These are two 15" diag screens. What kind of books do you consider "normal"?

Cute, yes. Practical?

[Clovert Agent]

It looks funky, but I'm not convinced it'll play in the form factors they're planning.

Mainly, it's the notebook (ironically enough) form factor that I'm not sure about. Some vertical markets might love it - those that need real computing and portable computing but struggle with the average handheld. Healthcare, education...that sort of thing.

But for the rest of us? Dunno about you, but I just don't work like that. I'm used to scrolling through long documents. I like being able to have wide windows for some tasks (mainly spreadsheets).

In its handheld/subnotebook model, now that could work. My feeling is that would suit the type of use you'd expect - holding a gadget like a book is pretty natural for some tasks.

I'm particularly dubious of the exec's claim that the book format is "proven to be better" for comprehension. That's because people are used to it. Same way that people who type on a standard keyboard struggle to use a Dvorak layout, but that doesn't mean the former is better. And that, to me, sums up a lot of their arguments in favour of the thing.

But hey. Maybe I'll recant when I've had the chance to play with one at a tradeshow and get hooked :)

Unenforcable patent

[MouseR]

This thing has already been dreamed up by Apple more than 10 years ago.

See their Knowlege Navigator QuickTime movie.

Power and simplicity?

[PhilHibbs]

From www.dualscreen.com:

the 2-VU combines the power of a computer with the simplicity of a book

So it doesn't need batteries, then, and boots instantly? Cool!

Re:NIfty, but...

[Peyna]

I know, I just wanted to be a jackass. Ones that would make it practical are expensive too.

Here's a potential market:

[jc42]

I've been involved with people doing music online. This is "music" in the sense of something that you put on a music stand and read, not "music" as in something that you put in a player and listen to.

One major barrier to use is getting the screen sitting on the music stand. Your typical big screen is hardly portable. Your typical laptop opens up in a way that just doesn't physically work on a music stand. This device opens sideways and lies flat, giving it a lot of potential.

Remaining questions: Can I get it with wireless IP access? If not, forget it. Setting up an Internet connection for N of them at a gig would typically take far longer than the gig itself takes. And if wireless access is via the usual phone-company route with per-minute connection charges, forget it. The cost of N phone connections would typically be more than you make at the gig. Unless it's a true "always on" IP setup, it's not usable.

Also, what happens when someone bumps the music stand and the gadget hits the floor? Do I buy a new one?

Also, forget Windows. If you want quality sheet music on a screen, you want a Mac or linux. Windows only supports commercial music packages with proprietary file formats. If I can't exchange the music files with other musicians, I won't even look at it.

There have in fact been experiments with using computers to display sheet music. One of the things that kills the idea is when the musicians discover that they can't write on the music. This is a total showstopper. In particular, no orchestra or band musician would consider using music if they couldn't write their own notes and comments on it. The article implies some sort of handwritten input ability. How good is it? Can I write on the displayed text itself? If not, forget it.

So we still have a way to go before it's usable. But this gadget shows some slight promise to solving some of the physical problems of current hardware.

Stealth marketing research?

[TheConfusedOne]

My favorite quote from the article: "This format for printed publications is widely accepted, based on a study of 30 centuries of graphic design and consumer testing." Wow, those Pheonecians were really ahead of the curve. Graphic design and consumer testing? Do you recall anyone surveying you after you read a book? Also, you'd think a 3,000 year old marketing program could produce results a little earlier then Q3 2002. Someone better fire the exec who started the program. Of course, they might have to dig him up first...

Re:NIfty, but...

[GoRK]

Have them carry a little 14-15" LCD monitor with them. There are some that are very thin and have detachable stands. ViewSonic and Sony both have some new ones that are only about 1-2" thick and the casing is not much bigger than the screen on either side. In any case, it's probably just about as big as a laptop and could be carried in a similar bag for a presentation. Not bad compared to the cost of a projector that small.

~GoRK

Best feature

[GoRK]

The best feature of this puppy nobody is mentioning - screw-in tripod mount! Why in the hell someone didn't do this sooner is beyond me. You can carry a small tripod for your laptop and forego a work surface anywhere you either dont have one or need more room. A lot of these newer machines get so toasty you don't want to *actually* set them on your lap anyway -- sweat up your legs, and re-press your pants (if you are wearing the sort of pants that get pressed anyway)..

As far as I'm concerned, this design sucks with no integrated keyboard, and its requiring the user to hold the screens up to view them at any kind of angle is a total failure -- the thing is going to be HEAVY and HOT. Holding it in your hands for long enough to actually *READ* the eBook you've got on it is going to pain a lot of people.

~GoRK