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Early Look At Acer's Iconia Dual Touchscreen Device

Posted by Soulskill on from the inconvenience-of-a-table-with-the-weight-of-a-laptop dept.

iONiUM sends in news of an early glimpse at Acer's upcoming Iconia laptop, on which they've replaced the keyboard area with a second 14" display that accepts multi-touch input. "The upright display acts as the primary display, while the display that remains parallel with the surface generally serves as a navigation panel, alternatively displaying a roomy on-screen keyboard, a touch-wheel and other on-screen touch controls, or even an extension of what's displayed on the primary display. The latter option effectively provides a dual-monitor mobile device for presentations or studying complex spreadsheets across both monitors, or viewing one document in one monitor, and another on the second monitor. The two monitors make the Iconia a hefty device — at 6.1 pounds it's unlikely to be the device you throw in your bag for your commute." Engadget has some pictures and a video of the device.

12 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by Tobenisstinky · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Great, like the iPad but with the awkwardness of a laptop.

    --
    wha'? where am i?
    1. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Great, like the iPad but with the awkwardness of a laptop.

      I see it as an awesome reader - showing two pages at once, for one thing.

      Or reading text on one side with diagrams on the other.

      And if they can sell it for $500, it'll sell like hotcakes.

    2. Re:Well... by grahamlord86 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm not so sure... The problem with Tablets and touchscreen phones is that while you have the freedom of having a custom input (virtual keyboard, handwriting recognition, virtual gamepad...), the input interface and your hands get in the way of what's on the screen.

      Most smart phones loose the best part of half the display as soon as the virtual keyboard is visible.

      The twin-touchscreens allow you to have the freedom of custom input that can change to be anything you want, but even if you cover the lower screen with a full size keyboard (which might be the first virtual keyboard not to suck), you still have a completely clear upper screen to look at.

    3. Re:Well... by arivanov · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem with them is also that most advanced typist type purely by touch. I never look at the keyboard when typing and having something that changes under my fingers or requires looking all the time is definitely not welcome.

      There is another even more entertaining aspect - security. If the API to change the layouts is not locked down enough you can do all kinds of funky stuff compared to which XSS is a child's play.

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/
    4. Re:Well... by dfghjk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      By sarcastically repeating the inane criticism offered in the article? How is 6.1 pounds heavy? It's lighter than a Macbook Pro 17 despite considerably more screen. It's only 1/2 pound heavier than a MBP 15 despite nearly double the screen space. 6 pounds has never been heavy for a notebook.

    5. Re:Well... by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Besides, pretty much everywhere you go, there's going to be a spare, decent-sized LCD hanging around if you need a second screen. It's not like they're $999.00 apiece any more.

      So the "read your spreadsheet across 2 screens" scenario is pretty much DOA - you can wander into most offices and just plug a lighter laptop into a spare screen (and as more office workers switch to laptops, more are already using their old screen as a second screen, so again, just the natural hardware refresh is killing the market for this in offices).

      At home? In bed? 6.1 pounds? That would be like lugging a copy of the Oxford Dictionary to bed to read. At 6.1 pounds, it adds new meaning to the term "heavy reading".

      Take a lighter laptop and rotate the screen 90 degrees, then use your laptops' remote to navigate. Problem solved for free!

  2. Re:They've instantly alienated two groups... by BigDXLT · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yup. Smartphone and Ipad users are being trained to type on touch screens so this will naturally be aimed at them. Can't stand typing anything on touchscreens myself, I needs me some tactile feedback, but there's another generation of kids who never watched Star Trek TNG that are going to be able to actually use smooth glass panels for input.

    I almost envy them.

    Almost.

  3. Re:Great for *viewing* things... by camperdave · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What is the problem with hooking up a bluetooth keyboard/mouse to a tablet, or using a docking station. Use the on-screen keyboard for your coffee shop/public transit scenarios, and a docking station at home/work.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  4. keyboard bumps on the touchscreen by aclarke · · Score: 3, Insightful

    On a touchscreen like this that can be used for a keyboard, I wonder if they considered putting bumps on the glass panel where the F and J key go. It seems to me that that might help touch typing quite a bit on a touch keyboard, while not being terribly annoying when used for other purposes.

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    www.clarke.ca
  5. You do not type by touch, but by position by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The problem with them is also that most advanced typist type purely by touch. I never look at the keyboard when typing and having something that changes under my fingers or requires looking all the time is definitely not welcome.

    It does not change "all the time" The keyboard for typing would remain fixed.

    The thing is that touch typing does NOT involve feeling keys. You would be seriously slowed if that were the case, with any keyboard. Pay attention to how you type next time - are you really feeling for keys or are your fingers hitting the exact location of the key you are trying to type? Touch typing is way more about muscle memory than about feel. I can already touch type on an iPad screen pretty rapidly, because the key area is so large. It just needs to be stable so the screen is not moving out from under you.

    What may bother some people more is the lack of give in the keys, but that doesn't bother me at all. You just learn to strike the surface more softly than you would otherwise. And it's not like you don't get feedback from watching the material you are typing.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:You do not type by touch, but by position by caseih · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I disagree about not needing to feel the keys. Why is it called "touch typing" if touch is not involved?

      As I type this now, I am positioning my fingers by muscle memory, yes, but the nice indent on the tops of the keys help my fingers find the center of the keys. Without them I might hit between keys. Also my forefingers sit on the keyboard and feel the little nubs that mark the home keys. This way I know I'm starting from the right position. All the while I'm not needing to look at the keyboard, but the feel definitely improves the accuracy and speed. I'd say that touch typists do need feel and some sort of feedback. That's why they call it "touch typing" after all. Both of these things are why touch typists in the past loved the IBM keyboard. It had a great and accurate feel, and excellent feedback (the click).

      All this is is part of why I despise the chicklet keyboard. I lose all sorts of accuracy because it's much harder to quickly know if you're on the center of each key or not. The only benefit the chicklet keyboard has is the reduced amount of key travel. As far as reduced-travel keyboards go, Lenovo's laptop keyboards are by far the best.

      I'm not quite a touch typist, but I can type pretty fast, and I have tried the iPad (lying flat on a desk of course), and I can type okay with it, but it's not great. Also it cannot tell the difference between resting my finger on a key and "pressing" a key. Makes typing very tiring. Back in the day they would teach typists to hold their wrists up, but even then the fingers could rest on the keys. Holding both hands off the surface except to "type" would seem to be exhausting.

  6. Re:They've instantly alienated two groups... by Haeleth · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes, Star Trek had an awesome user interface. It's called "plot". You push whatever you feel like, and the computer automatically does whatever the script says should happen next. Sadly I don't think even Apple has quite that level of control over its users' lives yet. ;)