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Input Devices Portables Hardware

Toshiba Demos Dual-Touchscreen Netbook 132

Lanxon writes "Toshiba has announced a trio of new devices that it's hoping will shake up the somewhat stagnant notebook PC market. The most interesting is the Libretto W100 — a clamshell device that comes with two screens in place of a screen and a keyboard. Both screens are identical, measuring 7-inches diagonally, and are touch-sensitive. An onboard accelerometer allows you to use it in landscape or portrait configuration, and Toshiba's pre-loaded a boatload of specialist software that'll let you get the most from the device — including a range of virtual keyboards. It runs Windows 7, is powered by an Intel U5400 processor, and comes with 2GB of DDR3 RAM, a 62GB SSD, and the usual array of connectivity options, including 3G."
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Toshiba Demos Dual-Touchscreen Netbook

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 21, 2010 @10:01AM (#32640276)

    Look you can't compete with the iPad at the same price points. You have to undercut the iPad. The iPad is a reasonable tablet device with a lot slickness and though put into it. Unless you are truly better than the iPad you cannot charge the same price.

    You have to be 1 order of magnitude cheaper (base 2 is fine). You need to be half the cost of the an iPad. This means that a competitive tablet has to be $350 USD or less.

    If you're not even close to an iPad, your upper bound is $200 USD.

    I have an EKEN M001, it is a $100 tablet and with the latest firmware it isn't bad but thing can't play videos very well and is a little non-responsive. But the point was that the $100 price point was enough to make me buy a tablet when I had little interest in the iPad (it is so closed). On the 2nd day of ownership I programmed an app for the M001 and put it on there :)

  • Re:Windows 7 (Score:4, Insightful)

    by east coast ( 590680 ) on Monday June 21, 2010 @10:09AM (#32640382)
    Admittedly, I haven't used Windows 7 on a touch-based device,

    In that case, how do you go about rightously making such wide statements about it?

    I've used 7 a bit on a HP TouchSmart machine and I really don't know what you're getting at about it being a non-touch OS. I found nothing lacking.
  • by Nursie ( 632944 ) on Monday June 21, 2010 @10:12AM (#32640404)

    Seriously? A modem? in this age of 3g and ubiquitous wifi?

    You want a paralell port with that?

  • by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Monday June 21, 2010 @10:13AM (#32640428) Journal
    RJ11? For what, an analogue MODEM? You and the author may be in the same place, but I don't think you're both in the same decade...
  • Re:Windows 7 (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nyctopterus ( 717502 ) on Monday June 21, 2010 @10:14AM (#32640432) Homepage

    I know you're being deliberately obtuse, but here's what it means: you need to design the whole damn UI to work with fingers. Some bandaid software on a mouse-centric UI will not work nearly so well, and this has clearly been borne out by the market. If you want to make a touch UI, you need to do it properly.

    I will make a bet with you right now. This little laptop thing will go nowhere. It will be eaten alive by the iPad and Android tablet devices. Toshiba will stop selling it within a year-18 months.

  • Re:Windows 7 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WrongSizeGlass ( 838941 ) on Monday June 21, 2010 @10:15AM (#32640452)
    nyctopterus meant they are using an OS GUI that was not made for, or geared toward, 'touch' user interaction. Windows 7 may have some features that work with a 'touch' device but it certainly isn't "made for touch". The Windows Phone 7 OS would probably have been a better choice.
  • Not a bad idea... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by augi01 ( 1209002 ) on Monday June 21, 2010 @10:19AM (#32640490)
    but I'd rather have one large screen as opposed to two smaller screens. But then I guess I'd have an iPad, wouldn't I?
  • by am 2k ( 217885 ) on Monday June 21, 2010 @10:27AM (#32640624) Homepage

    And minus the software, which is kinda the most important thing (of the Courier and touch devices in general).

  • by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Monday June 21, 2010 @11:29AM (#32641708) Journal

    Really? GPRS is as fast as the fastest MODEM and works in the middle of nowhere. Landlines are increasingly rare - especially without a decent Internet connection provided with it - the only people I know who still bother having a landline do because it's cheap to get a POTS line with ADSL. Meanwhile, I can walk out into the countryside, miles away from the nearest wired connection, and still get UMTS, falling back to GPRS in a few places. My mother's house, in the middle of nowhere, had 3G coverage about a year before it got ADSL enabled at the exchange, and I get about the same speed from UMTS as I do from her ADSL. Last time I used a MODEM in her house was five years ago - I gave up because using my phone via bluetooth was faster, even with only GPRS, on her noisy line.

    The only places that I've tried to get a UMTS signal and failed have been on the train, going through a tunnel. There's also no RJ11 jack there, although there is usually WiFi, if you pay for it. My current laptop doesn't have a built-in MODEM, and I didn't even notice until I'd owned it for 18 months.

    And, irrespective of whether there are some corner cases where a MODEM is useful, it certainly doesn't count as 'usual' anymore.

  • by oakgrove ( 845019 ) on Monday June 21, 2010 @11:42AM (#32641896)

    Technology changes and those who scoff at the changes are usually the older generation who doesn't want to change. And they usually end up being those engineers who are unable to adapt.

    A touch screen keyboard is not better than a hardware keyboard for a "creation" device. No matter how used to the touch screen keyboard a generation of people might be.

    Technology really only changes when a newer technology is developed that is actually demonstrably better than the previous technology.

    Take the LP record. There were several technologies developed that were supposed to supercede it in the marketplace (8 track, cassette) but it was only the CD that actually won the day. The CD was going to be replaced with DAT, SACD, DVD-audio but it is now only going the way of the dinosaur because of mp3's and digital distribution. And the mp3 may even have seen its best days now thanks to streaming services. The point is, just because a new technology comes along that may have a few advantages doesn't mean it is The Future(TM). It has to be significantly better, meaning, functionally, aesthetically, cheaper, easily marketable, etc. I don't think I'll be turning in my mouse and keyboard anytime soon despite being a member of "the older generation who doesn't want to change."

  • by DragonWriter ( 970822 ) on Monday June 21, 2010 @01:28PM (#32643338)

    A touch screen keyboard is not better than a hardware keyboard for a "creation" device.

    A touch screen input system may be better for creation tasks if it has appropriate customizations for each task. A hardware keyboard is ergonomically better and provides better feel and feedback, so a general "touch screen keyboard" that copies the limitation of a hardware keyboard (same layout for all tasks) won't be very good. But something that adapts to tasks may be very good for "creation" tasks (particularly those that aren't primarily about creation of text, for which typical hardware keyboards are fairly well optimized.)

"There is nothing new under the sun, but there are lots of old things we don't know yet." -Ambrose Bierce

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