By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
You might remember the very innovative Canovo Dual-TouchScreen Tablet/Notebook that was reported on recently.
Innovative because the keyboard has been replaced by another touchscreen! There are some obvious great advantages to this (and some minor problems as well). Think of truly being able to customise your keyboard for every task and having double the screen size when needed!
Well, we have some more info on this concept machine.
I spoke with Valerio Cometti, managing director of V12 Design in Milano, Italy.
Check out on DigitalReviews.net what he said.
Imagine trying to touch type without any tactile response. Brilliant!
Couple this with Dragon Naturally Speaking and you might have something there.
Maybe the ultimate gaming laptop with a wireless keyboard and mouse.
Also, there’s got to be several applications that are not typing intensive but could use the added screen real estate.
Ooo… It is like a Nintendo DS all grown up. How cute.
But seriously I see a whole lot of problems with using a touchscreen as a keyboard. For a start, most people have enough trouble trying to keep fingerprints off their screens. Then there are issues with multi-touch sensitive panels and their response times. I suspect that touch typists will have issues with that, not to mention lack of tactile feedback. Running a second screen as a keyboard is sure to sap battery life. Finally and a bit more signifiant, if there is a blue screen of death type crash, there will be no way to give it the three fingered salute. All you will have is a BSoD in stereo. There will also be no way to access the BIOS on startup, unless you have an external keyboard attached (assuming the thing still has a dedicated keyboard port).
A dual touchscreen machine is a neat trick, and it does have a certain element of geek lust, but I don’t see it as being that practical for most users.
Why does everyone focus on the touchscreen keyboard? If there was no keyboard displayed in the picture everyone would ask “How the hell am I going to enter text? Am I supposed to lug a keyboard with me too?!”
Everybody knows the touchscreen keyboard is a bad idea… but that’s not the primary (or secondary) use of the unit. I’m fairly certain I’ve seen tablets PCs without keyboards.
In this era of SUVs, it’s kind of like questioning the ground clearance on a sports car…
Its a cool device, just forget about using it as a keyboard, it could excell in so many other ways.
For creative persuits such as graphics or audio it rules!