I have long lamented the demise of the hybrid Tablet PC. The old HP tc1100 was a real workhorse for me, and having a detachable slate screen made for the most flexible mobile computing solution yet. There is so much to be said for having a keyboard, yet being able to remove it when ultimate mobility is the order of the day. The only problem with the tc1100 was the high cost compared to today’s netbooks.
Always Innovating is set to launch a Linux-based netbook that has a detachable keyboard that looks fabulous. The Touch Book has a small screen (8.9-inch) that detaches from the keyboard for mobile slate use. This beauty is reported to run with a TI OMAP3 processor (600 MHz) based on ARM technology and is capable of running Windows CE and Android too. That screen has a 1024×768 resolution which is pretty decent for that size screen.
The screen alone weighs about a pound, which is nice and light, and the whole package only weighs 2 pounds with the keyboard attached. The real story is the price — $300 for the slate alone and $400 for the whole kit. That puts a lot of pressure on that mystical CrunchPad, doesn’t it?
What is innovative about the implementation, as if the hybrid design weren’t enough, is how Always Innovating is handling the OS. A traditional cursor-based UI is in use when the keyboard is attached, but when it is in slate-only mode, a UI customized to be run by touch is the standard fare. This is the best way to provide a dual-mode device with no compromises, and this thing is looking better and better. The Touch Book will be available for pre-order as soon as next week.
(Gizmodo)
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