In future we only need Two

Now there are too many computing devices in the market. There are smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops…

As smaller mobile devices have more and more powerful processing powers, these devices will have a larger and larger overlap in terms of function, capabilities, and goal.

So, I see no reason why people want to keep so many things that do almost the same stuffs - more devices also means we need to bring more, or need to decide which one to bring. Other important issues are the device costs and carrier fees.

My guess is in the future we only need two (for each user) - a laptop (possibly a tablet-laptop hybrid) that mostly sits at home, and a phone/tablet hybrid device for on the go usage.

Dual-Screen Laptop (with full physical keyboard & trackpad)

This idea came to me at the end of last year.

I wanted to have a laptop that has a big touch screen, in addition to the normal vertical screen, a full-sized physical keyboard, a big trackpad, two up-facing speakers, and yet the whole thing remains in standard size. Is it possible? Yes!

Brief Description-

Companies have been striving to put touch screen on laptops, but we know that touchscreen likes to be horizontal - working long hours with vertical touch screen is tiring to our arms.

So how about putting the touch screen horizontally? But then we will have to sacrifice physical keyboard and we also know that working long hours with on-screen keyboards is inconvenient. Besides, physical keyboard allows users to have touch-typing experience - to be able to type without looking at it, which an on-screen keyboard cannot really afford.

But, my idea allows a (standard sized) dual-screen laptop to possess a real physical keyboard, PLUS two big up-facing speakers. This innovative idea accomplishes the following:

   a) dual-screen for novel ways of interacting with the web, desktop, Cloud, and the laptop experience in general (just look at Acer Iconia);

   b) retaining the physical keyboard saves our old habit of typing, and people who do not like typing on screens;

   c) unlike speakers that located on the edge or at the bottom, up-facing speakers allows for better sound experience.

Regarding the specific structure of the laptop, I cannot reveal anymore than the above teaser. If your company is interested, just let me know.

There is another problem with laptops. We do many things with laptops - watching movie, surfing web, reading books and creating contents. The problem is simply that when you are in deep reading or surfing (only surfing and reading), you very seldom type on the keyboards. When you are watching movies, you don’t even use trackpad very much. So in the former case (let’s call it ‘reading mode’), it would be better to “get rid of” the keyboards and, in the latter case (call it the ‘cinema mode’), the trackpad too. This is not just because that the keyboards and trackpads are not that necessary at these modes, but that their existence forces the screen to be located further away from us. The screen is thus not at the optimal position that a screen is suppose to be at reading and cinema mode. How to solve the problem? Look at the picture above.  The laptop is designed such that there is a holder behind the monitor. The holder can be stretched to doubled of its size and it can be tilted forward and backward. Furthermore, the screen can also be rotated 90 degrees, which allows for better web surfing and document reading (see earlier post below).
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There is another problem with laptops. We do many things with laptops - watching movie, surfing web, reading books and creating contents. The problem is simply that when you are in deep reading or surfing (only surfing and reading), you very seldom type on the keyboards. When you are watching movies, you don’t even use trackpad very much.

So in the former case (let’s call it ‘reading mode’), it would be better to “get rid of” the keyboards and, in the latter case (call it the ‘cinema mode’), the trackpad too. This is not just because that the keyboards and trackpads are not that necessary at these modes, but that their existence forces the screen to be located further away from us. The screen is thus not at the optimal position that a screen is suppose to be at reading and cinema mode.

How to solve the problem? Look at the picture above. 

The laptop is designed such that there is a holder behind the monitor. The holder can be stretched to doubled of its size and it can be tilted forward and backward. Furthermore, the screen can also be rotated 90 degrees, which allows for better web surfing and document reading (see earlier post below).