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 Phone with whole touch-screen body

An idea that I had on November 2010.

The design goal is to have a device that is playable in itself. That is, it is not just a plain platform for displaying its contents (in contrast to the Apple minimalism). It should be more interactive in a physical sense, not just in the virtual sense where all the fun rest inside the screen. This will, in turn, allow new types of phone functions as now we can have physical-virtual interactions.

Below is a summary of the phone design and components:

1. Surface - The whole body of the phone is interactive - the smartphone is covered almost entirely in touch screen, including the front, the back, and the edges (except for the bottom edge, where there is a slot for battery to slide in). This allows many new ways to present phone contents. (So, basically this is the phlow concept, see previous post)

2. Structure - The phone can be “opened” from the edge (see the jpg file attached with the mail) just like opening a closed book. The opened inside surfaces are also covered in touch screen.  The expanded phone thus has screen twice as big as before, for both of the sides, so in total we have four times as big as before. The main issue with all dual-screen phone or tablets is that there is a bezel between the screens when fold opened. This is very inconvenient as it defeats the purpose of turning it into a single-screen tablet. I have a design which would eliminate the need for such bezel.

3. Interactions - With whole-body touch screen, we can allow many creative ways to interact with the phone. Some of the examples include:

      a) Tap the current screen with five fingers, and transfer the current whole active screen to the screen on the back;

      b) Dragging a text/mail message to the top phone edge, and then slide to the left or right of the top edge screen, in order to save or send the message;

      c) Zoom in and out pages or videos using finger gestures on the edge’s touchscreen. This is to avoid fingers from blocking the content that user is watching. Also, volume and progress bar can be controlled via the edge touchscreens;

      d) One can develop a software to read gestures made on the  touchscreen on the back and translate it to corresponding movements on the current screen. This allows user to hold the (expanded) phone with two hands and control everything on the current screen that the user is facing. This can avoid fingers from crowding the current screen, and easily allows gestures up to 8 fingers.

But there are even more than just touch screen interctions, when reading ebook on an “opened” phone, one need only slightly bend the right (or left) screen towards the other screen, and the page will be turned accordingly, just like turning pages on a real book.

4. Operating System(s) - That this phone have two sided screens allows us to run two operating systems at the same time - one at the front and another at the back screen. This would let users to have the best of both worlds.

5. Camera and Webcam - This phone has two cameras, located BEHIND the touch screens, at the top part of the front and back of the “closed” phone. This allows easy 3D photo taking. Also, two webcams rest BEHIND the inner touch screens of the “closed” phone, so one can do 3D video chatting with these two webcam heads. Besides, covering the lenses with touchscreen may imply interesting results for photo or video taking.