I love innovation – just not innovation for the sake of innovation. It should be useful – and when I look at MSI’s dual-screen eReader – Netbook – Whatever, I seriously question the usability. Multipurpose devices do make sense, especially when it comes to the one-little-thing you carry in your pocket: it’s great not having to carry a phone, pda, camera, voice recorder, gps..etc separately. But the same trend may not be true for in-home devices. Looking at the MSI gadget specifically:
- It’s not a good-enough netbook as the virtual on-screen keyboard can’t compete with the real one
- It’s not a good-enough eReader, simply for being too heavy. (Want proof? Try to lean back an hold up a netbook for an hour…)
Cramping to many functions in one box simple does not make sense – I’m a fan of multiple light-weight situational devices in this case.
The e-Reader part brings up another issue: what’s the point of having two small pages side-by-side? Clearly, it imitates the good-old the book format, but is that an ideal format for reading, or just the one we got stuck with when bound paper was the only way we could record / consume textual information? When we liberate information from paper, there’s no point in replicating the paper (book) experience: instead, accept the paradigm-change and maximize readability, comfort enabled by the new technology.
I actually think this is a great design. I was impressed when OLPC showed their vision for OLPC 2.0.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/first-look-olpc-xo-generation-20
The problem is not hardware. It is software. If there is a good software that supports this new hardware (Microsoft Courier seem to be doing an decent job), it can be a great complement. In its laptop mode, the keyboard can contextually behave based on the application (like the Optimus Keyboard). This can also enable multi-language keyboards as it is software based (like iPhone).
There will be some temporary issues as you’ll not be able to feel the keys etc. But these are temporary as there is work being done in those ares to add ‘feel’ to touch screens. It is just a matter of time. I think this is one of the very early devices in this category. I expect/hope to see more devices like them, but with better/optimized software, not just the default windows installed.
I also like the work MSI is doing with hardware. I think they (along with ASUS) will be a serious competitor to Dell & HP.
Well, we definitely agree that new challengers come up with great design, and will become “the brands” soon… but in this case, all I can say, practice holding a current (lightweight) netbook in a “book position” for an hour.
Good workout though 🙂
ASUS makes one of the lightest laptops (lighter than MacBook Air) at an unbelievable price ($399). /
Over time, they are just going to get lighter. Average weight of a book is 1.5lbs. Their laptop weights 2.8lbs which is not bad. We are not even talking 2X difference here. Removing the keyboard will further reduce the weight 😉 I don’t see weight being an issue, long term.
But the challenge is going to be on the software side. These Taiwanese companies are good at hardware and I don’t think they do software well.