I’m all for double screens and double laptops and double tablets, but it seems that Acer kind of missed the mark with their new concept device. They call this thing the Iconia and here’s why I think it will fail.
These double-screened devices like the Iconia and the Kno ignore the familiarity and usability of keyboards as their primary text input device. As much as I like tablets, speech recognition isn’t really practical, and touchscreen typing just plain sucks when it comes to replacing tactile keyboards.
Why is this important? Well, as many people do, I touch-type on a real keyboard, and I touch-type pretty darn fast. Touch-typing or just generally typing fast on these devices isn’t really possible – or if it is, it’s just a parlor trick and not something most people can do. Think about it: you’re typing on a flat, slippery touchscreen. Your fingers can’t locate the keys without using your eyes, and that just slows you down.
Anyway, the Iconia looks pretty, but it won’t work if you have any need to type text for any prolonged period.
