Toshiba is offering up a nice respite from the inane quantity of LCDs and, um, more LCDs at IFA this year. The SD Multi Tool and the SD Photo Editor are two touchable handhelds, offering up some beefy features where similar devices lack, and also skipping over some of the more traditional
MID OS features that might put these over the top -- a confusing mix, but again, not an LCD, so we're hooked. The SD Multi Tool is the real wild one, offering dual 3.5-inch touchable (finger or stylus) LCDs, rated at 960 x 480 each if the spec sheet is telling the truth -- that could be a combined resolution. The device offers wireless connectivity of some sort, and can handle web browsing, email, videos, photo editing and pretty much anything else that isn't an actual phone call -- though it can't be tough to squeeze some VoIP in there. Meanwhile, the SD Photo Editor really earns its "SD" moniker with dual SD card slots, while the Multi Tool just has one microSD slot. The Photo Editor runs a similar OS, but seems distilled down to mainly the photo browsing and editing functions, with a bit of PMP functionality thrown in we hope. A 5-inch WVGA screen with 16 million colors should be plenty of room to work your magic. No word on what OS is under the hood, but it seems to be mostly homegrown Toshiba fare. We know the Multi Tool does HDMI out, and we'd hope the Photo Editor does as well, since they're both supposed to hit in 2009 for a similar price point: around $300 US. If the shots below aren't enough for you, check out the
coverage at Engadget Spanish.
posted August 31st 2008 6:27AM
iPhonish Keyboard anyone?
STFU!
Gayish Comment anyone?
but he's right!
Nah, looks more like the Wii's keyboard.
Maybe until you realize it's just a keyboard on a screen! OMG!
keyboard on a screen? is that like snakes on a plane?
iPhony keyboard. Actually, a slide-out *touch* keyboard is just about the most ridiculous thing I've seen in a while. These guys don't have a clue.
Looks interesting, I still havn't bought any of those things I have said I would consider buying in my past posts... maybe this... uhh naw.
BTW: Engadget you comments system fails. The main page says there's a comment but I see non on this page? Am I first? Guess not.
-Edward
Now I must say this is an ingenious idea. They now can have any keyboard layout they want on a full keyboard size. This makes buying overseas a good deal.
BOOYAH! Photoshop is not dead!
You can now edit your photos on a 3.5" screen on the go!
LOL.
wow this is really innovative! the only one of its kind! do want!
Photo editor ? I thought all devices are merging into one multi-funtion device. I can use Photoshop on a netbook for that.
My TOSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's not bad looking.
I like the idea of the touch screen keyboard, but I'd have to really live with it for a while to see how it would be on a day-to-day basis.
Glitch! Cut and Paste!
Sorry, but it popped to mind when I read the headline "multi tool" -- Anyone get the reference?
MID version of the Nintendo DS
If you have that much space, make it a real keyboard.
I completely agree. It's a complete letdown to see products with fat borders around the screen and keyboard. My brain is wired to not even care what it does when I see that.
I like the direction that this ?MID? is going.
Now, if I only liked Toshi more.
Well, nobody else has pointed it out; the 960x480 cannot reasonably be combined, because it's roughly a 2:1 aspect ratio; while each of the screens _is_ about 2:1, combined they'd be 1:1 or so. So barring some seriously rectangular pixels, or mad slice/dicing, you don't get 960x480 combined.
Result: almost a megapixel, square; it's really not bad from a hardware perspective, but I'm leery of the software. Give me Linux (Maemo, perhaps), and I'd be quite happy.