dual-screen-tablet
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Microsoft's dual-screen tablet could run Android apps
Microsoft could release a radically different Surface as early as the first half of 2020. Rumors about a dual-screen tablet have been circulating since last year, and the company reportedly showed a similar device to employees earlier this month. Now, market research firm IHS Markit told Forbes that the device will be ready sometime in the first six months of 2020, and it's expected to run both Android apps and Apple's iCloud.
Sony officially renames the S2 the Tablet P, opens up about the software (video)
Compared to the S1 tablet -- make that the Tablet S -- Sony's dual-screen tab remains something of an enigma. AT&T hasn't said how much it'll cost on contract, nor do we know when it'll finally go on sale. Still, the tablet just get one step closer to becoming a real, shipping product, with Sony renaming it the Tablet P, as rumored, and clarifying the full range of specs -- namely, that it weighs in at 0.82 pounds and runs a dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 SoC with twin 5.5-inch (1024 x 800) displays, dual 5MP and VGA cameras, an HSPA+ radio, a 3,080mAh battery, a full-sized SD card slot, 4GB of internal memory, a micro-USB socket and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Those displays use the same TruBlack technology found in Sony's Bravia TVs, promising blacker blacks and whiter whites. What's more, Sony is opening up about the software, a topic it pointedly ignored when we first handled the hardware, then codenamed the S2. For starters, by the time it ships, it'll join the ranks of a growing number of tablets (most of them 7-inchers) running Android 3.2. And guess what? We recently sat down with the Tablet P a second time for a preview of how the outfit's optimized Honeycomb for those dual displays. Here's what to expect. %Gallery-132058%
Watch out Farmville, Kno's bringing Textbooks to Facebook
Now this is clever. Adorable education / tech company Kno may not have had the best start in life, what with its large (and largely unsuccessful) dual-screen tablet and the subsequent sell-off of its hardware division. Since those dark days, Kno has reinvented itself as a software company, bringing an educational e-book store to the iPad and now opening up the market by going for the big one: any student with a Facebook account. All you have to do is add the Kno app to your Facebook profile and you get full access to the store, including the option to rent rather than buy the textbooks you need (all of which must be read in-browser). At the moment the service lacks the more interactive features common to the iPad but they're said to be "coming." What's clear is the potential such a move has, now we have to wait and see if studying can actually trump watering your pretend broccoli.
Sony S1 and S2 hands-on
Now that Sony has spilled the carrier-exclusive beans on at least one of its tablets, the S2 clamshell, the company kindly gave us a chance to get some long-awaited hands-on time with both it and its sibling, the S1 slate. And at time when it feels like we handle a new Honeycomb Android tablet every other day, these at least usher in some pretty unusual form factors. On the one hand, you've got the S1, a 9.4-inch number whose rounded wedge profile was designed to mimic a folded magazine. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there's the S2, which opens to reveal twin 5.5-inch displays -- all the more of a novelty since we've barely seen Android 3.0 running on devices that don't have 10-inch displays. Alas, we only had a few minutes to poke around, and in particular we would have loved to spend more time sinking our teeth into Sony's spin on Honeycomb. For now, though, enjoy those close-up shots below and head on past the break for some early impressions. %Gallery-128312% %Gallery-128313%
Sony's S1 tablet spotted in the wild, S2 captured briefly on video
We've already seen press shots and teaser videos of Sony's S1 Honeycomb tablet and dual-screen S2 (and had our eyes on them ourselves), but Germany's Golem website managed to spend a bit of time with both of the devices at an event in Munich, and has now provided what's surely the best look at them to date. Unfortunately, that's still not exactly a thorough look -- there's just the single image of the S1 above, and an 18 second video of the S2, which you can check out after the break.
Kno brings textbooks to iPad, millions of children now dread getting Apple tablet for Christmas
You know the old saying, right? If you can't beat them, license your designs to third-party manufacturers and develop an app for your competitor's hardware. Kno's dual-screen tablet had a pretty tough road since its debut last summer. The educational device was plagued by shipping delays and low pre-order numbers, and by February of this year, the company effectively threw in the hardware towel. A few months later, Intel plunked down a bunch of money, so that Kno's dreams might live on in the designs of other manufacturers. The company's software plans are becoming a reality now, as well, with the release of Textbooks, which brings some 70,000 discounted educational titles to the iPad. The free app lets students read and organize texts, affix annotations, and communicate with study partners, offering creative new ways to pass notes in class. Press release after the break.
NEC's dual-screen LifeTouch W tablet shipping in Japan this June
NEC caught our attention at CES with a dual-screen Android tablet / e-reader that, at the time, it was calling the LT-W Cloud Communicator. Well, it's since been rebranded the LifeTouch W and it will officially hit shelves in Japan this June. Under the hood nothing has changed -- it's the same pair of 7-inch, 800 x 600 resistive touchscreens, 384MB of RAM, and Cortex A8 CPU of unspecified speed we played with in January. Sadly, that also means we're looking at the same dated Android 2.2 OS and paltry five hour battery life. No word on cost or whether this will ever appear outside of Japan, but we'd be surprised if this ugly stepsister of the Kno actually makes its way across the Pacific.
Acer slaps $1,200 price tag on dual-screen Iconia-6120 touchbook, lets US and Canada pre-order
Acer's had its fair share of Iconia's land in the past few months, but none are as breathtaking (and potentially world-changing) as the Iconia-6120. Said machine was priced at €1,499 earlier in the year, but that doesn't mean an awful lot to folks situated in America and the Great White North. As of today, consumers in both of those nations have a price and release date to ponder, with $1,199.99 (both US and CAD) netting you a touchbook with two 14-inch Gorilla Glass touchpanels, a Core i5 CPU, 4GB of memory, integrated Intel HD graphics and a 64-bit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. You'll also get USB 3.0 support, a 640GB hard drive, a 1.3 megapixel camera, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, an HDMI output, gigabit Ethernet, a chassis that weighs in at 5.95 pounds and a battery that'll probably sputter along for nine or ten minutes (on a good day). Lookin' to dive right in? Amazon, as well as "other" fine e-tailers, should be taking orders momentarily. %Gallery-119891%
Kno shipments delayed, no word on why or for how long
What is it with tablets and ship date shenanigans? After getting some tips from Kno pre-orderers (who should've started receiving this monstrosity last year) that their shipments had been delayed, we pinged Kno and got some ultra-vague confirmation of that fact: Things at Kno are going well. However, as you noted below, there has been a shipment delay. As soon as Kno has new information, we will share that with customers and can certainly give you a heads up if that is helpful. There's no mention of any of this on Kno's website, and typically with this sort of a delay there's at least some sort of reasoning -- "the boxes we got are the wrong size," or "our Lego testing robot broke down," or something smooth like that. Of course, we're sure there's some sort of explanation forthcoming. This is no cause to believe Kno is in serious danger of not shipping its tablet, or that it's trying to pull a fast one, but Kno has unfortunately happened upon a disturbing trend in the tablet space that we'd love to be well rid of by now. [Thanks, Chris]
Mintpass planning a dual-screen, dual boot tablet for 2011
Mintpass, the Korean firm known for its Mintpad tablet (as well as a few baubles, including a flashlight that looks curiously like a chapstick tube and the Cube MP3 player), has recently announced that it will soon be releasing a dual-touchscreen, dual OS device. We don't have too many details yet, but we do know that it's, um, slated to ship with Windows 7 and Android, as well as Android Market access and some sort of feature called "Space Touch" (which we have no details about but sounds pretty awesome nonetheless). Like the Toshiba Libretto W100, this will be able to either operate as two independent displays or, when folded up like a laptop, feature the keyboard on one display with your apps on the other. The company is currently looking for a manufacturer and plans on launching the thing sometime next year.
Kno receives new funding for its humongous dual-screened tablet, still hoping to ship this year
If you need a tablet with presence you need the Kno. Its dual capacitive 14-inch IPS displays, each clocking in at 1,440 x 990, make this thing closer to a Surface than a Courier and surely present some unique challenges when it comes to pricing. Kno, the company, plans to sell it by the end of the year for an MSRP of under $1,000, and a new $46 million injection in financing should go a long way toward making that happen. Kno's primary market is education, offering partnerships with various textbook publishers and functionality that's focused more on research and less on quelling the rage of disgruntled birds. But, will the college kids want to make room in their organic hemp messenger bags for this monster? And, will their parents pay a grand for the thing?
Toshiba's dual-screen Libretto W100 laptop on sale in America for $1,100
Terrific news, laptop shoppers. Toshiba's concept-turned-commercial Libretto W100 is now on sale in the US of A, but there's no telling how long it'll remain in stock. We heard from the get-go that this dual-screen wonder would only be a limited run, and just a week after going on sale in Japan, the W105-L251 is getting prepped right now for a shipping label with your address on it. $1,099.99 buys you a Pentium U5400 processor, Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit), integrated Intel HD graphics, a memory card reader, 2GB of DDR3 memory, a 62GB solid state drive, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, an inbuilt webcam and an 8-cell battery. Oh, and twin 7-inch WSVGA LCD panels. Toshiba reckons that you'll get yours in "2 to 3 weeks" if you order direct, though Amazon has a pre-sale of its own going for those who like to press their luck. %Gallery-99541%
Toshiba's dual-screen Libretto W100 hits Japan next week
It's no Courier, but Toshiba's dual-screened Libretto W100 is about as good as we're going to get and, if you're in Japan, the getting is about to get good. The key-free lappy is due to start shipping there on August 11, which means you're just a few days (and, possibly, a few very long flights) away from getting your fingerprints all over one. If, however, you're not so much into the importing scene, you're going to have to wait a bit longer for this $1,100 curiosity to hit US shores through normal retail channels. How much longer? Toshiba promised a summer release, and let's just say that the days aren't getting any longer.
Microsoft's new 'dual display device' patent re-opens old Courier wounds
We were just starting to get over the Courier, moving on after the tantalizing first reveal, the delish conceptual walkthrough, the heartbreaking cancellation, and the inevitable fallout. Now, Microsoft is dragging us back down memory lane with the receipt of a new patent covering the design of the thing. It was filed back on January 19, right after the CES that we'd (futilely) hoped would give us a glimpse of Courier in the flesh, and that patent has just now been approved. So, Microsoft officially owns the design of the thing, and the question now is whether they'll ever actually do anything with it other than sprinkle mementos like this about from time to time and remind us what might have been. You're a cruel mistress, Steve Ballmer. [Thanks, Basil]
Toshiba prepping dual-screen 'GuideBook' tablet for June launch?
Believe it or not, Toshiba has been toying around with dual-screen tablets at least as far back as 2006, and it looks like it might be trying its hand at the idea again now that it's catching on a bit -- DigiTimes is reporting that company has a new dual-screen "GuideBook" device on track for a June launch. Unfortunately, the only other details at the moment are that the device will apparently pack two 7-inch displays, and that it will supposedly be manufactured by Toshiba in-house. We're also assuming / hoping that the company has managed to refine things a bit from the circa-2006 device pictured above.
Kno dual-screen tablet appears at D8, we go hands-on
Kno promised to launch a double-screened Linux-based e-reader designed for students at D8, and the undercover startup didn't disappoint -- believe us when we say it came out in a big way. That's big as in freaking big: the Kno reader features dual 14.1-inch capacitive IPS displays (1440 x 900 each), weighs 5.5 pounds, and offers six to eight hours of battery life, all in a package that's so comically large we thought it was a joke when we first saw the press shots. Kno says it'll offer both pen and touch support, and it'll come with a stylus out of the box. Under the hood, it's running a Tegra 2 chip with 16GB of storage, and the entire experience is essentially a WebKit instance. Yes, it's sort of like the Courier, but larger -- much, much larger. We had a chance to go hands-on with the device as well as speak to some members of the team developing the Kno, and while it's clear that there are major bumps in the UI and user experience, it seems like the company is aware of them. What we saw today was clearly unfinished, with a lot of laggy, stuttery behavior in the interface, a crash or two, and some very inaccurate finger tracking, but Kno says it's hard at work on eradicating those issues. Even with the UI fixes, it's a hard sell at "under $1000," but Kno is putting together partnerships with publishers to make that a little easier to swallow, as they say ultimately it will be less expensive than buying regular old text books. It's an audacious idea, for sure... and we're still completely confused by one of the company's press pics featuring a bunch of dudes running around in their underwear, but we digress. Check out some shots from the demo, PR pics, and our hands-on with the device below. %Gallery-94223% %Gallery-94217% %Gallery-94219%
Sony patent application points to dual-screen, dual-use tablet
We never put too much faith in patent applications leading to actual products, but we can't help but get a little bit excited about the possibilities presented by a recent Sony application for a dual-screen tablet. Described specifically as an "electronic book with enhanced features," the device would sport two screens that could take on a different functionality depending on how the device is oriented -- functioning as an e-reader when in portrait mode, and displaying a keyboard on the lower screen when placed on a table, for instance. Now, this obviously has a few similarities to the Courier, and even more to Microsoft's earlier Codex project (with its "Battleship posture"), but Sony does seem to have put a slightly unique spin on things, and has even thrown in a few more ideas of its own -- even mentioning solar charging in its claims for the application.
e-Detail's dual-screen Prezenter gets Atom upgrade, becomes Averatec PT1400
Last we saw e-Detail's dual-screen Prezenter tablet it packed an underpowered AMD Geode processor, a hefty $1,800 price tag, and no US release date to speak of. While it's been well over a year now, it looks like most of those have now changed for the better, with the device apparently finding a new distributor and a few new upgrades. Now branded as the Averatec PT-1400 "Prezenter," the device packs the same dual 14-inch and 7-inch touchscreens as before, but gets a more powerful Atom Z520 processor (upgradeable to a Z540), along with an 80GB hard drive (or optional SSD), 1GB of RAM, and 802.11n WiFi, among other standard specs. Unfortunately, there's no word on a price just yet, but it will apparently go on sale in North America, Japan and Korea sometime this month, and be available in your choice of black or white. A slightly smaller 12-inch version is also apparently set to follow at a later, unspecified date.