Dual touch screen laptop technology no longer sounds like concept device. An Italian company actually already released something similar in the Canova, a full dual-touch screen device, but we couldn't call it a laptop in its first generation form. The next product in line is predicted by some industry experts to be released in 2010, but the company behind the revolutionary product, V12 Design, is being tight lip about specifics over the dual touch screen laptop. The company has paired with an unnamed U.S. based laptop manufacturer in developing the laptop.
Features that are have been mentioned by the CEO of V12 as well as speculated by outsiders really sound like taking the best of today's smart phone technology, the computing power of today's laptops, and rolling it into a machine that will balance usability and mobility. There are promises that the new laptop, if we can call it that, will do things no one has ever seen a laptop do before. There will be support for multi-touch input and an on-screen software keyboard when applicable. There seems to be speculation that unlike other on-screen keyboards, such as the Apple iPhone and similar touch screen smart phones, the keyboard will use a special haptic feedback technology to give users better comfort and feel closer to a traditional keyboard.
As such, the software running on the new machine will be designed for minimal use of keyboarding and there will definitely be a built in microphone with voice recognition technology to a major degree. With the advancement in voice recognition technology, as well as dual touch screen, laptops of this design are expected to utilize voice activated commands much more than we're used to today.
With this must viewing surface you can imagine the possibilities laptop manufacturers can cram into these mobile computing machines. Expect the functionality from the first generation Canova to carry over. These would be the drawing and writing pad which is a pretty standard feature of most touch screen laptops. In addition to allowing for artistic expression, the new laptop will also transform into an ebook reader and the touch screen will allow for page flipping like a traditional book. Speaking of which, this is not the only dual touch screen notebook set to release. At about the same time, OLPC is promising to have realized its' concept laptop; looks like we have an exciting upcoming year.
