TheAlways Innovating ghost Bookdoes something I ’ve never seen from a netbook : it has a in full detachable keyboard dock and transforms from a measure look 8.9 - in netbook , to a stand - alone tab .
Spearheaded by Gregoire Gentil , the man behind the ZonbuDesktopandLaptop , the Touch Book is his latest undertaking , and a promising one at that . Gentil say the Touch Book ’s hardware and computer software are full open root and ready for alteration . While the twist will come preloaded with a custom Touch Book OS , Gentil enunciate this auto is subject of running mobile operating systems such as Android or Windows CE .
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The hardware I see was n’t quite complete — the software was demoed on a prototype , and the final computer hardware above were just empty shells to give an idea of the pattern — so I ca nt comment too much on how well the end mathematical product performs , but I saw enough to consider this affair more than vaporware .
The Touch Book is the first netbook power by a 600 MHz TI OMAP3 central processor ( built around branch engineering ) , 256 mebibyte RAM , 3 - bloc accelerometer , an 8 - gigabyte microSD carte for storage and two batteries providing up to 15 hours of usage between charges . The 8.9 - inch silver screen can display solution up to 1024×768 and uses a resistive touch dialog box . There ’s also the common offerings of 802.11b / g / n wi - fi and Bluetooth .
As a standalone lozenge , the Touch Book is just about 9.5″x7″x1″ and weigh about a pound . When docked to the keyboard , it is about 1.4 - inches thick and weighs 2 pounds . All of the Touch Book ’s guts , except for one of the batteries , are housed in the tablet fortune of the gimmick , so that it ’s fully running while detatched from the keyboard .
The chipset fits on a motherboard about the size of an index card , and is hard optimize to get the best performance out of the computer hardware . Part of this involves stacking the RAM directly on top of the processor in a packet on package configuration . The lid of the touchbook also pops off , so you have easy memory access to the hardware and it ’s two internal USB ports you may use for dongles you do nt want hanging off the side of the tablet .
As far as software package go , the type O is based around the candid Embedded Linux platform , but to the full customized for the Touch Book hardware . As such , the Touch Book has the power to handle full screen video , and render OpenGL 3D graphics . Gentil say the Touch Book can run some of the same games found on the iPhone and plans to extend them in the future .
The Touch Book UI design depends on what configuration the computer hardware is in . When docked to the keyboard , the Touch Book uses a monetary standard , cursor - found UI that looks like other Linux desktop . However , when in tablet mode , it expend a custom - design , touch modality - based UI . The touch UI is based around globular icon that go around in a circular fashion as you snarf to the next one . mental object is divided into three category : vane , apps and preferences .
On the apps side , Touch Book will embark with both Firefox andFennec(Mobile Firefox ) , game that will make use of the accelerometer , plus various sort of connection and productivity apps , such as Good Book central processor and spreadsheet - type computer programme .
Always Innovating plan to start ship the Touch Book in late May or early June , price at $ 300 for the pad alone , or $ 400 for the tablet and keyboard dock combination . Pre - orderingwill begin next week , and you may rate the Touch Book in either cerise or sullen grey colour . Gentil says he would also like to release succeeding iterations that include support for GPS and 3 G mobile broadband . [ Always Innovating ]
novel TOUCHBOOK COMBINES NETBOOK AND TOUCHSCREEN TABLET ; PROVIDES THREE TIMES THE BATTERY LIFE AT UNDER TWO Syrian pound
PALM DESERT , Calif. March 2 , 2009 : Always introduce today uncover the Touch Book , a versatile newfangled equipment that work as both a netbook and a tab thanks to a detachable keyboard and a 3D touchscreen substance abuser interface . The Touch Book , preview at DEMO 09 , weighs less than two Irish pound as a netbook and has a bombardment life of 10 to 15 hour – three time long than most netbooks .
“ The Touch Book is arrant for these tough economical times because you could apply it in so many ways , ” said Gregoire Gentil , father of Always Innovating and Almighty of the Touch Book . “ you could habituate it as a netbook electronic computer , a handwriting - held game twist , or a video player . you may even reverse the keyboard to prop up it up on a table in an inverted ‘ V ’ . ultimately , because it is magnetic , you may remove the keyboard and put the tablet on the fridge to help as a kitchen computer or digital human body . ”
The Touch Book flux the best of open germ software and open ironware with a sleek industrial design by clothes designer Fred Bould . The forward-looking design include internal USB plugs . “ I hate make dongles flow from my laptop computer – I often terminate up disconnect them circumstantially – so we opted to put the USB inside , ” say Gentil .
The Touch Book is the first netbook featuring an ARM processor from Texas Instruments , result in owing barrage fire liveliness , and a rooter less , heat - and - noise - free system .
consort to Chris Shipley , executive producer of the DEMO Conferences , the Touch Book ’s innovative architecture and industrial design earned it a smudge on the DEMO group discussion stage . “ The longer battery life is a blessing to netbook users . But the Touch Book ’s versatility – its ability to go as a netbook as well as a standalone touch screen lozenge – make it a breakthrough product , ” said Shipley
The Touch Book is expected to ship in late spring and will start at $ 299 . Advance order can be place at http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/store/.
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