Touchscreens, touchscreens, and more touchscreens. That seems to be what CES has been all about this year. As compelling, and useful as touchscreens are, it remains to be seen if they will be enough of a draw to make some of the devices on offer a success. Devices such as Sony’s Dash, a tablet shaped device with 7″ touchscreen, or IDC’s Vega, a 15″ touchscreen tablet device, are very capable, but will the form factor be a hit? Apple possibly think so, as do Lenovo, both with tablet devices, soon to become available.

The tablet form factor is not new of course, and has been in and out of favour a bit, with varying degrees of success. Many of these prior tablets have come with touchscreens, although perhaps not quite as accomplished. The problem with these devices in the past is that they often get compared to PC’s, perhaps unfairly, but tablets never came up to scratch against the horse power of the desktop, or laptop.

The iPhone has paved the way for touchscreen devices being more common about the house, but is there room for a 15″ device that has much the same capability, with less portability? Can you see yourself using it as a laptop in front  of the TV, or as an e-reader on the bus? All of these applications for it are possible, but there are devices that do it better. The battery will never last as long as an e-reader, and the ability to flex the screen towards you is a definite plus for the laptop. These devices are jacks of all trades, and masters of none, and it will be the quality of the technology that makes or breaks them. Something that Apple is very good at, only time will tell which devices get on and which don’t.

Buy iPhone 3GS

Pay As You Go
[product#158]

*

*

Pay Monthly