Yeah Baby Yeah
This is sexy as hell, and realistic, too. I'd buy it in a second. What I love about this is how it seems to work despite very few major changes to the OS X interface. Almost as if Apple's been planning something like this all along. Hmmmm.........
Thanks.
Yeah there are many features to OS X that transcend the keyboard-mouse interface. The Dock for instance. Snow Leopard's Dock with built-in Expose would work great on a Multi-Touch computer.
The main changes are in the behavior of the OS elements, not necessarily the look.
There are only a few things I dislike about this:
- The variable size keyboard. I have a hard enough time switching from portrait to landscape on my iPod Touch, let alone using an arbitrarily-sized keyboard with no tactile feedback.
That said, I presume I'd be able to plug in an external keyboard for typing longer documents, and stick with the onscreen keyboard for short, quick text entry.
If Multi-Touch is done right, typing wouldn't be hard at all. The main problem I have with my iPod Touch is that the keyboard is way too small. With the same adaptive typing technology applied to a much larger virtual keyboard I would imagine that people could type just about as fast as they do on a physical keyboard. Virtual keyboards can also be adapted to the app being used. I could see people using Slate to type for posts like this or even a small multipage report.
There are different sets of virtual keyboards for different purposes. The Fullscreen keyboard is best for typing long documents. There is also an in-window keyboard for light typing needs.
However, a physical keyboard might be preferred to some, so you could still connect one. The physical keyboard to a multi-touch computer would be like a Wacom Tablet to modern computers. You would not see them often, and usually the ones who have them are on a pro or semi-pro level (like someone writing a screenplay).
- The size. Large surfaces are fantastic for many reasons (and the interface shown here would only get better as the surface got larger), but they're not very portable. You'd still need a backpack to transport that thing around. I'd love something the size of a novel or a notebook that I can just throw in a small bag. Big enough to read text and write notes, but small enough to be portable.
To me you're describing two different devices. A small Media centric device (kind of like a larger iPod Touch), and a Mac-level device. I'm focused on the Mac-Level device with my Slate concept here.
Slate would be 13in in size and less than an inch thick. Without having to unfold the computer to use it, this 13in size would be surprisingly more portable and still retain a very comfortable screen size. When at home you could connect Slate to a 24in Multi-Touch display. But, I like the 13in size. It's the Goldilocks of displays (not too big, not too small, but just right).
Anyway, thanks for spending all that time indoors making sweet tablet videos. At least I'll have something to look at every time Apple doesn't announce a tablet now....
We'll I have to have something to do at the library when I'm on a study break.
Thanks!
