The Life and Times of Brock

So the iPad came on sale the other day, and has sold huge numbers and generated massive amounts of hype. The computer is a tablet, or a slate, which is a form factor that is designed to sit squarely in-between smartphones and laptops.

The world was split the day the announcement came out. Half of them (mostly first-gen iPhone users I’d be willing to bet) praised Steve Jobs on his incredible vision of the future, while many others gave it one massive ‘meh’. The concept of this computer is designed so that anyone is able to use it without much hassle, even people who haven’t used computers before.

But for power users, it’s not exactly their type of beast. I couldn’t see myself scurrying off to spend a minimum of US$500 on this type of device, in that it lacks what I want of my computers: multitasking (background processing) and access to some sort of file structure.

Firstly, due to the small screen size and limited processing capacity of the iPod Touch and iPhone, it makes sense for a user to only want to be running a single application at a time. Using too many applications drop battery life significantly, makes programs run much slower, and there is also the idea of switching tasks on such a small screen which is difficult to fathom (from the Windows Mobile- and Android-based devices I’ve seen and used, it’s failed quite considerably, though apparently the Palm Pre is quite elegant in multitasking). However, in a screen that is 10 inches, people would assume there would be room to have some type of dock on the bottom that would allow for task switching. But it wasn’t so.

Secondly, I want to be able to access the file structure of programs. Apple has moved away from the old ‘Explorer’ interface where everything is controlled by apps, which exist in a form of virtual vacuum. Sometimes I want to share files between computers just by dragging and dropping, and not having to go through some intermediate middleware that nobody really needs that much (I’m looking at you, iTunes!). I would like to be able to synchronize Live Mesh with my tablet, and be able to access and edit those files from anywhere, but it’s not so. It must be done through some sort of intermediate app.

In other news, Microsoft released details of their concept of tablet computing, which is basically the antithesis to Apple’s iPad, named the Microsoft Courier (which is a far better name anyway). Gizmodo went on to blog about the Courier and basically what it does, where it’s headed, and how it’s used.

Rather than being a single screen tablet, the Courier establishes itself in an incredibly nice metaphor of a newspaper, booklet, or journal, which automatically enables multi-tasking—the ability to use several apps at a single time. While one screen is using the web browser, another one can be taking notes, chatting to friends, looking through photos, playing music… the list is endless. I assume that, by the video posted below, there will be some pretty handy gestures that we’ll end up using to change applications.

The main movement that these big companies are trying to do, is that they’re trying to extend this metaphor of invisible computing: not necessarily that the computers themselves can’t be seen, but that they are not noticeable distinctly as computers. The way the iPod market is, I would be willing to bet money that only a minor percentage would consider any iPod a ‘computer’, because of the basic things: no keyboard, no mouse, it’s either worn, or carried in a pocket, and isn’t used in the same way that a ‘regular’ computer is used. The punch-line is: these companies want us using computers without even realizing we’re using computers. Hence why there’s such a strong attraction to the Microsoft Courier: we are all familiar with books, pens and paper, so why not just digitize what we are familiar with, in a familiar way?

If we are talking about invisible computing, why not just give a quick mention to the Microsoft Surface?

Here, the basic idea of having a coffee tablet as a computer is incredibly appealing (as much as naysayers would disagree, I’m sure). It uses a strong metaphor of an actual desktop, meaning that objects in the computer have physics and collision detection attached to them, in a way to trick us into using these devices, not as a computer, but as we would a real-world object. It will even interact with your objects just by placing them on the table.

This way, it can be as intuitive and natural as possible. If you’ve got an image on one device and want it copied to the other, place both devices on there, grab the image and throw it to the other phone. The computer will do the rest of the work, which is usually pretty messy work, all the while the user is believing that they actually ‘gave’ a phone an image, which it accepted and took for its own. This is Surface’s idea of using Windows’ File Explorer interface, but with a much stronger visual metaphor running behind it.

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1. The touch technology has no been very good until capacitive touch – that is, they’ve needed to use some type of stylus or it just was not accurate enough for a finger to use
2. Touch screens have been integrated into monitors, which are standing vertically, meaning that, in order to interact with them, the fingers and hands must cover the content of the monitor to actually use them. Also,
3. Nobody wants to lift their arms up all day to work on a single display. This phenomena is what is called the ‘gorilla arm’, where it would cause strain in the arms and shoulders of the users if it went for too long.

I imagine my concept would be somewhat similar to that, without spreading it out as much. Make it less circular, more to the ergonomics of how we use our hand. Here is Windows 7’s default touch keyboard looks:

There are a couple of problems with the default. Firstly, it covers up too much screen content. Secondly, it’s too rigid and square.

My touch keyboard would be curved, more in-line with the DialKeys (but maybe a midpoint between the two), with everything being Glass (transparent), so that the top screen can still see content behind it, yet see what the fingers are touching.

Now, the positioning of the keyboard would be crucial. Should it go low, just above the taskbar (as are the DialKeys), or should the taskbar be moved elsewhere (to the top or sides?), and then how do we access it when we need it (I’m going to assume we throw the keyboard away when we don’t need it, and activate it when we do).

I still need to do some concepts, and will update this post with drawings and so on. I imagine there is a tab on the side of the page (as is with current Windows 7 touch interface) that is ‘dragged out’ and becomes the keyboard.

Then, finally my last concept is to have vibration creators just in the corner of the screen which are activated every time a key is pressed, to give the user tactile feedback every time they tap a key, as per most Android devices.

This post is far from finished. Hopefully if I’m able to purchase a touch-screen monitor, I’ll be able to figure out how to hack it up and turn it into a mouse/keyboard replacement.