Tablet vendors hone efforts to get form factors just right
With CES 2011 upon us, I can’t help but reflect on the doggedness of the mobile industry to package wireless calling, computing, emailing, gaming, streaming and dozens of other functions into just the right form factors.
By “right,” I’m talking about products that are small and lightweight enough to be toted anywhere with minimal hassle, but big enough so those over 40 can read the screen. They also need input technology that enables the quick creation of texts and messages with minimal do-overs and user frustration.
Also see: CES 11 product slideshow
At this year’s Consumer Electronic Show, vendor efforts to accommodate the limitations of human anatomy in mobile devices will again be in prime form. Tablets – lighter than notebooks but easier to see and manipulate than smart phones – are currently a leading form factor that will take center stage at the show.
Industry rumblings suggest that a dozen or more new tablets from at least as many companies could be on display this week, most of them Android-based.
Of course, Verizon Wireless is expected to introduce LTE-enabled smart phones for its nascent 4G network. The LTE devices will likely arrive from Samsung, Motorola, HTC and LG Electronics. At least one Android tablet – possibly from Motorola – is expected to debut for Verizon’s LTE network.
On the input front, the industry continues to hone ergonomic technologies. Swype, for example, has opened up its “word tracing” beta from a restricted few to anyone with a compatible Android device.
Swype more or less combines typing (in that you use your finger on a touch keyboard) with stylus-like motions as you lightly “draw” lines through all the letters of a word with said finger. You lift your finger from the screen to end the word.
This tracing input method might take a little getting used to, but for those who get the knack of it, communicating could get faster.
