Acer Unveils Double Touchscreen Iconia Touchbook

Acer unveiled the Iconia Touchbook, a double touchscreen 14-inch laptop computer, at a press event in New York. The entire device is touch-enabled, including a virtual keyboard that can be called upon by activating the Iconia’s Ring, the hub of functionality that appears on the horizontal screen. While even Acer finds it difficult to label the device, referring to the Iconia as both a notebook and a tablet in its release statement, the computer can function as either. Open the lid in the traditional-laptop configuration and use the upright screen as the display, the “laptop” screen as a keyboard. 

The Iconia uses an Intel Core i5 processor. Both 14-inch displays have HD 1366x768 resolution, LED-backlit TFT LCDs and Gorilla Glass, the same material used in the iPhone 4. It has 3G connectivity, up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, integrated Intel graphics, a hard drive up to 750GB, and one HDMI port for connecting the device to an HDTV, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port and a VGA port.  Iconia runs Windows 7 Home Premium. Acer did not release price or availability on the Iconia. The Iconia is fully touch-sensitive, but Acer has provided a virtual touchpad and numeric keypad in the keyboard configuration, to help users transition from old-school keyboard to a 10-finger grab, pinch and jab operation. 

Acer previewed its own branded multimedia store called Alive, that will offer 2,000 Hollywood movies, more than 15,000 music videos, and eight million songs along with thousands of e-books and casual games. Complementing its store, the company introduced clear.fi, cloud-based media networking system to wirelessly connect all devices on a home Wi-Fi network. That should include an Internet-connected TV, but Acer also introduced its Revo, a set-top box that clear.fi video to a TV. Alive will be available in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2011; no date released for clear.fi. TECHNEWS DAILY