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Comment by markessien | Hacker News Reader

It's not going to work. The major problem I see is that we only have two arms - if both are holding the device, how do you input data into it. If you drop it on the table, then it's flat on the table, which is also uncomfortable to enter data into. You want something that leans towards you.

What they need to do to make this work is:

1. Drop all the border around the touchscreen. Make the screen almost flush with the plastic around it

2. Use metal for the edges - like the macbook pro. Pay extreme attention to the external aesthetics

3. Make it smaller. One should be able to hold it comfortably with one hand and type with the other

4. Increase the size of the on-screen keyboard

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1) I assume they can't get rid of the border because of the camera that comes with it.

3) If you read the article, it will be probably half as thick the final product - this is just a prototype which they left lots of room in it.

With the being flat on a table thing, what about the addition of foldable clips that would put it on an angle (like underneath your keyboard) - that would fix that problem.

It still does not solve the typing problem. You view the thing on an angle, but you want to type on a flat or slightly up tilted surface.

In the comments, Arrington mentions that the final product will ship with a stand, and also have a USB, earphones, and power port. I guess you could set it on the table, plug in a USB keyboard, and plug it into power. Then again, now it's a laptop.

You can solve the viewing angle problems without having to adjust the hardware too significantly - what about adjusting the perspective of the window that you're using depending on the angle that the thing is being viewed at.

For instance, if someone takes out both viewing angle clips, chances are it's sitting on a tabletop, so the screen could adjust accordingly so people aren't having to crane their necks to view the text accordingly.

Regarding 3 - why would you want to make it smaller? It can easily be held with 1 hand as they were doing in the demo. It weighs under 3lbs (maybe a couple oz' less when they make it smaller/remove stuff) - I can comfortably hold my MacBook Air with 1 hand while I type with the other and it weighs 3lbs.

How much input would you need? Aside from chatting, just having access to RSS and typing in Wikipedia entries would be enough.

I'd say about 30% of my interaction with the internet involves me sending data out. The other 70% is about reading stuff. The form factor of the tablet is not correct for reading, which is part of the point I'm trying to make. We have hundreds of years of experimentation with reading equipment, and there is a reason that books are a certain shape, size and for. It works. Why are they throwing all that out and coming up with a brand new form factor for something that is supposed to also be a reader?

They could split the keyboard in a way that would make it thumb-able.

Well, if they offer a small bluetooth keyboard as an accessory, then it would be okay.

Then you need a stand and a desk to use it. You'd be better off with a netbook/laptop.

I actually meant split the on-screen keyboard, with one half at either side of the screen where your thumbs would be.

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