Care for a 4-in-1 device?

A California based company has come up with a product that acts as a laptop computer, handheld game device, e-book reader and video player

Care for a 4-in-1 device?

A California based company has come up with a product that acts as a laptop computer, handheld game device, e-book reader and video player

We are constantly reminded that we should not judge a book by its cover and after Hollywood started making movies 'based on the book...' that had nothing much to do with the book, a wag said that you should not judge a book by its movie either. Similarly, we in the tech media have a line do not judge a product until you have actually reviewed it.

We are not reviewing this product the Touch Book from Always Innovating so we will not be offering any comments on the product itself. However, we will be looking at some of its features and how this company has come up with an innovation, which is especially welcome when a recession is troubling all of us.

Nice features

Of course, one clever thing that Always Innovating has done is base the product on a net book, which is still one of the few products that are selling well. But credit should be given for one reason while most companies are pushing vanilla net books saying that at least something is selling, this company has come up with something innovative.

A lot of times, innovation consists of taking that which already exists and then moving these features to a different product line. While Always Innovating is talking about a four-in-one, what it has basically done is move a feature found on any cell phone being always on and a feature usually associated with a modern high-end cell phone the touch screen onto a net book.

Always on

A nice feature of the Touch Book is that you don't have to boot it at all. It uses an ARM processor from Texas Instruments which consumes very little power, allowing the device to stay on all the time and this is great because you don't have to go through a ten-minute boot to watch your favourite movie. The product also has no disk drive or fans, so it is completely silent, another plus when you don't want to be disturbed by noise.

It is hard to say how good the product will be in real life, but insofar as basic features go, it seems to be a nice product that anybody would love to use. And the price of $299 that is shown on the company's site also seems decent enough for a product that seems to hold a lot of promise. Of course, the market and not any writer, product reviewer or even the product designer will ultimately decide what happens to the Touch Book.

Tech specs
Dimensions: 9.4" x 7" x 1.4"
Weight: 2 pounds (including keyboard)
CPU: ARM Texas Instruments OMAP3 chip
Screen: 1024x600 8.9''
Storage: 8GB micro SD card
Battery life: 10 to 15 hours
Also features: Wifi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth; 3-dimensional accelerometer; speakers (micro and headphone); 6 USB 2.0 (3 internal, 2 external, 1 mini) connectors
Source: https://www.alwaysinnovating.com

QUICK TAKE
>>Always Innovating has launched a four-in-one Touch Book
>>The device is basically a touch-screen tablet that comes with a detachable keyboard base
>>Once you remove the keyboard, you can use it as an e-book reader