Acer Iconia and 10in detachable tablet arrive

Acer's special event today brought two Windows 7 computers that it hopes will both do something new. The Iconia is one of the first full-size, mainstream dual touchscreen notebooks and has two 14-inch, 1366x768 displays that both support Windows 7's multi-touch for up to 10 fingers when typing. The bottom screen is gesture-aware and can bring up the keyboard, media controls, an app launcher, a window manager and a gesture editor.

Apps themselves get special treatment to use the twin touch displays. The touch web browser (based on Internet Explorer) can occupy both screens and lets users drag to select an area of focus. MyJournal creates a scrapbook of web posts, Scrapbook collects images and other media in a central area, and SocialJogger aggregates Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.

Some details weren't made public, but it should run a previously unknown Core i5 480M through to the 580M, 4GB of RAM, Intel integrated video, and between 320GB and 750GB of hard drive space. Acer plans to include HDMI, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and one USB 3.0 port to go with two USB 2.0 ports. A 3G modem will be optional in the 6.2-pound frame.

Ship dates and pricing aren't known, but an Iconia developer SDK is due in December.

Only one Windows 7-based tablet will come from Acer but will be relatively unique for Windows in having a full keyboard dock. The 10-inch slate will have two 1.3-megapixel cameras and will be light for the platform with a 2.2-pound weight. Its processor and other details aren't known, though at this size is likely to use an Atom Z600. A 3G modem should be optional.

The as yet unnamed Windows tablet won't ship until February.

Iconia









Unnamed Windows 7 tablet

By Electronista Staff