Toshiba announces dual-touchscreen Windows 7 tablet

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Posted on 21 Jun 2010 at 06:59

Toshiba has announced the Libretto W100, a dual-touchscreen tablet PC running Windows 7 that could rival Apple's iPad.

Following the launch of the Apple iPad, we've been expecting similar tablet computers without a physical keyboard to come out of the woodwork and the Libretto W100 is one of the first we've seen from a major, established laptop manufacturer. The W100 will run Windows 7 Home Premium and have a laptop-like clamshell design that opens to reveal two 7in touchscreen displays, each with a resolution of 1,024x600 pixels.

The bottom display can be used to extend the standard Windows desktop, display the onscreen keyboard or display Toshiba's own LifeSpace program. This application not only allows you to launch programs and files, but can also display notes and photos on a virtual bulletin board. You can flip between desktop mode, the LifeSpace program and the keyboard using a dedicated button.

You can switch between different keyboard layouts and even enable an optional virtual touchpad. Text entry is aided by an iPhone/Android-style auto correct system. We tried out a prototype W100 briefly at Toshiba's London press conference and weren't surprised to find that the touchscreen keyboard wasn't as large as the iPad's onscreen keyboard, but it did feel very responsive. An option to enable haptic feedback, which should give a sense of tactile feedback as each key is pressed and isn't available on the iPad, didn't work on our prototype. The auto correct system wasn't as accurate as the iPad's in correcting our mistyped words, but it may improve by the time the W100 goes on sale.

An orientation sensor allows the on-screen image to be rotated either horizontally or vertically. The W100 can therefore be held and used like a book instead of like a laptop which could prove invaluable when used with ebook reading software.

The W100 felt surprisingly chunky, but it is very light at 840g. Specifications include 2GB of RAM, a 62GB SSD, a microSD slot, a single USB port as well as built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, but a 3G modem will cost extra. We have our concerns about battery life though, as the battery in the prototype we saw was a relatively meager 34Wh. From our experience with similarly-equipped netbooks and ultra-portable laptops, this is unlikely to give battery life of more than two or three hours.

Toshiba plans to have the Libretto W100 on sale by July but has yet to decide on pricing. Although it's very refreshing to see such an unusually designed tablet, we're puzzled that Toshiba opted for Windows 7, which feels rather clunky on a touchscreen compared to Android. However, we'll keep an open mind and bring you a full verdict as soon as a finished W100 arrives in our Labs.

Author: Alan Lu