Thursday
May102012
Question: form factors?
Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 3:00AM Another question from Jah today. Nokia have gone public with their plans for creating devices in different form factors. Are you happy with the slate like form factor? What other form factors would you be interested in? I personally like the clam shell form factor.
Reader Comments (7)
I would have put in for a form factor of Slide, but with screens generally becoming larger, the slate seems to becoming acceptable. The clamshell doesn't interest me as the outer screen, if present, is usually too small for anything other than a clock.
Before I got into smartphones I always had clamshells; I like the screen protection.
Sony's attempt at a clamshell tablet blew; however if they'd managed to get the two screens butting up against each other with no bezel between, and made them appear as a single screen (preferably with a seam that couldn't be felt by the finger as it slid across) then it would have been amazing. I don't think the technology's there yet though.
After having four devices in the slate form factor I still can't get used to virtual keyboards. My preference is for either the Blackberry/Treo form or a device with a slide out keyboard.
Slate works for me; never had issues typing on an iPad2 and don't have any on the Note. On a smaller device I like a physical keyboard; the Palm Pre worked well for me in that respect. I don't like clamshell phones at all.
With the appropriate engineering, I would like a slide out keyboard on my iPad. I hate to say it, but for me the touch keyboard is only good for short messages or if I don't have my Bluetooth keyboard with me. If they could keep the thin form factor of the current iPad and have a keyboard that slides out and creates a stand so that the iPad is at a good viewing angle and the keyboard is slightly raised, I would be very interested.
I might be interested in a clam shell keyboard attachment, but I want to be able to get the keyboard out of the way for non-typing use.
As for my iPhone, I don't think a slide out keyboard would be much better than typing in landscape which I rarely do anyway. A clam shell would jus tbe in the way for me.
Slate is good and the ideal for me. We must consider one thing above all: no moving parts give the device a much better resistance and it becomes much more solid and therefore, reduced risks of getting extra problems.
I like Bug Blatter's idea.
Fold out screen... but till that becomes a reality the slate factor does the job for me on a mobile