Ampers & Dot

Last week gadget geeks began buzzing about the prototype Lenovo Yoga, an awkwardly named, but sleekly designed ultra portable notebook - seen here:

The Yoga is a conceptual spin on the Sony P, taking the bite sized computer and slimming it down even further. With a tiny keyboard and nub mouse, space on this puppy is at a premium. But surprisingly, there’s still a super wide screen display.

On one hand this is looks awesome gives you considerably more square inches of screen than most Mobile Internet Devices - but on the other hand, much of the screen is entirely wasted space.

I’m not sure how manufacturers haven’t realized this, but extra wide screens aren’t necessarily good for user experience. The problem, is that the web isn’t built in wide screen. Web “pages” are built like, well… pages. Not always 8.5″ by 11″, but if one of the dimensions stretches it’s the length, not width.

Look at your browser right now - you’ll realize that it’s actually one dimensionally navigational: you get the option of Up or Down. Have you ever tried to read a page that scrolled right and left? How annoying was that? (Side note: I’m entirely convinced this is why Plurk failed and Twitter succeeded. Side scrolling does NOT work.)

Ultimately this introduces a massive problem: unoptimized computing experience. Browsing the web on an ultra-wide screened device gives you a lot of wasted left-to-right.

Let’s take a look at the Yoga’s Flickr page in “Yoga-View”:

What the heck is that? You can’t even get a picture in the frame all at once, but look at all the wasted space on the sides. And hell, this doesn’t even have my taskbar in it - that would rob an additional 30-45 pixels.

So if the web is inherently vertically functional, then why do device screens continue to get shorter and wider? My guess, is that it’s to increase screen real-estate by keeping the device pocketably small. Larger, squarer devices just don’t look or feel as tiny - while smaller thin units just feel more “gadgety”. In the case of the Yoga or Sony P, it was likely a trade off to get a full sized keyboard clamshell - you just can’t cut out any more room and expect to have a functioning qwerty pad.

The see one of two solutions: first, the entire web could change. Pages can be re-written to accommodate wide screen displays, meaning no more wasted space on each side - think of five or six column blog layouts… Second, gadget screens are going to need to advance, making foldable displays that slim down to fit in your pocket, but open up to a rich browsing experience.

But for now, I’d rather have a clunkier device that allows me to functionally use the computer as opposed to an incredibly slick looking one that requires  me to scroll more often than I click.

Seeing as how this blog has slowly evolved into being entirely focused on gadget hardware analysis, it seems only fitting that I cover today’s Apple news.

That’s right folks: we have another iPod to drool over - the new and “improved” iPod Shuffle, seen here:

The new iPod has the following features:

• It’s tiny, about the size of a AA battery.
• Comes in fancy matte black or lame-o silver
• Holds 4gb of music
• Costs more than the old one
• Has Text to Speech technology that reads you what song you’re listening to (this one is so ridiculous that I don’t even know where to begin)
• Has NO buttons.

Ugh. No buttons.

Ok, so there are buttons… they’re just on the headphones - meaning that there are no buttons on the device. What’s so wrong with buttons!? Nothing. Buttons are great - especially for something small like this. But I know what you’re thinking: buttons on the headphones - that’s ok! Well you’re wrong.

Having buttons on the headphones means that you’ll either have to use Apple’s headphones or buy an adapter to use any others (including any old iPhone earbuds you might have around). It also means that when your Apple headphones break (and they will, I mean - those things will never stay in your ears and the cord will get tangled and frayed in a few months) you’re going to have to buy the expensive Apple-branded ones just so that you can change the song on your mp3 player. Are you serious?!

And let’s look at the price: first, it’s $70 - which is more expensive than Apple’s previous shuffle. Sure, it holds a bit more, but in this economy more expensive is almost unheard of. But what if you want to use other headphones? Or what if your pod-controlling headphones break? Well you’ll need that adapter… and that’ll probably cost you an Apple-tax of $20-30 (just a guess). Ultimately this thing will set you back MORE than almost any comparably spec’d mp3 players.

Look, I want to rationalize Apple’s decision saying that the lack of buttons is to support the tiny size - but watching Apple design gadgets with fewer and fewer buttons - I really see this as a continued push to over-simplify, which in turn continues to complicate user experience.

Simply put: fewer buttons is NOT better. Take it away, The Onion:

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

I’ve long argued the need for buttons but also respect the unique value that touch centric devices bring to user experience. It’s a confusing paradox where I’ve vowed to never own another phone without a touchscreen - but still rely quite heavily on hardware buttons to drive the experience.

Well, over the last week gadget blogs have been buzzing about two new toys coming to market: the LG Versa phone and the Touch Book computer. The beauty and innovation behind these eye-catching devices being that the keyboard detaches leaving a touchscreen slate.

The detachable form factor gives consumers the best of both worlds: a rich touch experience in lightweight and portable hardware, but an optional keyboard for typing/messaging/whatnot. This makes perfect sense to me because touchscreen keyboards just aren’t good enough for real work. They aren’t. But often times all you’ll need is a pretty screen with easy scrolling options and the inherent fun in navigating with your finger.

Personally, I would really appreciate this form factor. On my cellphone I don’t find the need to use the keyboard often - when browsing the mobile web it’s easy to pull up the onscreen keyboard to search things like “John Cusack films” in a few seconds - to learn that he had 18 years of awesomeness (and eight recent years of embarrassment). But when I need to write an email or even a longer text message - I desperately need keys. Whenever I try to write an email with my onscreen keyboard I find myself being short and snippy - and never as coherent as I should be. And I totally blame the onscreen keyboard for that!

Similarly, when browsing the web on a laptop - I don’t really need the keyboard - it just gets in the way (related note: have you ever browsed through Google reader with a touchscreen? It’s delightful, I promise you). But as soon as I’m ready to actually do something functional - I simply must have tactile reinforcement.

So think that the detachable form factor will gain popularity over the next few years and will become more common in both phones and computers. A bright clean touch surface combined with a hardware keyboard makes a great device - plus, you give the two an option to separate and you have two perfect devices in one.