Acer Iconia first hands-on! (update: video!)
Acer's dual-screen Iconia laptop is bold, for sure — eschewing a physical keyboard for another display — but its LCD panels are also mighty glossy. If you've got a light in the vicinity above you, there's gonna be glare — we saw it on stage, and we just saw it now in person.
Context & Ripple Effects
The hardware follows a September leak describing an Acer laptop built around two touchscreens and no physical keyboard. The hands-on turns that previously leaked dual-display design into a concrete usability test, with screen glare emerging as a constraint rather than an abstract design trade-off.
Acer is also entering Android tablets, with 7-inch and 10.1-inch models slated for April 2011. That puts the Iconia alongside a broader Acer push to make touch input, rather than a conventional keyboard alone, part of its computing lineup.
First-order effects
- Acer’s Iconia must justify replacing a physical keyboard with a second LCD, while the observed gloss and glare make display readability an immediate part of the product’s usability assessment.
- Buyers evaluating Acer’s new touch-oriented devices gain a clearer basis for comparing a dual-screen laptop’s input flexibility against the practical drawbacks of reflective displays.
Second-order effects
- Acer’s own forthcoming Android tablets create an internal comparison: touch-first buyers can weigh dedicated tablet form factors against the Iconia’s attempt to retain laptop-style productivity without physical keys.
- The Iconia raises the competitive value of display finish and touch-interface quality for PC makers experimenting with keyboard alternatives, not merely screen count.
Third-order effects
- If dual-screen designs gain traction, laptop differentiation shifts further from keyboard mechanics toward the quality of on-screen controls, display visibility, and software designed for touch input.
- Acer’s parallel tablet and dual-screen efforts point to a broader convergence in which PCs and tablets compete around interaction models as much as processor or chassis specifications.
The trend: Acer is testing touch-led computing across both tablet and laptop formats, treating the keyboard as an interface choice rather than a fixed PC component.