Interact 360

This will be resolved later in the blog, but one revision of the hardware may be required.

Like the iPhone, this product should be able to rotate a full 360.

If we look at Microsoft Surface, (read my design blog on it here) the interaction of the touchscreen is different because:

• It doesn’t rotate, or behaves like a coffee table (i.e. multiple users can grab and play with multiple items, so the interface has to be viewed from ANY angle and still be intuitive.
• certain items and interactions have only one orientation, e.g. watching a movie, reading a book. (one user can do this, but the other user at the opposite side, will not be able to enjoy the experience in the same way (if at all!)

Because the MacProTouch is more of a personal item, I am taking the assumption that one or more people is facing it the same way.

Another thing to note about rotation is peripheral placement. For say firewires and monitor cables, a full 360 rotation is unlikely. However for the two most common peripherals, a mouse and headphones, placement is important to allow for a full 360 experience.

You'll note that the headphone/mic jack and usb cable for the mouse is always on the opposite side across the horizontal access. This is handy if the user wants to rotate for left handed use.

For vertical alignments, the headphone jack is either at the top or bottom. A usb has been added to the peripheral sockets at the back, this way the mouse is to the side of the macprotouch at all times.

It should be noted, that the rotation of the interface only works when the tablet is on some sort of slope, but typically a user may rotate it to the orientation they want to work with, and then lie the tablet flat on a surface, thereby keeping it that orientation.

TouchScreen at the ready!!

Now that I've wrapped up some of the hardware issues I thought the MacProTouch might have, I am going to look at the software issues of the touchscreen.

I had a few thoughts about what a MacProTouch should do, but more specifically who the target user of such a device would be. But then I just thought, well what would I use? (hey, it is my blog after all!).

I imagine myself sitting at a coffee shop in L.A. working on my screenplay. Uploading a draft to my personal site, browsing the web, watching a movie, listening to music. Drawing? well that might be a bit difficult but I do think its possible to convert the MacProTouch into a Wacom tablet.

P.s. I NEVER could get used to Wacom tablets! You're telling me to draw over here but look over there? That makes no sense! I look up to reference what I'm drawing, and look down at my hand to see how I'm drawing it!!

So, the MacProTouch should be like a drawing pad, a typewriter, an internet browser AND an entertainment device that integrates seamlessly into my creative projects. More of these ideas later.

I also have one other requirement of the device, and that it must be able to deal with sunlight. I'm not talking blistering sunlight, but i should be able to write my screenplay, draw a building, watch a movie, outside, comfortably in the sun.

Dimensions

Just to give an idea of what the size should be before I continue with the interface design, I looked towards the 13" macbook for dimensions guidance. I also looked at the macbook pro (13 inch).

We will still use the 12.78 width as a guide, and depth of 9.82 (from macbook pro)
However, we can shave an inch of the depth, as the webcam will be at the side, not the top:


Because of this our depth should be around 8.82, it might even be less.

At 12.78, this width accommodates a typical keyboard width of 10.37 inches, leaving over an inch grip on each side (1.205).

As for height, we could reduce this from 0.95" as there is not lid to flip up. The height would be dependant on the height required of the ports and charger, so this could be substantially thinner than 0.95.

Next up: interface design!

Arise MacProTouch, Arise!

The above diagram illustrates the underside of the laptop. You can see that the wireless charger, Ethernet cable and other ports, are all at the back of the laptop. On the base are the rechargeable battery (wirelessy of course) and two 'Risers'. These behave very similarly to the wireless plug as in they have a nice button like action. Pushing on either riser activates the other. They both work in tandem.

Below shows how the risers can be pushed to achieve different elevations.


The risers provide the slope necessary for ergonomic typing. This is based on the assumption I am typing at my desk, but realistically I see the MacProTouch as something easily typed on in your lap.

Of course the internal space taken up by the risers could be an issue, but I think its a more elegant approach than flip-out 'stilts' you see on current keyboards (which you have to flip-out individually, doubling your chance of breaking one of them, and rendering both useless in the process!!)

Initial hardware design

Here is an initial diagram of what the tablet could look like. You'll notice a couple of issues:

Webcam placement is still an issue, putting it at the top removes a lot of available screen real estate, so i put it to the side by the grips. The idea being, when the tablet faces you horizontally, the cam is recording from the side, when the tablet is in portrait mode, the cam, naturally, is at the top.

I removed the slope of the tablet. I think rises can be placed on the base of the laptop to improve the slope for easier typing so I want to encourage that in here. It could be a simple push button action, similar to the removable wireless plug.

I am still debating whether the mic/headphone jack should be on the same side as the USB ports. For simple reason most people will want to listen to music while navigating with a mouse and I don't want one to impede on the other. The other issue (note how product design seems to be one solution creating an unexpected problem!) is that if I can turn this tablet on the side (which i should be able to do) the headphone Jack (and USBs!) will now be on the bottom. Which is a bit awkward!

So still a few kinks to iron out, but as I move onto the interface design, hopefully these problems will become solutions.