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Sunday, April 06, 2008

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I Really Like Dell's Design Philosophy: Resume On Pen Removal

- Rob Bushway

Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC Another feature in which the Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC shows off it edge is with this nifty little feature: Resume On Pen Removal

It works quite simple: when in Stand-By or Hibernate mode, ejecting the pen will wake the system up. I like Dell's approach a lot: they put the focus on the pen. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is a subtle shift in thinking about how to approach interaction with a Tablet PC.

N-Trig's Auto-Mode implementation follows the same design philosophy on the XT: to begin using touch, just touch the screen twice, and touch will activate. To begin writing again, just bring the pen to the screen, and the pen will take over again It is instinctive and natural. No hardware button pushes to get in the way of how you interact with the Tablet PC.

Another area in which Dell thought about user experience was the scroll wheel on the side of the screen. It is the perfect location for scrolling pages while in portrait mode.

I really appreciate companies who approach design like that. It means they "get" Tablet and are focused on the whole experience of pen, touch, writing, launching applications, scrolling, and more.

Stay tuned later this week for a series of InkShows on the Latitude XT, as I delve into these areas and more.



Sunday, April 06, 2008 5:16:07 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
doesn't the x61 tablet also have this feature?
DRTigerlilly
Sunday, April 06, 2008 6:17:49 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
i was about to say the same thing
myloer
Sunday, April 06, 2008 6:19:16 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
You are correct: I do think the X61 has the remove pen feature, too.
Rob
Sunday, April 06, 2008 7:04:08 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
Yep, the X61 has that feature.

Doug
Doug
Sunday, April 06, 2008 8:02:35 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
personally, i think the dell xt copies the x61t on a lot of things. touch on the x61 will shut off when the pen is near and turns back on when the pen isn't within an inch or so; you don't even have to tap the screen twice.
Jason
Sunday, April 06, 2008 8:06:09 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
Jason - the x61 touch does not work like touch on the XT. I'll demo this differences in my upcoming InkShows
Rob
Monday, April 07, 2008 6:29:42 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
looking forward to those inkshows Rob!
keep up the good work!
Tuur
Monday, April 07, 2008 5:14:24 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
Rob,
i think Jason means, that touch is deactivated when the pen comes near the screen on both the dell & x61t, unless i guess its in dual mode?
DRTigerlilly
Monday, April 07, 2008 5:17:31 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
right - which is the same thing that the XT supports in dual mode. Both the XT and X61 still have potential vectoring or accidental button activations. With auto-mode, you can turn touch off until you really want to use it, which the X61 does not support.
Rob
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