Appalling graphics aside, the combo touchpad/mini LCD screen combo on Sharp’s new Mebius NJ70A looks fantastic. The tiny extra screen brings a real differentiator to this otherwise standard netbook (10” screen, 1.6GHz Atom chip, 1GB RAM, you know the rest), replacing the usually terrible trackpad found on other netbooks with an extra, tiny touch-screen monitor.
The pad works just like you’d expect. Just like a iPhone, in fact, supporting pinch and rotate gestures to zoom and, well, rotate. The Mebius (yes, that spelling is annoying me, too) ships with special software to configure the screen for multiple functions, seemingly including the bowling game seen in the video from Akihabara news.
Under the panel, though, the tech is a little different, working more like Microsoft’s Surface (the Big Ass Table). The screen actually has sensors underneath which optically detect the stylus or finger. It looks like it works fine in the video, although it had better be perfect — a trackpad can make or break a notebook.
May is the launch date, and although Sharp’s teaser page doesn’t list a price, the number doing the rounds is around ¥80,000, or a steep $820.
Press release [Sharp]
Video [Akihabara News]
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