This is a rather old gadget already, but it’s worth a look because of renewed interest in tablet computers thanks to the iPad. The Always Innovating Touch Book is a smartbook that has a detachable touchscreen so you can use it as a tablet computer whenever you want or need it to be. I know we’ve seen this on Lenovo smartbooks already, but the Always Innovating Touch Book has an advantage over the competition – everything about this is open source! Yes, the hardware and software on this smartbook is open source, and is spearheaded by Gregoire Gentil, the man behind the Zonbu Desktop and Laptop.
The Touch Book is the first netbook powered by a 600 MHz TI OMAP3 processor – built around ARM technology- and 256 MB RAM, 3-axis accelerometer, an 8-gigabyte microSD card for storage. Two batteries provide up to 15 hours of usage between charges. The 8.9-inch screen can display resolutions up to 1024×768 and uses a resistive touch panel. For wireless connectivity, the Touch Book is offering 802.11b/g/n wi-fi and Bluetooth.
As a standalone tablet, the Touch Book is roughly 9.5″x7″x1″ and weighs about a pound. When docked to the keyboard, it is about 1.4-inches thick and weighs 2 pounds. All of the Touch Book’s guts, except for one of the batteries, are housed in the tablet portion of the device, so that it’s fully functional while detatched from the keyboard.
The Always Innovating Touch Book is capable of running Ubuntu, Android, Mer, Gentoo, and Chrome OS. If you even want to run Windows CE, there’s really no stopping you! Honestly, I’m really interested in owning one.