Always Innovating Launches Four-In-One 'Touch Book'

What's really interesting about the Touch Book, however, is the form factor. The system, designed by Fred Bould of Bould Design product development studio, is essentially a touch-screen tablet with a detachable keyboard base. In what Always Innovating refers to as "keyboard mode," the Touch Book performs the basic functions of a netbook: document creation and Web surfing. But once you convert the device to tablet mode, you can take advantage of its touch-screen abilities. The company is capitalizing on its tablet functionality to bill the system as a gaming platform, handheld PC, e-book reader, and more.
The unit measures 9.4 by 7 by 1.4 inches, and weighs in at 2 pounds with the detachable keyboard in place. Its 8.9-inch screen features 1,024-by-600 resolution. In the hopes of improving portability, Always Innovating included three internal USB slots in the design, along with two external USB ports and a mini USB port.

For storage, the Touch Book implements an 8GB microSD card, and it offers a myriad of wireless options including 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth connectivity. The 3D accelerometer is another nifty feature.

The Touch Book has two batteries—one in the screen and one in the base—which the company promises should last 3 to 5 hours in tablet mode and up to 15 hours in keyboard mode. By utilizing the ARM processor, the Touch Book can always be on: there's no need to reboot, and it can run silently, with no fans or spinning drives.

The system will come with the default Touch Book OS, but it can also run Android, Ubuntu, Angstrom, and Windows CE.

The Touch Book is currently just a prototype, but it's available for preorder on Always Innovating's site and will ship in the spring. The Touch Book comes with a 12-month warranty and unlimited online and e-mail support. It retails for $299 for just the tablet and $399 for the netbook variety.