Innovative Kno Tablet PC: Digital Textbook Prototype Puts iPad to Shame

Well, folks, this is it, the iPad killer is finally here. It is no secret that the iPad made waves when Apple first announced their tablet device. It is also no secret that every computer maker has been vying for the coveted "top spot" in tablet PC development and offerings since then. Until now, this was a spot that iPad has claimed no matter what company released which device.

The Kno, the tablet PC that will revolutionize the industry for about the same price as the most expensive iPad and it comes with more features and functionality for that price, too. Currently in Beta, the company's founders, Osman Rashid and Dr. Babur Habib, will hand out 1000 of the tablets to college students this fall and the Kno is set to be released in late fall. This announcement comes after the founders gained over $46 million from investors for project development.

Kno Tech-Specs

The most obvious thing people will notice about the Kno first is its dual 14-inch LCD screens, the very same screens that the Apple iPad uses, just two of them. It opens up just as a book does and it can fold over to form a single tablet PC-like interface. Both screens are touchscreen capable with multitouch functionality offering users a choice of using fingers or a stylus to input information. While there is no physical keyboard, the virtual keyboard is a nice addition, especially considering when using it is not as cramped as the iPad keyboard is. Fingers can type naturally without worrying if they have typed the wrong letter or not. The best thing about these huge touchscreens is they are handwriting recognition enabled, meaning users can use a stylus with no problems and digitize their notes.

The Kno tablet PC uses a Tegra 2 processor, built by NVIDIA and has a storage capacity allowing users to hold up to 16 GB of data, which is enough to store two years of textbook data plus notes and other forms of media. By other media, according to the Kno website, they mean video. Yes, this device is video enabled and can both record and playback HD video. It also supports HTML 5 and Adobe Flash with its built-in web browser, which is another "one-up" on iPad. This device can go anywhere any iPad can and then some.

Student-Centric Features

The software that runs the Kno allows students to write their notes on the screen, while saving them to the storage so they can be transferred later. This same software also offers sticky notes, highlighting and some of the same features the Microsoft Courier would have offered, had it not been pulled from market. These features include the ability for students to pull their notes onto a text page and textbook pages into their notes. Users can also pull highlighted textbook content and drag it into files or notes for later use as well. Seamless integration between the two is something no other tablet PC offers-yet.

Some of the other basic features offered include seamless integration with email and the web. If a user wants to highlight something from the textbook or notes and look it up on the web, he can. If a user highlights something in a textbook and wants to email it, he can. None of these capabilities are offered by the iPad, except with the use of third party applications, of course and even then, abilities are limited.

Overall Impressions

Even though the Kno Tablet PC is meant to be a textbook replacement, it offers all the features anyone could ever want, including an upcoming Software Development Kit (SDK) that supports many technologies including HTML5, JavaScript, Adobe Flash and CSS in which developers from anywhere can write applications for. This tablet is about the only one coming to market or on the market that offers such a feature set and it is the only device that will allow its user the freedom of carrying a single device while not sacrificing functionality as the iPad does.

The people begged for a bigger screen and they begged for Flash, USB ports and better overall quality for the money spent after the iPad release. Well, now they have just what they asked for. A tablet PC/e-reader/laptop. It does everything but make phone calls, but then again, at this point, would anyone be surprised if Skype used the SDK to develop an app to give the Kno calling abilities as well? I wouldn't.

The Kno Tech Specs
Kno: Company & Device FAQ's
"AFP: $46 million in Funding for Digital Textbook Reader," Google Hosted news
Dan Hope, "Huge Dual-Screen Kno Tablet Launching This Year," Tech News Daily