What does HTC have in store for us next?
With its progression to the forefront of smartphones, the success story of HTC is one of the most compelling in recent times. Here at Pocketables we have extensively covered the company's products from those of yesteryear like the Advantage X7501 and Shift, to current favorites like the HD2 and Google Nexus One, to the next wave of smartphones such as the exciting HTC EVO 4G. But we're still curious about what HTC is working on behind closed doors and today we may have a small glimpse.
The diagram above depicts one concept in development that appears to be a dual-touchscreen clamshell device that could be a smartphone, MID, UMPC, or perhaps something larger like a netbook/laptop. Based on the size of the hinges in relation to the rest of the device, I'm betting it's more likely to be one of the former rather than the latter options.
According to reports from Chinese site ZOL, the device can be opened 180 degrees allowing the two screens to effectively act as one by displaying merged content like a tablet/slate. In other configurations when using a single screen, the other would act as a virtual QWERTY keyboard or alternatively different content can be shown on each screen individually.
No one is sure whether this concept will eventually turn into an actual product, but it's definitely an interesting idea that I hope HTC develops further. Although I'm of the opinion that hardware keyboards are better than virtual keyboards, you can't deny the potential flexibility and expanded scope for applications from having dual touch screens.
What do you think of this concept? Is it something you would like as your next smartphone? Let the discussion begin in the comments and throw in your own ideas of what other innovations you'd like to see from HTC and other smartphone manufacturers.
