Transparent tablets may sound like something straight from science fiction, but it may not be long before translucent slates hit the market. Grippity claims to be the world’s first see-through tablet to come with two-sided touch controls.
The recently launched Kickstarter campaign promises to deliver the slate by next fall. Grippity features a semi-transparent 7-inch 800 x 480 display, and both the front and rear panels support capacitive multi-touch input. Running on a Cortex A8 processor and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, you’ll find 4GB of storage space with an SD card slot that adds up to 32GB of extra room. Grippity supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and also comes with IR blaster that allows it to function as a remote control.
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While most of the tablet is semi-transparent, Grippity’s top is solid so that users can hold the slate with their thumbs. Grippity creator Jacob Eichbaum claims that the tablet's partially translucent display makes it easier for users to type via a touch-screen keyboard. Since it supports rear and front touch controls, all 10 fingers can be used to type rather than just two, as Eichbaum demonstrates in Grippity’s promotional video.
The tablet’s rear controls are also designed to facilitate touch screen navigation in general. Typing and touching from the back panel rather than the front prevents users from obscuring the display’s pixels with their fingers, Eichbaum says. This would theoretically make it easier to interact with small objects on-screen, such as links with tiny font.
It’s unclear how much the tablet will cost when it launches, but Eichbaum is asking for $235 to reserve a slate for delivery by Oct. 24. Early birds can also opt to pre-order a Grippity for $159, but you’ll have to act fast. Eichbaum has already sold 397 of the 500 limited Early Bird edition slates.
Grippity is the first transparent display tablet we’re seeing come to market, but the concept itself isn’t new. Samsung has been showing off tablets with transparent, 3D flexible displays since 2011.
via Kickstarter
