The Kno – Electronic Dual Screen Text Book

Looks like a Courier will come to life after all.  Well not really. It’s not the Microsoft Courier project recently shelved, it’s actually much larger dual-screen tablet based on a custom Linux variant.  The Kno is a lovely and very large tablet device created for reading text books and taking notes.  It’s screens are bigger than all tablets and e-readers currently available or in the works.  The size of the Kno screens, 14 inches!  The creators say that the reason for this large form is so it replicates the students textbook experiences in size, but their aim is to revolutionize learning with it’s functionality. With current technology, it looks to be a heavy device, but that doesn’t mean it would put off students carrying book bags already anyway.  The Kno was announced yesterday at the AllThingsDigital conference.  CNET was there covering the event and posted Youtube videos talking with the Kno company founders Babur Habib and Osman Rashid which are embedded at the end of this article.

The Kno exists in a working prototype form at this point. It runs embedded Linux with a custom browser-based operating system centered around reading, notetaking and organizing clips of information much like the Microsoft Courier project appeared to specialize in. The Kno interface looks spacious, custom designed and visually organized though the prototype had a few input response issues. Kno is currently posting jobs for several development areas to refine the device and OS. They have partnered with major publishers and expect that rather than having a dedicated app store, apps written for the device will come from many places including the educational institutions, publishers and the students themselves.

According to the Kno website, to develop the device they created a student panel to understand how to build it for their needs. And they observed the way people study to create how the user interface behaves and organizes things.  There are a few student reaction videos on the site as well, spoken in a way as if these students already use it, but the device isn’t available yet.  Rashid said that they will have their pre-order system in place for this fall with the tablets ready by the holidays.

Things we like:

• The large size serves a clear purpose. It has a clear target student market and a custom embedded OS, which means the processing requirements and power consumption could potentially be lower and the startup could be faster.
• The blue alternating hinges are a nice fixture
• The form is sleek and original
• Touchscreen supporting a stylus gives it drawing and sketching potential.
• Linux Kernel and a custom interface might break new ground for the future of tablets. Every little bit helps.
• Supports Flash Player for video and animations – very useful considering the content on many online course sites include flash components and media.