The Feno design concept is very Apple-esque in its clean and sleek aluminum look, although its renderings are showing a Windows desktop. But what makes it unique is that the concept involves folding into thirds, with the screen being folded in half right through the center. Van Hoof imagines utilizing flexible OLED display technology to allow the screen to be wrapped around the body of the notebook. A unique hinge with a curved cavity lets the screen bend without creasing.
The keyboard area is shortened by removing the typical trackpad and replacing it with a small portable mouse that can be inserted into the side of the notebook. Van Hoof claims that the shortened keyboard depth also allows folks to type without having to rest their wrists on a flat surface, thus making for better ergonomics.
Hopefully, when flexible OLED displays become standard, we wont have to deal with the annoying split-screen effect of the Kyocera Echo and the Sony S2.
While that would probably be enough for avid meeting attendees, Livescribe are looking to extend the usefulness of the Echo by including an app store. Accessed via the Livescribe Desktop app, with software synchronized over to the Echo via microUSB connection, it turns the Smartpen into a translation tool, a musical instrument or anything else developers can come up with via the free SDK. Unsurprisingly it’s the language apps that are most obviously useful; a dictionary app, for instance, shows definitions of your handwritten word on the OLED screen, while various translation apps can automatically convert your handwritten notes into other languages. Of course, developers are also coming up with more unusual software, so you can sketch out strings or staves and play your notepad as a guitar or piano, convert currency or even play games like Sudoku.
