Does size matter? When it comes to new technology, most people seem to think so. But while the trend often runs small – think “mini” versions of phones and tablets – the spike in new designs for large touch screen tables shows that bigger is sometimes better.
Microsoft apparently marketed an oversized touch screen before its book-sized tablet, the Surface. It was a large touch screen priced too high for most consumers, and it didn’t go anywhere. Now we’re seeing large touch screens return to the market, and perhaps this time they’ll stick around.
Ideum is one of the main producers of large touch screen tables, and they offer a wide variety. Their products are like coffee tables with huge touch screens for tabletops, and the 46-inch model currently retails at around $7,000. Under the shiny surface, the table has everything you have come to expect from a computer, including a host of goodies like Intel’s WiDi technology, WiFi, and Ethernet and Bluetooth capability.
Interactive Desks For Classrooms
While the market for coffee tables that double as computers might still be rather small, there is growing interest in applying the new technology to education. Imagine children sitting at interactive desks or crowded around a table completing an assignment on a large tabletop touch screen.
SMART Technologies produces a table geared toward this educational market, although the price tag for its 42-inch model, at nearly $8,000, will place it out of reach for most schools for some time.
A recent study conducted by researchers at Newcastle University in the UK tested large touch screen tables in the classroom. According to researchers, this was one of the first studies to test this type of technology in real classrooms and not in a lab environment.
The Newcastle study involved tables in five classrooms over the course of six weeks and found that the technology needs more development in order to be an effective classroom tool. Some of the issues raised were similar to those tied to group work: it only works well for some students, leaving others far behind.
Touch Screen Dining Tables In Restaurants
Another area we might start to see touch screen tables crop up is the restaurant industry, where interest in the technology has been growing for some time. Many restaurant owners think touch screen menus provide benefits over traditional ordering systems, and interactive tables could be the next step.
Ziosk is a Dallas-based company that has been making tablets used at Applebee’s and Uno Chicago Grill restaurants. Their tablets allegedly induce diners to tip higher, to make more impulse purchases, and to spend less overall time in the restaurant.
Some think touch screen tabletops could be an improvement over tablets in such tech-savvy dining rooms. Inamo is a restaurant in London that is leading the trend, with rows of glowing, LCD tables, at which diners may select their food.
The market is showing a definite interest in large touch screen models for all kinds of settings. But price points will have to drop and further development will have to be completed before touch screen tabletops are a regular feature of our daily lives.
