Is Lenovo working on a Sony Vaio P clone?

Apparently Sony isn’t the only company thinks that there’s a future for portable devices with super-duper widescreen displays. An anonymous tipster sent Engadget a few blurry images of what looks like a prototype handheld device from Lenovo that bears a pretty significant resemblance to the Sony Vaio P.

There’s no information on the specs, and it’s not even clear if this little guy turns on. But it appears to have a full keyboard, a screen that’s significantly longer than it is tall, and some sort of leather case. There’s no touchpad. Instead, there’s a pointing device in the upper righthand side of the keyboard – something that many netbook users have been hoping to see for ages — although I’d rather see the pointing device in the center of the keyboard than off in the corner.

Posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009, 11:15 am by Brad Linder

Keith

I've always been a much bigger fan of the trackpoint (or whatever that pencil eraser thing is called) than trackpads. For me, touchpads don't track very well due to sensitivity issues (either it doesn't track movement well but doesn't false tap-click, or it tracks movement but even typing sets off tap-clicks). I still like the taller screens of 8.9/10″, but would rather see my device (Mini 9) shortened at the expense of the pad.
pauli

presumably, it's over there for thumb use.
DG

Obviously hope the screen proportions are a trick of perspective, but I fear not. Top right actually strikes me as quite a good place for a “nipple” stick. After all, I tend to keep my mouse to the right hand side of the keyboard, not in the middle.
BoloMKXXVIII

So you must repostion your hand every time you want to use your trackpoint? Not exactly ergonomic. The proportions of the screen are terrible to my mind. How many pixels can you get vertically? Web browsing would be a nightmare. You would spend all of your time scrolling.
Mikez

Everex tried the upper right corner with the Cloudbook – it wasn't popular.
Something between the “I” and the “K” would be about right for this idea.
Keith

My $.02 on the placement of the “nipple” is that if it's intended to be an index-finger-based pointer, it belongs in the middle of home row (where your hands are supposed to rest while touch-typing), and if it's intended to be used by the thumb, it should go under the space bar.
pauli

i believe the idea is to use the pointer with the thumb of the support hand, while the left hand pecks at the keyboard – free standing, no flat surface.
too wide

Hmmm….so now we can see even more white on the sides of webpages? Now if you can pivot the display 90 degrees, you may have something.
Mikez

Everex tried the upper right corner with the Cloudbook – it wasn't popular.
Something between the “I” and the “K” would be about right for this idea.
Keith

My $.02 on the placement of the “nipple” is that if it's intended to be an index-finger-based pointer, it belongs in the middle of home row (where your hands are supposed to rest while touch-typing), and if it's intended to be used by the thumb, it should go under the space bar.
pauli

i believe the idea is to use the pointer with the thumb of the support hand, while the left hand pecks at the keyboard – free standing, no flat surface.
too wide

Hmmm….so now we can see even more white on the sides of webpages? Now if you can pivot the display 90 degrees, you may have something.

Is Lenovo working on a Sony Vaio P clone?

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