Touchscreens have been around for over a half-century, allowing users to control electric devices and systems by touching an interface. While most touchscreens feature a single display, though, others have two displays. Known as dual touchscreens, they offer a unique alternative to traditional single-display touchscreens. To learn more about dual touchscreens and how they work, keep reading.
The Basics of Dual Touchscreens
A dual touchscreen is an electronic device with two displays. Based on the name alone, you may assume that dual touchscreens feature two touchscreen-controlled interfaces, but this isn’t necessarily true. Some dual touchscreens have two touchscreen-controlled interfaces, whereas others have a single touchscreen-controlled interface.
The term “dual touchscreen” simply refers to a touchscreen device with two displays or screens. One of these displays may support touch commands, or both of them may support touch commands. If only a single display supports touch commands, the other display is typically used strictly to display image content.
History of Dual Touchscreens
Dual touchscreens are relatively new, first appearing around the mid-2000s when the electronics company V12 Design developed a prototype laptop featuring two displays. Known as the Canova, it’s credited as being the world’s first true dual touchscreen.
Since the release of Canova, several other dual touchscreens have hit the market. In 2009, Asus released a dual-touchscreen laptop called the Flipbook. In 2011, Nintendo released a handheld video game console, the DS, featuring two displays.
Benefits of Dual Touchscreens
Unless you’ve owned or used a dual touchscreen before, you might be wondering what benefits, if any, they offer over traditional touchscreens. Well, dual touchscreens offer several benefits, one of which being the ability to project two separate images.
A dual touchscreen can also enhance work-related productivity. For business owners and workers, a dual touchscreen allows them to perform research on one display and writing or input on the other display.
Of course, there are also drawbacks to dual touchscreens. Since they feature two displays rather than just one, there’s a greater risk of failure. Furthermore, most dual touchscreens feature a collapsible design in which the two displays are connected by a hinge. Over time, this hinge may degrade or fail, requiring the owner or user to replace it.
A dual touchscreen is just like any other touchscreen device — it supports commands via touch. Dual touchscreens are unique from their traditional counterparts, however, because they feature two displays, with at least one of the displays supporting touch commands.
