Kevin Tofel asks, "how many of you would give up the ability to ink if you had a UMPC with a capacitive display making for a better touch experience?" He started thinking about this after he read that Sintek is developing a 7" capacitive touch display. He's projecting, of course, but it's a good exercise to think through what would change and weigh the pros and cons.
I've thought about this balance between touch and handwriting too. When people have both, they value the freedom of*choice to use the right method for the moment. I'd pick touch screen over a dumb display, but a combination touch plus ability to handwrite wins my award. But these are my personal choices. Really, can touch get you through the quick commands and navigation? Sure. Is it valuable for that alone? Yes. The key will be in how a company executes the design because with capacitive touch and a large 7" display you'd need to be careful that you don't brush the display accidentally and send unintended commands.
What do you want? What would you use it for? Work, school, GPS / PND, TV remote control, home automation station, kiosk -- everything? :)


What Is New in Tablet PCs and UMPCs.