Touch Book feedback continues: beta hiccups or unfair critique?

Yesterday’s news that the Touch Book was reaching pre-order customers’ hands kicked off an interesting conversation with Always Innovating, who felt that our post was unduly negative about what they themselves have admitted is a “beta” product.  Our argument was that it’s not just the work-in-progress software that’s raising eyebrows, but some of the design decisions – the unbalanced top section that’s not countered by the keyboard base, variable build quality – as early owner SteveNYC is reporting over at UMPC Portal.

Steve’s overall impression is that it feels like “a mock up”, with a difficult, unresponsive touchpad, poorly responsive touchscreen, very small keyboard and poor design of what will be frequently-used components such as the plastic, non-spring-loaded clips that hold the slate to the base section. Full story...