I have just finished installing and testing Voyant on a touch screen tablet. There are a few small tweaks to make to fit touch interaction, but overall it works exceptionally well. I can see using a touch device to collaborate with a client at a coffee shop or in the lobby of a bank being a very positive experience. There are no barriers such as desks or monitor stands to get in the way. Clients and advisers can sit around a touchable screen and have a conversation.
I cannot say that I am too surprised that Voyant works so well. Voyant has always been designed as a platform independent “APP.” The development staff smartly stayed away from interactions such as right clicks that were platform specific and the APP was always designed to work whether there was a network present or not. Starting at our early development days, I have run Voyant on a pen based tablet PC running Windows XP, as well as my MacBook Pro, while others developed it on various Linux variants.
While the iPad is all of the rage and I personally like it, I don’t see Voyant running on an iPad in the near future. The iPhone Operating System (iOS4) is a closed development environment and the iPad as hardware is very limiting. There isn’t even a USB port for attaching external hard drives, keyboards, mice, or cameras. The close operating system would mean that Voyant would have to have a dedicated development staff just for the iPad and this is not cost effective.
Numerous other operating systems will launch on tablet devices soon, everything from Google Android, Microsoft Windows, to Linux based custom systems are due out in the coming weeks. Most of these other operating systems should support Voyant in its current incarnation.
The tablet I have been testing it on (see screenshot) came loaded with a proprietary Linux variant. I deleted this operating system and installed Microsoft Windows 7. Windows 7 runs very effectively on the touch screen. I have been pleased with the interactions and responsiveness. It is also a huge positive to have access to the Microsoft Office Suite, so there is less of a need for multiple computer systems. There are certainly improvements that can be made, but I expect some of these to come from Microsoft and the various hardware companies that expect to launch Windows 7 based tablets in the coming months.
The device I have been testing came with a USB port, so plugging in a hub for additional storage and a keyboard has been a big plus. I don’t mind touching the screen to type a URL or even data entry in Voyant, but writing this post would be a difficult experience with my large fingers and no keyboard.
Voyant certainly has our eye on the tablet market. As new devices and operating systems become available we will be testing them and I will let you know the results. As and when you have questions or feedback, please send them our way.
