Researchers unveil dual screen smartwatch

A Dartmouth researcher and his collaborators have unveiled a prototype of a smartwatch with dual touchscreens called Doppio.

The researchers presented their findings Wednesday at the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Doppio is a reconfigurable smartwatch with two touch-sensitive display faces, one of which detaches from the wrist-bound screen and can be stuck above or to the side. "The orientation of the top relative to the base and how the top is attached to the base create a very large interaction space," says Xing-Dong Yang, an assistant professor of computer science at Dartmouth.

In their presentation, the researchers discussed possible configurations, transitions and manipulations in this space. Using a passive prototype, they conducted an exploratory study to probe how people might use this style of smartwatch interaction. And with an instrumented prototype, they conducted a controlled experiment to evaluate the transition times between configurations and subjective preferences. They used the combined results of these two studies to generate a set of characteristics and design considerations for applying this interaction space to smartwatch applications.

"Our proof-of-concept hardware prototype demonstrates how Doppio interactions can be used for notifications, private viewing, task switching, temporary information access, application launching, application modes, input and sharing the top," Yang says.

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