I’ve been waiting and watching for the right touchscreen netbook for over a year for the right computer to come out. You see, I don’t want to have separate tablet and netbook devices to lug around everywhere, but I do want a touchscreen device.

I also wanted a tablet that runs Windows 7, I’m no Microsoft fanboy, but the iPhone OS and Android just aren’t full desktop operating systems. Granted, both have fairly extensive app stores, but they’re just not as capable as Windows 7.

The first device to fill this void was the Asus T91 convertible touchscreen netbook, but I wanted to have multi-touch and a little bit larger screen. This spring the Asus T101MT and Lenovo S10-3t launched which are both convertible netbooks with capacitive touchscreens that allow for multi-touch.

So what made me decide on the S10-3t? The stats are about the same, so it came down to to getting a 160 GB SATA hard drive and upgraded 6-cell battery with my Lenovo. In addition, the Lenovo just looks a little better and that counts for something.

After three weeks, I’m fairly happy using theS10-3t as my primary computer. I use the touch screen in both netbook mode and tablet mode, though I still use the trackpad from time to time. The three issues I have with the netbook are that the touchscreen has some input issues at the edge of the screen, the zoom multi-touch function lags even with 2 GB of RAM and the placement of the Function key. The function key lets you turn on and off the wifi, change the contrast, etc. The problem with the key is that it’s right where I would expect the Control key to be. That means re-learning basic shortkeys like, you know, copy and paste.

Other than that, I can’t imagine another device that’s as versatile and capable as the S10-3t. The touchscreen revolution is just beginning, so I’m sure the minor issues will get worked out in future generations of Windows 7 devices, but I just couldn’t wait to get my first touchscreen computer and I’m happy I did.

So far this year, it’s hard to read a tech blog or even mainstream media without hearing rumors about Apple’s rumored iSlate (or is it iPad?). CES was abuzz with touch screen computers and prototype touch tablets running Windows 7 or Android. This is happening before Chrome OS even launches as Google’s netbook operating system to replace Android.

Don’t get me wrong, I thing that touch computing holds a lot of promise. It’s just that there are still a lot of kinks to work out in the user experience of creating interfaces, shortcuts and gestures that feel natural and users glom onto. Microsoft is the only company out there currently with a touch-friendly operating system in Windows 7, though that may change shortly.

The mobile phone industry, on the other hand, is on the brink of a major shift in usage that could reach a huge portion of consumers. The smartphone wars between Apple, Google, Palm and others are creating tons of relatively low-cost and full-featured. Now that Motorola itself will be dropping 20-30 Android handsets this year alone, everyone will be able to ‘get smart.’

All that said, I’m dying to play with a touch tablet or laptop, I’m just not sure it will be ready for prime time. Even then, I think most people will want the option to plug in a keyboard and mouse before tablets can replace their desktop or even laptop machine.

Engadget’s newly launched redesign caught my eye with a quick little sidebar infographic that shows titled ‘Most Commented.’ It shows the stories with the most comments in the last 24 hours in a simple bar chart.

The graphic doesn’t take up any more room than a boring, standard most commented widget, yet it’s a novel use of the site’s existing data. The graphic also provides tons of context using both size and color to draw your eye toward the most popular stories. Nice work, guys.

If the rumors are true, HTC is working on a new flagship phone called the Dragon. The device will feature an 800 x 600 resolution 4.3-inch touchscreen with Qualcomm’s new Snapgradon 1 GHz processor for added bite.

There’s no telling when the Dragon will emerge or which carrier it will be on in which country. One thing is clear: the Snapdragon’s processor’s 1 Ghz processor will be out in phones like the Dragon and Acer Liquid by next year.

In addition, HTC is working some of its mobile interface magic to create a custom Android skin for the Dragon. Once it’s released, chances are that we’ll start seeing more devices using it.

HTC refined Windows Mobile’s clunky interface into something both more appealing and finger-friendly. DroidDog has some early screenshots that could be HTC’s Android skin.

A video of the Rachel UI that’s being created by Sony Ericsson to smooth out Android’s rough edges is making waves today. To date most Android UIs are still clunky and awkward, making this a welcome glimpse of what’s to come from Sony Ericsson’s future lineup.

Most of the video features the music and video player interfaces with a quick peek at the home screen and  contact management. It has all kinds of crazy transitions that the performance-minded might want to turn off, but it’s still pretty slick.

Sony Ericsson has recognized the need for great design as a differentiator in the exploding Android market. They’re up against the newly released MOTOBLUR, stock Android 2.0 and every independent skinner in the community, so competition is about to get fierce.

Enterprising Android users will probably be able to get a similar interface on their phones without having to buy a SE or Moto phone, but the company’s contributions to the platform will help them build credibility among consumers. The handset companies also need killer hardware design to really win their share of the Android market.

The good news is that Microsoft/ Danger have restored sidekick users’ lost data, but the bad news is that they did it in terribly poor form. Rather than apologize to users and T-Mobile for the hassle and take responsibility for their actions, Microsoft’s press release passes the buck to Danger, Inc.

The only problem is that Microsoft bought Danger and is therefore trying to shift blame to one of its own divisions. That just adds insult to injury for users and their business partner, T-Mobile, who has been taking the brunt of angry customers.

This sort of internal fumbling about is the reason that Windows Mobile 7 is a year late and Android is eating Microsoft’s mobile lunch. At least they finally got desktop Windows (mostly) fixed in 7.

The move also adds insult to injury for Danger after Microsoft bought the company and all but killed the popular Sidekick line of phones. Way to keep it classy, Mr. Ballmer.

Acer just demoed its Liquid smartphone featuring Android 1.6 (Donut) and a lightning fast processor. The specs say the processor comes in at 768MHz, but it might be tuned to run as fast as 1Ghz, making it the fastest Android smartphone to date.

It’s basically a finely tuned Acer A1 that’s running Google’s Android mobile OS, but it also has a simplified form factor. It also has an 800 x 480 WVGA capacitive touchscreen for plenty of viewing area.

It’s amazing how quickly netbook manufacturers and other fringe hardware companies are getting into the mobile market with the Android platform. Hopefully this drives prices down on these high-end devices enough to where everyone will be able to afford them.

It’s also exciting to see processor speeds continuing to skyrocket in these devices. A few years ago, my HTC Wizard ran at something like 300MHz and while that’s as fast as my first computer, we’ve seen that number more than triple in a few short years.