Dell wows IDF with Inspiron Duo 10" dual-core Atom tablet

[UPDATE: Pictures added] Dell pulled off an impressive coup during the Atom keynote at IDF 2010 in San Francisco on Tuesday. The company was demonstrating what looked like a fairly standard 10" tablet on stage - a tablet that then split open to reveal a large keyboard. With the screen swivelling within a frame, the device then turned into an ultraslim netbook.

We don't know much more than its name, the Inspiron Duo, that it'll run Windows 7 Premium, and that it'll be out this year - and that from the gasps from the audience, Dell could probably sell a couple of truckloads right here, right now.

Here's the Dell Inspiron Duo, transforming from netbook to tablet in the hands of a Dell demonstrator at IDF 2010

With the keyboard deployed, the Dell Inspiron Duo looks like a normal, reasonably thin netbook, with nothing exceptional about the screen or bezel.

However, with one push of a thumb, the screen swivels around the midpoint and the bezel is revealed as a frame. The screen starts to rotate into its alternate configuration

With the screen fully rotated, the back of the netbook now sits, somewhat surreally, where the screen was. A nasty trick to play on an owner would be to load some wallpaper that looks just like this.

Now, the Inspiron Duo looks far more tablet than netbook. With the lid practically closed, it would pass as an ordinary tablet in poor light

Transformation complete, the device is ready to go.

Although it looks very impressive in flight, the screen hinges and frame present exceptional manufacturing challenges - and we'll have to wait until the computer is reviewed and in use before knowing how reliable this will be. Given the intense reaction at IDF, if this device does prove robust then Dell will have a winner on its hands - if it does not, then it will be a deeply embarrassing and long-remembered failure.