Touch screen kiosks are seen more and more in shopping malls, supermarkets, airports and many other locations. The kiosks usually feature graphical branding and some have keyboards, telephones, printers and other peripherals. The kiosks may be free-standing, wall mounted, fitted to a desk but there are not so many portable kiosks around. Kiosks are available with different types of touch screen technology depending on the application they are being used in. You will find kiosks with resistive, capacitive, infra red and other touch screen technologies.

Unlike fixed touch screen kiosks the design requirement for portable kiosks is somewhat different. For a start the portable kiosk needs to be small enough to be easily carried or transported by car whilst at the same time the screen must be large enough to make the text easily readable.

Whilst the portable kiosk may be physically smaller than its fixed counterpart; there is no reason why the portable kiosk cannot include the same level of branding and customisation. Portable kiosks can still use vinyl wrap and other techniques for providing a clear and interesting finish.

The portable kiosk should include a handle for ease of carrying. Some portable kiosks also have a DC input jack so that they can be powered from the lighter socket of a car. For security, the portable kiosk should come with some sort of chain or lock so that it can be secured whilst in use and a sturdy carry-case will help to protect the screen when in transit.

A portable kiosk may not have space for a fixed keyboard and therefore would offer the choice of either an on-screen keyboard or possibly a USB keyboard to be plugged in to the kiosk.

Portable kiosks may feature a number of connection methods to obtain internet connectivity including fixed Ethernet, WiFi and 3g connections. The kiosk may be supplied with an Ethernet cable for connecting to a corporate network and the 3g connection could be in the form of a USB 3g stick. The portable kiosk may also have 3g connectivity built-in.

Portable kiosks are ideal for providing customer satisfaction surveys and other feedback. They are also great for outreach work where the end user it not so familiar with using computers or the internet. In the case of outreach work, a portable kiosk can be used when working with a client to view information about jobs, education, training, finance help and much more. Portable kiosks work well at trade shows for providing information about your products and services and acting as a small digital sign.

Why not just use a laptop? Unlike a laptop computer, portable kiosks are fully branded to provide a great looking product for your customers to interact with.

The portable kiosk could be supplied with a printer for printing tickets, web pages or other information.