A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a one-piece mobile computer, primarily operated by touchscreen (the user's finger essentially functions as the mouse and cursor, removing the need for the physical (i.e., mouse and keyboard) hardware components necessary for a desktop or laptop computer; and, an onscreen, hideable virtual keyboard is integrated into the display). Available in a variety of sizes, even the smallest's touchscreens are much larger than those of a smart phone or personal digital assistant.[1][2][3] A tablet computer may be connected to a keyboard with a wireless link or a USB port. Convertible notebook computers have an integrated keyboard that can be hidden by a swivel joint or slide joint, exposing only the screen for touch operation. Hybrids have a detachable keyboard so that the touch screen can be used as a stand-alone tablet. Booklets include dual-touchscreens, and can be used as a notebook by displaying a virtual keyboard in one of them.
Alan Kay's Dynabook described an information tablet in 1972: "A Personal Computer for children of all Ages".[4] The paper proposes a touch screen as a possible alternative means of input for the device. The first commercial portable electronic tablets appeared at the end of the 20th century. In 2002, theMicrosoft Tablet PC used a pen-like stylus and sold poorly. In 2010, Apple Inc. released the iPad which gained commercial success. Other manufacturers have followed. As of early 2013 the two most used operating systems for tablets are iOS (Apple) and Android (Google).
As of March 2012, 31% of U.S. Internet users were reported to have a tablet, which was used mainly for viewing published content such as video and news.[5] Among tablets available in the market in 2012, the top-selling line of devices is Apple's iPad with 100 million sold by mid October 2012 since it was released in April 3, 2010,[6] followed by Amazon's Kindle Fire with 7 million, and Barnes & Noble's Nook with 5 million.[7][1][2]
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[edit]Background
[edit]History
Main article: History of tablet computers
The tablet computer and the associated special operating software is an example of pen computing technology, and thus the development of tablets has deep historical roots.
Electrical devices with data input and output on a flat information display have existed as early as 1888 with the telautograph.[8] Throughout the 20th century many devices with these characteristics have been imagined and created whether as blueprints, prototypes, or commercial products. In addition to many academic and research systems, there were several companies with commercial products in the 1980s.
Tablet computers appeared in a number of works of Science Fiction in the second half of the 20th century, with the depiction of Arthur C. Clarke'sNewsPad,[9] in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the description of Calculator Pad in the 1951 novel Foundation by Isaac Asimov, the Opton in the 1961 novel Return from the Stars by Stanislaw Lem, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy in Douglas Adams 1978 comedy of the same name, and the numerous devices depicted in Gene Roddenberry 1966 Star Trek series, all helping to promote and disseminate the concept to a wider audience.[10]
Alan Kay attempted to formulate his Dynabook portable computer concept as early as 1968; with his 1972 paper: "A personal computer for children of all ages" detailing possible uses and functionality for his Dynabook concept.[4]
The sci-fi TV series Star Trek The Next Generation featured tablet computers which were designated as "padds".[citation needed]
In 1994 the European Union initiated the 'OMI-NewsPAD' project (EP9252), inspired by Clarke and Kubrick's work.[11] Acorn Computers supplied the device for the duration of the Barcelona based trial, which ended in 1997.
Intel announced a Strong ARM based touch screen tablet computer in 1999, under the name WebPAD, the tablet was later re-branded as the "Intel Web Tablet".[12]
During the 2000s, Microsoft attempted to define with the Microsoft Tablet PC the tablet personal computer product concept[13] as a mobile computer for field work in business,[14] though their devices failed to achieve widespread usage mainly due to price and usability problems that made them unsuitable outside of their limited intended purpose.[15]
In April 2010 Apple Inc. released the iPad, a tablet computer with an emphasis on media consumption. The shift in purpose, together with increased usability, battery life, simplicity, lower weight, and overall "quality" with respect to previous tablets, was perceived as defining a new class of consumer device[16] and shaped the commercial market for tablets in the following year.[17]
As a result, tablet computing devices have two distinctly different types of operating systems, of different origin. The are sometimes designated Tablet PC and Post-PC tablet.
[edit]Traditional tablet PCs
Main article: Early tablet computers
A tablet personal computer (tablet PC) is a portable personal computer equipped with a touchscreen as a primary input device, and running a modified desktop OS[18] designed to be operated and owned by an individual.[19] The term was made popular as a concept presented by Microsoft in 2000[20] and 2001[21] but tablet PCs now refer to any tablet-sized personal computer regardless of the (desktop) operating system.[22] Unlike modern tablet computers, traditional tablet PCs usually had a physical keyboard.
Tablet personal computers are mainly based on the x86 IBM-PC architecture[23] and are fully functional personal computers employing a slightly modified personal computer OS (such asWindows or Linux) supporting their touch-screen, instead of a traditional display, mouse and keyboard. A typical tablet personal computer needs to be stylus driven, because operating the typical desktop based OS requires a high precision to select GUI widgets, such as a close window button.
[edit]"Post-PC" tablets
See also: Mobile operating system
"Post-PC" tablets are mobile devices that are able to be used away from the desktop, and differ considerably from PCs in many ways, including user interface, operating system, processor, and applications. Another crucial difference is that these tablets are used primarily as inexpensive media consumption devices, so raw processing power ("feeds and speeds") is not as important as the content distribution platform. In many ways, "post-PC" tablets are similar to and often derived from the architecture of smartphones. According to Jack Gold, tablet computers have "a higher disruptive impact [on PCs] than smartphones do. Smartphones and PCs are complementary, but tablets not as much".[24] According to Gartner principal analyst Kikako Kitagawa, "tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs, not so much by 'cannibalizing' PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs".[25]
The mobile operating systems of "Post-PC" tablets have a different kind of interface than the traditional desktop OS, and represent a new type of computing device.[26] These "post-PC" mobile OStablet computer devices are normally finger driven and most frequently use capacitive touch screens with multi-touch, unlike earlier stylus-driven resistive touchscreen devices.
In forgoing the x86 precondition (a requisite of Windows compatibility), most tablet computers released since mid-2010 use a version of an ARM architecture processor for longer battery life versus battery weight, heretofore used in portable equipment such as MP3 players and smartphones. Especially with the introduction of the ARM Cortex family, this architecture is now powerful enough for tasks such as internet browsing, light production work and mobile games.[27]
A significant trait of tablet computers not based on the traditional PC architecture is that most mobile apps including third party ones are supplied through online distribution, rather than more traditional methods of boxed software or direct sales from software vendors. These sources, known as "app stores", provide centralized catalogues of software from the OS supplier or device manufacturer and from outside parties, and allow simple "one click" on-device software purchasing, installation, and updates. The app store is often shared with smartphones that use the same operating system.[28]
In 2005, an internet tablet, the Nokia 770, was introduced. This product line used Maemo Linux, a mobile operating system, designed to be hand-held.
The most successful tablet computer is the Apple iPad using the iOS operating system. Its debut in 2010 popularized tablets into mainstream.[29][30] Samsung's Galaxy Tab and others followed, continuing the now common trends towards multi-touch and other natural user interface features, as well as flash memory solid-state storage drives and "instant on" warm-boot times; in addition, standard external USB and Bluetooth keyboards can often be used. Most frequently the operating system running on a tablet computer (one not based on the traditional Windows/x86 PC architecture) is a Unix-like OS, such as Darwin, Linux or QNX. Some have 3G mobile telephony capabilities.[31]
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