A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete personal mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen. It often uses an onscreen virtual keyboard or a digital pen rather than a physical keyboard(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery).
The term may also apply to a "convertible" notebook computer whose keyboard is attached to the touchscreen by a swivel joint or slide joint so that the screen may lie with its back upon the keyboard, covering it and exposing only the screen for touch operation.
Tablet computers and tablet PCs(Sony VGP-BPS8 battery)
As of 2010, two distinctly different types of tablet computing devices exist, whose operating systems are of different origin(Sony VGP-BPL9 battery).
Firstly, older tablet personal computers are mainly x86 based, and are fully functional personal computers employing a slightly modified personal computer OS (Like Windows or Ubuntu Linux) supporting their touch-screen(Sony VGP-BPS9 battery), 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 the close window button(Sony VGP-BPL11 battery).
Since mid-2010, new tablet computers with mobile operating systems forego the Wintel paradigm, have a different interface and have created a new type of computing device. These mobile OS tablet computer devices are normally finger driven and use multi-touch capacitive touch screens(Sony VGP-BPL15 battery), instead of the simple resistive touchscreens of typical stylus driven systems (also a standard external USB keyboard can be used). First of these was the iPad, with Samsung Galaxy Tab and others following. In foregoing the x86 precondition (a requisite of Windows compatibility) (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery), the new class of tablet computers use a version of an ARM architecture processor heretofore used in portable equipment (e.g., MP3 players and cell phones) now powerful enough (especially with the introduction of the ARM Cortex family) for tasks such as internet browsing, light production work and gaming(Sony VGP-BPS11 battery).
Tablets based on IBM-PC architecture
Main articles: Tablet personal computer and Microsoft Tablet PC
A tablet personal computer (tablet PC) is a portable personal computer equipped with a touchscreen as a primary input device, and running a (modified) classic desktop OS. designed to be operated and owned by an individual(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery). The term was made popular as a concept presented by Microsoft in 2000 and 2001 but tablet PCs now refer to any tablet-sized personal computer regardless of the (desktop) operating system(Sony VGP-BPS10 battery).
Tablets not based on IBM-PC architecture
See also: Mobile operating system
Many tablets do not use a traditional desktop OS or use the Wintel paradigm, nor are x86 based. Most often their OS is a Unix-like OS, such as Darwin, Linux or QNX(Sony VGP-BPS13 battery). The first was the iPad, and others continue the common trend towards multi-touch and other natural user interface features. Some use ARM for longer battery life versus battery weight. Some have 3G mobile telephony capabilities( Sony VGP-BPS3 battery).
Developing programs for tablet computers
A significant trait to define whether a tablet computer can be regarded as a personal computer is the ability for the final user to install arbitrary or self-developed software. The new class of devices heralded by the iPad has spurred the tendency of a walled garden approach where the vendor reserves rights as to what can be installed(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21M battery ). The software development kits for these platforms are restricted and the vendor must approve the final application for distribution to users. Proponents of open source software deem that these restrictions on software installation and lack of administrator rights make this category one that, in their view(Sony VGN-FZ150E battery), cannot be properly named personal computers. But there are newer mobile operating system based tablet computers that don't use the walled garden concept, and are like personal computers in this regard(Sony VGN-FZ15 battery).
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. The depth of these roots can be quite surprising to people who are only familiar with current commercial products(Sony VGN-FZ15L battery). For example, the first patent for an electronic tablet used for handwriting was granted in 1888. The first patent for a system that recognized handwritten characters by analyzing the handwriting motion was granted in 1915(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ18M battery). The first publicly-demonstrated system using a tablet and handwriting text recognition instead of a keyboard for working with a modern digital computer dates to 1956(Sony VGN-FZ15T battery).
In addition to many academic and research systems, there were several companies with commercial products in the 1980s: Pencept, Communications Intelligence Corporation, and Linus were among the best known of a crowded field(Sony VGN-FZ480E battery). Later, GO Corp. brought out the PenPoint OS operating system for a tablet product: one of the patents from GO corporation was the subject of recent infringement lawsuit concerning the Tablet PC operating system(Sony VGN-FZ61B battery).
One early implementation of a Linux tablet was the ProGear by FrontPath. The ProGear used a Transmeta chip and a resistive digitizer. The ProGear initially came with a version of Slackware Linux, but could later be bought with Windows 98(Sony VGN-FZ31E battery).
In 2000 Microsoft coined the term "Microsoft tablet PC" for tablet PCs built to Microsoft's specification, and running a licensed specific tablet enhanced version of its Microsoft Windows OS(Sony VGN-FZ340E battery).
Microsoft Tablet PCs were targeted to address business needs mainly as note-taking devices, and as rugged devices for field work(Sony VGN-FZ180E battery).
Tablet PCs failed to gain popularity in the consumer space because of unresolved usability problems. The existing devices were too heavy to be held with one hand on extended periods(Sony VGN-FZ18E battery), having legacy applications created for desktop interfaces made them not well adapted to the slate format, and the specific software features designed to support usage as a tablet were not present in all contexts(Sony VGP-BPL4 battery).
The tablet computer market was invigorated by Apple through the introduction of the iPad device in 2010. While the iPad places restrictions on the owner to install software thus deviating it from the PC tradition, its uncompromising attention to the touch interface is considered a milestone in the history of the development of the tablet computer(Sony VGN-FZ160E battery). On May 20, 2010, IDC published a press release defining the term media tablet as personal devices with screens from 7 to 12 inches, lightweight operating systems "currently based on ARM processors" which "provide a broad range of applications and connectivity(Sony VGN-FZ15M battery), differentiating them from primarily single-function devices such as ereaders". IDC also predicted a market growth for tablets from 7.6 million units in 2010 to more than 46 million units in 2014(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ18G battery).
At Consumer Electronics Show 2011, over 80 new tablets were announced to compete with the iPad. Companies who announced tablets included: Motorola, Samsung, Vizio, Toshiba, Asus, and the startup company Notion Ink(Sony VGN-FZ345E battery). Many of these tablets are set to be running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, Google's mobile operating system for tablets.
In the healthcare sector, tablet computers can be used for data capture - such as registering feedback on the patient experience at the bedside(Sony VGP-BPS14 battery).
Touch user interface
Galaxy Tab
A key and common component among tablet computers is touch input. This allows the user to navigate easily and intuitively and type with a virtual keyboard on the screen(Sony PCGA-BP2E battery).
A tablet presents a more natural user interface to the user than a command line interface or the traditional mouse driven WIMP interface. The event processing of the operating system must respond to touches rather than clicks of a keyboard or mouse, which allows integrated hand-eye operation, a natural part of the somatosensory system(Sony VGN-FZ11S battery). Although the device implementation differs from more traditional PCs or laptops, tablets are disrupting the current vendor sales by weakening traditional laptop PC sales in favor of the current tablet computers(Sony VGN-FZ17L battery).This is even more true of the "finger driven multi-touch" interface of the more recent tablet computers, which often emulate the way actual objects behave(Sony VGN-FZ17G battery).
Handwriting recognition
Because tablet personal computers normally use a stylus, they quite often implement handwriting recognition, while other tablet computers with finger driven screens do not. Finger driven screens however are potentially better suited for inputting "variable width stroke based" characters(Sony VGN-FZ17 battery), like Chinese/Japanese/Korean writing, due to their built in capability of "pressure sensing". However at the moment not much of this potential is already used, and as a result even on tablet computers Chinese users often use a (virtual) keyboard for input(Sony VGP-BPS18 battery).
Touchscreen hardware
Touchscreens are usually one of two forms;
Resistive: Resistive touchscreens are passive and can respond to any kind of pressure on the screen. They allow a high level of precision (which may be needed, when the touch screen tries to emulate a mouse for precision pointing, which in Tablet personal computers is common) but may require calibration to be accurate(Sony VGP-BPS15 battery). Because of the high resolution of detection, a stylus is often used for resistive screens. Although some possibility exist for implementing multi-touch on a resistive touch-screen, the possibilities are quite limited(Sony VGP-BPS12 battery). As modern tablet computers tend to heavily lean on the use of multi-touch, this technology has faded out on high-end devices where it has been replaced by capacitive touchscreens(Sony VGP-BPL12 battery).
Capacitive: Capacitive touchscreens tend to be more accurate and responsive than resistive screens. Because they require a conductive material, such as a finger tip, for input, they are not common among (stylus using) Tablet PCs but are more prominent on the smaller scale "tablet computer" devices for ease of use, which generally do not use a stylus, and need multi-touch capabilities(Sony VGP-BPL7 battery).
Other touch technology used in tablets include:
Palm recognition. It prevents inadvertent palms or other contacts from disrupting the pen's input.
Multi-touch capabilities, which can recognize multiple simultaneous finger touches, allowing for enhanced manipulation of on-screen objects(Sony VGN-FZ290 battery).
Some professional-grade Tablet PCs use pressure sensitive films that additionally allows pressure sensitivity such as those on graphics tablets(Sony VGN-FZ29VN battery).
Concurrently capacitive touch-screens, which use finger tip detection can often detect the size of the touched area, and can make some conclusions to the pressure force used, for a similar result(Sony VGN-FZ220E battery).
Form factor
Tablet computers come in a range of sizes, currently ranging from tablet PCs to PDAs. Tablet personal computers tend to be as large as laptops and often are the largest usable size for mobile tablet computing while the new generation of tablet computers can be (much) smaller and use a RISC (ARM or MIPS) CPU, and in size can border on PDAs(Sony VGN-FZ11Z battery).
Booklet
Booklet computers are dual-touchscreen tablet computers that fold like a book. Typical booklet computers are equipped with multi-touch screens and pen writing recognition capabilities. They are designed to be used as digital day planners, internet surfing devices, project planners, music players, and displays for video, live TV, and e-reading(Sony VGN-FZ11M battery).
Slate
Slate computers, which resemble writing slates, are tablet computers without a dedicated keyboard. For text input, users rely on handwriting recognition via an active digitizer, touching an on-screen keyboard using fingertips or a stylus, or using an external keyboard that can usually be attached via a wireless or USB connection(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31M battery).
Tablet computers typically incorporate small (8.4–14.1 inches/21–36 centimetres) LCD screens and have been popular in vertical markets such as health care, education, hospitality and field work(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31Z battery). Applications for field work often require a tablet computer that has rugged specifications that ensure long life by resisting heat, humidity, and drop/vibration damage. This added focus on mobility and/or ruggedness often leads to elimination of moving parts that could hinder these qualities(Sony VGN-FZ19VN battery).
Convertible
A Lenovo X61 in slate mode
Convertible notebooks have a base body with an attached keyboard. They more closely resemble modern laptops, and are usually heavier and larger than slates(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ38M battery).
Typically, the base of a convertible attaches to the display at a single joint called a swivel hinge or rotating hinge. The joint allows the screen to rotate through 180° and fold down on top of the keyboard to provide a flat writing surface. This design, although the most common, creates a physical point of weakness on the notebook(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31S battery).
Some manufacturers have attempted to overcome these weak points. The Panasonic Toughbook 19, for example, is advertised as a more durable convertible notebook. One model by Acer (the TravelMate C210) has a sliding design in which the screen slides up from the slate-like position and locks into place to provide the laptop mode(Sony VGN-FZ11L battery).
Sliding screens were presented at CES 2011. The first product to use it is the Samsung Sliding PC7 Series, a tablet with Intel Atom hardware and a unique sliding screen that allows the product to be used as a laptop or slate tablet when the screen is locked in place covering the whole keyboard(Sony VGN-FZ15G battery). The concept still has to prove its reliability, but is intended to combine the virtues of tablet PCs with those of notebooks. Also presented was the upcoming Inspiron Duo from Dell, which rotates the screen horizontally when opened. Convertibles like that with hardware specs of netbook are called netvertibles(Sony VGP-BPS9/B battery).
Hybrid
Hybrids, a term coined by users of the HP/Compaq TC1000 and TC1100 series, share the features of the slate and convertible by using a detachable keyboard that operates in a similar fashion to a convertible when attached. Hybrids are not to be confused with slate models with detachable keyboards; detachable keyboards for pure slate models do not rotate to allow the tablet to rest on it like a convertible(Sony VGN-FZ190 battery).
Desktop
Main articles: Tablet personal computer and Microsoft Tablet PC
A tablet personal computer (tablet PC) is a portable personal computer equipped with a touchscreen as a primary input device, and running a (modified) classic desktop OS. designed to be operated and owned by an individual(Sony VGN-FZ190E battery). The term was made popular as a concept presented by Microsoft in 2000 and 2001 but tablet PCs now refer to any tablet-sized personal computer regardless of the (desktop) operating system(Sony VGN-FZ18 battery).
Older tablet personal computers are mainly x86 based, and are fully functional personal computers employing a slightly modified personal computer OS (Like Windows or Ubuntu Linux) supporting their touch-screen(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21E battery ), 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 the close window button(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21S battery).
System architecture
See also: Comparison of tablet PCs and Comparison of ARM tablets
Two major computer architectures compete in the tablet market, x86 and ARM architecture(Sony VGN-FZ230E battery). x86, including x86-64, is popular on tablet PCs due to its use on laptops which can share common software and hardware and which can run a version of Windows. There are also non-PC based x86 tablets like the JooJoo. ARM gained popularity following the success of the iPad(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ210CE battery). ARM is more power and cost efficient for mobile computing and is gaining popularity for smaller tablets from other manufacturers such as Samsung with the Galaxy Tab which runs on Android(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ18S battery).
Other features
Accelerometer: An accelerometer is a unit that detects the physical movements of the tablet. This allows greater flexibility of use since tablets do not necessarily have a fixed direction of use(Sony VGN-FW11 battery). The accelerometer can also be used to detect the orientation of the tablet relative to the center of the earth, but can also detect movement of the tablet, both of which can be used as an alternative control interface for a tablet's software(Sony VGN-FW11M battery).
Ambient light and proximity sensors are additional "senses", that can provide controlling input for the tablet.
Storage drive: Large tablets use storage drives similar to laptops, while smaller ones tend to use drives similar to MP3 Players or have on-board flash memory(Sony VGN-FZ18L battery). They also often have ports for removable storage such as Secure Digital cards. Due to the nature of the use of tablets, solid-state memory is often preferable due to its better resistance to damage during movement(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31B battery).
Wireless: Because tablets by design are mobile computers, wireless connections are less restrictive to motion than wired connections. Wi-Fi connectivity has become ubiquitous among tablets. Bluetooth is commonly used for connecting peripherals and communicating with local devices in place of a wired USB connection(Sony VGN-FZ145E battery).
3D: Following mobile phone, there are also 3D slate tablet with dual lens at the back of the tablet and also provided with blue-red glasses.
Operating systems and vendors
Tablets, like regular computers, can run a number of operating systems. These come in two classes, namely desktop-based operating systems and mobile-based ("phone-like") operating systems(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31J battery ).
For the former class popular OS's are Microsoft Windows, and a range of Linux distributions. HP is developing enterprise-level tablets under Windows and consumer-oriented tablets under webOS. In the latter class the popular variants include Apple iOS, and Google Android. Manufacturers are also testing the market for products with Windows CE, Chrome OS, and so forth(Sony VGP-BPS13A/S battery).
Boot times for iPads are one-half the boot times for current Windows 7 netbooks, which can take over 50 seconds to display the login prompt. The BIOS initialization for a PC, which has remained unchanged since the invention of the PC, can still take 25 seconds.
Tablet PC operating systems(Sony VGP-BPS13B/S battery)
Microsoft
Main article: Microsoft Tablet PC
Following Windows for Pen Computing, Microsoft has been developing support for tablets runnings Windows under the Microsoft Tablet PC name. According to a 2001 Microsoft definition of the term, "Microsoft Tablet PCs" are pen-based, fully functional x86 PCs with handwriting and voice recognition functionality(Sony VGP-BPS13S battery). Tablet PCs use the same hardware as normal laptops but add support for pen input. For specialized support for pen input, Microsoft released Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Today there is no tablet specific version of Windows but instead support is built in to both Home and Business versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7(Sony PCGA-BP2EA battery). Tablets running Windows get the added functionality of using the touchscreen for mouse input, hand writing recognition, and gesture support. Following Tablet PC, Microsoft announced the UMPC initiative in 2006 which brought Windows tablets to a smaller, touch-centric form factor(Sony VGP-BPS13/B battery). This was relaunched in 2010 as Slate PC, to promote tablets running Windows 7, ahead of Apple's iPad launch. Slate PCs are expected to benefit from mobile hardware advances derived from the success of the netbooks(Sony VGP-BPS13/S battery).
While many tablet manufacturers are moving to the ARM architecture with lighter operating systems, Microsoft has stood firm to Windows. Though Microsoft has Windows CE for ARM support it has kept its target market for the smartphone industry with Windows Mobile and the new Windows CE 6 based Windows Phone 7(Sony VGP-BPS13A/B battery). Some manufacturers, however, still have shown prototypes of Windows CE-based tablets running a custom shell.To date, the full Windows 7 does not yet support ARM architecture(Sony VGP-BPS13B/B battery).
Linux
One early implementation of a Linux tablet was the ProGear by FrontPath. The ProGear used a Transmeta chip and a resistive digitizer. The ProGear initially came with a version of Slackware Linux, but could later be bought with Windows 98(Sony VGN-FZ11E battery). Because these computers are general purpose IBM PC compatible machines, they can run many different operating systems. However, the device is no longer for sale and FrontPath has ceased operations. It is important to note that many touch screen sub-notebook computers can run any of several Linux distributions with little customization(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11l Battery).
X.org now supports screen rotation and tablet input through Wacom drivers, and handwriting recognition software from both the Qt-based Qtopia and GTK+-based Internet Tablet OS provide promising free and open source systems for future development(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11z Battery).
Open source note taking software in Linux includes applications such as Xournal (which supports PDF file annotation), Gournal (a Gnome based note taking application), and the Java-based Jarnal (which supports handwriting recognition as a built-in function) (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11m Battery). Before the advent of the aforementioned software, many users had to rely on on-screen keyboards and alternative text input methods like Dasher. There is a stand alone handwriting recognition program available, CellWriter, which requires users to write letters separately in a grid(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ18m Battery).
A number of Linux based OS projects are dedicated to tablet PCs. Since all these are open source, they are freely available and can be run or ported to devices that conform to the tablet PC design. Maemo (rebranded MeeGo in 2010) (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ21m Battery), a Debian Linux based graphical user environment, was developed for the Nokia Internet Tablet devices (770, N800, N810 & N900). It is currently in generation 5, and has a vast array of applications available in both official and user supported repositories(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ38M Battery). The Ubuntu Netbook Remix edition, as well as the Intel sponsored Moblin project, both have touchscreen support integrated into their user interfaces. Canonical has hinted at better supporting tablets with the Unity UI for Ubuntu 10.10(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ31z Battery).
TabletKiosk currently offers a hybrid digitizer / touch device running openSUSE Linux. It is the first device with this feature to support Linux.
Intel and Nokia
The Nokia N800
Nokia entered the tablet space with the Nokia 770 running Maemo, a Debian-based Linux distribution custom-made for their Internet Tablet line. The product line continued with the N900 which is the first to add phone capabilities(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31S battery).
Intel, following the launch of the UMPC, started the Mobile Internet Device initiative, which took the same hardware and combined it with a Linux operating system custom-built for portable tablets. Intel co-developed the lightweight Moblin operating system following the successful launch of the Atom CPU series on netbooks. Intel is also setting tablet goals for Atom, going forward from 2010(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ31E Battery).
MeeGo
Main articles: Maemo and MeeGo
MeeGo is a new Linux-based operating system developed by Intel and Nokia that supports Netbooks, Smartphones and Tablet PCs. In 2010, Nokia and Intel combined the Maemo and Moblin projects to form MeeGo(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ31J Battery). The first tablet using MeeGo is the Neofonie WeTab launched September 2010 in Germany. The WeTab uses an extended version of the MeeGo operating system called WeTab OS. WeTab OS adds runtimes for Android and Adobe AIR and provides a proprietary user interface optimized for the WeTab device(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ31M Battery).
Mobile operating systems
Tablets not following the personal computer tradition use operating systems in the style of those developed for PDAs and smartphones.
Apple
Main articles: iOS (Apple), iPad, and ModBook
The iPad in its case
Apple's tablet product is the iPad, a tablet computer that mainly focuses on media consumption such as web browsing, email, photos, videos, and e-reading. A WiFi-only model of the tablet was released in April 2010, and a WiFi+3G model was introduced about a month later, using a no-contract data plan from AT&T(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ31B Battery).
The iPad runs a version of iOS which was first created for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Unlike Windows on Tablet PCs, iOS is built for the ARM architecture. Previous to the iPad's launch, there were long standing rumors of an Apple tablet(SONY VGP-BPS13 Battery), though they were often about a product running Mac OS X and being in line with Apple's Macintosh computers.[54] This became partially true when a 3rd party offered customized Macbooks with pen input, known as the Modbook(SONY VGP-BPS13B/B Battery).
Previous to Apple's commercialization of the iPad, Axiotron introduced at Macworld in 2007[55] an aftermarket, heavily modified Apple MacBook called Modbook, a Mac OS X-based tablet personal computer(SONY VGP-BPS13/B Battery). The Modbook uses Apple's Inkwell for handwriting and gesture recognition, and use digitization hardware from Wacom. To get Mac OS X to talk to the digitizer on the integrated tablet, the Modbook is supplied with a third-party driver called TabletMagic; Wacom does not provide driver support for this device(SONY VGP-BPS13A/S Battery).
Research in Motion
The BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet computer announced in September 2010 which runs the BlackBerry Tablet OS. The OS is based on the QNX system that Research in Motion acquired in early 2010. Delivery to developers and enterprise customers is expected in October 2010(SONY VGP-BPS13S Battery).
Main articles: Android (operating system) and Google Chrome OS
Google's linux-based Android operating system has been targeted by manufacturers for the tablet space following its success on smartphones due to its open nature and support for low-cost ARM systems much like Apple's iOS(SONY VGP-BPS13B/S Battery). In 2010, there have been numerous announcements of such tablets. However, much of Android's tablet initiative comes from manufacturers as Google primarily focuses its development on smartphones and restricts the App Market from non-phone devices(SONY VGP-BPS13A/Q Battery). There is, moreover, talk of tablet support from Google coming to its web-centric Chrome OS. Some vendors such as Motorola and Lenovo are delaying deployment of their tablet computers until 2011, after Android is reworked to include more tablet features(SONY VGN NR11Z/T battery).
HP
HP TouchPad
HP's webOS: Following the acquisition of Palm, Inc. by HP there have been long standing rumors of the cancellation of the Windows 7 HP Slate in favor of one running webOS. However, recently the HP Slate was in fact confirmed by HP and appeared on the website for a short amount of time before being taken down(SONY VGN NR11Z/S battery).
OLPC
The OLPC organization is developing a new version of the OLPC, strongly resembling a tablet computer, called the OLPC XO-3, running its "Sugar" operating system, based on Linux. The new XO-3 will be based on ARM technology from Marvell(SONY VGN NR11M/S battery).
Comparison with laptop computers
Advantages
Usage in environments not conducive to a keyboard and mouse such as lying in bed, standing, or handling with a single hand(SONY VGN NR11S/S battery).
Lighter weight, lower power models can function similarly to dedicated reading devices like the Amazon Kindle(SONY VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery).
Touch environment makes navigation easier than conventional use of keyboard and mouse or touch pad in certain contexts such as image manipulation, or mouse oriented games(SONY VGP-BPS13Q Battery).
Digital painting and image editing are more precise and intuitive than painting or sketching with a mouse(SONY Vaio VGN-FW21M Battery).
The ability for easier or faster entery of diagrams, mathematical notations, and symbols.
Allows, with the proper software, universal input, independent from different keyboard localizations(SONY Vaio VGN-FW21L Battery).
Some users find it more direct and pleasant to use a stylus, pen or finger to point and tap on objects, rather than use a mouse or touchpad, which are not directly connected to the pointer on screen(SONY Vaio VGN-FW21J Battery).
Disadvantages
Higher price — convertible tablet computers can cost significantly more than non-tablet portable PCs although this premium has been predicted to fall(SONY Vaio VGN-FW21E Battery).
Input speed — handwriting or typing on a virtual keyboard can be significantly slower than typing speed on a conventional keyboard, the latter of which can be as high as 50-150 WPM; however, Slideit, Swype and other technologies are offered in an effort to narrow the gap(SONY Vaio VGN-FW11S Battery).
Ergonomics - a tablet computer, or a folded slate PC, does not provide room for a wrist rest. In addition, the user will need to move their arm constantly while writing(SONY Vaio VGN-FW11M Battery).
Weaker video capabilities - Most tablet computers are equipped with embedded graphics processors instead of discrete graphics cards. In July 2010, the only tablet PC with a discrete graphics card was the HP TouchSmart tm2t, which has the ATI Mobility Radeon HD5450 as an optional extra(SONY Vaio VGN-FW11 Battery).
Business-oriented tablet personal computers have been slow sellers from 2001 to date.
Screen risk - Tablet computers are handled more than conventional laptops, yet many are built on similar frames; in addition, since their screens also serve as input devices, they run a higher risk of screen damage from impacts and misuse(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ21J Battery).
Hinge risk - A convertible tablet computer's screen hinge is often required to rotate around two axes, unlike a normal laptop screen, subsequently increasing the number of possible mechanical and electrical (digitizer and video cables, embedded WiFi antennas, etc.) failure points. Developing programs for tablet computers(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ21Z Battery)
A significant trait to define whether a tablet computer can be regarded as a personal computer is the ability for the final user to install arbitrary or self-developed software. The new class of devices heralded by the iPad has spurred the tendency of a walled garden approach where the vendor reserves rights as to what can be installed(SONY VAIO VGN-FZ21E Battery). The software development kits for these platforms are restricted and the vendor must approve the final application for distribution to users. Proponents of open source software deem that these restrictions on software installation and lack of administrator rights make this category one that(SONY Vaio VGN-FW31M Battery), in their view, cannot be properly named personal computers. But newer mobile operating system based tablet computers may abandon the walled garden concept, and be like personal computers in this regard(SONY Vaio VGN-FW139E/H Battery).
Tablets in developing countries
OLPC XO-3, a tablet computer concept
The low hardware requirements and easy operation of tablet computers has made it subject to various design studies for use in developing countries. Prototype tablet computers such as the Sakshat have been projected to cost $35(SONY Vaio VGN-FW139E Battery), according to researchers in India which shall be soon available for the masses as the cheapest tablet working on Android with full functionality; however the bill of materials currently comes to $47. One laptop per child (OLPC) plans to introduce a tablet computer for $100. Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman of OLPC, has invited the Indian researchers to MIT to begin sharing the OLPC design resources for their tablet computers. OLPC has been awarded a grant for an interim step to their next generation tablet, OLPC XO-3(SONY Vaio VGN-FW31E Battery).
No comments:
Post a Comment