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Revision as of 02:13, 7 October 2010

Template:Image

For other uses, see Tablet (disambiguation).
File:IPad-02.jpg
The Apple iPad tablet.

A "tablet computer", or simply "tablet", is a complete computer contained entirely in a flat touch screen that uses a stylus, digital pen, or fingertip as the primary input device instead of a keyboard or mouse which may or may not be included.[1][2] The name is derived from the resemblance to writing tablets, and presents a more natural user interface when the touch screen is integrated with the display, as is customary on a tablet.

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. For example, the first patent for an electronic tablet used for handwriting was granted in 1888.[3] The first patent for a system that recognized handwritten characters by analyzing the handwriting motion was granted in 1915.[4] 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.[5]

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. 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.[6]

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.

In 2001 Microsoft coined the term "Microsoft tablet PC" for tablet PC's built to Microsoft's specification, and running a licensed specific tablet enhanced version of its Microsoft Windows OS.[7]

In 2010 Apple inc. launched its iPad tablet computer, which re-invigorated the tablet computer market.[8]

Low-cost tablets

OLPC XO-3, a tablet computer concept[9]

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, according to researchers in India which shall be soon available for the masses as the cheapest tablet working on Android with full functionability;[10][11] however the bill of materials currently comes to $47.[12] One laptop per child (OLPC) plans to introduce a tablet computer for $100.[13] Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman of OLPC, has invited the Indian researchers to MIT to begin sharing the OLPC design resources for their tablet computers.[14] OLPC has been awarded a grant for an interim step to their next generation tablet, OLPC XO-3.[15]

Natural user interface

A tablet presents a more natural user interface to the user than a CLI or the traditional mouse driven WIMP interface (that is, a command line interface or a "Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing device" interface)[citation needed]. 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. 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.[16][17]

Operating systems

Tablets, like regular computers, can run a number of operating systems. The popular variants include Apple iOS, Microsoft Windows, and Google Android. Manufacturers are also testing the market for products with Windows CE, Chrome OS, or other Linux distributions. HP is developing enterprise-level tablets under Windows and consumer-oriented tablets under webOS.[18]

Apple

Main articles: iOS (Apple), iPad, and ModBook

Apple's only tablet product is the iPad. 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, though they were often about a product running Mac OS X and being in line with Apple's Macintosh computers.[19] This became partially true when a 3rd party offered customized Macbooks with pen input, known as the Modbook.

BlackBerry Tablet OS

The BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet computer announced in September 2010 which runs the BlackBerry Tablet OS.[20] 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.

Google

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. In 2010, there have been numerous announcements of such tablets.[21] 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.[22] There is, however, talk of tablet support from Google coming to its web-centric Chrome OS.[23][24] Some vendors such as Motorola are delaying deployment of their tablet computers until 2011, after Android is reworked to include more tablet features.[25][26]

Microsoft

Main article: Microsoft Tablet PC

Following Windows for Pen Computing, Microsoft has been developing support for tablets runnings Windows under the Tablet PC name. According to a 2001 Microsoft definition[27] of the term, "Tablet PCs" are pen-based, fully functional x86 PCs with handwriting and voice recognition functionality. 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. 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. This was relaunched in 2010 as Slate PC, to promote tablets running Windows 7, ahead of Apple's iPad launch.[28] Slate PCs are expected to benefit from mobile hardware advances derived from the success of the netbooks.

While many tablet manufacturers are moving to the ARM architecture with lighter operating systems, Microsoft has stood firm to Windows.[29][30][31] 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. Some manufacturers, however, still have shown prototypes of Windows CE-based tablets running a custom shell.[32]

Nokia, Intel

Main articles: Maemo and MeeGo
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.

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.

In 2010, Nokia and Intel combined the Maemo and Moblin projects to form MeeGo. 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 an provides a proprietary user interface optimized for the WeTab device.

Others

  • Ubuntu: Canonical has hinted at better supporting tablets with the Unity UI for Ubuntu 10.10 which provides more intuitive controls including touch gestures.[33]
  • webOS: Following the acquisition of Palm by HP, there has been long standing rumors of the cancellation of the HP Slate in favor of one running webOS.[34]

Hardware components

Touch technology

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. 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 but may require calibration to be accurate. Because of the high resolution of detection, a stylus is often used for resistive screens.
  • Capacitive: Capacitive screens tend to have better accuracy and responsive than resistive screens. Because they require a conductive material, such as a finger tip, for input, they are not common among Tablet PCs but are more prominent on smaller scale devices for ease of use.

Some professional-grade Tablet PCs use pressure sensitive films that additionally allows pressure sensitivity such as those on graphics tablets.

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. x86, including x86-64, is popular on tablet PCs due to its use on laptops which can share common software and hardware. There are also non-PC based x86 tablets like the JooJoo. ARM gained popularity following the success of the iPad.[35] 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.

Others

  • Accelerometer: An accelerometer is a unit that detects the physical movements of the device. This allows greater flexibility of use since tablets don't necessarily have a fixed direction of use.
  • 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. They also often have ports for removable storage such as Secure Digital cards. Due to the nature of use of tablets, solid-state memory is often preferable due to their better resistance to damage during movement.
  • Wireless: Because tablets by design are mobile computers, wireless connections are preferable to wired. Wi-Fi connectively has become ubiquitous among tablets. Bluetooth is commonly used for connecting peripherals and communicating with local devices in place of a wired USB connection.

Common form factors

See Category:Tablet computers for a systematic list of devices

Tablets come in a range of sizes, currently ranging from tablet PCs to PDAs. Tablet PCs tend to be as large as laptops and often are the largest usable size for mobile tablet computing while smaller RISC (ARM and MIPS) based systems often are smaller and lighter, and can border on PDAs.

  • Microsoft Tablet PC: Coined by Microsoft to designate tablets featuring a full version of Windows.
  • Ultra-Mobile PC and Slate PC: Coined by Microsoft to designate small form factor tablets that use cut-down versions of Tablet PC hardware.
  • Internet Tablet: A line of tablets by Nokia with architectural similarities to smartphones.
  • Mobile Internet device: Coined by Intel to designate tablets with similar hardware to UMPCs but running a lightweight Linux distribution such as its own Moblin project.

See also

References

  1. ^ Editors PC Magazine. "Definition of: tablet computer". PC Magazine. Retrieved April 17, 2010. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ Editors Dictionary.com, "tablet computer - 1 dictionary result", Dictionary.com, retrieved April 17, 2010 {{citation}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ Gray, Elisha (1888-07-31), Telautograph (PDF), United States Patent 386,815 (full image) {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ Goldberg, H.E. (1915-12-28), Controller (PDF), United States Patent 1,117,184 (full image)
  5. ^ Dimond, Tom (1957-12-01), Devices for reading handwritten characters, Proceedings of Eastern Joint Computer Conference, pp. 232–237, retrieved 2008-08-23
  6. ^ Mintz, Jessica (2008-04-04), Microsoft to Appeal $367M Patent Ruling, The Associated Press, retrieved 2008-09-04 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms840465.aspx
  8. ^ http://gizmodo.com/5486444/official-ipad-launching-here-april-3-pre+orders-march-12
  9. ^ http://blog.laptop.org/2009/12/24/xo-3-concept/
  10. ^ India unveils prototype for $35 touch-screen computer BBC World news-South Asia Retrieved 25 July 2010
  11. ^ India's ($)35 PC is the future of computing PCWorld.com
  12. ^ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/07/india-35-tablet/ Bill of materials, Wired
  13. ^ http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0723/35-computer-introduced-in-India $100 OLPC tablet computer
  14. ^ http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/355270/negroponte_offers_olpc_technology_35_tablet/ Adam Shah (31 July 2010), IDC, "Negroponte offers OLPC technology for $35 tablet"
  15. ^ OLPC X03 grant accessdate=2010-10-04
  16. ^ Best Buy: iPad cutting into laptop sales
  17. ^ Notebook sales growth goes negative. Can we blame the iPad yet?
  18. ^ HP vice-president Todd Bradley projects HP Slates for enterprise-level tablets, webOS for consumer-level tablets accessdate=2010-10-5
  19. ^ "Apple tablet rumors redux: 10.7-inch display, iPhone OS underneath". Engadget. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  20. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaez_4m9mQ BlackBerry PlayBook announcement 2010-09-27
  21. ^ "9 Upcoming Tablet Alternatives to the Apple iPad". Mashable. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  22. ^ "Don't bank on KMart's $150 Augen tablet getting Android Market access". liliputing. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  23. ^ "Forget all these Android tablets, let me at that Chrome OS". CrunchGear. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  24. ^ "Google Chrome OS Tablet Brings Ties With Verizon"
  25. ^ http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/digits-motorola-plans-tablet-device-2010-09-16/7CC13B36-0A8B-42E0-AD1A-72FF9BF04348 Motorola Android tablet in 2011
  26. ^ The successor to Gingerbread, Android project Honeycomb is targeted for tablet computers. — Daniel Lyons ( Oct. 11, 2010), Newsweek p. 49
  27. ^ http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2000/nov00/11-13tabletpc.mspx
  28. ^ "Live from Steve Ballmer's CES 2010 keynote". Engadget. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  29. ^ "Ballmer Admits Apple is Beating Microsoft in the Tablet Sector". DailyTech. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  30. ^ Windows 7 is not yet optimized for fingertip events - 2010-09-24
  31. ^ Windows 7 will not be optimized for slates; that will have to wait for Windows 8
  32. ^ "Asus launches Eee Pad tablets and Eee Tablet note-taking thingie". liliputing. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  33. ^ "Ubuntu gets multitouch support, Unity netbook UI". eWeek.
  34. ^ "HP Slate is dead, webOS-based HP "Hurricane" arriving in Q3". Geek.com.
  35. ^ "Apple iPad Price, Features Say "ARM" All Over". bnet.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tablet_computer&oldid=389225436"