Tablet computer
Encyclopedia
A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete 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
, a passive stylus pen, or a digital pen
, rather than a physical keyboard
.
The term may also apply to a variety of form factor
s that differ in position of the screen with respect to a keyboard. The standard form is called slate, which does not have an integrated keyboard but may be connected to one 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 two touch screens, and can be used as a notebook by displaying a virtual keyboard in one of them.
Early examples of the information tablet concept originated in the 19th and 20th centuries mainly as prototypes and concept ideas, the more prominent the Alan Kay's Dynabook
. First commercial portable electronic devices based on the concept appeared at the end of the 20th century. During the 2000s Microsoft attempted a relatively unsuccessful product line with Microsoft Tablet PC
, which carved a niche market at hospitals and outdoor businesses. In 2010 Apple released the iPad
based on the technology developed in parallel with their previous iPhone
, and reached worldwide commercial success.
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. Throughout the 20th century many devices with these characteristics have been ideated and created whether as blueprint
s, prototype
s or commercial products, with the Dynabook
concept in 1968 being a spiritual precursor of tablets and laptops. In addition to many academic and research systems, there were several companies with commercial products in the 1980s
During the 2000s Microsoft
attempted to define with the Microsoft Tablet PC
the tablet personal computer product concept as a mobile computer for field work in business, 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.
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 cost, and overall quality with respect to previous tablets, was perceived as defining a new class of consumer device and shaped the commercial market for tablets in the following year.
As a result, two distinctly different types of tablet computing devices exist as of 2011, the Tablet PC and the Post-PC tablet, whose operating system
s are of different origin.
as a primary input device
, and running a (modified) classic desktop OS. designed to be operated and owned by an individual. 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
Tablet personal computer
s are mainly based on the x86 IBM-PC architecture and are fully functional personal computers employing a slightly modified personal computer OS (such as Windows
or Ubuntu
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 the close window button.
s that forgo the Wintel
paradigm, have a different interface instead of the traditional desktop
OS, and represent a new type of computing device. These "post-PC" mobile OS
tablet computer devices are normally finger driven and most frequently use capacitive
touch screens with multi-touch
capabilities instead of the simple resistive touchscreen
s of typical stylus driven systems.
The most successful of these was the Apple iPad
using the iOS operating system. 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
keyboard
s can often be used. Most frequently the operating system running a tablet computer that's not based on the traditional PC architecture is based on a Unix-like
OS, such as Darwin
, Linux
or QNX
. Some have 3G
mobile telephony
capabilities.
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 cell phones. 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 gaming.
A significant trait of tablet computers not based on the traditional PC architecture is that the main source of 3rd party software for these devices tends to be 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 both 1st and 3rd parties and allow simple "one click" on-device software purchasing, installation, and updates.
on the screen.
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.
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.
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, 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.
Other touch technology used in tablets include:
Some professional-grade Tablet PCs use pressure sensitive films that additionally allows pressure sensitivity such as those on graphics tablet
s.
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.
or MIPS
) CPU, and in size can border on PDA
s.
, 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.
Slate computers typically incorporate small (8.4–14.1 in (21.3–35.8 cm)) LCD screens and have been popular in vertical market
s such as health care, education, hospitality, aviation (pilot documentation and maps), and field work. 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.
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 planner
s, Internet surfing devices, project planners, music players, and displays for video, live TV, and e-reading.
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.
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.
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. 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 a netbook are called netvertibles.
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.
. 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. 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.
s. These come in two classes, namely traditional desktop-based operating systems and post-PC mobile-based ("phone-like") operating systems.
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.
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.
, 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 PC
s 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. Slate PCs are expected to benefit from mobile hardware advances derived from the success of the netbook
s.
Microsoft has since announced Windows 8
which will have features designed for touch input, while running on both PCs and ARM architecture.. Renee James of Intel states multiple builds are needed, with 1 build for x86 processors and with 4 builds for ARM; ARM targets are defined for AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, and TI processors.
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
. 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.
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. 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.
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. KDE
's Plasma Active is graphical environments for tablet.
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). 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.
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), 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. 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
.
TabletKiosk currently offers a hybrid digitizer / touch device running openSUSE Linux. It is the first device with this feature to support Linux.
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. The user interface
and application framework
layer, named Hildon
, was an early instance of a software platform for generic computing in a tablet device intended for internet consumption. But Nokia didn't commit to it as their only platform for their future mobile devices and the project competed against other in-house platforms. The strategic advantage of a modern platform was not exploited, being displaced by the Series 60.
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.
MeeGo
is a 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. 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. On 27 September 2011 it was announced by the Linux Foundation
that MeeGo will be replaced in 2012 by Tizen
, an open source
mobile operating system.
s and smartphone
s.
and iPod Touch
. Although built on the same underlying Unix implementation as MacOS, the operating system differs radically at the graphical user interface level. iOS is designed for finger based use and has none of the tiny features which required a stylus on earlier tablets. Apple introduced responsive multi touch gestures, like moving two fingers apart to zoom in. iOS is built for the ARM architecture
which uses less power, and so gives better battery life, than Intel devices required by Windows tablets. 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. This became partially true when a 3rd party offered customized Macbook
s with pen input, known as the Modbook.
Previous to Apple's commercialization of the iPad, Axiotron introduced at Macworld in 2007 an aftermarket, heavily modified Apple MacBook
called Modbook
, a Mac OS X
-based tablet personal computer. 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.
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. The BlackBerry PlayBook was officially released to US and Canadian consumers on April 19, 2011.
's webOS: Hewlett Packard announced the TouchPad
running webOS 3.0 on a 1.2Ghz Snapdragon CPU would be released in June 2011. On Thursday August 18, 2011, HP announced the discontinuation of the Touchpad, due to sluggish sales. The fate of any webOS-based software remains open, as HP casts about for some possible resolution.
. The new XO-3 will be based on ARM technology from Marvell
.
has spurred the tendency of a walled garden approach where the vendor reserves rights as to what can be installed. The software development kit
s for these platforms are restricted and the vendor must approve the final application for distribution to users. These restrictions allow the hardware vendor to control the kind of software that can be used and the content that can be seen in the devices; this can be used to reduce the impact of malware
on the platform and to provide material of approved content rating
, and also to exclude software and content from competing vendors. The walled garden approach to application development has proven to be a competitive advantage for the iPad over HP's Touchpad, triggering HP's withdrawal from the industry, due in large part to sluggish Touchpad sales, after only 49 days on the market.
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, 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.
currently comes to $47 and will be avalaible soon at retail shops at $60. For the initial government will give for free to students 100,000 unit tablets.
Before it, 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.
Mobile computing
Mobile computing is a form of human–computer interaction by which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage. Mobile computing has three aspects: mobile communication, mobile hardware, and mobile software...
, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen. It often uses an onscreen virtual keyboard
Virtual keyboard
A virtual keyboard is a software component that allows a user to enter characters. A virtual keyboard can usually be operated with multiple input devices, which may include a touchscreen, an actual keyboard and a computer mouse.- Types :...
, a passive stylus pen, or a digital pen
Digital pen
A digital pen is an input device which captures the handwriting or brush strokes of a user, converts handwritten analog information created using "pen and paper" into digital data, enabling the data to be utilized in various applications. For example, the writing data can be digitized and uploaded...
, rather than a physical keyboard
Keyboard (computing)
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
.
The term may also apply to a variety of form factor
Form factor
Form factor may refer to:*Form factor or emissivity, the proportion of energy transmitted by that object which can be transferred to another object...
s that differ in position of the screen with respect to a keyboard. The standard form is called slate, which does not have an integrated keyboard but may be connected to one with a wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
link or a USB port. Convertible notebook computers have an integrated keyboard that can be hidden by a swivel
Swivel
A swivel is a connection that allows the connected object, such as a gun or chair, to rotate horizontally and/or vertically. A common design for a swivel is a cylindrical rod that can turn freely within a support structure. The rod is usually prevented from slipping out by a nut, washer or...
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 two touch screens, and can be used as a notebook by displaying a virtual keyboard in one of them.
Early examples of the information tablet concept originated in the 19th and 20th centuries mainly as prototypes and concept ideas, the more prominent the Alan Kay's Dynabook
Dynabook
The Dynabook concept, created by Alan Kay in 1968, described what is now known as a laptop computer or a tablet or slate computer with nearly eternal battery life and software aimed at giving children access to digital media...
. First commercial portable electronic devices based on the concept appeared at the end of the 20th century. During the 2000s Microsoft attempted a relatively unsuccessful product line with Microsoft Tablet PC
Microsoft Tablet PC
A Microsoft Tablet PC is a term coined by Microsoft for tablet computers conforming to a set of specifications announced in 2001 by Microsoft, for a pen-enabled personal computer, conforming to hardware specifications devised by Microsoft and running a licensed copy of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition...
, which carved a niche market at hospitals and outdoor businesses. In 2010 Apple released the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
based on the technology developed in parallel with their previous iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, and reached worldwide commercial success.
History
The tablet computerTablet computer
A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
and the associated special operating software is an example of pen computing
Pen computing
Pen computing refers to a computer user-interface using a pen and tablet, rather than devices such as a keyboard, joysticks or a mouse....
technology, and thus the development of tablets has deep historical roots.
Electrical devices with data input and output
Input/output
In computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an information processing system , and the outside world, possibly a human, or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals or data received by the system, and outputs are the signals or data sent from it...
on a flat information display have existed as early as 1888. Throughout the 20th century many devices with these characteristics have been ideated and created whether as blueprint
Blueprint
A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan....
s, prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
s or commercial products, with the Dynabook
Dynabook
The Dynabook concept, created by Alan Kay in 1968, described what is now known as a laptop computer or a tablet or slate computer with nearly eternal battery life and software aimed at giving children access to digital media...
concept in 1968 being a spiritual precursor of tablets and laptops. In addition to many academic and research systems, there were several companies with commercial products in the 1980s
During the 2000s Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
attempted to define with the Microsoft Tablet PC
Microsoft Tablet PC
A Microsoft Tablet PC is a term coined by Microsoft for tablet computers conforming to a set of specifications announced in 2001 by Microsoft, for a pen-enabled personal computer, conforming to hardware specifications devised by Microsoft and running a licensed copy of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition...
the tablet personal computer product concept as a mobile computer for field work in business, though their devices failed to achieve widespread usage mainly due to price and usability
Usability
Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
problems that made them unsuitable outside of their limited intended purpose.
In April 2010 Apple Inc. released the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
, a tablet computer with an emphasis on media consumption
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
. The shift in purpose, together with increased usability, battery life, simplicity, lower weight and cost, and overall quality with respect to previous tablets, was perceived as defining a new class of consumer device and shaped the commercial market for tablets in the following year.
As a result, two distinctly different types of tablet computing devices exist as of 2011, the Tablet PC and the Post-PC tablet, whose operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s are of different origin.
Traditional tablet PCs
A tablet personal computer (tablet PC) is a portable personal computer equipped with a touchscreenTouchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...
as a primary input device
Input device
In computing, an input device is any peripheral used to provide data and control signals to an information processing system such as a computer or other information appliance...
, and running a (modified) classic desktop OS. designed to be operated and owned by an individual. 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
Tablet personal computer
Tablet computer
A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
s are mainly based on the x86 IBM-PC architecture and are fully functional personal computers employing a slightly modified personal computer OS (such as Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
or Ubuntu
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
Linux) supporting their touch-screen, instead of a traditional display, mouse and keyboard. A typical tablet personal computer needs to be stylus
Stylus (computing)
In computing, a stylus is a small pen-shaped instrument that is used to input commands to a computer screen, mobile device or graphics tablet...
driven, because operating the typical desktop based OS requires a high precision to select GUI widgets, such as a the close window button.
Post-PC tablets
Since mid-2010, new tablet computers have been introduced with mobile operating systemMobile operating system
A mobile operating system, also known as a mobile OS, mobile software platform or a handheld operating system, is the operating system that controls a mobile device or information appliance—similar in principle to an operating system such as Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux distributions that controls a...
s that forgo the Wintel
Wintel
Wintel is a portmanteau of Windows and Intel, referring to personal computers using Intel x86 compatible processors running Microsoft Windows...
paradigm, have a different interface instead of the traditional desktop
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...
OS, and represent a new type of computing device. These "post-PC" mobile OS
Mobile operating system
A mobile operating system, also known as a mobile OS, mobile software platform or a handheld operating system, is the operating system that controls a mobile device or information appliance—similar in principle to an operating system such as Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux distributions that controls a...
tablet computer devices are normally finger driven and most frequently use capacitive
Capacitive sensing
In electrical engineering, capacitive sensing is a technology based on capacitive coupling that is used in many different types of sensors, including those to detect and measure: proximity, position or displacement, humidity, fluid level, and acceleration...
touch screens with multi-touch
Multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
capabilities instead of the simple resistive touchscreen
Resistive touchscreen
In electrical engineering, resistive touchscreens are touch-sensitive computer displays composed of two flexible sheets coated with a resistive material and separated by an air gap or microdots. There are two different types of metallic layers. The first one is Matrix, which is a striped electrodes...
s of typical stylus driven systems.
The most successful of these was the Apple iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
using the iOS operating system. Samsung's
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
Galaxy Tab
Samsung Galaxy Tab
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is an Android-based tablet computer produced by Samsung introduced on 2 September 2010 at the IFA in Berlin.The Galaxy Tab has a TFT-LCD touchscreen, Wi-Fi capability, a 1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 Samsung Exynos 3110 processor, the Swype input system, a 3.2 MP rear-facing...
and others followed, continuing the now common trends towards multi-touch and other natural user interface
Natural user interface
In computing, a natural user interface, or NUI, is the common parlance used by designers and developers of computer interfaces to refer to a user interface that is effectively invisible, or becomes invisible with successive learned interactions, to its users. The word natural is used because most...
features, as well as flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
solid-state storage drives and "instant on" warm-boot times; in addition, standard external USB and Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
keyboard
Computer keyboard
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
s can often be used. Most frequently the operating system running a tablet computer that's not based on the traditional PC architecture is based on a Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
OS, such as Darwin
Darwin (operating system)
Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects....
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
or QNX
QNX
QNX is a commercial Unix-like real-time operating system, aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. The product was originally developed by Canadian company, QNX Software Systems, which was later acquired by Canadian BlackBerry-producer Research In Motion.-Description:As a microkernel-based...
. Some have 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
mobile telephony
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
capabilities.
In forgoing the x86 precondition (a requisite of Windows compatibility), most tablet computers released since mid-2010 use a version of an ARM architecture
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
processor for longer battery life versus battery weight, heretofore used in portable equipment such as MP3 players and cell phones. Especially with the introduction of the ARM Cortex family
ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore
The ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore is a 32-bit multicore processor providing up to 4 cache-coherent Cortex-A9 cores, each implementing the ARM v7 instruction set architecture.-Features:Key features of the Cortex-A9 core are:...
, this architecture is now powerful enough for tasks such as internet browsing, light production work and gaming.
A significant trait of tablet computers not based on the traditional PC architecture is that the main source of 3rd party software for these devices tends to be through online distribution, rather than more traditional methods of boxed software
Retail software
Retail software is computer software sold to end consumers, usually under restricted licenses. Until the emergence of the Internet, retail software represented, until the 2000s, the vast majority of all end consumer software used and was referred to as shrinkware because software almost always...
or direct sales
Vendor lock-in
In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs...
from software vendors. These sources, known as "app stores," provide centralized catalogues of software from both 1st and 3rd parties and allow simple "one click" on-device software purchasing, installation, and updates.
Touch user interface
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 keyboardVirtual keyboard
A virtual keyboard is a software component that allows a user to enter characters. A virtual keyboard can usually be operated with multiple input devices, which may include a touchscreen, an actual keyboard and a computer mouse.- Types :...
on the screen.
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
Somatosensory system
The somatosensory system is a diverse sensory system composed of the receptors and processing centres to produce the sensory modalities such as touch, temperature, proprioception , and nociception . The sensory receptors cover the skin and epithelia, skeletal muscles, bones and joints, internal...
. 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.
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.
Handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning or...
, 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, 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.
Touchscreen hardware
Touchscreens are usually one of two forms;- Resistive: Resistive touchscreenResistive touchscreenIn electrical engineering, resistive touchscreens are touch-sensitive computer displays composed of two flexible sheets coated with a resistive material and separated by an air gap or microdots. There are two different types of metallic layers. The first one is Matrix, which is a striped electrodes...
s are passive and can respond to any kind of pressure on the screen. They allow a high level of precisionAccuracy and precisionIn the fields of science, engineering, industry and statistics, the accuracy of a measurement system is the degree of closeness of measurements of a quantity to that quantity's actual value. The precision of a measurement system, also called reproducibility or repeatability, is the degree to which...
(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. Because of the high resolution of detection, a stylus or fingernail is often used for resistive screens. Although some possibility exist for implementing multi-touchMulti-touchIn computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
on a resistive touch-screen, the possibilities are quite limited. 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.
- Capacitive: Capacitive touchscreensCapacitive sensingIn electrical engineering, capacitive sensing is a technology based on capacitive coupling that is used in many different types of sensors, including those to detect and measure: proximity, position or displacement, humidity, fluid level, and acceleration...
tend to be less accurate, but more 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.
Other touch technology used in tablets include:
- Palm recognition. It prevents inadvertent palms or other contacts from disrupting the pen's input.
- Multi-touchMulti-touchIn computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
capabilities, which can recognize multiple simultaneous finger touches, allowing for enhanced manipulation of on-screen objects.
Some professional-grade Tablet PCs use pressure sensitive films that additionally allows pressure sensitivity such as those on graphics tablet
Graphics tablet
A graphics tablet is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images and graphics, similar to the way a person draws images with a pencil and paper. These tablets may also be used to capture data or handwritten signatures...
s.
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.
Other features
- AccelerometerAccelerometerAn accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration, also called the four-acceleration. This is not necessarily the same as the coordinate acceleration , but is rather the type of acceleration associated with the phenomenon of weight experienced by a test mass that resides in the frame...
: 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. The accelerometer can also be used to detect the orientationOrientation (geometry)In geometry the orientation, angular position, or attitude of an object such as a line, plane or rigid body is part of the description of how it is placed in the space it is in....
of the tablet relative to the center of the earth, but can also detect movementMotion (physics)In physics, motion is a change in position of an object with respect to time. Change in action is the result of an unbalanced force. Motion is typically described in terms of velocity, acceleration, displacement and time . An object's velocity cannot change unless it is acted upon by a force, as...
of the tablet, both of which can be used as an alternative control interface for a tablet's software. - Ambient light and proximity sensors are additional "senseSenseSenses are physiological capacities of organisms that provide inputs for perception. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology , and philosophy of perception...
s", 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. They also often have ports for removable storage such as Secure DigitalSecure DigitalSecure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.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. - Wireless: Because tablets by design are mobile computers, wireless connections are less restrictive to motion than wired connections. Wi-FiWi-FiWi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
connectivity has become ubiquitous among tablets. BluetoothBluetoothBluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
is commonly used for connecting peripherals and communicating with local devices in place of a wired USB connection. - 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.
Form factors
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 (ARMARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
or MIPS
MIPS architecture
MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit...
) CPU, and in size can border on PDA
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
s.
Slate
Slate computers, which resemble writing slatesSlate (writing)
A writing slate is a piece of flat material used as a medium for writing.In the 19th century, writing slates were made of slate, which is more durable than paper and was cheap at the time when paper was expensive. It was used to allow children to practice writing...
, 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
Stylus (computing)
In computing, a stylus is a small pen-shaped instrument that is used to input commands to a computer screen, mobile device or graphics tablet...
, or using an external keyboard that can usually be attached via a wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
or USB connection.
Slate computers typically incorporate small (8.4–14.1 in (21.3–35.8 cm)) LCD screens and have been popular in vertical market
Vertical market
A vertical market is a group of similar businesses and customers that engage in trade based on specific and specialized needs. Often, participants in a vertical market are very limited to a subset of a larger industry...
s such as health care, education, hospitality, aviation (pilot documentation and maps), and field work. 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.
Booklet
Booklet computers are dual-touchscreenDual-touchscreen
A dual-touchscreen is a computer display setup which uses two screens, either or both of which could be touch-capable, to display both elements of the computer's graphical user interface and virtualized implementations of common input devices, including virtual keyboards...
tablet computers that fold like a book. Typical booklet computers are equipped with multi-touch
Multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
screens and pen writing recognition capabilities. They are designed to be used as digital day planner
Day Planner
Day Planner is a late morning-early afternoon weather forecast program airing on The Weather Channel.-Program history:Day Planner was added in 2003 as one of the last programs to be added to The Weather Channel's morning programming block...
s, Internet surfing devices, project planners, music players, and displays for video, live TV, and e-reading.
Convertible
Convertible notebooks have a base body with an attached keyboard. They more closely resemble modern laptops, and are usually heavier and larger than slates.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
Single point of failure
A single point of failure is a part of a system that, if it fails, will stop the entire system from working. They are undesirable in any system with a goal of high availability or reliability, be it a business practice, software application, or other industrial system.-Overview:Systems can be made...
on the notebook.
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
Acer (company)
Acer Incorporated is a multinational information technology and electronics corporation headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Acer's products include desktop and laptop PCs, tablet computers, servers, storage devices, displays, smartphones and peripherals...
(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.
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. 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 a netbook are called netvertibles.
Hybrid
Hybrids, a term coined by users of the HP/Compaq TC1000 and TC1100TC1100
The HP Compaq TC1100 is a tablet PC sold by Hewlett-Packard that was the follow-up to the Compaq TC1000. The TC1100 had either an Intel Celeron or an Intel Pentium M chip set and could be upgraded to a maximum amount of 2 gigabytes of memory. These upgrades from the TC1000 were much welcomed after...
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.
System architecture
Two major computer architectures compete in the tablet market, x86 and ARM architectureARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
. x86, including x86-64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
, 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. 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.
Operating systems and vendors
Tablets, like regular computers, can run a number of operating systemOperating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s. These come in two classes, namely traditional desktop-based operating systems and post-PC mobile-based ("phone-like") operating systems.
For the former class popular OS's are Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, and a range of Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
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
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
Android. Manufacturers are also testing the market for products with Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
, Chrome OS, and so forth.
Boot times
Booting
In computing, booting is a process that begins when a user turns on a computer system and prepares the computer to perform its normal operations. On modern computers, this typically involves loading and starting an operating system. The boot sequence is the initial set of operations that the...
for iPads are one-half the boot times for current Windows 7 netbooks, which can take over 50 seconds to display the login
Login
Login is the method whereby a user obtains access to a computer system.Login may also refer to:*Magazines:** LOGiN, published by Enterbrain** ;login:, published by USENIX* Login, Carmarthenshire, an hamlet in Carmarthenshire...
prompt. The BIOS
BIOS
In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....
initialization for a PC, which has remained unchanged since the invention of the PC, can still take 25 seconds.
Microsoft
Following Windows for Pen ComputingWindows for Pen Computing
Windows for Pen Computing was a software suite for Windows 3.1x, that Microsoft designed to incorporate pen computing capabilities into the Windows operating environment...
, Microsoft has been developing support for tablets runnings Windows under the Microsoft Tablet PC
Microsoft Tablet PC
A Microsoft Tablet PC is a term coined by Microsoft for tablet computers conforming to a set of specifications announced in 2001 by Microsoft, for a pen-enabled personal computer, conforming to hardware specifications devised by Microsoft and running a licensed copy of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition...
name. According to a 2001 Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
definition of the term, "Microsoft Tablet PCs" are pen-based, fully functional x86 PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s 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
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
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. Slate PCs are expected to benefit from mobile hardware advances derived from the success of the netbook
Netbook
Netbooks are a category of small, lightweight, legacy-free, and inexpensive laptop computers.At their inception in late 2007 as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost — netbooks omitted certain features , featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced computing...
s.
Microsoft has since announced Windows 8
Windows 8
Windows 8 is the codename for the next version of the Microsoft Windows computer operating system following Windows 7. It has many changes from previous versions. In particular it adds support for ARM microprocessors in addition to the previously supported x86 microprocessors from Intel and AMD...
which will have features designed for touch input, while running on both PCs and ARM architecture.. Renee James of Intel states multiple builds are needed, with 1 build for x86 processors and with 4 builds for ARM; ARM targets are defined for AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, and TI processors.
While many tablet manufacturers are moving to the ARM architecture
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
with lighter operating systems, Microsoft has stood firm to Windows. Though Microsoft has Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
for ARM support it has kept its target market for the smartphone industry with Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
and the new Windows CE 6 based Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
. 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.
Linux
One early implementation of a LinuxLinux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
tablet was the ProGear
Progear
is an arcade video game developed by CAVE and published by Capcom on the CPS-2 arcade system board in 2001. This was Cave's only horizontal scrolling shooter until DeathSmiles in 2007. The game features a steampunk-like style and art design...
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. Because these computers are general purpose IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
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.
X.org
X.Org
X.Org refers to several things related to the X Window System:* X.Org, the organisation in charge of X standards from 1999 * The X.Org Foundation, a community-based foundation which took over X stewardship in 2004...
now supports screen rotation and tablet input through Wacom drivers, and handwriting recognition software from both the Qt-based Qtopia
Qtopia
Qt Extended is an application platform for embedded Linux-based mobile computing devices such as personal digital assistants, video projectors and mobile phones...
and GTK+
GTK+
GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt.The name GTK+ originates from GTK;...
-based Internet Tablet OS provide promising free and open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
systems for future development. KDE
KDE
KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
's Plasma Active is graphical environments for tablet.
Open source note taking software in Linux includes applications such as Xournal
Xournal
Xournal is a notetaking application written for Linux and other GTK+ platforms. It bears some similarity to Windows Journal, Jarnal and Gournal. It is designed to be used with either a stylus or a mouse...
(which supports PDF file annotation), Gournal (a Gnome based note taking application), and the Java-based Jarnal
Jarnal
Jarnal is an open-source cross-platform notetaking and sketching application similar to Windows Journal. It is written in Java.Jarnal can be used with mouse or graphics tablet for freehand notetaking or it can be used for annotating imported PDF files and other importedpictures.It has a feature...
(which supports handwriting recognition as a built-in function). Before the advent of the aforementioned software, many users had to rely on on-screen keyboards and alternative text input methods like Dasher
Dasher
Dasher is a computer accessibility tool which enables users to write without using a keyboard, by entering text on a screen using a pointing device such as a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a roller ball, a joystick, a Push-button, a Wii Remote, or even mice operated by the foot or head...
. There is a stand alone handwriting recognition program available, CellWriter, which requires users to write letters separately in a grid.
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
Maemo
Maemo is a software platform developed by the Maemo community for smartphones and Internet tablets. It is based on the Debian Linux distribution, but has no relation to it...
(rebranded MeeGo in 2010), a Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
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. 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
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
.
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
Nokia entered the tablet space with the Nokia 770Nokia 770 Internet Tablet
The Nokia 770 Internet tablet is a wireless Internet appliance from Nokia, originally announced at the LinuxWorld Summit in New York City on May 25, 2005...
running Maemo
Maemo
Maemo is a software platform developed by the Maemo community for smartphones and Internet tablets. It is based on the Debian Linux distribution, but has no relation to it...
, a Debian-based Linux distribution custom-made for their Internet tablet
Internet Tablet
Nokia Internet Tablets is the name given to a range of Nokia mobile Internet appliances products. These tablets fall in the range between a personal digital assistant and an Ultra-Mobile PC , and slightly below Intel's Mobile Internet device .- Maemo :Nokia Internet Tablets run the Debian...
line. The product line continued with the N900 which is the first to add phone capabilities. The user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
and application framework
Application framework
In computer programming, an application framework consists of a software framework used by software developers to implement the standard structure of an application for a specific development environment ....
layer, named Hildon
Hildon
Hildon is an application framework originally developed for mobile devices running the Linux operating system. It was developed by Nokia for the Maemo operating system and is now a part of GNOME. It focuses on providing a finger-friendly interface...
, was an early instance of a software platform for generic computing in a tablet device intended for internet consumption. But Nokia didn't commit to it as their only platform for their future mobile devices and the project competed against other in-house platforms. The strategic advantage of a modern platform was not exploited, being displaced by the Series 60.
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.
MeeGo
MeeGo
MeeGo
MeeGo is a Linux-based open source mobile operating system project. Primarily targeted at mobile devices and information appliances in the consumer electronics market, MeeGo is designed to act as an operating system for hardware platforms such as netbooks, entry-level desktops, nettops, tablet...
is a Linux-based operating system developed by Intel and Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
that supports Netbooks, Smartphones and Tablet PCs. In 2010, Nokia and Intel combined the Maemo and Moblin projects to form MeeGo. The first tablet using MeeGo is the Neofonie
Neofonie
Neofonie GmbH is a software company from Germany with offices in Berlin and Hamburg. Neofonie GmbH is a solution and fullservice provider specializing on portals, search, social media, e-publishing and mobile applications....
WeTab
WeTab
WeTab is a MeeGo-based tablet computer announced by German producer Neofonie in April 2010.The specifics include a 11.6" TN-panel touch screen , a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 processor with fan, 16 GB NAND memory and a total weight of the device of an announced , but actually .Currently most...
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. On 27 September 2011 it was announced by the Linux Foundation
Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a non-profit technology consortium chartered to foster the growth of Linux.Founded in 2007 by the merger of the Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group , the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading...
that MeeGo will be replaced in 2012 by Tizen
Tizen
Tizen is a free and open source Linux-based mobile operating system project sponsored by the non-profit technology consortia Linux Foundation and LiMo Foundation. Tizen was born out of MeeGo, which was itself a combination of the mobile operating systems Moblin, created by Intel, and Maemo, created...
, an open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
mobile operating system.
Post-PC operating systems
Tablets not following the personal computer (PC) tradition use operating systems in the style of those developed for PDAPDA
A PDA is most commonly a Personal digital assistant, also known as a Personal data assistant, a mobile electronic device.PDA may also refer to:In science, medicine and technology:...
s and smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s.
iPad
The iPad runs a version of iOS which was first created for the iPhoneIPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
. Although built on the same underlying Unix implementation as MacOS, the operating system differs radically at the graphical user interface level. iOS is designed for finger based use and has none of the tiny features which required a stylus on earlier tablets. Apple introduced responsive multi touch gestures, like moving two fingers apart to zoom in. iOS is built for the ARM architecture
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
which uses less power, and so gives better battery life, than Intel devices required by Windows tablets. 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
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
and being in line with Apple's Macintosh computers. This became partially true when a 3rd party offered customized Macbook
MacBook
The MacBook was a brand of Macintosh notebook computers built by Apple Inc. First introduced in May 2006, it replaced the iBook and 12-inch PowerBook series of notebooks as a part of the Apple–Intel transition. Positioned as the low end of the MacBook family, the Apple MacBook was aimed at the...
s with pen input, known as the Modbook.
Previous to Apple's commercialization of the iPad, Axiotron introduced at Macworld in 2007 an aftermarket, heavily modified Apple MacBook
MacBook
The MacBook was a brand of Macintosh notebook computers built by Apple Inc. First introduced in May 2006, it replaced the iBook and 12-inch PowerBook series of notebooks as a part of the Apple–Intel transition. Positioned as the low end of the MacBook family, the Apple MacBook was aimed at the...
called Modbook
Axiotron Modbook
The Modbook is an after-market modification that converts an Apple MacBook into a slate-style tablet computer. Developed by Los Angeles, California-based Axiotron, Inc., the Modbook was introduced in the 2007 Macworld Conference & Expo. It won a Best in Show award at that same conference. The...
, a Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
-based tablet personal computer. The Modbook uses Apple's Inkwell
Inkwell (Macintosh)
Inkwell, or simply Ink, is the name of the handwriting recognition technology developed by Apple Inc. and built into the Mac OS X operating system. Introduced in an update to Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar", Inkwell can translate English, French, and German writing...
for handwriting and gesture recognition, and use digitization hardware from Wacom
Wacom
in Krefeld, Germany. Wacom is a Japanese portmanteau: Wa for "harmony" or "circle", and Komu for "computer". Wacom tablets are notable for their use of a patented cordless, battery-free, and pressure-sensitive stylus or digital pen...
. 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.
Blackberry
The BlackBerry PlayBookBlackBerry PlayBook
The BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet computer by Research In Motion , best known for the BlackBerry smartphone. It competes against Apple's iPad and a slew of Android-powered tablets....
is a tablet computer announced in September 2010 which runs the BlackBerry Tablet OS
BlackBerry Tablet OS
BlackBerry Tablet OS is an operating system based on the QNX Neutrino real-time operating system designed to run Adobe AIR and BlackBerry WebWorks applications...
. The OS is based on the QNX
QNX
QNX is a commercial Unix-like real-time operating system, aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. The product was originally developed by Canadian company, QNX Software Systems, which was later acquired by Canadian BlackBerry-producer Research In Motion.-Description:As a microkernel-based...
system that Research in Motion
Research In Motion
Research In Motion Limited or RIM is a Canadian multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada that designs, manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market...
acquired in early 2010. Delivery to developers and enterprise customers is expected in October 2010. The BlackBerry PlayBook was officially released to US and Canadian consumers on April 19, 2011.
Android
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. 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. 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.HP
HPHewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
's webOS: Hewlett Packard announced the TouchPad
HP TouchPad
The HP TouchPad is a tablet computer which was developed and designed by Hewlett-Packard. The HP TouchPad was launched on July 1, 2011, in the United States; July 15 in Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany; and August 15 in Australia....
running webOS 3.0 on a 1.2Ghz Snapdragon CPU would be released in June 2011. On Thursday August 18, 2011, HP announced the discontinuation of the Touchpad, due to sluggish sales. The fate of any webOS-based software remains open, as HP casts about for some possible resolution.
One Laptop per Child organization
The One Laptop per Child (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 LinuxLinux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
. The new XO-3 will be based on ARM technology from Marvell
Marvell Technology Group
Marvell is an American producer of storage, communications and consumer semiconductor products.Founded in 1995, Marvell Technology Group Ltd. has operations worldwide and approximately 5,700 employees. Marvell’s U.S. operating subsidiary is based in Santa Clara, California and Marvell has...
.
Developing software for tablet computers
The new class of devices heralded by the iPadIPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
has spurred the tendency of a walled garden approach where the vendor reserves rights as to what can be installed. The software development kit
Software development kit
A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
s for these platforms are restricted and the vendor must approve the final application for distribution to users. These restrictions allow the hardware vendor to control the kind of software that can be used and the content that can be seen in the devices; this can be used to reduce the impact of malware
Malware
Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
on the platform and to provide material of approved content rating
Content rating
Content rating most often means the suitability-to-audience of TV broadcasts, movies, comic books, or computer games.The introduction of Internet to the global population has revolutionized the way of consuming and gaining access to the virtually unlimited variety of contents...
, and also to exclude software and content from competing vendors. The walled garden approach to application development has proven to be a competitive advantage for the iPad over HP's Touchpad, triggering HP's withdrawal from the industry, due in large part to sluggish Touchpad sales, after only 49 days on the market.
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, cannot be properly named personal computers. But there are newer mobile operating system
Mobile operating system
A mobile operating system, also known as a mobile OS, mobile software platform or a handheld operating system, is the operating system that controls a mobile device or information appliance—similar in principle to an operating system such as Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux distributions that controls a...
based tablet computers that don't use the walled garden concept, and are like personal computers in this regard.
Comparison with laptop computers
The advantages and disadvantages of tablet computers are highly subjective measures. What appeals to one user may be exactly what disappoints another. The following are commonly cited opinions of tablet computers versus laptops:Advantages
- Usage in environments not conducive to a keyboard and mouse such as lying in bed, standing, or handling with a single hand.
- Lighter weight, lower power models can function similarly to dedicated reading devices like the Amazon KindleAmazon KindleThe Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 which uses wireless connectivity to enable users to shop for, download, browse, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other digital media...
. - Touch environment makes navigation easier than conventional use of keyboard and mouse or touch pad in certain contexts such as image manipulation, musical, or mouse oriented games.
- Digital painting and image editing are more precise and intuitive than painting or sketching with a mouse.
- The ability for easier or faster entry of diagrams, mathematical notations, and symbols.
- Allows, with the proper software, universal input, independent from different keyboard localizations.
- Some users find it more direct and pleasant to use a stylus, penDigital penA digital pen is an input device which captures the handwriting or brush strokes of a user, converts handwritten analog information created using "pen and paper" into digital data, enabling the data to be utilized in various applications. For example, the writing data can be digitized and uploaded...
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.
Disadvantages
- Higher price – convertible tablet computers can cost significantly more than non-tablet portable PCs although this premium has been predicted to fall.
- Input speed – handwriting or typing on a virtual keyboardVirtual keyboardA virtual keyboard is a software component that allows a user to enter characters. A virtual keyboard can usually be operated with multiple input devices, which may include a touchscreen, an actual keyboard and a computer mouse.- Types :...
can be significantly slower than typing speed on a conventional keyboard, the latter of which can be as high as 50–150 WPM; however, SlideitSlideitSlideIT is a text input method for touchscreen devices developed by based on pattern recognition.- Product :SlideIT allows a user to enter a word by sliding a finger or stylus from letter to letter on a virtual keyboard, lifting only between words....
, SwypeSwypeSwype is an input method for touchscreens developed by Swype Inc. Swype was first commercially available on the Samsung Omnia II running Windows Mobile. In October, 2011, Swype Inc was acquired by Nuance Communications.- Design :...
and other technologies are offered in an effort to narrow the gap. Some devices also support external keyboards (eg: iPadIPadThe iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
can accept BluetoothBluetoothBluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
keyboards and USB keyboards through iPad Camera Connection Kit Dock ConnectorDock ConnectorA dock connector is a connector used to attach a mobile electronic device simultaneously to multiple external resources. The dock connector will typically carry a variety of signals and power, through a single connector, to simplify the process of docking the mobile device...
-to-USB adapter. Apple has also released a keyboard dock) - 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 his or her arm constantly while writing.
- 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 TouchSmartHP TouchSmartHP TouchSmart is a series of tablet PC laptops and touchscreen all-in-one desktop computers designed by HP. It features various Intel or AMD processors and runs Windows Vista or Windows 7 as standard.-HP TouchSmart Crossfire:...
tm2t, which has the ATIAtiAs a word, Ati may refer to:* Ati, a town in Chad* Ati, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines* Ati-Atihan Festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines* Ati, a queen of the fabled Land of Punt in Africa...
Mobility Radeon HD5450 as an optional extra. - 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.
- 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.
- Smaller display and lack of keyboard.
Tablets in developing countries
The low hardware requirements and easy operation of tablet computers has made it subject to various design studies for use in developing countries, furthermore it will reduce digital gap between the have and the have not. Prototype tablet computers such as the Aakash have been projected to cost $35 with subsidy, 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 materialsBill of materials
A bill of materials is a list of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, components, parts and the quantities of each needed to manufacture an end product...
currently comes to $47 and will be avalaible soon at retail shops at $60. For the initial government will give for free to students 100,000 unit tablets.
Before it, 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.
External links
- What makes a tablet a tablet? (FAQ) CNET.comCNET.comCNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
May 28, 2010